19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If
therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will
be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how
great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he
will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Commentary
Vs. 19-21 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Lord Jesus now addresses our wealth and possessions, for all these come to us from God, and so it is to God to whom we are responsible to in how we use and dispense these things. Now it is not wrong to have personal possessions or “wealth”; or to enjoy ones personal possessions; since God gives us all things to richly enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17) and so that is not the issue. The issue is what effect they are having on us, i.e. is the acquisition and collection of our “treasures” consuming our hearts and driving our lives? Because the selfish pursuit of wealth (or justifying the same) is a grave evil not a Godly virtue (Consider 1 Tim 6:5-10; James 4:13-17; 5:1-6), and as the Lord Jesus Christ warns us all here those “treasures” are only temporary, they do not have any everlasting value or worth assigned to them, especially if they are only being used by and kept for us. And so whether they decay and deteriorate by natural occurrences, i.e. moth and rust, or they become obsolete, or they become objects which thieves target for themselves, and thus break in and steal, their “shelf-life” is very limited, and their true value is only to be measured by what they will reap for us in eternity (vs. 19-20). Therefore the Lord Jesus warns us all not to lay up “treasures” for ourselves on earth (waiting for some far off day or need that may never come). Rather the Lord Jesus says: “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The Lord Jesus warning then is do not let your heart be over taken by, or captivated with your wealth, your treasures, or your possessions because neither “security”, or “life”, or “significance” can be found in any temporal things. And as the Lord Jesus warns us all here: “where your treasure is there your heart will be also”, and so the deceitfulness of riches should never be lost on any of us (consider Matt. 13:22). Therefore rather than trying to lay up treasures on earth the Lord Jesus warns us all to invest our God given treasures in the Kingdom of heaven while we can, so that we can have all the everlasting riches and treasures in heaven that God wants us to have. And so rather than just selfishly hoarding up what one has, or greedily trying to acquire more of the same, think about how you can use what you already have to build God’s Kingdom and bless others down here while you can (consider Luke 16:1-13; 1 Tim 6:17-19), because as the Lord Jesus warns us all: “where your treasures is there your heart will be also.” Therefore do not let your heart be overtaken with this world’s riches and treasures, for that has been the eternal ruin of many a person (consider Matt. 13:22; Mark 8:36-9:1).
Vs. 22-23 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Here the Lord Jesus uses the analogy of a lamp that illuminates a room with that of a person having a good eye which likewise fills the body with light. The metaphor of light and darkness and its effects on us, should not be lost any of us (consider John 12:35-36). And so here the Lord Jesus contrasts the wonderful effects of having a Kingdom of heaven focus with the very negative effects of only having an earthly focus, of only trying to acquire this world’s wealth and treasures for oneself. The good eye person then is the person whose heart and life is focused on the Kingdom of heaven and pursuing its treasures and riches, and thus because their eye is good their whole person is full of light, for God not only fills them with light by His Son’s indwelling Holy Spirit’s Presence in them, but because their trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word; but He also guides and directs them into a fruitful and Godly life as they pursue His Will and follow Christ, which not only enriches their lives down here, but is part parcel of making them rich for all eternity. A person with a good eye then is not given over to greed or covetousness; they are not being driven by a selfish desire to acquire more and more. They understand that they are stewards of all that God entrusts to them down here, and so their desire is to please Him by being rich towards God and generous towards all with all that He gives them and blesses them with. Therefore their whole person is filled with light; God’s light because the darkness is being shut out of their heart and mind and life by having one’s eyes on God and His Son and putting His Kingdom first and foremost in one’s heart and life. In contrast to them is the person with the bad eye, who by their own covetousness or greed becomes filled with darkness within. For when ones eye is bad the darkness not only fills their whole person, but through that same corrupted “light” they begin to do and justify all manner of unrighteousness, for the darkness not only corrupts within, but it also blinds one’s eyes so that they lose all manner of Spiritual sight and discernment, which is a very perilous state for anyone to be in. And so unable to see God or His own people in a true and right light anymore, they turn against Him. Now in the Gospels the Pharisees and Sadducees were such men, religious to core on the outside, but on the inside they were only filled with all manner of greed and wickedness (Luke 11:39). And so not only were they utterly blinded to their own evil and darkness within themselves, but when they saw and heard the Lord Jesus Christ preach, teach, and heal; basically doing good everywhere He went and to everyone He met; they not only wrongly judged Him and everything that the Lord Jesus Christ said and did, but when they did perceive that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God, they would only go on to plot His destruction. Therefore what the Lord Jesus Christ is warning us all about here as His followers is to beware of the darkness that will overtake you if you are giving yourselves to mammon and not to God. For the Lord Jesus is warning us all that there is a horrific spiritual darkness that comes within anyone when ones eye is bad, which will not only blind you to God and things of God, but ultimately it will corrupt your whole person within (in this consider Satan’s fall in Ezekiel 28:11-19, vs. 16, 18). Therefore do not let the light that is in you be darkness, rather let it be the true light of God through faith in and obedience towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
Vs. 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The Lord Jesus Christ now makes it plain and clear that no-one can serve two masters; for you’ll either hate the one and love the other, or else you’ll be loyal to one and despise the other. Therefore no one can serve God and mammon (an Aramaic word for riches/wealth/money). For again as the Lord Jesus says only one can be your master, either God in heaven or mammon on earth, there than can be no divided loyalties, for its either all the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of heaven, or it is this world and the god of it that one will be serving. Therefore let us all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ only love and serve God our Father and let the world and those who love it serve their mammon (consider 1 John 2:15-17; Rev. 18:1-8).
