Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time shows that Jesus teaches worship as a whole-life response. True righteousness is expressed through how we give, pray, and fast. Money, time, and energy reveal what we value. Jesus warns against hypocrisy, misplaced treasure, worry, and serving mammon. He calls believers to trust God, to seek first His kingdom, to maintain a clear spiritual vision, and to order their lives around what truly matters in the kingdom of God.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Audio
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Scriptures used in this lesson:
Matthew 4:17, Matthew 4:23–25, (KJV) Matthew 6:1, Matthew 6:2, Matthew 6:5, (KJV) Matthew 6:16, Matthew 6:19–21, Matthew 19:23–24, Luke 12:20-21, 1 Timothy 6:10, Matthew 6:21, Matthew 6:24, (KJV) Matthew 6:22–23, Matthew 6:24, Matthew 6:25, (KJV) Matthew 6:27, Revelation 1:18, Matthew 6:30, Matthew 14:31, (KJV) Matthew 16:8, Mark 4:40, Matthew 8:10, James 2:22, Matthew 6:32, Romans 12:3, Matthew 6:33,
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
I want to overview Matthew chapter 6. I believe there are aspects of this chapter that are highly relevant to the day and hour we are living in. Some of you have heard parts of this over the last few weeks, and I make no apology for reviewing it, because I feel this is necessary and timely.
The Lord spoke to me specifically concerning David. I do not know precisely how, but I believe something said tonight will answer a question you have. Because of that confidence, we will examine this together. I am not going to go into everything in depth, but I do want to read and highlight a few key phrases from the Scriptures so you can take them home and reflect on them.
Before reading chapter 6, I would like to review a point from chapter 4 briefly. I feel the need to gather a few foundational thoughts that help set the direction of the Sermon on the Mount. These verses help us understand the thrust of what Jesus is teaching.
In Matthew 4:17, Jesus clearly defines His message.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus preached a clear and consistent message. He called people to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. That statement defines the core of His message and ministry.
When we look at Matthew 4:23, we see how that message was lived out.
Matthew 4:23–25
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
The gospel is clearly defined. While the word gospel means good news, the good news itself is the kingdom of God. This is not one gospel among many. It is the gospel. The good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand and present, and there is no better news than that.
Verse 24 shows the impact of this message. Jesus’ fame spread throughout Syria, and people brought to Him every kind of sickness, disease, torment, and affliction. Those possessed by devils, those who were lunatic, and those with palsy were healed. Great multitudes followed Him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond Jordan.
The gospel of the kingdom is a gospel of demonstration. It is not only spoken words but visible action that follows those words. Jesus traveled throughout Galilee teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and He performed the signs that confirmed that message.
Signs and wonders consistently accompanied this gospel. That matters because it describes the ministry of Jesus Christ. His ministry was focused on people. He laid hands on them and ministered to their needs. He served people through both His words and His actions.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
In the same way, His church is called to minister as He ministered. We are to serve people through what we say and how we live, imparting the things of God into their lives and ministering to them fully.
What I want us to see in these passages is straightforward. The message of Jesus Christ is the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel is the good news that we are called to repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. That is the heart of His message.
As we move into chapter 6, I want to move through the opening verses fairly quickly. Chapter 6, verses 1-18, presents a clear contrast. Jesus contrasts hypocrites with true citizens of the kingdom of God. He shows how hypocritical people behave and then how kingdom people are to live and act. This contrast is presented in three specific ways.
Righteousness in the Kingdom of God
What Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount is explaining the kingdom of God. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 together form that explanation. What He is really teaching us is how to think. He is shaping how a kingdom person is supposed to think and approach life.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
In verse 1 of chapter 6, Jesus gives a warning. He tells us not to practice our acts of righteousness before people to be seen by them. When we do that, we lose the reward that comes from our Father in heaven.
Matthew 6:1
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
In the King James Bible, the word alms can also be understood as righteousness. Jesus is telling us not to practice our righteousness before people to be seen by them. Other translations say the same thing in slightly different ways. The point is clear. These acts are not to be done for public recognition, because that is how the hypocrites behave.
In verse 2, Jesus begins to explain the first way we worship the Lord.
Matthew 6:2
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
He speaks about giving. When we give, we are not to draw attention to ourselves or seek praise from others. Hypocrites give in public places to receive glory from men, and Jesus says that people’s recognition is their reward. They receive nothing from the Lord.
