WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
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FREED
FROM WORRY
(Teachings
about money and possessions)
(Matthew
6:19-34)
The New Testament rightfully
begins by giving us four accounts of the life of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS the
CHRIST, the SON of the LIVING GOD. These accounts provide us with information
regarding the Good News of HIS human birth, life, sacrificial death, miraculous
resurrection, and spiritual ascension back into Heaven to be with HIS Almighty
FATHER, GOD, our CREATOR.
The first
three of these gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are referred to as the
“Synoptic Gospels”. And while they each have distinct purposes, they,
nevertheless, present JESUS’ life in a common way, and thereby may present to
some readers, a “synoptic necessity”. The term “synoptic” comes from the Greek
adjective “synoptikos” which is a combination of the Greek words “syn”, and “opsesthai”,
and it means, “to be seen together”.
External and internal evidence strongly
suggest that the Apostle Matthew is the author of the first Gospel in the New
Testament Christian biblical canon that is entitled, the “Gospel according to
Matthew”. This gospel account affirms that JESUS is the MESSIAH of Israel and
it also explains GOD’s “Kingdom Program” to all mankind who chooses to know
about it.
In this week’s lesson, we will look at
JESUS’ teachings about money and possessions and how we do not need to be
overly concerned about neither. Here in Matthew chapter 6, taking up at verse
19, in the middle of our LORD’s, now famous, “Sermon on the Mount”, we will
examine how “our attitude toward wealth and material things” can be used as a
barometer to gauge “our righteousness, and our heart for, and reverence toward,
GOD”.
It was JESUS WHO first suggested, that, “Where
a person’s heart is, there you will most likely also find his or her money”,
and the religious leaders of HIS day (and ours) suffered greatly with this
problem. They had come to believe, over time, that GOD materially blessed only
those whom HE loved. And so, they became intent on building up great wealth to
make a statement to the world that they were among “the most righteous of GOD’s
people”.
In this particular
passage JESUS relates how really, even the poor can fall into the same trap as
the rich, in their concerns and pursuit of material things. HE implies that the
cure to all our worries is to seek only the eternal treasures that have been
provided for us by GOD since the foundation of this world. However, the only
way that we can gain access to those treasures is by “relinquishing our pursuit
of the temporal earthly treasures” that we so readily are willing to lose our
hearts to.
JESUS wants us to see that life consists of
so much more than just food and material things, and that, worrying about those
things will not change our situation. GOD already knows our every need, and HE
wants us to instead, guard ourselves against “envy” and “greed”.
The attitude of worry is “the attitude of
an unbeliever”. It is those who choose to be unbelievers, who are overly
concerned about “material things in this life”, rather than focusing their
efforts on seeking “the eternal things of GOD”. Those who choose to pursue the
eternal things of GOD, will, without asking, receive from GOD, the material
things that they need in this life, right now, here on earth.
No one ever saw the dangers of prosperity
and material things as clearly as JESUS did. Material things can fix a person’s
heart to this world. They can gain such a huge stake in it, or have such a huge
interest in it, that it makes it extremely hard to ever even contemplate
leaving it.
And so, the question then becomes, “How bad
do we want salvation for our souls? Do we want it bad enough to relinquish the
people, places, and things of this world? The rich young ruler, for example, in
the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 10, verses 23-31, just like many others, have
answered that question, in effect, “I want it, but I don’t think I want it as
much as all of that”.
It is all about salvation, and JESUS sums
up the whole doctrine of salvation in a nutshell when HE implies in so many
words that, if a person seeks to achieve salvation through his or her own
efforts, then, it is impossible for anyone to be saved. Salvation is a gift
from GOD, and with GOD, all things are possible.
If a person seeks to achieve salvation by
the sure weight and value of their own earthly possessions, they can never be
“saved”. However, if we are willing to rely upon the saving power, and redeeming
love of GOD, then, we can enter “for free” into the Kingdom of Heaven.
That is the thought that JESUS stated that
day on the slopes of the Mount of Beatitudes, and that is the thought Paul and
so many others wrote about, throughout the annals of Old and New Testament
Scriptures. And whatever we need and ask for in JESUS’ name, we will receive
from a loving GOD the FATHER, WHO is willing to lead us, by the power of the
HOLY SPIRIT, past our sin nature, and into salvation. There we can enjoy an
eternal life of peace and tranquility with HIM, because we choose to keep our
minds stayed on HIM, and we trust HIM to provide all our needs.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
Larry Dell Alexander (1953–)
- Encyclopedia of Arkansas
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