Thus far in the Sermon Jesus urged His disciples to base their understanding of the righteousness God requires on the revelation of Scripture, not the traditional interpretations of their leaders (5:17-48). Then He clarified that true righteousness involved genuine worship of the Father, not hypocritical, ostentatious worship (6:1-18). Next, He revealed what true righteousness involves as the disciple lives in the world. He dealt with four key relationships: the disciple's relationship to wealth (6:19-34), to his or her brethren (7:1-5), to his or her antagonists (7:6), and to God (7:7-12).
6:19-21 In view of the imminence of the kingdom, Jesus' disciples should "stop laying up treasures on earth."329Jesus called for a break with their former practice. Clearly money is not evil. The wise person works hard and makes financial provision for lean times (Prov. 6:6-8). Believers have a responsibility to provide for their needy relatives (1 Tim. 5:8). We can enjoy what God has given us (1 Tim. 4:3-4; 6:17). What Jesus forbade here was selfishness. Misers hoard more than they need (James 5:2-3). Materialists always want more. It is the loveof money that is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10).
It is foolish to accumulate great quantities of goods because they are perishable. Moths eat clothing, a major form of wealth in the ancient Near East. "Rust"(Gr. brosis) refers to the destructive force of rats and mildew as well as the corrosion that eats metal.330Thieves can carry off just about anything in one way or another.
The treasures in heaven Jesus spoke of were the rewards God will give His faithful followers (5:12, 30, 46; 6:6, 15; cf. 10:42; 18:5; 25:40; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 6:13-19). They are the product of truly good works. These are secure in heaven, and God will dispense them to the faithful at His appointed time (cf. 1 Pet. 1:4).
The thing that a person values most highly inevitably occupies the center of his or her heart. The heart is the center of the personality, and it controls the intellect, emotions, and will.331
"If honour is reckoned the supreme good, the minds of men must be wholly occupied with ambition: if money, covetousness will immediately predominate: if pleasure, it will be impossible to prevent men from sinking into brutal indulgence."332
On the other hand if a person values eternal riches most highly, he or she will pursue kingdom values (cf. Col. 3:1-2; Rev. 14:13). Some Christians believe that it is always carnal to desire and to work for eternal rewards, but Jesus commanded us to do precisely that (cf. 1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10).
6:22-23 The body finds its way through life with the aid of the eye. In that sense the eye is the lamp of the body (cf. Luke 11:34-36). A clear or good eye admits light into the body, but a bad eye leaves the body in darkness. Evidently Jesus meant the eye is similar to the heart (v. 21). The heart fixed on God (Ps. 199:10) is similar to the eye fixed on God's law (Ps. 119:18, 148).
A bad eye is a miserly eye (Prov. 28:22). Jesus was speaking metaphorically. He probably meant that the person who is stingy and selfish cannot really see where he is going but is morally and spiritually blind (cf. vv. 19-21).333However, He may have meant that the person who is doubleminded, dividing his loyalties between God and money, will have no clear vision but will lack direction (cf. v. 24).334Metaphorically the body represents the whole person. The light within is the vision that the eye with divided loyalties, a selfish attitude, provides.
6:24 The choice between two masters is behind the choice between two treasures and the choice between two visions. "Mammon"is the transliteration of the emphatic form of the Aramaic word mamonameaning wealth or property. The root word mnin both Hebrew and Aramaic indicates something in which one places confidence. Here Jesus personified it and set it over against God as a competing object of confidence. Jesus presented God and Mammon as two slave owners, masters.
". . . single ownership and fulltime service are of the essence of slavery."335
A person might be able to work for two different employers at the same time. However, God and Mammon are not employers but slave owners. Each demands singleminded devotion. To give either anything less is to provide no true service at all.
"Attempts at divided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to discipleship, but deep-seated commitment to idolatry."336
6:25 "Therefore"draws a conclusion from what has preceded (vv. 19-24). Since God has given us life and a body, He will certainly also provide what we need to maintain them.337It is wrong, therefore, for a disciple to fret about such things. We should simply trust and obey God and get on with fulfilling our divinely revealed calling in life.
6:26-27 If we fret constantly about having enough food and clothing, we show that we have not yet learned a very basic lesson that nature teaches us. God provides for His creatures' needs. Furthermore God is the heavenly Father of believers. Consequently He will take special care of them.338This does not mean we can disregard work, but it does mean we should disregard worry.
