Bible Study

The Sermon on the Mount

Materialism: I

Task

We are continuing with our study of the Sermon on the Mount. Tonight we are looking at the subject of Materialism from Matthew 6:19-24.

Discussion
  1. What point is Jesus making in vss 19-20 with regard to the difference between earthly treasure and heavenly treasure? If this is true (which it is!), why do so many of us go to such great lengths to store up earthly treasure and seem to care so little about storing up heavenly treasure?
  2. How would you exhort a fellow-believer who is preoccupied with possessions and making money? What would you say? How would you handle it?
  3. According to the Bible, how does a person actually go about storing up treasure in heaven? i.e what kinds of things do we do that result in the storing up of heavenly treasure? How can we be sure that we have actually stored up treasure in heaven?
  4. What important principle is revealed in v21?:
    • Why is this so important for the Christian life?
    • When Christians live according to this principle, what statement does it make to the world about the value of Christ?
    • What holds Christians back from living according to this principle?
"You are to remember with the passion burning within you that you are not the child of to-day. You are not of the earth, you are more than dust; you are the child of tomorrow, you are of the eternities, you are the offspring of Deity. The measurements of your lives cannot be circumscribed by the point where blue sky kisses green earth. All the fact of your life cannot be encompassed in the one small sphere upon which you live. You belong to the infinite. If you make your fortune on the earth - poor, sorry, silly soul - you have made a fortune, and stored it in a place where you cannot hold it. Make your fortune, but store it where it will greet you in the dawning of the new morning."
G. Campbell Morgan