The first thing he says is: when you give, don’t give so men will see you. He’s discussing giving and will teach us in three areas of giving. I aim to show that righteousness is understood in three ways. This is the foundation of our discussion.
The first way righteousness is expressed is through righteous giving. Jesus begins with giving money. He refers to alms, which are the giving of money, and He explains how that giving is to be done.
He then moves on to another way we worship and give to God. That way is prayer. Prayer is the giving of our time. It requires time intentionally set aside during the day or at night. As Jesus teaches on prayer, He includes the Lord’s Prayer and addresses forgiveness as part of that instruction.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 6:5
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
In Matthew 5:16, he presents the third way we give. How is that? Give by fasting. The way I want to liken that is we give our energy or our strength.
Matthew 6:16
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Jesus shows that we worship God in three clear ways. We worship with our money. We worship with our time through prayer, and we worship with our energy/strength. This is what it means to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Our giving, our praying, and our effort all reveal how we worship.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Treasures, Trust, and Priorities
That understanding forms the foundation. It summarizes how righteous acts are lived out. With that foundation in place, Jesus then moves into more personal matters. Beginning in verse 19, He starts to speak about treasures.
In that verse, Jesus tells us,
Matthew 6:19–21
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Jesus is continuing the contrast. He has moved from hypocrites and kingdom citizens to earthly things and heavenly things. Those two ideas are in opposition.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
I explained that another term for “heavenly” is “spiritual.” We are either storing up spiritual things or storing up carnal things. Jesus is clear that we are not to lay up treasures in carnal, earthly things. Instead, if we are going to store up treasure, it must be in spiritual things. He is simply warning us not to become tied to the things of the earth.
Trust in God is not optional. If we are not trusting God, then we are trusting something else. Trust is essential in our Christian walk and in life in the kingdom of God. We have to learn how to trust Him.
That kind of trust takes time. It does not happen overnight. Our minds have to be trained to trust God. Trusting earthly things comes naturally. It is easier to trust money, possessions, and things we can see, touch, and experience. Trusting spiritual things requires training.
Training the mind to trust God is what we call faith. Faith in God must be developed. We work at it. This is especially important for youth, as I want this understanding to serve as a foundation in their lives.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
The key point is clear. Trust is not optional. It is necessary for walking in the kingdom of God. The word “treasure,” as noted, means “deposit” or “wealth,” and Jesus is speaking about things that are temporary and passing away.
Jesus is talking about things that can be lost. Moth, rust, decay, and thieves can take earthly things away. Clothes wear out. Food spoils. Jewelry attracts thieves. Money can disappear just as easily. None of these things lasts.
Accordingly, He tells us not to put our trust in things that are passing away. Our trust is to be placed in the things of the Spirit. Learning to do that takes time. It does not happen overnight. Trust has to be developed.
The Eye, Vision, and Single Devotion
What Jesus is doing here is helping us get our priorities in order. We are not to mistrust God, nor to trust things that should not be trusted. He is correcting the basis of our confidence.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
That leads to an important question. How do we lay up treasures on earth? We do it with our money, our time, and our energy. Those are the ways earthly treasure is accumulated. The same principle applies to heaven. We lay up treasures in heaven with our money, our time, and our energy.
This becomes a foundation for understanding spiritual condition. If you know where a person’s money goes, where their time goes, and where their energy goes, you can see where they are in their walk with the Lord and in the kingdom of God. That understanding becomes clearer as we move through this chapter.
Verse 20 reinforces the contrast. Jesus continues to compare earthly and heavenly, or carnal and spiritual. Treasure is stored in one place or another depending on where we invest our money, time, and energy.
This does not mean wealth itself is wrong. Abraham was wealthy. David was wealthy. Solomon was wealthy. God made them wealthy. Wealth is not wrong, but it is dangerous. The real issue is whether wealth has us or we have wealth. The accumulation of money and riches carries serious spiritual danger.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Jesus addresses this in Matthew 19:23-24.
Matthew 19:23–24
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
That teaching demonstrates how difficult it is for someone with wealth to walk in the kingdom principles taught here.
