The Sermon on the Mount 17 - Matt 6:19-24

Jesus continues emphasizing the importance of the spiritual by saying, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth… But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Treasures on earth goes along with fasting for recognition or praying gratitude for being better than someone else. I was listening to the recent general conference talks last week and one of the things that I heard, that of course I can’t find right now, was basically how the love of wealth is like an agitated sea, there is no peace in it. The more money you seek, the more difficult it is to find peace, which is interesting because as people we all recognize that we are all going to die at some point, and we all know of people who spent their lives grabbing for money and power, and then when they died, they left all of it behind to cause problems for their families. Looking at it from an eternal perspective, money in this world yields a very poor return on investment. But then there is in Jacob, that I just read with my kids last night saying, “But before e seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them, and ye will seek them for the intent to do good- to clothe the naked, and to fee the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.”

 

JTC comments, “The transitory character of worldly wealth was next contrasted with the enduring riches of eternity. Many there were and many there are whose principal effort in life has been that of amassing treasures of earth, the mere possession of which entails responsibility, care, and disturbing anxiety… Infinitely more precious are the treasures of a life well spent, the wealth of good deeds, the account of which is kept in heaven, where the riches of righteous achievement are safe from most, rust, and robbers. Then followed the trenchant lesson: ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’” The IM quotes Elder Joe J. Christensen as teaching, “How do we determine where our treasure is? To do so, we need to evaluate the amount of time, money, and thought we devote to something.” Looking at my life, I think, what do I spend my time on? Surely, I go to work, and that takes up a lot of my time, but why do I go to work? I go to work so that I can provide for my family. The job that I’m at now pays significantly less than what I was making in California, and it’s a matter of some anxiety for me, honestly. It’s been a gift to come to this job because there is no opportunity for me to work overtime, the max I can work right now is 40 hours a week, I can’t pick up night shifts, I can’t pick up call or weekend shifts.

 

When I worked in California, I worked ALL THE TIME! I worked so much, plus had a 2 hour commute everyday that I feel like I got caught up in the money grab. To a certain extent I did what I had to do, but perhaps I wasn’t prioritizing correctly and worked too much, became too focused on the money. That’s what money will do to you. You have to have enough to cover your needs, but after that, it becomes a rabbit hole. There’s a documentary on Netflix called “Happy,” and it starts with a rickshaw driver form India who lives in a 3 sided shack made of corrugated metal, and he talks about how happy he is because he loves his wife and son and because he has a job and can put food on the table. The whole point of the movie is that you have to have your basic needs met, food, water, shelter, safety. But once those needs to met, anything over that decreases your happiness. I look back on times when I was obsessed with money, when I was learning about business or surrounding myself with very materialistic people, and who I was at that time was not a happy person, or very Christ-like for that matter. I looked at what others could do for me, how I could get money from them, etc. It was a very dark time for me.

 

The IM quotes President Thomas S. Monson as teaching, “The promised reward was not a treasure of ivory, gold, or silver. Neither did it consist of acres o land or a portfolio of stocks and bonds. The Master spoke of riches within the grasp of all- even joy unspeakable here and eternal happiness hereafter.” When considering treasures of heaven, I often ask myself what is the currency? If I imagine heaven, what elements are there? Peace, which means that repentance would be a big part of my life getting to that. I wouldn’t be weighed down with guilt, or pain, because I would have already worked through that with the Savior and the atonement. So the first treasure to lay up would be repentance. Who would I be there with? Friends and family. Friends would be people with whom I would have a close relationship with in this life. Close relationships come through service, bearing each other’s burdens, kindness, laughter, and support. Family relationships come through not only children, siblings, and parents, but also through family history work, through adoption, or through marriage. So another treasure in heaven would be love and service, family history work and marriage.

 

Jesus continues, “the light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” This is pretty abstract and I appreciate the IM giving some perspective, saying, “Single, as used in this verse, comes from a Greek word meaning ‘sound, healthy, simple, sincere.’ Knowing this definition helps us understand the Savior’s instructions concerning the giving of alms, praying, and fasting. These should all be done with a simple and sincere focus on our Father in Heaven or on the recipient. We might consider such questions as: when I give to the poor, do I hope to bring glory to God or to myself? When I serve the Lord, am I doing so to receive approval from the Lord of from men? When I pray in public, am I addressing God or those in the congregation?” Light here is spiritual power, and if the eye is a window to the soul, then perhaps the eye here represents your own deepest desires. Therefore, spiritual power comes when our deepest desires are to do with will of God. Oh, that’s deep.

 

Jesus brings the two concepts together by reminding the people, “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. The IM clarifies “Mammon comes from an Aramaic term meaning ‘worldly riches’ or ‘wealth.’” This means that you cannot serve God and serve wealth. What does that mean, to serve wealth? I think it goes back to the “what do you spend your time and energy on?” Do we spend our time and energy acquiring wealth, or serving God?” I’ve always had trouble with this concept because I identified the “two masters” as having the significance of two clients. I always felt that having two clients was possible and have done it many times. But where the difference lies is in our commitment to the master and also their opposite natures. We commit to “serving” or committed to work growing their interests, that’s the level of commitment that we are looking at. It’s not a half-hearted, 10 minutes-daily exercise in helpfulness that is required. Jesus is saying that we can’t spend our time and energy devotedly working for two conflicting ideas, at minimum, it renders us disloyal to each.