or is it?
This is one question several friends and I have been wrestling with and arguing over as we study through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Here’s the passage we’re currently studying:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 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!
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.
This passage, dealt with honestly, is painful. Jesus stands in direct opposition to what our culture teaches about money and things. Jesus stands in direct opposition to many churches who see godliness as a means toward financial gain.
Does Jesus even stand in opposition to our ideas of “financial independence”?
This gets touchy as our own church hosts Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University classes which teaches, after getting out of debt, the importance of storing up on earth for financial independence in retirement.
I’ve found that our knee-jerk reaction is to tame, temper, or even reverse what Jesus says here with a big “but.” Jesus gives one command:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…
Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth” and we instantly respond with:
- “BUT, I’ll lay up on earth for my old age after I can’t work anymore.”
- “BUT, I’ll lay up on earth with a good attitude!”
- “BUT, I’ll lay up on earth so I can delay my giving and give later on!”
- “BUT, I’ll use my retirement vacation life to be nice to other people!”
What if Jesus means what he says? What would it look like to take him at his word?
What if this command is as straight forward as “Do Not Murder”?
What if we’ve got this all wrong, and are living in rebellion of an incredibly clear and basic teaching of Jesus?