I also pointed you to Luke 12:16-21, where Jesus speaks about the man who stored up his goods in barns. Jesus called him a fool. The reason was apparent. His priorities were out of order. He trusted in his riches rather than in God.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Luke 12:20-21
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
1 Timothy 6:10 talks about the love of money. i
1 Timothy 6:10
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Is money wrong? No. But is it dangerous? It can root evil inside us.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
This is the principle Jesus wants us to understand. It is fine to have money, wealth, or possessions as long as they do not have us. The issue is not ownership but control.
Jesus is concerned with our priorities. Judas Iscariot is an example. He loved money, and that love led to the betrayal of Jesus. In the same way, many Christians allow wealth or treasure to betray their walk in the kingdom of God.
Wealth itself is not wrong, but the accumulation of wealth is dangerous. That is the simple teaching. Jesus articulates this as a clear principle in Matthew 6:21.
Matthew 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The reason is simple. Your heart cannot be in two places at the same time. Jesus is about to explain this more clearly. Your heart cannot serve two masters.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 6:24
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
I want to speak directly to the young people. I am primarily addressing those in junior high and high school. You are entering a season where strong pullings and attractions will come your way. Many of those things will look good and feel appealing.
The Lord’s instruction to you is explicit. Your priorities must be in order. You cannot serve both God and mammon. I am pressing this because I want it to take root in your lives, even if it feels difficult to get across fully.
Jesus then shifts the teaching to the subject of the eye. This is where the focus becomes very personal.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 6:22–23
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
I want to spend a little time on what Jesus means in this passage. He is referring to an eye that contains nothing else. There is no dirt and no splinters. It is a single eye, clear and unhindered, with no pathology.
Different translations describe this the same way. Some say the eye is pure. Others say it is clear or good. All of them point to the same idea. Clear eyesight brings great light. When vision is clear, your walk is steady. You do not stumble, and obstacles do not trip you up.
If there are no splinters or distractions in your eyes, you can see clearly. That includes treasures, relationships, drugs, alcohol, music, or anything else competing for attention. With clear vision, you can live and walk in a holy and righteous way.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
When splinters get into the eye, everything changes. If the eye is not single, it becomes evil, and the whole body fills with darkness. Vision becomes blurred. The things of God are no longer clear. What once mattered loses importance, and what should not matter begins to control attention. Distractions take priority and keep people from walking faithfully.
Serving God or Mammon
Translations describe this kind of eye as clouded, bad, diseased, or unsound. When treasures and things enter the vision, clarity is lost. Spiritual sight becomes blurred, and the things of God fade from view.
I saw this happen with our youth after camp. They returned excited, on fire, and worshiping Jesus with a clear vision. It did not take long before distractions reappeared. Like dust in their eyes, those things interfered with their walk. Other treasures slowly replaced single vision.
Tonight, the Lord is speaking urgently to some of you. He is saying your vision is unclear. You have allowed specks, debris, and garbage to enter your eye. He wants that washed away by the water of the Word so you can see clearly again.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Jesus uses the eye as a parallel for our walk in the kingdom of God. Just as the eye determines how we see, it also reflects how we live. Many of us wear glasses because our vision is blurred without them. We all understand what happens when something gets in our eyes. It brings pain, darkness, and confusion, and suddenly, we cannot see or walk steadily.
Jesus compares a healthy, clear eye to an unhealthy, diseased one. A clear eye contains nothing and functions appropriately. A diseased eye contains foreign matter and loses clarity. When treasures enter our lives and begin to control us, darkness also begins to enter. Those treasures start to have us rather than us having them.
When the eye is clear, and the only true treasure is the kingdom of God, vision remains clear. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness keeps our sight focused. Clear vision allows us to walk safely and with direction.
The eye is the lamp of the body. It must be pure, clear, sound, and single to function correctly. When anything foreign enters, everything becomes blurred. Without proper light, we lose direction, stumble, and fall. Something else replaces the things of God as most important.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
The Lord connects a healthy eye to healthy thinking and a diseased eye to distorted thinking about treasure. A person consumed with earthly treasure lives in darkness. The depth of that darkness reflects how blurred their spiritual vision has become.
Although I am addressing the youth, this applies to all of us. Every one of us has experienced moments when something blurred our vision. We allowed a speck or a treasure to come between us and the kingdom of God. Even while continuing religious activity, we stopped seeking God first.