Fretting cannot lengthen life any more than it can put food on the table or clothes on the back (v. 27). Worry really shortens life.
6:28-30 The lilies of the field were probably the wild crocuses that bloom so abundantly in Galilee during the spring. However, Jesus probably intended them to represent all the wildflowers. His point was that God is so good that He covers the ground with beautiful wildflowers that have no productive value and only last a short time.
"Once dried, grass became an important fuel source in wood-poor Palestine."339
God's providential grace should not make the disciple lazy but confident that He will provide for His children's needs similarly. God dresses the simplest field more beautifully than Israel's wealthiest king could adorn himself. Therefore anxiety about the essentials of life really demonstrates lack of faith in God.
6:31-32 Since God provides so bountifully for His own, it is not only foolish but pagan to fret about the basic necessities of life. The fretting disciple lives as an unbeliever who disbelieves and disregards God. Such a person devotes too much of his or her attention to the accumulation of material goods and disregards the more important things in life.
"The key to avoiding anxiety is to make the kingdom one's priority (v 33)."340
6:33 Rather than refraining from the pursuit of material things the disciple should replace this with a pursuit having much greater significance. Seeking the kingdom involves pursuing the things about the kingdom for which Jesus taught His disciples to pray, namely God's honor, His reign, and His will (vv. 9-10). Seeking God's righteousness means pursuing righteousness in life in submission to God's will (cf. 5:6, 10, 20; 6:1). It does not mean seeking justification, in view of Jesus' use of "righteousness"in the context.
"In the end, just as there are only two kinds of piety, the self-centered and the God-centered, so there are only two kinds of ambition: one can be ambitious either for oneself or for God. There is no third alternative."341
The "things"God will add are the necessities of life that God provides providentially about which Jesus warned His disciples not to fret (5:45; 6:11). Here God promises to meet the needs of those who commit themselves to seeking the furtherance of His kingdom and righteousness.
In view of this promise how can we explain the fact that some committed believers have perished for lack of food? There is a wider sphere of context in which this promise operates. We all live in a fallen world where the effects of sin pervade every aspect of life. Sometimes the godly, through no fault of their own, get caught up in the consequences of sin and perish. Jesus did not elaborate this dimension of life here but assumed it as something His hearers would have known and understood.
6:34 Since we have such a promise backed up by the testimony of divine providence, we should not fret about tomorrow. Today has enough trouble or evil for us to deal with. Moreover the trouble we anticipate tomorrow may never materialize. God provides only enough grace so we can deal with life one day at a time. Tomorrow He will provide enough grace (help) for what we will face then.
To summarize, the disciple's relationship to wealth should be trust in God and singleminded commitment to the affairs of His kingdom and righteousness. It should not be hoarding or pursuing wealth for its own sake. God, not Mammon, should be the magnet of the believer's life. The fruit of such an attitude will be freedom from anxiety about daily material needs.
"It is impossible to be a partially committed or part-time disciple; it is impossible to serve two masters, whether one of them be wealth or anything else, when the other master is meant to be God."342
Jesus first laid down a principle (v. 1). Then He justified this principle theologically (v. 2). Finally He provided an illustration (vv. 3-5).
7:1 Jesus taught His disciples not to be judgmental or censorious of one another in view of the high standards He was clarifying (cf. Rom. 14:10-13; James 4:11-12). He did not mean that they should accept everything and everyone uncritically (cf. vv. 6, 15-20; John 7:24; 1 Cor. 5:5; Gal. 1:8-9; Phil. 3:2; 1 John 4:1). Neither did he mean, obviously, that parents, church leaders, and civil authorities are wrong if they pass judgment on those under their care. He meant that His disciples should not do God's job of passing judgment for Him when He has not authorized them to do so. They really could not since no one but God knows all the facts that motivate people to do as they do. The disciple who usurps God's place will have to answer to Him for doing so.
7:2 The thought here is similar to that in 6:14-15. The person who judges others very critically will experience a similarly rigorous examination from God (cf. 18:23-35). There is a word play in the verse in the Greek text that suggests Jesus may have been quoting a popular proverb.343
7:3-5 The "speck"(Gr. karphos) could be a speck of any foreign matter. The "log"or "plank"(Gr. dokos) refers to a large piece of wood. Jesus again used hyperbole to stress the folly of criticizing someone else. This act reveals a much greater problem in the critic's life, namely a censorious spirit.
