What is the Christian view of material things? What is the Christian view of money and possessions? Where do we stand and what does the Bible teach? What is my perspective on both the luxuries and the necessities of life? Well, the answer to the questions is given nowhere as aptly as it's given right here by our own Lord Jesus Christ. [♪ upbeat music playing in the background, and the Bible teaches the Bible in its own language. Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Years ago, Fortune magazine surveyed young professionals who were on the corporate fast track, wanting to find out what motivated them. The common reply, financial security. All other elements, including marriage and children, were secondary. Sadly, those attitudes probably haven't changed much today, but is the corporate ladder, day trading, or a financial freedom seminar the means to contentment, especially for a Christian? Well, today John MacArthur won't show you how to get rich, but he will show you how to rid yourself of anxiety about money once and for all. So stay here as we continue his study titled, What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry? Now turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 6 as John begins the lesson. Take your Bible and look at Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. We're continuing an examination of verses 25 to 34, a wonderful, familiar, rich chapter and passage in the Word of God. This particular text, chapter 6 verses 25 to 34 is a portion of a bigger text, chapters 5, 6, and 7, which make up the Sermon on the Mount preached by our Lord Jesus Himself. And so this is instruction straight from the lips of Christ, and indeed it is practical and touches us right where we live. The heart of this matter to which Jesus speaks is the issue of materialism, worrying about our finances, worrying about our life, worrying about our earthly existence, worrying about whether we're going to have enough of the necessities of life to survive. The injunction the Lord gives three times in the passages that we are not to worry, that such anxiety or such care or such fear or such worry or concern has absolutely no place in the life of a Christian. And of course it is markedly an antithesis to everything we know in our own world, the world in which we live is utterly preoccupied with material possessions. We live in a totally materialistic world. People's life begins and ends with the things which they possess. And that is an exact opposite to what the Scripture says when it says man's life does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesses. And yet if you were to really get to the heart of the matter and to the real issues in human life, even here in our own country, you would find that most people live for nothing more and nothing less than all the possessions they can possibly grasp to feed their own determined lifestyle. Fortune Magazine sent out its editors to do a survey. They surveyed all across America the 25-year-old men and women who are on their way up the corporate ladder in the business world. And they wanted to find out what the 25-year-old leader, business type person on the way up the corporate ladder looks for in life, what they really want out of life, what they really search for, what their goals and objectives are. And so the writer, Gwen Kincaid, wrote the article in response to this survey. I suppose that it shouldn't shock us, but it does, and I'm glad I have a little shockability left in me, but I want to share with you some of the excerpts from the article so you can get a feeling for what the thinking is of the young generation in America. The article says that today's 25-year-old business beginners know what they want and are uninhibited about demanding it. They plan, says the writer, to get what they want. And what do they want? What is their goal? What is that which they seek to achieve? Simply stated, they put their jobs ahead of all other commitments, including marriage and children, which some claim they'll never want. End quote. Well, why? Why do we have a generation of people who are not committed to relationships, who are not at all committed to marriage or children, but are only committed to a job? And the answer given in the survey is that it isn't relationships they want, it is money that they want. And they see jobs as the way to get it. They desire greater economic security. They are drawn, says the writer, to big business for the money. And along with the money comes the prestige and the authority and the reputation. The writer says they are guided by, quote, frankly, materialistic requirements. They defend success and they want it now, end quote. She goes on to say that they are confident, they are self-assured, they don't think they're lucky, they think they're good. Most of them think they're star material and can't wait to shove out whoever's in front of them. The writer says their ambition is consuming, they are arrogant, they fear anonymity, they fear getting lost in the shuffle, and they fear a blurring into faceless organizational surroundings. They wanna be somebody, they wanna be somebody now, they wanna be somebody at the expense of anybody else, they want the money and all that goes with it. And the writer