PART I, ARTICLE IV: FOUR CIRCUMSTANCES AGAINST JOB, SECTION I

When a physical relapse dashed my long-term recovery to pieces and caused me to nearly despair, the only thing that I had the heart to study was the book of Job in order to find a mere sinful mortal with whom I could compare my assortment of sufferings. This I did during the course of a whole winter, from my bed. What I discovered in the book of Job consoled me because in Job’s incomparable account of perseverance I found a man who not only sympathized with me, but surpassed me in four key departments. It was thus that the spiritual therapy that I needed was applied; and I was encouraged to press on in spite of unwanted, unexpected regress.    

Introduction

If prose, piety, and pathos be considered together, the book of Job must be without rival in all the annals of literature. The quality of its prose is distinct and startling even in translation. The piety of its protagonist is nowhere surpassed. And the narrative is entirely possessed of the element of pathos, which suddenly appears in the prologue, pulsates throughout the ensuing dialogue, and radiates on the page after our reading is finished. The book is about persevering in faith through the consequences that a series of catastrophes brought about in the life of one man. The entry point is a conversation between Satan and the LORD, which colloquy is foundational to our understanding of what goes on in the spiritual world during our pilgrimage on earth. After the LORD recommends the good character of Job for Satan’s consideration, the devil impugns Job’s character on the basis of the charge that his good conduct is merely a response to having been richly blessed of God. To disprove the charge, God grants to Satan the liberty of putting Job to the test. Subsequent to this meeting, Job is impoverished and humiliated by his adversary the devil, and all his children are slain by his influence. Seeing that the upright character of Job has not tottered, Satan presents himself before the LORD a second time, and is granted the right to put a disease upon Job to test him more perfectly. Next we see Job atop an ash heap, scraping the boils on his skin with a fragment of earthenware. Following Job’s refusal to curse God, which remedy is proposed by his wife, a debate ensues between Job, his three friends, and a latecomer to the exchange. The spirited dialogue continues for the length of about three sermons, and has for its topic the reason why the felicity of Job has lately turned to adversity, by which hardship Job has been driven almost to madness from confusion and grief. The four-sided dialogue is ended by God, who demands answers from Job to a succession of baffling questions about God’s creation and character. Finally, Job confesses his ignorance, unworthiness, and impetuosity; his three friends are censured by the LORD; the LORD approves Job and sets him up as an intercessor for them; and the latter days of Job are made twice as prosperous as the days leading up to his trials.                  

Suffering is the grimmest part of man’s inheritance from Adam. Between the cradle and the coffin man is at a continual hazard because of accidents and choices, malfunctions and malevolence. Nonetheless, as hazardous as the fallen world is, there are persons who enjoy unrelenting health from first to last, and suffer comparatively little, perhaps passing on to eternity during a placid dream. The tendency, however, is toward the other extreme, where suffering is as common as luxury meats are for the rich. Some people suffer little in this world, while others seem born in it to suffer. But life is brief for all, and each person would be wise to reckon with God while passing through. Man is born in sin, and is condemned, not only to die, but to suffer afterward forever no matter what he suffers first on earth. Without a spiritual quickening before his decease, man is doomed to suffer everlastingly for the initiation of sin and his participation in it. To reckon with God, and to obtain his blessing before death, is the most important task in a man’s life. The persons who are most set upon to prove that they are blessed are the most pious among the penitent. For those who have received a pardon for their sins through faith, suffering is not so much about God’s disapproval, but about proving, by not repining, that reconciliation has taken place. How patiently a man of God suffers, affects his assurance of faith. His hope in being ultimately blessed will hang or hover instead of rest during periods of dejection. A person who trusts God and who continues to trust during adversity will be counted among the blessed.  Job is counted among the blessed: “Behold, we count them happy which endure.  Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and seen the end intended of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5.11.) ‘Count happy’ means ‘blessed.’  ‘Patience’ means ‘hopeful endurance.’  So, being counted happy depends, here, on ‘hopeful endurance.’ Happiness is certain for saints who endure.  Job endured and was made happy. 