Scripture Quotations
Commentary
Vs. 19-21 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Lord Jesus now addresses our wealth and possessions, for all these come to us from God, and so it is to God to whom we are responsible to in how we use and dispense these things. Now it is not wrong to have personal possessions or “wealth”; or to enjoy ones personal possessions; since God gives us all things to richly enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17) and so that is not the issue. The issue is what effect they are having on us, i.e. is the acquisition and collection of our “treasures” consuming our hearts and driving our lives? Because the selfish pursuit of wealth (or justifying the same) is a grave evil not a Godly virtue (Consider 1 Tim 6:5-10; James 4:13-17; 5:1-6), and as the Lord Jesus Christ warns us all here those “treasures” are only temporary, they do not have any everlasting value or worth assigned to them, especially if they are only being used by and kept for us. And so whether they decay and deteriorate by natural occurrences, i.e. moth and rust, or they become obsolete, or they become objects which thieves target for themselves, and thus break in and steal, their “shelf-life” is very limited, and their true value is only to be measured by what they will reap for us in eternity (vs. 19-20). Therefore the Lord Jesus warns us all not to lay up “treasures” for ourselves on earth (waiting for some far off day or need that may never come). Rather the Lord Jesus says: “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The Lord Jesus warning then is do not let your heart be over taken by, or captivated with your wealth, your treasures, or your possessions because neither “security”, or “life”, or “significance” can be found in any temporal things. And as the Lord Jesus warns us all here: “where your treasure is there your heart will be also”, and so the deceitfulness of riches should never be lost on any of us (consider Matt. 13:22). Therefore rather than trying to lay up treasures on earth the Lord Jesus warns us all to invest our God given treasures in the Kingdom of heaven while we can, so that we can have all the everlasting riches and treasures in heaven that God wants us to have. And so rather than just selfishly hoarding up what one has, or greedily trying to acquire more of the same, think about how you can use what you already have to build God’s Kingdom and bless others down here while you can (consider Luke 16:1-13; 1 Tim 6:17-19), because as the Lord Jesus warns us all: “where your treasures is there your heart will be also.” Therefore do not let your heart be overtaken with this world’s riches and treasures, for that has been the eternal ruin of many a person (consider Matt. 13:22; Mark 8:36-9:1).
Vs. 22-23 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Here the Lord Jesus uses the analogy of a lamp that illuminates a room with that of a person having a good eye which likewise fills the body with light. The metaphor of light and darkness and its effects on us, should not be lost any of us (consider John 12:35-36). And so here the Lord Jesus contrasts the wonderful effects of having a Kingdom of heaven focus with the very negative effects of only having an earthly focus, of only trying to acquire this world’s wealth and treasures for oneself. The good eye person then is the person whose heart and life is focused on the Kingdom of heaven and pursuing its treasures and riches, and thus because their eye is good their whole person is full of light, for God not only fills them with light by His Son’s indwelling Holy Spirit’s Presence in them, but because their trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word; but He also guides and directs them into a fruitful and Godly life as they pursue His Will and follow Christ, which not only enriches their lives down here, but is part parcel of making them rich for all eternity. A person with a good eye then is not given over to greed or covetousness; they are not being driven by a selfish desire to acquire more and more. They understand that they are stewards of all that God entrusts to them down here, and so their desire is to please Him by being rich towards God and generous towards all with all that He gives them and blesses them with. Therefore their whole person is filled with light; God’s light because the darkness is being shut out of their heart and mind and life by having one’s eyes on God and His Son and putting His Kingdom first and foremost in one’s heart and life. In contrast to them is the person with the bad eye, who by their own covetousness or greed becomes filled with darkness within. For when ones eye is bad the darkness not only fills their whole person, but through that same corrupted “light” they begin to do and justify all manner of unrighteousness, for the darkness not only corrupts within, but it also blinds one’s eyes so that they lose all manner of Spiritual sight and discernment, which is a very perilous state for anyone to be in. And so unable to see God or His own people in a true and right light anymore, they turn against Him. Now in the Gospels the Pharisees and Sadducees were such men, religious to core on the outside, but on the inside they were only filled with all manner of greed and wickedness (Luke 11:39). And so not only were they utterly blinded to their own evil and darkness within themselves, but when they saw and heard the Lord Jesus Christ preach, teach, and heal; basically doing good everywhere He went and to everyone He met; they not only wrongly judged Him and everything that the Lord Jesus Christ said and did, but when they did perceive that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God, they would only go on to plot His destruction. Therefore what the Lord Jesus Christ is warning us all about here as His followers is to beware of the darkness that will overtake you if you are giving yourselves to mammon and not to God. For the Lord Jesus is warning us all that there is a horrific spiritual darkness that comes within anyone when ones eye is bad, which will not only blind you to God and things of God, but ultimately it will corrupt your whole person within (in this consider Satan’s fall in Ezekiel 28:11-19, vs. 16, 18). Therefore do not let the light that is in you be darkness, rather let it be the true light of God through faith in and obedience towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
Vs. 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The Lord Jesus Christ now makes it plain and clear that no-one can serve two masters; for you’ll either hate the one and love the other, or else you’ll be loyal to one and despise the other. Therefore no one can serve God and mammon (an Aramaic word for riches/wealth/money). For again as the Lord Jesus says only one can be your master, either God in heaven or mammon on earth, there than can be no divided loyalties, for its either all the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of heaven, or it is this world and the god of it that one will be serving. Therefore let us all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ only love and serve God our Father and let the world and those who love it serve their mammon (consider 1 John 2:15-17; Rev. 18:1-8).
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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