goes on to say they are very adept at the art of self-promotion. In fact, she writes they practice tireless, sophisticated self-merchandising, hoping they don't have to do much backstabbing on the way up. It also goes on to say that they have no commitment to the companies they work for other than that they wanna make the most money possible so they job hop as soon as there's any other money available to them. And taking quotes from the 25 year olds who were interviewed, both men and women, these are some of the things they said. I want what I want when I want it. Sounds like about one and a half years old, doesn't it? Another one said I want no mandatory or monetary restraints. Another lady says we'll have children when we're financially secure enough to afford good childcare so I can continue to work. The writer says they are concerned with, quote, nabbing a piece of the action and being on the lookout for yourself. They don't feel obligated to help others. Few devote time to public service or volunteer work or social problems and religion appears too proscriptive or irrelevant, end quote. They're not interested in anybody or anything but themselves. Another lady who is a management trainee at Connecticut General Life Insurance Company says I knew business would reward me in direct proportion to what I achieved. I like to spend money. I didn't feel like giving up any luxuries, end quote. So the writer of the article says of all people they are an extremely grabby bunch. A utilities consultant in a Washington DC firm strikes a common court. He says, quote, I plan to set up my own business, be independent and report to no one. Though I have more money now than I ever thought possible, I'd like all the money in the world. They insist on gratification, the writer says, and she says they are unabashed materialists who crave the latest labor saving and electronic hardware along with frequent entertainment and travel and in their righteous aversion to conventional status symbols they seem unaware that they're on their way to creating their own. One woman said of them, one 25 year old said, we wanna make sure my career is well established, that we have all the material things we want, that our bills are caught up so we don't fight over what little money we'll have to raise a family on. With our lifestyle, we can't afford good childcare now and all the things we like, end quote. Children are an intrusion into our materialistic age. And when people whimsically have those children, they wanna make sure they can afford somebody else to care for them. I say it in the past, I'll say it again, the biggest curse in American society is a working woman. And it continues to be that because it utterly devastates the family. They are materialists, they are unabashed materialists, they are guided by ambition, greed, motivation for success, prestige and promotion. And I dare say we are somewhat as materialistic as those who are part of the system around us. We all suffer from the inroads and the temptations and the power of the materialistic age in which we live. We've all fallen prey to it. What is the Christian view of material things? What is the Christian view of money and possessions? Where do we stand and what does the Bible teach? What is my perspective on both the luxuries and the necessities of life? Well, the answer to the questions is given nowhere as aptly as it's given right here by our own Lord Jesus Christ. For what you have in chapter six versus 19 to 34 is the greatest statement Jesus ever made on the view that we must have toward material things. Now we've already studied verses 19 to 24 and that is what the Lord says about our view of luxury. Now we're looking at verse 25 to 34 in which he speaks of our view of necessity. So that the Lord touches both that which is beyond what we need and that which is what we need. And he gives us an affirmation of where our commitment is to be. Now remember that when we looked at verses 19 to 24 we saw the luxuries. What is to be our perspective on luxury that which is beyond what we need for the basic necessities? Well, the simple statement our Lord makes is in verse 20. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. We are to invest in heaven. What does that mean? We are to commit ourselves to placing that which we possess in an eternal investment. We are not to stockpile it in earthly things verse 19 because moth and rust and thieves will destroy it. So when it comes to luxury or our abundance we are to invest that in heaven. And we went into that in great detail and we are to do that for three reasons. Reason number one is in verse 21 because that's where our heart should be. If you put all your treasure in the earth that's where your heart's gonna be. You're gonna be worried about your bank account instead of the kingdom of God. But if you invest all that you have in God's things and God's ends and God's will and God's purposes and God's projects then that's where your heart's gonna be as you watch your investment bringing eternal dividends. And so reason number one that we invest our luxury in an eternal significance is that our heart might be there. Reason number two is in verses 22 and 23 it opens up our spiritual sight. And what the Lord says