What did HE say? (continued)
Thoughts on The Sermon (Part 7)
“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. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast , but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:16-18). Repetition. Three times the Master cautions us against doing things for public consumption that should be done in a private way between a person and his God. The wording is nearly identical and covers a variety of things both spoken and unspoken. When we give alms which can be likened to giving in most every way; when we pray regardless of how or what we pray for or about; and when we fast or do any type of mental or physical discipline for a Godly or for a spiritual reason. In none of these should we be broadcasting our intent nor our activity nor our result to the world of men; these things are between the Father and us in secret and in the secret place. Three times Jesus repeats the same instruction thereby amplifying the importance and the significance in our spiritual lives.
The tone of the Sermon changes here again and becomes a dissertation on the heart of man and its ability to take on the emphasis of a higher spiritual life or a lower carnal one. He starts with His continued teaching regarding what is important to each of us in life equating this always to our treasure. He says: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“(Matthew 6:19-21). Though there are places in the world where the basic necessities are all that a person may want for himself and his family, the array of things that people strive for in our modern world is unlimited. Where we are there are unlimited enticements to pleasure and physical comfort in a constant stream flowing past us in living color. Whatever our predilection there is something in the world for us to go after and which gives to us what we call joy. For some joy in in owning big houses or expensive cars and working toward that end; for others joy is having an attractive or a loving husband or wife and family; for others joy is in what he can take from another without work; for others joy is living life as a party. And for some there is no joy as they go through each day just looking for the end of it and doing what they must to get by. Endless variations there are and, lest we forget, there are some for whom their joy is in the Lord, in their relationship with their own Soul and the Christ Within and in their ability to be of service to their brothers and sisters in some way.
Jesus gives us, in this teaching, the way to the Kingdom. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth is our instruction to not go after the things that create the pleasures of this life and the comfort of easy living because they are temporal and subject to corruption or decay and they can be stolen from us. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven is our instruction to look to the Kingdom of God for our treasure; from the Kingdom (and remember the Kingdom is within you) comes righteousness and Love and goodwill and all thing that are of the Good, the Beautiful and the True. These are incorruptible treasures which build up in our lives when our focus is on the Lord and His Kingdom. These treasures shower down upon our hearts in an endless stream of Light. He closes this thought with this truth: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also which says simply that what we see as important, what we focus on and put our time and attention into, will become what is in our hearts and the focus of our conscious daily living. If we look to heavenly things we will live in righteousness and goodwill; if we look to earthly things we will live as driven by the senses to pleasure and …
Continuing on the same basic theme the Master tells us “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 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!” (Matthew 6:22-23). The Greek word ophthalmos is translated as eye and is defined by Strong’s as eye, the organ of sight; by extension: the faculty of mental perception and understanding*** which should give us the idea that Jesus is referring to the mind as being illumined by the Light of the Soul, the Christ Within or being illumined by the darkness of the world. The word translated as single has a meaning of wholeness and good or simple and pure and it is contrasted to evil which is just that; everything bad. Jesus admonition here is to let not your mind be darkened by the world but let it stand pure in the Light of the Spirit. This is the same theme of focus that we have been discussing; whether the subject is treasure or light the idea is the same. Whatever has our attention and our time and our resources is our treasure and it is where our hearts and minds are; our focus sets what is the light or the darkness of our lives. From light to dark there are unlimited values ranging from total darkness to the brightest Light of God. And this is the condition of man, that he can be anywhere upon this scale and also changing from moment to moment.
Jesus continues with this: “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 6:24). This is a hard saying for the Master is telling us that we must choose whom to serve; God or mammon. Mammon is defined by Strong’s as wealth, assets*** and should be seen as those things that we have as possessions but more also; the lexicon includes riches (where it is personified and opposed to God)** which is called by Webster’s the god or riches*. For our purposes we will say of mammon that it is living a worldly life and looking to the god(s) of this world for our benefits and our pleasures and it is here that we MUST choose. His words leave no wiggle room except to say that we can change our service day by day but at any given time we must be aligned to one side or the other. In the Lord’s speech the relation here is to serving God or mammon. Could this not be looked upon, as most all of His other words, as the choice between God and our carnal nature? If so, then again the idea here is on focus and whether we give our attention to God under the impulse of the Spirit or the world of things under the impulse of our carnal nature. The message is ever the same and ever clear.
Bob Dylan wrote a song on this theme which says that no matter what station in life you are at you have to serve somebody and then sings “it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re gonna have to serve somebody“. Putting the word devil in place of mammon can make a clearer picture of what the Master has said and who is the devil but our own lower carnal selves driven by lusts and anger and greed and every vile thing that is in the world today.
Jesus now begins to teach on a series of things that we should take no thought for and in this is included the everyday necessities of life. There are differences in the church as to how this is taught with some saying that it means what it says and others saying it applies to worry and caring about. The lexicon and Strong’s lean toward worry and concerned and many translations say the Greek work merimnao as anxious. Marvin Vincent says on this that the word …carries the common notion of earnest thoughtfullness. It may include the ideas of worry and anxiety, and may emphasize these but not necessarily****; he then goes on to explain and to say that in these verses anxious was, in his opinion, the thought of the Lord. For our purposes anxious will work as well as just plain thinking about these things at all. It is in the general idea that we find the value is in this teaching. Whether we say don’t think about it or don’t worry or don’t be concerned is all the same thing in that He is telling us that our Father in heaven knows what we need and He will provide. He also gives us a part to play in this and that is that we seek Him first. It is in seeking the Lord that we find His riches and His glory.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear ? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid ? …….. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage , and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait , I say, on the LORD. (Psalm 27:1,14). Today’s Quote of the Day is taken from the first and the last lines of the Twenty Seventh Psalm and its message is that we should put away all fear. Fear is a great disruptor of lives and can leave one motionless in its wake. It is however naught but our emotional reaction to some unknown which, instead of being lessened by the light of mind, is fed by the darkness of it. This Psalm is a meditation on the FACT that the Lord, the Christ Within and the God without, is the Light that shines on the heart, the personality of man, illumining the mind and giving us strength and our sense of salvation. In the final verse wait literally means Look unto the Lord. He is our source of courage; look to the Christ Within, the Soul for courage and He will strengthen our hearts against the fears of life.
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
