Matthew 6:19-24
Eternal Perspective

Perspective means our view of life. It involves both where we are standing, and what we are gazing at – what has our attention. Having the wrong perspective on life will at least take all the joy out of living and at worst actually be dangerous and destructive. Years ago when I was a Scout I went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. The first day of hiking in high elevations with a heavy pack was an experience that, though we had trained, was still more difficult than we anticipated. The ranger who was our guide for the first couple of days noticed that as we toiled under our heavy burdens we were slumped over, gazing only at the trail right before our feet. "Look up", he said, "You're missing all the beautiful scenery!" He was right. Our perspective was so short-sighted, so narrow, that we couldn't appreciate the joy and beauty around us.

We get that same way in life. If we don't have the right perspective, we miss the joy and beauty of living that God created us for and that Jesus calls "abundant life" (John 10:10). A more dangerous result of having the wrong perspective is that we could have ended up taking the wrong path or walking into a deadly situation (there were BIG BEARS at Philmont!) because we weren't focused on the right things.

In the scripture we're studying in this lesson, Jesus reveals that having a perspective that isn't focused on what is ETERNALLY SIGNIFICANT is destructive to life. The wrong perspective leads to greed, materialism, slavery to possessions, and to worry.

1. Focus on what is permanent.

What was the last thing you had to repair around your house?

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. Matthew 6:19-20

This verse does not prohibit "being provident (making sensible provision for the future) but being covetous (like misers who hoard and materialists who always want more)". [EBCNT]

Almost everything we have will ultimately break and wear out. We misplace and lose things. Thieves steal our prized possessions. If we invest our lives in what lasts for just a little while then we have invested poorly. Don't invest is something that runs out before you run down!

The treasures of earth have two great failings:

• They are temporary.

• They have the power enslave those who hold onto them.

What really lasts in life? According to 1 Timothy 6:6–10 what attitude/perspective should we develop about earthly treasure?

2. What you love is who you are.

John Calvin said: "If honour is rated the highest good, then ambition must take complete charge of a man; if money then forthwith greed takes over the kingdom; if pleasure, then men will certainly degenerate into sheer self-indulgence."

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

The "heart" in biblical thought includes the mind, emotions, and the will. What do you think "treasures in heaven" means? Look up the following:

Matt 10:42; 25:40

2 Cor 4:17

1 Tim 6:13-19

Rev 14:13

What can you take with you to heaven? Do you think it is more common that people are so heavenly minded that they do no earthly good or so earthly minded they do no heavenly good?

Look up Col 3:1-2. What do you take these verses to mean?

3.  The Windows of the Soul

The word "good" in this verse is "haplos". This word literally means "single", but is often used to mean "generous". So this means an attitude of UNDIVIDED DEVOTION, a life directed by one great purpose and/or an attitude of generosity.

The word "bad" is poneros. It can also be translated as "grudging" or "selfish".

What are some commonly held "bad" attitudes? How can we correct these attitudes?

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Matthew 6:22-23

The attitudes we have color the way we see the world. Seeing the world with a "bad", selfish, attitude will distort our entire existence. The "bad" eye is the one that is divided, not that has necessary focused on a "bad" thing.

Divided loyalties lead to moral darkness. To divide one's loyalty between God and something else is actually to choose to be filled completely with darkness. Darkness indicates that the person does not realize the severity of their spiritual disease. We will literally be filled with darkness. Seeing the world through the lens of our relationship with Christ will provide us with "light" and clarity.

4.   You Got to Serve Somebody

The human heart is only big enough for one great love. That love will order and arrange all the other loves of our life. If we love God we will be the slaves of God. If we love (by attitudes and actions) our possessions we will be the slave of our possessions.

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

Mammon means money or, more precisely, material possessions. We need to be very careful about our attitude (perspective) regarding our possessions because we have a tendency to never be content. More and more of our attention and devotion can be consumed by the things we own. Ultimate many people end up being possessed by their possessions!

The corrective to serving mammon is found in developing an eternal perspective regarding possessions. What do the following verses tell us? Psalm 24:1; Psalm 50:10-12

Bob McChueon who is a former congressman from Ohio, told the following story about going to McDonalds with his son. His son wanted a large order of fries, so he bought the fries and they sat down. Bob just instinctively reached over to take a couple of fries out of the package. His son pushed his hand away and said, "Dad, you can't have any of these fries, they're mine!"

Bob said, "I pulled my hand back and as I did I thought, my son has got a terrible attitude about whose fries these are and who bought them for him. He said that in 5 seconds God taught him one of the finest lessons about stewardship that he had ever had.

He said that "When I pulled my hand back I thought 3 things. Number 1: I thought, "He doesn't understand that I am the guy who bought them, I am the one with the money, I am his resource. He got fries because of me! The second thing I realized as a father is that he doesn't realize that I could take those fries from him. He doesn't realize that I have control over those fries. Not only can I take them all from him if I want to because his attitude is so bad, but I have enough money that I could go and by 20 more packs of fries, and I could bury him in french fries!. The 3rd thing I realized that day is that I can go get my own fries -- I don't need his. I could go back to the counter and buy my own fries and sit down at the table with him, I really don't need his fries."

Bob said, "all of a sudden God said, ‘Bob, that is exactly how I feel when you are not a good steward.' He said, ‘Bob, every time I look at you and see you get stingy with the gifts I have given you, I say to myself, Bob you don't understand I am the source of all these gifts. And If I want to I can take them away from you and if I want to I can add to them. And to be honest with you I don't need you nor do I really need your gifts.'"

As a father that day what really hurt me was not that I didn't get a couple of fries to put in my mouth, what really hurt me was the attitude of my son regarding what I had just given him. I realized that is exactly what hurts the heart of God.

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