ONE OF JESUS' GREATEST LESSONS ON FAITH

Matt. 6:24-34

Morning Meditation 5/4/15

Matthew 6:24-34, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

COMPLETE DEPENDENCE UPON GOD FOR OUR PERSONAL WELFARE

Jesus is teaching a lesson to His disciples on how to trust the Lord with your all. This passage teaches that you can trust God for everything. But as you do you must "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness."

The lack of faith is the biggest hindrance to putting the Kingdom of God first. Note the phrase in verse 30: "O ye of little faith." This whole passage is built around that phrase. Jesus is dealing with the self-life. Let's notice what He says about the self-life:

1. The background to this lesson on faith taught by out Lord is verse 24: Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Jesus compares the care for the self life with mammon in this verse. The word "serve" translates "douleuo" and means, "to be a slave, serve, do service for." It is a verb form in the present tense and means to do the service of a slave continually in the present tense of ones life. It is impossible for one to do that for two different masters. The two masters are "God and mammon." The word "mammon" translates, "mammon" and means, "as treasure, riches (where it is personified and opposed to God)." Jesus is teaching that one cannot put his own welfare first and serve God. We will discover that this is exactly what He is saying as we proceed.

1. This is brought out in Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

The word "Therefore" sets the whole stage to explain what He meant when Ye said, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." The word that is translated "therefore" is translated in our KJV "for this cause" 14 times. So Jesus is saying, "for this cause I am saying unto you."

Jesus says, "Take no thought for your life," and then explains what He means by this: "what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Your life has to do with what you eat and what you drink. It has to do with what you wear. Jesus is saying that the "life" is more than what you eat and your body is more than what you wear.

2. Now He illustrates with God's care of the birds and then compares His disciples to them as to the degree of importance to God. Matthew 6:26, "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Jesus told them that they had never seen a bird who was a farmer and you never saw a bird that stock piles food. Then He says they do not do without food because, "Your heavenly Father feedeth them."

Then He asks the question, "Are ye not much better then they?" He is saying, "If your heavenly Father does this for them, will He not do this for you? You are more important to Him than the birds."

3. Then He asks a question that deals with the futility of worry. He asks, "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" The words "taking thought" translates, "merimnao" and means, "to be anxious, to be troubled with cares." I don't care how much you worry or be anxious, if you are 5 foot and five inches tall, you cannot by taking thought, or worrying, add any height to your body. He deals with the futility of worrying about the body.

4. Then He asks a question with regard to clothes: "And why take ye thought for raiment? The word "raiment" translates, " enduma" and means, "garment, raiment, cloak, an outer garment." Then He illustrates the answer to this question by saying, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Jesus says, "Your heavenly Father is the creator of the lilies of the field and their Caretaker. Do you think Ye does a good job doing that? Even Solomon with all his money could not dress like your Father dresses the lilies."

5. Then in verse 30 Jesus makes His point: "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

The disciples were probably at the point in following Jesus that they were thinking, "You know, following Jesus is great. It is the best time I have ever had in my life. But can I keep on doing this? What about the care of the body and food and such things like that?" I believe this passage is a response to the natural man's thoughts of life. So Jesus makes a promise and a condition that will take care of all their worries.

Jesus deals with their little faith over and over again. Matthew 8:26 says, "And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm."

Matthew 14:31, "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

Matthew 16:8, "Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?"

Matthew 17:20, "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Robertson comments in his Word Pictures of the Greek New Testament: "They had no miracle faith. Bruce holds "this mountain" to be the Mount of Transfiguration to which Jesus pointed. Probably so. But it is a parable. Our trouble is always with "this mountain" which confronts our path."

Matthew 21:21, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done."

John 6:29, "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White