Both-And...

We American believers have taken the mentality of have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too to new extremes even though we intuitively know that this is not the way of the kingdom.  We want the BOTH-AND, the WIN-WIN situations where we get everything we want.  Early on, most of us learned that this was not the reality.  “You can either have the baseball cards OR the army men, NOT both”—my mother used to tell me.  This matter would be little more than interesting if so many believers did not bring this BOTH-AND mentality into how they relate to the kingdom of God and the things of this world.¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  You’ll notice that Jesus gives a choice—you can either lay-up treasures on earth—which are perishable OR, you can lay up treasures in heaven-which are imperishable and last forever.  There is not a BOTH-AND option here.  This means that we cannot think to ourselves, “I will pursue wealth, gather possessions, gain status and influence and I will use those to leverage kingdom ministry.”  That is the BOTH-AND position and it is American materialism dressed up in kingdom language.  Jesus calls us to a choice.  Either the treasures of this world—the things this world goes after—that we can have NOW, OR the treasures in heaven we must wait for.

  Jesus taught that you could not actively pursue BOTH the things of this world AND the kingdom of God in Matthew chapter six.  He says, “

The reason the BOTH-AND situation is not a reality is in verse 21,”²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  The reason you cannot pursue BOTH this world’s treasure AND kingdom treasure is because the human heart cannot be divided.  Jesus spells it out in verse 24, “²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  As much as we may give lip service to pursuing the things of this world for the sake of kingdom influence, Jesus says it’s impossible because they are not two neutral commodities for us to accumulate out,  ultimately they are objects of our devotion.  Actively pursuing the things of this world is not being ambitious or clever or industrious—it’s being an idolater because invariably, you will make it your god.

In between these two sections of Scripture is a curious statement in verse 22.  There Jesus says, “²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”  Why would this section on the eye come in the midst of this section on treasures?  The reason is because whether we pursue the things of this world or kingdom treasures, or try to do both at once is dependent upon our “eye” which Jesus uses metaphorically for how we see things.  If our “eye” is shaped by a Biblical worldview—it’s singular and will rightly choose only to pursue kingdom treasure—(e.g.) our lives (bodies) will emit light.  If your “eye” is shaped by a materialistic worldview—is divided—wants to have the world AND the kingdom of God, then our lives will produce darkness. 

All of us can be deceived in this matter of treasure—it is all around us and, in spite of the bad economy—it is amazingly accessible to us compared to most people who have occupied this planet.  The reason we don’t like the EITHER-OR dynamic is because it means the cross—we must die to the earthly treasures we want to pursue in order to pursue the kingdom of God.  We don’t like the cross—it has a singular purpose—no victim of crucifixion was ever “multi-tasking.”  Its purpose is singular--to kill through self-denial our desires that compete with kingdom ambitions.  What our mothers told us when we were kids is still true.  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  As we continue to meditate on the gospel and the treasures of heaven, this choice is not difficult.  The further we get from the cross, the more blurred and confused these lines become for us.