Such a person is a hypocrite in the sense that his actions carry him away. He does not deceive others as much as he deceives himself. Other people may realize that his criticism is unjustifiable, but he does not. A proper attitude is important in judging oneself and other people (1 Cor. 11:31; Gal. 6:1). Censorious critics are not helpful. That is what Jesus warned against here (cf. Luke 6:39-42).
"The disciples of the King are to be critical of self but not of their brethren. The group is to be noted for their bond of unity, which is indicated by a lack of criticism. This is fitting, since the kingdom is characterized by peace. (Isaiah 9:7)."344
Jesus' disciples had a responsibility to pass their knowledge of the kingdom on to others so they, too, could prepare for it. Jesus gave them directions about this responsibility in this verse. This exhortation balances the one He just gave (vv. 1-5). The disciples could be too naive and fail to be discerning (cf. 5:43-47).
Pigs were unclean, wild, vicious animals. Likewise most dogs were not domestic pets but unclean, wild, despised creatures. This verse contains a chiastic construction. The dogs turn and tear to pieces those who give them special gifts, and the pigs trample under foot the pearls thrown before them. What is holy and the pearls in this illustration evidently represent the good news announcing the kingdom. The pigs and dogs probably do not represent all Gentiles but people of any race who react to the good news by rejecting and turning against those who bring it to them (cf. 10:14; 15:14).345
This section of verses brings the main body of the Sermon to a climactic conclusion.
7:7-8 In view of such hard opposition Jesus' disciples need to pray for God's help. He will always respond positively to their words, though others may reject them. Still, their petitions must be for His glory rather than for selfish ends (cf. James 4:2-3). All that the disciple needs to serve Jesus Christ successfully is available for the asking.
"Jesus' disciples will pray (ask') with earnest sincerity (seek') and active, diligent pursuit of God's way (knock'). Like a human father, the heavenly Father uses these means to teach his children courtesy, persistence, and diligence. If the child prevails with a thoughtful father, it is because the father has molded the child to his way."346
The force of each present imperative is iterative.347We could translate them, "Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking"(cf. Luke 11:9-10).
7:9-11 In verses 9 and 10 Jesus put the matter of verses 7-8 in two other ways. Even though parents are evil (i.e., self-centered sinners) they do not typically give their children disappointing or dangerous counterfeits in response to requests for what is wholesome and nutritious. Much more will the heavenly Father who is pure goodness give gifts that are truly good to His children who request them (cf. Luke 11:11-13).348Jesus' disciples are in view as the children praying here (cf. 5:45). The good things they request have direct connection with the kingdom, things such as ability to follow God faithfully in spite of opposition (cf. Acts 4:29). God has ordained that we ask for the good gifts we need because this is the way He trains us, not because He is unaware or unconcerned about our needs (cf. 6:8).
"What is fundamentally at stake is man's picture of God. God must not be thought of as a reluctant stranger who can be cajoled or bullied into bestowing his gifts (6:7-8), as a malicious tyrant who takes vicious glee in the tricks he plays (vv. 9-10), or even as an indulgent grandfather who provides everything requested of him. He is the heavenly Father, the God of the kingdom, who graciously and willingly bestows the good gifts of the kingdom in answer to prayer."349
7:12 The recurrence of "the Law and the Prophets"here takes us back to 5:17, the beginning of the body of the Sermon. As pointed out previously, this phrase forms an inclusio. Everything Jesus said between 5:17 and 7:12 was essentially an exposition of Old Testament revelation. Consequently the "therefore"in this verse probably summarizes the entire section (5:17-7:12).
The "golden rule"sums up the teaching of the Old Testament (cf. Exod. 23:4; Lev. 19:18; Deut. 15:7-8; Prov. 24:17; 25:21; Luke 6:31). Rather than giving scores of specific commands to govern individual behavior during the inter-advent era, as the Old Covenant did for the Mosaic era, Jesus gave this principle. It provides a rule we can use in thousands of specific cases to determine what righteousness looks like. Doing to others what we would want them to do to us is what the Law and the Prophets taught. This behavior fulfills them (cf. 5:17). This behavior is the will of God, and that is why Jesus' disciples should do it.
