Jesus on Money and Possessions
Matthew 6:19-24

Nick Carruthers 1/5/25

For Jesus money exists in a unique category because it’s potent. Money is a sign—or the
sign—of power. It grants access like few things do. It determines who’s in and who’s out. People
sacrifice the well-being of their family for money. Health is compromised in pursuit of money.
Integrity is surrendered because of money. Boundaries are crossed because of money. Power is
exchanged because of money. Voices are silenced because of money. Money has a life of its
own animated by the principalities and powers of the world.

--Rich Villodas

 

If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other
area in his life.

--Billy Graham

 

Two Different Treasures (vs 19-21

Matthew 6:19-21 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 inner condition of the heart gives rise to greed’s outer manifestation, which typically include
excessive acquisition and excessive retaining of money or possessions...The greedy person’s
over-attachment to things wears many faces— an overflowing shopping cart or a single
cherished purchase, a stock portfolio that is aggressive or conservative, a wallet full of credit

cards or a safety deposit box with a few carefully guarded treasures, a garage full of expensive
cars or a closet full of great deals. Greed can captivate the young, the old, and everyone in
between. In all its varied expressions of gain and grasping, however, greed is a perverted love.
Its profile has disordered desire written all over it.

--Rebecca DeYoung

Laying up treasures on earth looks like using money or possessions for selfish reasons, in order
to try and meet a deep longing, which results in us being overly attached to them and
ungenerous.

Luke 12:15 Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for life does not consist in an
abundance of possessions. (NIV)

Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they
are guilty of it. Therefore we should begin with a working hypothesis that ‘this could easily be a
problem for me.’ If greed hides itself so deeply, no one should be confident that it is not a
problem for them.

--Tim Keller

Job 1:21 Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.

The moth is nature’s corrosions eating away, the rust time’s corrosions, and the thief humanity’s
corrosions—and all three together represent the insecurity of life lived for accumulation.

–Dale Bruner

Jesus does not quash ambition; he elevates it. The Christian is to be ambitious, passionate,
acquisitive, enterprising—for the Father’s approval, for the “well done” of God’s Final Judgment.
Thus Jesus’ ethic is not so much ascetic as it is athletic.

--Dale Bruner

1 Timothy 6:17-19 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set
their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to
enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19
thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may
take hold of that which is truly life.

We must store our wealth above, in order that our hearts may be drawn upwards. The two act
and react upon one another.

–Alfred Plummer

Two Different Eyes (vs 22-23)

Matthew 6:22-23 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will
be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light
in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

When the light of God is shining into one’s life, a generous spirit is the result, and one will
"lighten up" the lives of everyone around...The absence of light in a person’s life produces great
wickedness and in this context it means we keep all our wealth for ourselves and refuse to help
others.

–Grant Osborne

Two Different Masters (vs 24)

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

You cannot be the servant of both God and things "on earth," because their requirements
conflict. Unless you have already put God first, for example, what you will have to do to be
financially secure, impress other people, or fulfill your desires will invariably lead you against
God’s wishes. That is why the first of the Ten Commandments, "You shall have no gods who
take priority over me," is the first of the Ten Commandments. So treasuring and serving both
God and mammon is a nonsensical idea, and in any case you cannot imagine God would endure
it.

–Dallas Willard

Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the
weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is more blessed to
give than to receive."

People rightly say that money cannot buy happiness. But money and happiness are still related
in a curious way. Happiness can be the result, not of spending more money on oneself, but
rather of giving money away to others...the data examined here show this to be not simply a nice
idea, but a social-scientific fact.

--Sociologist Hilary Davidson and Christian Smith

1) How do we know if this is an issue or a struggle in our lives?

2) What can we do to combat greed and increase generosity?

Remember and Meditate on the Gospel and Practice

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.