But there was a time for Job, and there may be times for us, when no amount of blessing seems worth going after. This is particularly the case when relapse reverses progress, when intermittent pain becomes constant, or when physical weakness causes weariness of mind. There is a level of torment that seems like torture from God because the pain turns the mind up to the only power that can stop it. There is a mental space from where abatement seems impossible, from where agony seems eternal, from where infirmity seems everlasting, from where even hell, we imagine, would be an easier fate to bear. In times like these, we might be tempted to plunge into the unknown before bearing another cross. There may even come to us a blasphemous temptation to desire a Being greater than God to appear, to the purpose of putting God through what we are presently enduring. As near as I can tell, Job was not tempted with a thought as black as that. But Satan was permitted to stretch a pavilion of darkness over his faith, from which a translucent sight of God could hardly occur. It takes a lot of trust to persevere.  It takes a lot of character to persevere.  And to use the language we used at home when I was a boy: “It takes a lot of guts.” Yes, it can take a lot of guts to persevere—and far more guts than any of us have to persevere so patiently that we don’t gripe and grumble. 

Job was an observer of the rite of sacrifice. He sacrificed to God, not only because of sin, but even in case of sin:  “It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually” (Job 1.5.) He ‘feared God, and eschewed evil’ (verse 1.) In Romans 5 we read, “… that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (verses 3, 4.)  The word ‘experience’ means ‘trustiness,’ and therefore ‘character,’ as one translation has it. Job had character before he patiently endured tribulation.  He endured because he was a man of character. He (his character) was tried by prosperity; in his prosperity he offered sacrifices because he had confident expectation (hope.) He worshipped God, then, even as a rich man—even before he went from riches to rags. Job was a ready candidate to become a model for the doctrine of perseverance.  He was a man ready for further testing.  To Job, perseverance meant more than trusting God through times of prosperity and even trials.  Judging from the overall tone of the book and especially from God’s approval of him in both the prelude and the epilogue, there is no presumption in stating that Job maintained a strict religion and a high moral standard in every aspect of, and throughout, his life.

It is one thing to read about the sufferings endured by a hero, quite another to be a hero in the book of Job.  During a relapse into sufferings of my own, I began to consider Job’s account more closely.  I wanted to somehow weigh his sufferings against my own.  I needed to put my sufferings in perspective because my relapse was making me bitter. “He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy” (Lamentations 3.6, 7.) During the winter of 1998-99, I made the book of Job my chief meditation. So ill and weak was I that this article is the only piece of work that I produced during that whole time, which article would look like a considerable abridgment compared to this final renovation of it. I am “remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall” (Lamentations 3.19.) I am now convinced that because of the circumstances involved in Job’s trial, the gravity of his sufferings is significantly set apart from our own; and that based on the praise that he received from the LORD for his victory, his perseverance is set above that of all others in the Old Testament.

To examine the account of a man who persevered despite singularly trying circumstances can inspire us to persevere.  Job did not realize that his trials were calculated to cultivate his character and to expose that character to view.  We, however, do know it. We know from his example that we should use our trials as opportunities to gain ground; that is, to bring glory to God, to edify the Church, to shed some light on the world, and to improve our character in preparation for eternity.  That must be our manifold goal.  We might not receive a double measure for our perseverance like Job received from God on earth. But we will receive more than a double measure later. To be sure, we will not be ‘counted happy’ if we give up and rebel against God.  Each time we persevere through a trial we increase our faith, thereby inclining ourselves more to obey God. To know the grace and peace of God through perseverance increases our overall strength. Experiential religion will show its worth when sufferings come to press us down the next time.  Suffering may come down upon us with crushing force. But if we persevere through it, our spirits will run over with happiness.  Our perseverance in the LORD, or lack of it, affects us far more that we understand right now.  Job’s affliction and the composition of his trial happened first to honor God by putting the devil to confusion, but then to dignify Job and encourage God’s people. Our sufferings have a noble purpose as well.  Our conduct during affliction is recorded also. Who knows what is involved in the new heaven and the new earth? Our trials here have something to do with our rank and occupation there. To place our account beside Job’s account will be a humbling and strengthening exercise.  God will hearten us through Job; and, having learned to endure hardness, we will be fortified to go on.  First, we must learn a little about who Job was.