Jesus brings this teaching to a clear conclusion. If anything stands between us and the kingdom, it has become a treasure. He then says plainly that no one can serve two masters. We cannot serve both God and mammon. It is not possible.
Matthew 6:24
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Jesus makes it unmistakably clear. You cannot serve two gods. Your mind will try to convince you that you can do both, but it is not possible. In time, you will love one and reject the other. Eventually, one will cause you to turn your back on the other.
Mammon is defined as wealth personified. It represents misplaced confidence and a passion for acquiring and hoarding riches. When those things become central, they are treated as a god. Mammon receives what belongs to God. It receives our trust, our passion, our money, our time, our prayer, and our energy. In that way, mammon becomes deified instead of God.
Serving God goes beyond words. Mammon manifests in what controls our resources. It takes our money, our time, and our energy. That control varies across individuals. I shared how deer hunting once became my mammon. It received my money, my time, and my energy, and it became an idol in my life.
I have had other idols as well. An idol is always identified the same way. It is whatever receives our time, our money, and our energy. That is what mammon looks like.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Young people, the same principle applies to you. Whatever is taking your time, the little money you have, and your energy is your idol. If it is not God, then it is mammon. You cannot serve both.
Jesus then points us to the first commandment. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:29-30). That command makes it clear who is to receive all that we are and all that we have.
God is meant to receive all of us. He is to have our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. That should be the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. If it is not, then something else has taken His place, and that something is mammon.
We will give ourselves fully to either our capital-G God or our little-g god. Whatever we serve becomes our god. What we sacrifice for, feel passion toward, and give allegiance to is what we worship. There are only two options. It is either God or mammon. Because there is only one true God, worshiping mammon is idolatry.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
I am asking both young people and older ones to hear this. This is about discernment. A mature church is not defined by love alone, because love is commanded. Maturity is shown through discernment. A mature church can look at a life, recognize where a person is, and minister to them at that point of need.
Jesus teaches us how to discern lives. We observed this last week when we examined Romans 1 and how sin begins with a thought and then spirals downward into more profound corruption. That lesson demonstrated how spiritual decline operates.
This teaching begins with self-examination. Before we try to remove a speck from someone else’s eye, we must look at our own lives. We are learning how to discern rightly. A mature church knows how to discern lives, starting with its own. The answer remains the same. You cannot serve both God and mammon.
Accordingly, Jesus brings the teaching to a practical conclusion. He tells us not to be anxious about our lives. We are not to worry about food, drink, clothing, or bodily needs. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 6:25
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Jesus addresses several priorities. He addresses different aspects of life, but the central point remains the same. We are not to confuse our priorities. Nothing is to be placed ahead of the kingdom of God. Things must not be allowed to interfere with the kingdom.
He then speaks about food. Food is not a true priority, and we are not to worry or be anxious about it. For most of us, food is not the issue.
Verse 27 addresses a deeper concern.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 6:27
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Jesus asks who can add anything to their life by worrying. The word translated as “stature” can mean “size,” but the emphasis is on age. His point is clear. Anxiety and worry cannot add anything to our lives.
The different translations all make the same point. Worry cannot add anything to life. Some translations speak of moments, hours, or years, but the meaning is the same. Worry does not extend life.
Jesus is not talking about physical growth. He is talking about adding years to life. People try many things to lengthen their lives. We see that all around us. Yet no amount of worrying can add a single moment.
There are measures we can take to prevent life from being shortened. We can eat right. We can exercise, and we can manage our health. Those things matter. Worry, however, does not help at all.
That is the heart of what Jesus is teaching here. We are not to worry about food, clothing, or the length of our lives. Worry cannot produce life.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Man can worry himself to death, but he cannot worry himself into life. The Lord alone holds the keys to death and hell.
Revelation 1:18
18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Only God’s sovereignty determines the length of our days. Worry can consume our lives, but it cannot add even one day beyond what the Lord allows. Accordingly, our priorities must remain in order.
There are health principles we should follow. Poor choices can shorten life, but no action can extend it beyond God’s will. That truth reinforces Jesus’ main point. We are not to let priorities drift out of place.