there is that if you invest in the earth you pull the shades down on your spiritual eyes and you become blind to spiritual reality. If you invest in eternal things the shades go up and the light of God floods your heart. The third reason that we are to invest what we have in terms of luxury in an eternally consequential thing is that it determines that we serve God and not money. It makes our service to God undivided. So in dealing with luxury then we invest it in eternity. We don't stockpile it and hoard it here. And the reason we do that is because our heart is there then where it should be our spiritual sight is clear and our service is undivided. Now from there he moves to the necessities of life. What about the basics? And that's in verses 25 to 34. And I guess if there's anything we're concerned about it's the basics. In fact, the reason some people stockpile their luxuries is so that they can hedge against not having the basics in the future. And we worry about the basics, should we? Well the heart of this passage is reiterated in three statements. In verse 25 it says, therefore I say unto you be not anxious. In verse 31 it says, therefore be not anxious. Verse 34, therefore be not anxious. The thrust end of the passage is built around those three statements be not anxious. The first one in the Greek says, stop being anxious. The next two, don't start being anxious. So they catch you wherever you are. If you haven't started, don't. If you've already started, stop. And the word anxious, marimnas, means to worry, to fret, to fear, to have anxiety. In fact, in the Greek manuscript that was found from the first century where there was a list of the names of certain Christians in the early church, they found one name of one individual Christian. His name was Tertidius, marimnas. Marimnas means worry, put an ah in front of it. It means not to worry. And so his name was Tertidius, the man who never worries. And that ought to be added to the name of any Christian. Don't worry, he says. Well don't worry about what? Well don't worry about verse 25, what you shall eat, what you shall drink, or for your body, what you shall put on. The basics, your food, your drink, your clothes. Don't worry three times. Stop worrying and don't start it if you haven't begun yet. You say, well, that's easy for you to say. On what basis does he say that? Three reasons. Three reasons not to worry. It is unnecessary because of your father. It is uncharacteristic because of your faith. It is unwise because of your future. So father, faith, and future are the key. Now I want you to see this. It is a masterful presentation. We looked at point number one, and I just want to reiterate it because it is the substance of the other two. First of all, we are not to worry about the basics of life because it is unnecessary since God is our father. And if your concept of God is right, and you see that he is the owner, controller, provider, then knowing beyond that, that not only does he own and control and provide, but he is your own father and a loving father at that, you have nothing for which to worry. Because if he has all things in his control, and that all things which he controls, he controls on the behalf of his children, and you are his child, that should be the death of worry. Essentially, that's what we've covered in the past. Anxiety is absolutely foolish because of our father. Matthew 7, 7 to 11. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveeth, and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Now those two verses have been applied to a lot of things, and they rightfully can be applied to a lot of things. But the basic issue to which our Lord is speaking there is the issue of physical sustenance because he illustrates that principle in verses nine and 10. What man is there of you whom if his son asked bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asked a fish, will he give him a serpent? In other words, you know just in human terms that a man is not gonna give his son a rock when he asks for a piece of bread. And a man is not gonna give his son a snake when he asks for a fish. In other words, human fathers give their children what they seek, if what they seek is what they need. Then verse 11, if ye then being evil, basically men are evil, we are sinful. But if we who are evil know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more shall your father who is in heaven, which means he's not evil, but he's absolutely right and just and holy and perfect and good, give good things to them that ask him. And the good things again speak first of the necessities of life. I mean, you see it as the character of God here. If an evil father, a sinful father, and we're all sinful, if we know how to give good things to our children, does not an absolutely holy God know how to give good things to his children? So what are we worried about? Whether it's food, verse 26 of Matthew 6, the fowls of the air, your heavenly father feeds them, are you not much better than they? I mean, he's your heavenly father, and if he takes care of birds, don't you think he'll take care of you? And that's the illustration of food. He'll supply your food. The next one is the illustration of the future. Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his lifespan? You know, there are people who worry and worry and worry about how long they're gonna live. They worry about death. They're afraid of death. Some people don't wanna get on an airplane. Some people are afraid of diseases. They go from doctor to doctor to doctor, from hell spot to hell spot to hell spot, from bottle to bottle to bottle. They can vitamins and pills, and they live in constant fear about their life. What good does that do? Your father cares for that, and all the worry in the world isn't gonna add to your life, it's gonna subtract from it, if anything. Thirdly, not only an illustration from food in the future, but fashion. He says, and some of you worry about your clothes, whether you have enough clothes, or whether you have the right clothes to fit into the fashions of the day, and I'm telling you, when you're all done dressing yourself, you can't be dressed as beautifully as a lily, so why don't you let God do the dressing? He dresses the lilies. Solomon, the richest man there was, couldn't make a robe as fine as the petal of a flower. In other words, God takes care of food, and he takes care of lifespan, and he takes care of clothing. He's doing all of that kind of sustaining. But God does provide the basics of life. That's the promise, and the basis of the promise is that God is our Father. That's the substance of point number one, and we went into that in great detail last time. God is a loving Father who supplies for His children. In Psalm 34, verse 10, it says, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger. You look in the animal kingdom, and you'll find there are times when lion cubs hunger. The mother is unavailable, the mother doesn't provide the food, or it's not there. And yet he says, they who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. I mean animals, they may lack. God's people, they will not. God supports His own. That is a repeated biblical truth, and you can find it as well as I, all over the pages of Holy writ. God sustains His people. My God shall supply all your what? Needs, according to His riches in Christ Jesus. There's nothing to worry about. Why would you worry about your life, and how long you're gonna live? Or maybe if you're a mother or a father, you worry about that on behalf of your children. Why would you worry about that when all of your worry cannot add one day to their life? Why would you be in great distress when you're gonna have enough food? When God who gave you life will give you the lesser gift that sustains that life? Why would you worry about having something to wear when the Lord has designed clothing for human beings, and you're His children, and He'll give you clothing? Peter was a worrier. Oh, he worried about things all the time. He worried about drowning when he was walking on the water. Even though the Lord is right there. He worried about the things that were gonna happen when Jesus in the garden pulled a sword and tried to fight the Romans. He worried about Jesus being crucified and told Him not to do that. He was a real worrier. He was anxious a lot. But finally got the message and wrote in 1 Peter 5.7, a great truth. He said, casting all your care on Him for what? He cares for you. Took Him a while to learn it, but He learned it. And so our Lord says, first of all, don't worry. It is unnecessary because of your Father. And if you do, He closes verse 30 with this statement. Oh ye of little faith. If you worry, what kind of faith do you manifest? Little faith, puny faith, inadequate infinitesimal, small faith. The sum of an attitude that worries about food and clothes and lifespan is that you have little faith in God. Now that phrase, oh ye of little faith, is used four other times in the Gospels and most fascinating the way it's used. It is used, for example, in Luke 12, 28, when people worry about clothing. It is used in Matthew 8, 26, when the disciples worried about drowning. They worried about the length of their life. They were afraid of death, afraid of drowning. The Lord is gonna let them drown. They said to Him, how can you sleep when the storm is gonna drown us? In Matthew 14, again, it was Peter worrying about drowning, fear of losing his life. And then it is used in Matthew 16, 8, when they were worried about their food. Every time that phrase is used, oh ye of little faith, it is used about somebody who worried about food, clothes, or their lifespan. The very same three things Jesus speaks of in this first point. So fitting that this phrase should sum up that point. And every time it was the disciples, five times that that thing was used, he was speaking to the disciples. You who should know better, I wouldn't expect that of people in the world, but you who have had saving faith, oh ye of little faith. You believe that God can redeem you, that God can save you from sin, break the shackles of Satan, take you from hell to heaven, put you into his kingdom, give you eternal life, but you just don't think he can get you something to wear and eat in the next couple of days. Pretty ridiculous. You see, we can believe God for the bigger gift, and then we stumble, bumble around, and can't believe him for the lesser one. We believe God's gonna put us in heaven when we die, but