I will assume that the reader has read the book of Job and that he knows about the dialogue between the devil and God, which dialogue set in motion the unraveling of Job’s idyllic life. These introductory notes may, hopefully and nonetheless, serve as a faint rehearsal of the famed account. Job was blameless but not sinless; he is an historical figure; he is no more fictitious than Noah and Daniel are (Ezekiel 14.14, 20.) Job was a man who lived in the land of Uz around the second millennium B. C. The book of Lamentations situates Edom within the same land; that is, east of Palestine. The name ‘Job’ means ‘hated’ or ‘persecuted’; this definition agrees with the treatment that Job received from the devil as the providence of God produced its negative effects on his life. Even if his name had not ‘hated’ for its definition, the name ‘Job’ should, because of our acquaintance with the narrative, remind us at once of a longsuffering character. If the moralist should be ashamed of ‘never having thumbed Aesop’ (ne Aesopum quidem trivit), the Christian should be shamed for never having read the book of Job.   

Job was a man who trusted God and gave him the glory.  He did it in the midst of a shocking series of losses, which pained him extremely. When I refer to the sufferings of Job, I don’t mean so much his physical torment, but the mental and spiritual anguish that vexed him after he lost his possessions, his servants, his children, his health, and the respect of his fellows.  While there may be more mediums today through which we are tempted to sin than there was in Job’s day, the grave circumstances that complicated and worsened Job’s sufferings tempted him to sin also—circumstances that we do not face.  These circumstances markedly intensified Job’s sufferings, accentuating his perseverance. We will consider these four circumstances, following a brief comment on the dimensions of Job’s sufferings.  

The boils all over Job’s body caused him gnawing pain. The sores on his body itched and stung intensely. He could not rest. He was wasting away and nearly dead: “My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome…My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth…My bones are pierced in the night season: and my sinews take no rest…My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat” (Job 7.5; 19.20; 30.17, 30.)  Job’s physical agony exceeded the pain that most diseases presently cause, especially in countries where doctors and formulas abound—where the sick are catered to in the rush to help alleviate their distress.  I do not recall even one verse that says Job was ministered to physically.  Nevertheless, as dire as it was for Job bodily, descriptions of his physical discomfort are few.  A higher dimension of torment haunts the book: “Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…When I say, my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions…And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me…My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.  I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation” (Job 7.11, 13, 14; 30.16, 27, 28.)  Job’s principal torment was mental and metaphysical. Those among us who have been deathly ill know that during sleep, physical pain is wide awake in nightmares. Sleep that is usually restorative and diversionary becomes exhausting and menacing instead. The night is only a dark review of the direful day. The only break from the nightmare is an equally dismal dawn. The following four circumstances greatly contributed to the vexation of Job’s mind and spirit: the large losses that he incurred, his conscientious character, the limited revelation that he had for his comfort, and the devil’s assaults.

