Treasure

HOMEGROUP STUDY NOTES                 WALKING IN THE LIGHT

w/c 27th February 2022

TREASURE (Matthew 6.19-24)

What do you most treasure in life? If there was a fire at your home and you could only take 3 items with you, what would they be, and why? (assume that all people are safe) 

In verses 19-24 Jesus is concerned with how we live in the world – money, possessions, food, drink, clothing and ambition. Although we may see some things as “secular”, as Christians everything is “religious” in that it is done in God’s presence.

 “There has been a fresh discovery that the God of the Bible is on the side of the poor and the deprived.” (John Stott) Do you agree with this, and what should be an appropriate response?

READ verses 19-21

TREASURES ON EARTH are corruptible and therefore insecure; TREASURES IN HEAVEN are incorruptible and therefore secure. What do you think Jesus was prohibiting when he told us not to lay up treasures on earth?

There is no biblical ban on possessions in themselves, nor is the idea of “saving for a rainy day”, nor a life insurance policy. (Prov 6.6; 1 Tim 5.8). The ant is praised for storing in the summer the food it needs in the winter. And we are to enjoy the good things our Creator God has given us. So what is “banned”? It seems to be living an extravagant lifestyle; no concern for the poor and underprivileged; a desire for more and more …

Greek word for RUST = “eating”. Could refer to corrosion caused by rust , but also to any devouring pest or vermin – a real problem in the ancient world where nothing was safe. We have insecticides, rat poison, burglar alarms etc but even if this means our possessions last through our time on earth we can take nothing of it with us (Job 1.21).

So what did Jesus mean by “treasure in heaven”?

 Certainly not teaching a doctrine of merit – the idea that good deeds done on earth are a “credit” for us to draw on in eternity. Perhaps it is about developing a Christ-like character; increase of faith, hope and love; prayer and witness; use of our money for Christian causes … temporal activities with eternal consequences. HOW MUCH TREASURE HAVE YOU ACCUMULATED – something to take away and ponder upon.

 READ verses 22, 23

 “The eye is the lamp of the body”. What do you think Jesus meant by this?

It would be interesting in this discussion to have input from anyone who has had dealings with people who are blind, or who are struggling with their own eyesight.

Much of what we do depends on our ability to see. Our eyes “illumine” what the body does through its hands and feet. This is not to disregard the amazing things blind people are able to do.

Often in the Bible the “eye” is seen as equivalent to the “heart”, e.g. in Psalm 119: “With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments …. I have fixed my eyes on all thy commandments.” It seems as if Jesus is saying that just as our eyes affect our whole body, so our ambition (i.e. where we fix our eyes and heart) affects how we live. We need a spiritual perspective if our life is to be filled with purpose and meaning.

There are things we can do to keep our eyes physically “sound” – are there things we can do to make sure our eyes/heart are “spiritually sound”?

Tom Wright gives the example of driving along a dark road at night, and you try to switch the lights on – nothing happens and you suddenly realise how dark it really is. It’s as if Jesus is saying if our eyes are not on God, then we can easily find ourselves distracted and struggling to see where we are heading.

READ verse 24

We have a choice between two treasures (where we lay them up), two visions (where we fix our eyes) and between two masters (whom we serve).

What do you think is meant by “Mammon”? Is it possible to serve two masters equally well?

The choice is between God and mammon, i.e. between our Creator God and anything else that we term “money” – MAMMON is the translation of an Aramaic word for wealth.

Can we serve God on a Sunday and mammon on the rest of the week? No way, says Jesus! It is the picture of the slave/slave-owner that Jesus has in mind. It might be possible to have two jobs, but a slave could not be the property of two owners – single ownership and full-time service are the essence of slavery.

Consider Isaiah 42:8 and 48:11.

“As Christians we are better at sound doctrine than sound lifestyle”. Do you agree?

This is what the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly … My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?”

Look act Acts 4.32-37 – should this be a picture of how we live as Christians today?

PRAYER

This study may have been very challenging for the group for, in worldly terms, we are among the most wealthy in the world; we have an abundance of possessions. So allow some time for individuals to reflect on this.

The number of people living in “poverty” in our country seems to increase day by day. Should we really need a Foodbank in this area? How will people cope with the huge increases coming in gas and electricity? Who are the “poor” in our community?

You might like to consider having a prayer book in which you list the specific things you pray for – it is a great encouragement to look back on this from time to time to see how God has been at work.