we don't believe God's gonna provide us a meal or take care of the length of our life. How foolish. You see, in each of these cases where the phrase is used, he is speaking to his disciples, which indicates to me that this is a passage geared for believers. He would never say to one believer, oh, you of little faith, he'd say, oh, you of what? No faith. We have the faith, we just don't use it. We don't apply it. And listen, somebody might say, well, worry is just, you know, it's a small, trivial sin. No, it's not. Worry is devastating, because when you worry, you are in effect saying, God, I know you keep saying that, but I just don't think I can trust you. And worry then strikes a blow at the word and the person of God, you see. To me, worry is a monumental sin. You see, worry disbelieves Scripture. And you can go around all your life and say, I believe in the inter-internancy of the Bible. I believe in the absolute authority of the Scripture. I believe in verbal, plenary inspiration of every word. And then just live your life worrying and you are saying one thing out of one side of your mouth and something else out of the other. Because why would you go around saying how much you believe the Bible and then worry whether God's gonna fulfill what he says in it? You see, worry means that you are mastered by your circumstances, not the truth of God. Worry misunderstands your position as a child of God. Worry is a devastating sin. Worry is a killing, debilitating, self-evident, devastating, self-indulgent, possessive anxiety that says God can't care for me and I gotta do this thing myself. That's sin, that makes God a liar. It ignores his love, it ignores his power. I don't understand how people can make the vicissitudes and the trials and the circumstances of life a bigger issue than their salvation. They can believe God to save them from eternal hell. They just can't believe he can help them in this world. Doesn't make sense. I mean, you ought to go back and read Ephesians chapter one again and reiterate what God has given to you. Paul says, I'm praying that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened, that you'd get your eyes open and you'd know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and that you'd know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe. You better go back to the scripture and get your eyes opened again. Basically then, if you worry, it's because you're not trusting your heavenly father and if you don't trust your heavenly father, it's gotta be because number one, you don't know him well enough. Because if you knew him, you'd trust him, true? You better get in the Word of God and find out who he really is and how in the past he has supplied the needs of his people. And that'll be confidence for the future. And I would add this, that even those of us who know God and we study the Word and we're filled with that knowledge of God, we can worry too now and then. But you know when it happens? When you haven't been fresh in the Word every day, every day so that God is in your mind and then Satan moves into that vacuum where you haven't been thinking about God and starts making you worry about something. That's a sin. Oh, ye of little faith, God is worthy of a greater faith than you give Him. You're listening to Grace To You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. John's current series is titled, What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry? Now with today's lesson about the right way to deal with money and mind, let me take a moment to talk about Grace To You's financial philosophy. It boils down to this, we are committed to living out the biblical truth we proclaim. And that means we trust in the Lord's provision, living within our means and being wise stewards of the support that we receive from friends like you. Your willingness to sacrifice with us makes a significant statement about your love for the truth, your trust in the Lord, and your appreciation for verse by verse Bible teaching. To partner with us and help connect God's people with biblical truth, get in touch today. You can mail your tax deductible donation to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Or you can call us at 855-GRACE. You can also donate at our website, gty.org. And thank you especially for your prayers. We're grateful for every time you bring us before the throne of grace. And keep in mind, it's a great encouragement for us when you let us know how you're benefiting from Grace To You. If John's current study called, What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry? has shown you how to stop your anxiety over money, or if our recent series on the divine drama of redemption deepened your understanding of Christ's work for sinners, or if someone you know has come to faith in Christ after hearing this broadcast. We'd love to hear the story. Email us at letters at gty.org, or send your letter to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Now for the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace To You television this Sunday on Direct TV, Channel 378, and be here tomorrow for more biblical principles that can help you say goodbye to financial anxiety forever. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.