PART I, ARTICLE III: LIVING FOR THE KINGDOM; OR, A LIFESTYLE MANIFESTO, SECTION VII

Conclusion

“Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22.42.) These words, more than any others, represent what it is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. At his trial after the test in the garden, Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18.36.) Maybe it can be said, if we dare to say it, and as reverently as we can, that Jesus had just come from seeking the supernal kingdom like he never had before. Jesus sought the kingdom of God when it was most difficult to do so. No test in history, or vexation in hell, for that matter, can compare with what the Lord went through in Gethsemane. No prospect can be worse than dying for the sins of others and satisfying the wrath of God; no one had done it before; no prospect worse than to be the first and only one. How could the expectation not be as agonizing as the crucifixion? How could it not be the beginning of his greatest torments? Why did he sweat great drops of blood except that tortures had begun? Yet, in the garden, because he had his eye and mind on the future kingdom of God and his righteousness, Jesus sustained his entire surrender. The temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane had a greater Adam to deal with than the temptation in the Garden of Eden had in the first Adam. The kernel of victory was gained in the Garden of Gethsemane; ripened victory was gained on the Cross. “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12.2.) Because of the Lord’s submission, all the promises made to him are sealed; the sinners that he died for are his; the sinners that reject him are his to judge; and Satan’s final fall is owing to his obedience to the law, his death for sin, and his victory over death. He is ‘the author and finisher of faith.’ In seeking the righteousness of God, and in doing what is right, the sinner will find that the righteousness of Christ is his through faith, and that the kingdom is his by inheritance. As an heir, moreover, he will have a significant role to fill in this kingdom: he will rule over all that the Lord has (Luke 12.44.) A sinner comes under the dominion of God in no other way but by grace through faith; no sinner comes into God’s kingdom through any other door than Jesus Christ, who is full of grace, the object of faith, and the embodiment of truth and glory (John 1.)    

Seek first the kingdom of God, ‘and his righteousness.’ Righteousness is intimately connected with the kingdom. It is pondered by the Psalmist; it is predicted by the prophets. The word comes up again and again; next to holiness, it is perhaps the primary virtue to dominate the kingdom. It runs alongside the virtue of peace; there is no peace without righteousness. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85.10.) The word ‘righteousness’ carries the idea of justice by equitable judgment. This is why the word is difficult to distinguish from the words ‘equity’ and ‘judgment.’ To seek the righteousness of God is to seek after what is right, fair, just. But it is more than this. By faith the disciple is credited with the righteousness of Christ. He then seeks to broaden the sphere of that same righteousness by disseminating the gospel and doing good deeds. He puts his faith into practice, demonstrating this righteousness by doing the things that the Lord did during his ministry. Jesus fed the hungry. Jesus ministered to the sick. Jesus showed the way to heaven. The disciple can do these things with the time and resources that would have gone into treasures and worries. He can imitate and intimate, by graces like peace, generosity, kindness, and joy, what the future kingdom of God will be like. If a ministry worthy of support cannot be found—if a ministry that is doing what is right on the basis of what truth really is cannot be found—then we may direct our support to a cause that exposes works of darkness, for this too is part of our Christian calling. Since we are called to reprove works of darkness (Ephesians 5.11), they must often be exposed, and therefore muckrakers need support. The muckraker can dredge up sin; then we can reprove sinners as they come out from their holes. There is a sense in which we are called to ‘judge.’ If we are supposed to prosecute our mission joyfully, and part of our mission is to judge, then we may judge gladly though not arrogantly. Blessed are they that judge? Since the word ‘blessed’ means ‘happy,’ then yes, blessed are they. To help expose deeds of darkness will make a Christian happy.   

Every religious effort ought to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly, much that is done in his name is not of his kingdom. This is why partnership with others in the doing of good works and in the sowing of seed must be done only insofar as the league runs along biblical lines. To try to bring about some ecumenical union by a pact that compromises cardinal doctrines like faith, intercession, and the sacrifice of Christ is to walk in darkness with the devil. Interfaith unions, Roman Catholic overtures, and alliances with cults are all to be shunned. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6.14.) We must be wary of eyeing unity at the expense of truth. This is to have an evil eye more than a single one. The body may become dark through our use of the eye. How dark is the body that is communing with darkness! Those who push for peace at any cost hate verses like the one just quoted. To be religiously joined with persons who do not endorse creedal formulas like the Five Solas, and who do not live lives that are set apart from worldly lifestyles is to be joined with what God condemns. A campaign with Roman Catholics to save sinners, for example, is a divided kingdom that can do no good and that will do great harm. This is why the Billy Graham Crusades did not leave in their wake a moral America. The Roman Catholic priest does not reckon the Bible as the sole authority in matters of faith and practice; and if God is no respecter of persons, he certainly disrespects the underestimation of his word. The word ‘sola’ is the Latin word for ‘alone.’ The Five Solas, then, are: grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. When any one of these is missing in a campaign or a program, or when these five are added to, where salvation is concerned, the Christian must shun it, not unite with it.     

