THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Matt. 5, 6, 7 (34)

January 5, 2019

4-9-18

Key: SCHAFF: “When the Lord open his mouth, we should open our ears and hearts” 

HEAVENLY FOCUS AS OPPOSED TO WORLDLY MINDEDNESS Matt. 6:19-24

Christ, having warned against hypocrisy and coveting the praise of men with regards to alms giving, prayers and fasting, proceeds to warn us against the world and her wealth. The choice we make is very important. It is either we choose God, heaven and her treasures or the Satan, the world and her treasures. “The mind governed by the flesh (the world) is hostile to God…” Rom. 8:7 NIV, “If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his ways” Jas. 4:4 TM. “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride of our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but from the world.” 1Jn. 2:16 NLT.

  1. Matt. 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where your treasure is there your heart will be.”
    1. ‘Treasures’ Webster’s Dictionary says ” wealth ( as money, jewels, precious metals) stored up, wealth of any kind or in any form; a store of money in reserve, collection of precious things, something of great worth or value; also person esteemed as rare and precious.” “That good and that chief good, which Solomon speaks of with emphasis in Eccl. 2:3. It is man’s portion, which his heart is upon, to which he carries all he can get, and which he depends upon for futility. Something which the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing, which it has a complacency and confidence in above other things” Mathew Henry
    2. ‘Do not lay up treasure on earth…’
      1. Moth and rust will destroy it, thieves will break in and steal. Jas. 5:2, Is. 50:9, Job. 4:19; 13:28. The treasures will not last forever. Pro. 23:5, Jer. 17:11, Ps. 49:10, 1Tim. 6:7. “Why do you lay up where you may lose; and where, if you do not lose, you cannot always stay? There is another place to which I will remove you. Let what you have go before you, and fear not lest you lose it; I was the giver, I will guard” – Augustine.
    3. ‘Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
      1. Human beings as a treasure. Offer yourself to the Lord. 2Cor. 8:5, Rom. 12:1-4, Phil. 2:3-11.
      2. We are born to serve. Service is a natural response of those who are saved by His grace. 2Cor. 5:13-14.
      3. To minister to the Great Physician, by ministering to His servants, is our ultimate service to God. Col. 4:14, 2Tim. 4:11. Phil. 2:19-23. Luke left his lucrative practice in Antioch, to join Paul in his missionary journeys to Macedonia and beyond. Matt. 9:9, Lk. 5:1-11, Act. 20:1-5.
  2. It continues.