Sermon on the Mount: Jesus’ Teachings on Wealth and Worry

Jesus of Nazareth is a 1st century Jewish man whose teaching and way of life began to reunite God's domain with our domain. He calls this reunion the arrival of the Kingdom of the skies. And Jesus invites people to follow him so that they can enter into that heavenly realm here on Earth in their day-to-day lives.

As humans, we desire divine experiences like love, peace, safety and security, but we face obstacles on the path to these rewards. In fact, Jesus says the biggest obstacle to experiencing God’s heavenly life and presence is our stuff! Possessions and wealth may make us feel more stable and secure, but Jesus has a different perspective on material things.

In this guide, discover Jesus’ teaching about wealth and possessions, including the worry they often produce in our lives. You can also explore related videos, podcast episodes, and more.

Wealth and Worry

6:46 • Sermon on the Mount

Context

Matthew places the Sermon on the Mount within his larger narrative about Jesus that takes place in Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee, and the surrounding occupied lands of the Greco-Roman Empire between approximately 4 B.C.E. and 35 C.E. The book was likely composed sometime between 55 and 90 C.E.

Literary Styles

Matthew 6:19-34 (and the Sermon on the Mount as a whole) is written in the literary style of prose discourse.

Key Themes

The human tendency to trust in wealth and possessions
How generosity leads to life and greed leads to death
The inability to live for God and wealth at the same time
Worrying about money and resources
Average life versus live in God’s Kingdom

Structure

Matthew 6:19-34 belongs to the larger literary unit of Matthew 6:19-7:12, where Jesus teaches people about righteousness—a way of relating rightly with both God and neighbor. In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus focuses specifically on wealth and possessions. He opens with three statements about the difference between generosity and stinginess. In the second half of this section (vs. 25-34), Jesus gives two analogies that demonstrate God’s endless, abundant generosity. The whole section closes with an exhortation to trust in God’s provision and acknowledge the futility in worrying about having enough stuff.

Storing Up Stuff

Jesus starts this section of teaching by saying:

19

“Don’t store up your stuff on the land, where moths and nibblers destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

Matthew 6:19 Keep Reading

We all know that stuff wears out, runs out, or gets lost. So we often work to gather even more and protect what we already own. In doing so, we place more and more of our attention on our stuff. And before we know it, we’re living for that stuff—it owns us. All of this hoarding of resources leads to more stress and fear. Jesus presents an alternative and says we can experience the good life when we direct our attention elsewhere. He says:

20

“Store up for yourselves the stuff of the sky …”

Matthew 6:20 Keep Reading

But what is this “sky stuff?” Sky stuff is the rich experience of peace and fulfillment we feel when 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. Jesus encourages us to store up that kind of stuff because the loving relationships we cultivate now will last into the new creation.

We receive and store up sky stuff when we trust God and live according to his instruction. Jesus describes this as inheriting eternal life. We can experience the sky stuff right now, and it will be waiting for us in the renewed creation, making it more valuable and secure than anything we could store up on the land.

But why can’t we store up both land stuff and sky stuff at the same time? Jesus warns us to be careful because our stuff has a way of slowly shaping us in its image and consuming our hearts. Or as Jesus puts it:

21

“For where your stored-up-things are, there too will be your heart.”

Matthew 6:21 Keep Reading

In other words, we ought to focus our hopes and desires on what matters most. When we do this, we will become more free, generous, and alive.

The Lamp of the Body

In his next teaching, Jesus uses a vivid image to describe this kind of focus.

22

“The lamp of the body is the eye, so then if your eye is whole, your whole body will be radiant.”

Matthew 6:22 Keep Reading

This phrase, “good eye,” is a figure of speech in the Hebrew Bible for being generous, while a “bad eye” is a metaphor for being stingy, hoarding your stuff. Jesus warns that a bad eye is the quickest way to ruin yourself.

23

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be dark. If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Matthew 6:23 Keep Reading

Does Jesus mean we should give all our stuff away? Well, Jesus does tell one wealthy man to do just that (see Matthew 19:16-30). But ultimately, this teaching is about our priorities and how we relate to others. When we love only ourselves, we see our stuff as something to hoard and protect. But when we love others, we can see our possessions and resources as blessings for everyone around us.