Some persons are misguidedly seeking the righteousness of God by attempting to bring the kingdom in through social programs and political schemes. This kind of activity cannot be found amongst the first disciples. Neither, to say the least, do we see Jesus resort to these secular measures. “The perfection of humanity, to be effected by human agencies, is a dream of the philosopher that will never be realised. The great experiment of man’s ability to rule himself and the world around him, that has been in operation throughout all the generations, from the Builders of Babel to the philosophers and legislators of our own days, is still working with intensity that increases as his dominion over the elements of nature is increasing. But war and discord, fraud and violence, still prevail, and will not cease, until God shall take to Himself His great power, and ‘the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ’” (Dominick M’Causland, The Builders of Babel, pp. 284-285.) We ought to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, to share the gospel so that God’s kingdom will enter souls, and to live lifestyles fit for saints. This is essentially what God’s children are called to do. The kingdom of God, with his perfect righteousness, will finally fully reign on earth, if not for a thousand literal years, then certainly immediately preceding the judgment, and for sure after that forever, in the New Jerusalem, with its new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21.1, 2.) Once God’s will is done on this old earth, the eternal kingdom will ensue. Our endeavor is to seek the righteousness of God by falling in line with what is right, by bringing the gospel to sinners, and by escorting penitent sinners into God’s kingdom. It is vain to seek righteousness any other way. “The pride of intellect, the love of riches, and the lust for power, which are the natural products of increasing civilization, do not harmonize with the self-sacrificing humility and submissiveness that are the essence of the true Christianity which was taught by the Saviour, and preached by the Apostles. Hence it is, that the rapid advance of material civilization has never been accompanied by a corresponding advance in the moral culture of the community; on the contrary, it is found, that the higher the intellectual attainments, and the greater the prosperity, the more prevalent is the contempt or perversion of God’s word. The Babylon of Revelation, which typifies the climax of progressing civilization, presents to view a community which combines the highest commercial prosperity and the most refined luxury with a low moral condition and gross apostacy; and all are buried together on the confines of a better dispensation, typified by the New Jerusalem, which is to be the scene of a future reign of righteousness and peace on earth. With such a downward moral tendency of those engaged in the development of the great physical agencies of civilization, those of Japhet’s sons [us Westerners] who recognise the presence of the Lord God of Shem [the Jews] in the affairs of mankind must, each of them in his own time and place, labour to leaven their generations with the knowledge that realizes a future beyond the narrow precincts of human life” (Dominick M’Causland, The Builders of Babel, pp. 282-284.) Notwithstanding the fact that humility and submission are not of the essence of Christianity, as this author teaches, being the fruit of it, not the root; and notwithstanding this author’s failed theory of pre-Adamite man, he is nevertheless on the mark respecting man’s failure to reform and the tendency of prosperity to end in degeneracy. An advanced civilization does not ensure a moral one.    

