Post by M.R. Hagerty on Jun 22, 2023 11:38:04 GMT -7
Matthew 6:24-34
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why are you worried about clothing?
Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 "Do not worry then, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear for clothing?' 32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:24-34)
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Commentary
24 “No one can serve two masters; . .”
It is a principle in life that we follow someone or something. Even those who are leaders, who enjoy command, who dominate the scene have someone or something they admire, someone they are emulating, some principle that drives them forward. Even those who are so low in self-esteem as to have no motivation or drive to achieve are still vulnerable to anyone who pays attention to them. They adopt them easily as someone to whom they give allegiance and deference, who will help them climb out of the misery of their so-called life. They are busy in their inner life dreaming of being someone else.
These are all allegiances that can captivate and inspire. They give people tangible expectations of achieving the things they want or crave for themselves. And in that sense they can be seen as having a master.
The reason this is important is because when religious tenets of faith come along, there is a propensity to manage these rather than exchanging one for the other. We want both not either/or. And that is because we are told constantly that we can have both. But Jesus is telling us that this is a deception. Our allegiances cannot be split between two masters. And we need to be clear that this is not about the more trivial goals we might have for ourselves. It is about major world views, the things we decide to follow, to which we will willingly give our time and energy. One master we can acquire from the world, the other we acquire through faith.
He is telling us that while we might see things running swimmingly at first, there will always come a conflict where one allegiance demands its right over the other and we are then in the dilemma of choosing. And when we choose, we have come to love one and despise the other, especially if the conflict involves sacrifice.
The other reason this will be especially hard to receive today is because we are so busy following the intoxicating formula of “Me first.” We are told almost daily that we are the “masters of our own destiny” – an interesting choice of words, since the subject here is masters.
This modern mantra is perceived as a deliberate shaking off of the old master of a bygone age, who expected conformity and dictated absolutes. So it’s understandable that when the NT comes along and recommends that we return to the one way, one truth idea, there are going to be objections and a reaction of disdain.
On the other side, we are not to understand this as meaning that we are not to be in the world at all. Some see the choice as a case of giving up any and all expectations in the world for Christ. We need to be clear that He does not want us so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. He has chosen us especially because we are agents in the world. We are to have families and careers that support them. We are to contribute to the society in which we live. But we need to always bear in mind that our behavior in these roles is to be governed by Him not by the dictates of the world.
Allow a digression to illustrate this point. In I Samuel chaper 17, David is volunteering to fight Goliath. There are plenty around him to remind him that his stature and capacities are inadequate to the task compared with those of Goliath. “Goliath is a seasoned veteran of battle, you are just a boy.”
To many, these comments are a case of bringing reality into the picture. And this is what secular leaders` are always looking for and glad to find - someone with some sense in their head so as to acquaint dreamers with the facts of the real world. “Battle-hardened strength against total weakness. Who do you think is going to win?”
But David was told not to look at the external properties of the battle, what men see and heed first. The strength of a man is not in what is on the outside, but what is on the inside. He saw beyond the physical properties to what God had in view.
So David lived very much in the world. He stepped out on a very real plane and faced a very real adversary. But David’s world view was entirely different. It was not about what he would do and what Goliath would do. It was about what God was doing.
Matthew 6:24b
24 . . “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
The tone of this teaching is directed to those things that call for our divided allegiance. Even after we become aligned with God’s Kingdom - we make our choice – the world can beckon us to itself in the interest of stealing us away again. We can be on our way in the ship with a clear direction ahead, but the Sirens of other masters can call to us from the shore.
Wealth is first and foremost a pursuit. It is not simply being rich, it is the desire to remain rich and to become richer and richer. It is mentioned by Jesus because it is so intoxicating. It is the reason why people with no self control will pump salvo after salvo of nickels into slot machines hoping the next spin will turn them into winners. And if not, then the next spin, or the next after that.
But the primary reason wealth is posed as opposite to serving God is because once acquired it can beguile the owner into the deception that enough money will solve everything, will fix every problem in life. And that is the role God wants us to see in Him. He wants us to see Him as the only true source of supply for all we need. And His competitor is money because money is so immediate and so efficient. Once infected, man will face the dilemma that he cannot serve both.
Matthew 6:25-26
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
The worry about what we will eat, drink or wear is in a different context for most of us today. It is usually a case of adding variety and quality but seldom about having or not having. In ancient times, however, it was very much about having or not having. Variety and fashion were only concerns for the rich. So when Jesus said, “Don’t worry about what you will eat or wear” these were more vital concerns than we think about today. This dichotomy of the rich vs. the poor can produce two very opposite views about God and His provision. The poor may be prone to assume He is too busy with weightier matters than to worry about the trivialities of what one family or another has to eat or wear.
Jesus answers this by bringing in a proper sense of perspective – if He takes care of the lilies of the field. If life and the body are more than food or raiment, then because of these things God will not abandon their basic needs. It is not because He values food and clothing, but because He values life and the body He has given us.
