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New Hope Fellowship
The Undivided Life
In Matthew 6:19–24, Jesus invites us to examine what we truly treasure and what is shaping our hearts. While this passage speaks about money and possessions, it ultimately addresses something deeper—our trust, our vision of the world, and our allegiance. Through three connected images—treasure, the eye, and two masters—Jesus shows that what we value shapes how we see and determines who we serve. This passage is not simply a warning about wealth; it is an invitation into freedom. As we release our grip on what we try to control and learn to trust God with what we have, Jesus leads us toward a life centered on Him—our true and lasting treasure.
Locations & Times
New Hope Fellowship
5919 Antire Rd, High Ridge, MO 63049, USA
Sunday 5:00 AM
1. Where is your treasure?
θησαυρός, (thay-sow-ROS), thésauros: Treasure, storehouse, treasuryIt doesn’t just mean money. It means whatever you rely on to make your life feel secure.
“Treasuring is an inescapable human activity that reveals the deepest truths about a person’s heart. Because our "heart" (the core of our being) follows our treasure, what we choose to treasure reveals what we truly worship and love.” - Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
“Money is a powerful thing. On one hand, it can expose us to danger, while on the other hand it can be used of God to reveal the need of our hearts and, through us, to bless the lives of others. You and I will interact with money in some way. That interaction is one of the things that sets the direction of our lives. When it comes to money, Scripture leaves little room for comfortable neutrality. Money will either bless you or curse you. It will be a tool in the hands of a God of grace, or it will be a doorway to bad and dangerous things. Like two sides of a physical coin, there are two spiritual sides to money. Each side calls to you. Each side holds before you a vision and promises. Each side asks not just for the investment of your money but for the allegiance of your heart. The battle between the two sides of the money coin wages in the heart of every person this side of eternity. Money is a danger. Money is a blessing. What will it be for you? Where the rubber meets the road in everyday life, you will answer the question not just once. No, you will have to answer it again and again as, day after day, you are greeted with false promises and truth, each voice telling you what to do with the money in your hand.” - Paul David Tripp, The Duality of Money’s Power
“In a culture where banking was embryonic and little used or trusted, treasures were normally kept in goods or hard currency in the home or in a supposedly safe place, they were thus liable to physical deterioration or theft.” - RT France
“Heaven is God's Reality Now. “Heaven,” is not merely a distant future destination, but rather the hidden dimension of our current reality where God is active right now. Learning to love and serve God now creates "treasure" in the present, not just in the future. The church is meant to be a "preview" or "working model" of God's new world, which is already underway through Jesus' resurrection. When Jesus says to store up treasures in heaven, He is referring to investing in God’s kingdom—acting with grace, love, and care for the needy—which serves as a pilot project for the final restoration of all creation.” -N.T. Wright
“So the wisdom of Jesus is that we should lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven, where forces of nature and human evil cannot harm what we treasure. That is to say, direct your actions toward making a difference in the realm of spiritual substance, sustained and governed by God. Invest your life in what God is doing, which cannot be lost.” - Dallas Willard
“Treasures in heaven is the rich experience of peace and fulfillment when we feel we follow Jesus' teaching about loving God and each other. This may look like a kind word, an act of generosity, offering forgiveness or showing compassion.” - Tim Mackey, The Bible Project
2. How Do You See The World?
“In Jesus’ world, a “healthy eye” meant generosity, and a “bad eye” meant stinginess.” - Scot McKnight
“The eye is a moral image for how one responds to the needy with compassion.” — Scot McKnight
“It is the ancient idea of singularity or wholeness, the center of the idea of the virtue that the whole sermon has been promoting the sense of generosity and kindness, singularity or wholeness that is free from envy, greed and malice so whole person. Whole Person generosity.” — Jonathan T. Pennington
“The evil eye in the ancient world was especially associated with greediness, envy and stinginess, especially used in the context of material possessions. So to have an unhealthy eye or an evil eye, is to look at the world with a scarcity mentality. Looking out of the world as fundamentally not enough, so I have to hoard and bring and carry and preserve and protect for myself, and it's his way of viewing the world that would cause someone to be stingy or greedy.” — Jonathan T. Pennington
3. Who Will You Serve?
Matthew (NIV), “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Matthew (NIV), “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
“Money creates space, comfort and distance between the challenges and annoyances of life, it creates an illusory blanket of security around our place and position in the world. Money, in some strange way, insulates us from what is actually true reality, and it gets us to believe a delusion.” - Jon Tyson