No One Is Able to Serve Two Masters

Jesus continues to emphasize how important generosity is with another parable.

24

“No one is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and wealth.”

Matthew 6:24 Keep Reading

The stakes are high here, and Jesus is pretty blunt. Our love for money and stuff can prevent us from experiencing the union of Heaven and Earth. According to Jesus, wealth can demand our loyalty, like a tyrant. We might think we own our stuff, but before long, it can end up owning us. We can shift our focus away from our stuff and stop storing up more than what we need. This will bring freedom and allow us to use the stuff we do have to bless others and foster the lasting rewards of the Kingdom of the skies.

Consider the Birds and Flowers

At the end of the day, we all do need stuff to survive. We need food, clothing, and shelter. This section closes with another teaching about physical resources, bringing all of these ideas together.

25

“Because of this I say to you, do not worry about your life-being, what you will eat or what you will drink, not even about your body, what you will put on. Isn’t the living-self more than food and the body more than clothing?”

Matthew 6:25 Keep Reading

What does Jesus mean here? The word Jesus uses for “worry” here is the Greek word “merimnao,” which means to have concern for something. Sometimes concern is good, like showing concern for a friend. But often, our tendency to be concerned can get out of hand—choosing to focus on potential problems or dwelling on disasters that might happen.

When we obsess over things beyond our control, like rain for our crops or what’s going to happen tomorrow, we may experience a gnawing ache in our gut. And that ache won’t help us live longer or bring us peace or security. Rather it steals the joy out of the present moment. Jesus wants to free us from that ache of worry by redirecting our attention to God’s trustworthy character.

26

“Look at the birds of the air, how they don’t sow seed, and they don’t harvest, and they don’t gather into barns, and yet your Father in the skies feeds them. Aren’t you all much more valuable than they? And who among you is able to add an hour to your life-span by worry? And about clothing, why do you worry? Pay attention to the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t labor, and they don’t weave cloth. But I say to you all that not even Solomon with all his honor clothed himself like one of these.”

Matthew 6:26-28 Keep Reading

With these words, Jesus draws on biblical poems like Psalm 104, which describe how God holds the universe in a delicate balance and lavishly cares for his creation.

1

“Bless the Lord, my soul!

Lord my God, you are very great;

You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

Covering yourself with light as with a cloak,

Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.

He lays the beams of his upper chambers in the waters;

He makes the clouds his chariot;

He walks on the wings of the wind;

He makes the winds his messengers,

Flaming fire his ministers.”

Psalm 104 Keep Reading

Jesus goes on:

30

“Now, if the grass of the field, which is there today and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, is clothed this way by God, won’t he much more clothe you all, who have so little trust?!”

Matthew 6:30 Keep Reading

As humans, we are made in God’s image and filled with his breath—his Spirit. Since God designed our world with plenty of life-giving resources for everyone, we don’t need to worry about having enough. And we don’t need to hoard or violently defend our resources. We can live generously and give without fear, and even become God’s means of providing for others.

To clarify, in this teaching, Jesus isn’t talking about anxiety that you cannot control—that sense of dread or anxiety that results from trauma, a chemical imbalance, or other mental health issues. It takes discernment to know the difference, and God often provides healing through the wisdom and expertise of others. But if we’re wrestling with the choice to worry over scarce resources or potential problems, Jesus invites us to take a deep breath and trust that God’s provision is more than enough for everyone. And there’s a lot of evidence for this. Like Jesus says, watch the birds, gaze at the lilies, and see God’s generous care for his whole creation.

31

“So then, don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the nations, they constantly seek for all these things, and your Father in the skies knows that you need all that. Rather, first of all seek for his kingdom and doing-what-is-right by him, and all these things will be added to you. So then, don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow can worry about itself! Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew 6:31-34 Keep Reading

The Big Idea

Jesus urges followers to love God and others—not wealth. Possessions, like masters, command our attention and distract us. But by trusting our generous Creator and focusing on what God values, we can become more free and content.