As Jesus brings this section toward a close in verse 30, He reminds us of God’s care. If God clothes the grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, He will surely care for us. A lack of trust in that truth reveals little faith.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Matthew 6:30
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
I want to discuss faith briefly, so this is not misunderstood. Years ago, I taught faith strongly. Everything centered on faith. I believed for houses, cars, clothes, money, and things.
Jesus addresses the same issues here. He says the heathen seek after them. He then calls that kind of focus little faith. Trusting God mainly for things falls into that category.
I am not disparaging faith or the ministries that teach it. Faith is necessary. Training your mind to trust God requires faith, and faith must grow. That is not the message God has given me right now.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
When Jesus speaks of little faith, He connects it to doubt. Peter is called a man of little faith because he doubted and began to sink.
Matthew 14:31
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Matthew 16 and 8, the disciples did not remember the lessons of Christ’s miracles.
Matthew 16:8
8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
So all those are little faith scriptures. Mark 4:40 talks about no faith.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Mark 4:40
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
But what I want you to see is that in Matthew 18, it talks about great faith. And it’s talking about the centurion who understood authority.
Matthew 8:10
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
And then in James 2:22, it talks about faith made perfect or perfect faith, which is Abraham’s faith, and it was concerning the obedience of Abraham.
James 2:22
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Many faith messages today focus on achieving and getting things. Such a focus reflects little faith. Very little is taught about obedience and authority, even though Jesus called that great faith and James called it perfect faith.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
When faith centers on food, drink, clothing, longer life, and provision, Jesus places it in the category of little faith. To Him, those things are of lesser importance. Understanding authority and obedience carries far greater weight.
Yet modern teaching often reverses those priorities. Things are treated as necessary, while obedience and authority are minimized. Jesus will clarify this even more in verse 32.
Matthew 6:32
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Faith grows. Scripture describes faith like a muscle. The more it is used, the stronger it becomes. There is no faith, little faith, great faith, and faith made perfect. The Lord gives each of us the measure of faith. We then develope our faith.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Romans 12:3
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
What I want you to see is that the things of the kingdom of God rise above what Jesus calls little faith. Kingdom matters go beyond focusing on things.
Seeking First the Kingdom
Jesus then brings it all together in Matthew 6:33.
Matthew 6:33
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
Let me summarize what we have covered. We began by looking at treasures. We then examined mammon, which encompasses concerns about long life, food, drink, and clothing. Jesus says these are the things the heathen seek, and He calls that little faith. In verse 32, He shows that when we pursue these things, we begin to live as the lost do. He carefully lays this foundation by showing us what not to seek and what not to do.
Then Jesus brings it all together in verse 33. He uses the word “but” to shift the focus. He tells us what we are to seek instead. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these “little faith” things will be added. When we put the kingdom first, we do not have to chase things. As we walk in the kingdom, things are added. The word “first” means first in time, place, order, and importance. The heathen seek food, clothing, and long life first, but God’s people are called to seek something far greater: the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
A Final Call to Order Our Lives
This brings me to my closing thought. Seeking the kingdom means being absorbed in it. It means an intense, deliberate pursuit. It involves striving, desiring, and ordering our lives around it. Nothing is more important than the kingdom of God. In the mind of Jesus Christ, nothing came before His kingdom. That was first and foremost to Him.
Matthew 6 Overview How to Worship with Life Money Time
The word “seek” carries that meaning. It involves focused thought, purposeful pursuit, and a strenuous effort to obtain. That is what the teaching of the kingdom is about. It is learning to grasp what God’s kingdom truly is. Everything Jesus has said up to this point leads to this one conclusion.
If your eyes are filled with treasures, you are not seeking first the kingdom. When food, clothing, sports, hunting, or other things take priority, the kingdom is no longer first. Whatever takes your money, your time, and your energy becomes your idol. It is either God or mammon.
Young people, I urge you to hear this. Begin now to train your mind. Begin at your age by seeking first the kingdom of God. If you do, you will quickly recognize when something tries to take its place. You will not have to spend months stumbling in darkness before realizing your vision has been blurred.
Learn now to teach your soul to trust God. Learn now how to develop faith. Faith grows by seeking first the kingdom. When you pursue the things of God, faith will follow.
I close by asking the Lord to minister this truth to His people. I ask Him to plant these seeds deeply within us and to turn our vision fully toward His kingdom.
Matthew 6 Overview
Matthew 6 Overview
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