The rich on the other hand will develop a different attitude. They are bent on acquisition and the next new thing. As such, they may have a distorted view of God’s provision. Either they expect God to “bless” them in their efforts to keep up with the Jones’s, or they may disdain the call to return from materialism to simplicity. Jesus words about life and body being the more important things can either bring them to their senses or move them further into self-centeredness.
To both, He still says: you are not to worry about these things, whether it be in terms of basic provisions, or in terms of the latest fashions. Trusting in God will bring both to a common ground in Him – the poor up from their lack, the rich down from their excess; both appreciating what is important: the life and body God has given all men.
But the question may still arise, “Yes, but will He provide for me? Will He be moved to care for things as insignificant as those that apply to one life?” Jesus answers this by an observation in life
26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
It is a true wonder that the birds are able to meet their needs without the industry and planning man finds so necessary. They can be seen by the cynical as merely at the whim of nature to fend for themselves or die, but God has built into nature enough to satisfy their needs.
They don’t hoard against some future day of lack. They have innate confidence that all they will need to eat for every day will be available every day, so they return home with nothing but themselves and they start out the next day with nothing but themselves.
That is what is meant by our heavenly Father feeding them.
Yes, there are those who will try to make exceptions the rule and point out that many animals die due to changes in their habitats that eliminate necessities for life. As with all things in the Bible, God is talking about the general state of things, not the rarities of nature.
And the point, of course, is in the last line: ”Are you not more important than they?”
This will satisfy the humble, but shame the materialistic. The humble will be renewed with confidence that God will not abandon them for weightier matters. The rich will entertain disdain for the call to be satisfied with one’s daily bread, but its truth will be undeniable.
Matthew 6:26
26 “. . the lilies of the field . . they do not toil nor do they spin, . . not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, . . will He not much more clothe you?
Another example from nature is needed because it must be made clear that in the case of the birds and even more so with the lilies, they are without capacity to provide for themselves, they are wholly dependent. In the case of the lilies, two additional observations are added: their beauty from God surpasses what the richest man can provide for himself, and despite these things, they are subsequently thrown into the fire when the season has passed or the land needs to be cleared.
To highlight their raw beauty, the colors in nature or so pure as to be unmatched by the artificial means of human fabrication. The reds, the yellows, the blues are of such extraordinary purity and depth, the whites so incredibly pure, as to always stand out far and away from what man can make. The mention of their being burned is to highlight the irony of their arbitrary nature, despite their beauty. Their existence is that precarious; and as such we might conclude an incredible waste of effort in pouring such quality into things that can so easily become mere disposable debris. This, even more than the case of the birds, rivets our attention on how much greater we are in God’s eyes. And if so, our expectations must accord with the difference.
Matthew 6:27-34
27 "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”
This is paralleled in Luke 12:12:25. A textual difficulty arises here in the NASB translation. The phrase “can add a single hour to his life” is not in the Greek text. Consistently here and in Luke 12:25 we have in the Greek “can add to his stature one cubit.” In fact there are no variants in the manuscripts that would substantiate a different rendering as we have here. Ironically, the Received Text of the KJV happens to support the best Greek texts.
However, the study of these verses presented what translators perceived as a problem in consistency. Adding what would amount to eighteen inches to one’s stature was not a small amount, and takes the analogy completely out of the context of Jesus’ teaching. It was therefore thought by editors of the NASB that the meaning is better rendered an hour to one’s life. The NIV also follows this rationale, while the American Standard Version (1901) preserves the Greek original.
Hence, this constitutes one of the rare cases where translators’ license deviated from a rigidly faithful representation of the text.
We are totally dependent on God and there are things we simply cannot change or improve no matter how much effort we muster. All things are in His hands. Better that we get on board with His plan for our lives if we are to be satisfied and full in this life.
30 “ . . You of little faith!”
Jesus adds this rejoinder, which seems harsh, but was so endemic in those comprising His audience. It was so incredibly common to forsake faith in God’s provision at this level of life, and to miss the lessons available in the things mentioned above. It is not a case of not having faith, but of having a faith too small.
33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
We seldom believe this in practice. It is fine as an academic acknowledgement, but we leave behind the sound of these words in the sanctuary and proceed out into our daily lives as though we must face reality and make certain things happen by our own efforts. We may have the notion that this works for the special cases – the saints or those called to full-time service. But the average person often thinks that if they don’t make it happen, it won’t.
The key to this verse is in what all these things means. First, we need to get it straight that this is not a formula for getting all the things we ever wanted. It is talking about the things we need, not the things we want. But it can include things we want if they be in accord with the things He wants.
In other words, whether we have needs or wants, if they are about His Kingdom, then seeking that Kingdom and His righteousness will give us the assurance they will be provided.This is terribly hard for people caught up in materialism. Because it may mean that He will not add unto us the Thomasville dining room set that will make all our neighbors green with envy.
This exhortation asks us to focus on our orientation in life, - is it around the right things or the selfish things. The formula works when the heart is in the right place.This is expanded in James where the apostle writes, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”