The teaching of Scripture is that despite our efforts the Lord will not find universal righteousness on earth at his second coming. “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18.8.) Where faith is largely absent, where will righteousness be? On the other hand, it seems that a revival will precede his second coming. Zechariah 12.10: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” It is more than plausible that Zechariah’s prophecy has been at least partially fulfilled in the thousands of Jews that believed on Jesus during the revivals recorded in the book of Acts. After Peter informed ‘the house of Israel’ that they were guilty of crucifying the Messiah (Acts 2.36), many were ‘pricked in their heart’ (verse 37), and the result was the repenting of ‘about three thousand souls’ (verse 41.) I say only partially fulfilled for the following reason. In the book of Revelation we read, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1.7.) This verse may point back to the prophecy in the book of Zechariah, which prophecy may be a prediction of a future revival among Jews, even if it may also teach that some persons will wail because of judgment, not out of penitence. That there will be a major revival among the Jews before the second coming of the Lord seems conclusive from Romans 11.25-27. After the ‘fulness of the Gentiles be come in,’ the apostle says, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Among the reputable commentators who believe that this has reference to a time nearing the end of the world, we have such theological heavyweights as John Gill, Matthew Poole, and Robert Haldane. When asked by his disciples when the kingdom would be restored to Israel, Jesus does not entirely put them off, but tells them that it is not for them to know ‘the times or the seasons’ (Acts 1.7.) To perfectly know, even in outline form, what will occur near the end of this world is perhaps impossible. It seems there will be a Jewish revival; and it seems that conditions on the earth will be whatever unbelief begets: apathy, entertainment, misery, turmoil, and violence. “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” (Romans 11.34.) Only the King has what it takes to usher in a kingdom of righteousness. By his power he will do it. And soon after there will be a new earth and even new heavens (2 Peter 3.13.) We must be alert to the Bible’s use of language, or we will dogmatize where we should hesitate. If the literal millennium swings at all, it swings on the hinge of one single verse that would have to be interpreted in the face of how the Bible so often uses the number thousand in a figurative sense. Speaking of apocalyptic language, the moon turning to blood and the sun into darkness (Acts 2.20) seem like figures of speech that are used to highlight the miracles and wonders that are recorded in that chapter. Sensational things do happen—even wonders in the cosmos. But the greater things are the things done to men, in men, and for men, by God for his own glory. With such things in mind we must aim to live well for the kingdom now; this cannot, and will not, be done if we are immoderately fond of blood moons in the sky as if that means the world is coming to an end, and before which a literal millennium of peace on earth will be ushered in. In fellowship, in prayer, in Bible study, or during a walk enjoying the grandeur of God as reflected in creation, we have perhaps paused in holy awe, and thought: “This experience is a sliver of heaven to come.” Such moments are kingdom moments: moments of bliss under the dominion of God—if we can back them up with faith and lifestyle to match. Exulting in thoughts of God through Nature is healthier than seeing nothing in a meteor shower except some ‘last things’ that may never be.  

The ‘last things’ that are left to come to pass are conspicuously difficult for the most learned men to judge. Whenever Christians have relied on the finer points of their interpretation of the consummation of this world, exhilaration has turned to disappointment as the end that was thought to be coming, ended up being out of reach. I give one example. In 1800 after atheism had polluted France with blood and was threatening to do the same all over Europe, Robert Hall, one of the great pulpit orators of his time, preached the following passage in a sermon: “…The kingdom of God, we know, cometh not with observation; but still there are not wanting manifest tokens of its approach. The personal appearance of the Son of God was announced by the shaking of nations; his spiritual kingdom, in all probability, will be established in the midst of similar convulsions and disorders. The blasphemous impiety of the enemies of God, as well as the zealous efforts of his sincere worshipers, will doubtless be overruled to accomplish the purposes of his unerring providence. While, in inflicting the chastisements of offended Deity on corrupt communities and nations, Infidelity marks its progress by devastation and ruin, by the prostration of thrones and concussion of kingdoms; thus appalling the inhabitants of the world and compelling them to take refuge in the church of God, the true sanctuary; the stream of divine knowledge, unobserved, is flowing in new channels, winding its course among humble valleys, refreshing thirsty deserts, and enriching with far other and higher blessings than those of commerce the most distant climes and nations, until agreeably to the prediction of prophecy, the knowledge of the Lord shall fill and cover the whole earth….” (Robert Hall, Modern Infidelity Considered.) Robert Hall was hinting here that the most comprehensive reading of Habakkuk 2.14—of the earth being ‘filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD’—was on the edge of being fulfilled—that ‘tokens of its approach’ were manifesting in his day, by which he meant, no doubt, that the time of worldwide grace might be at hand. But that time was not at hand. Here we are more than 200 years later. We might say that this time is at hand right now, for all of Europe seems to be falling. We might; but we shouldn’t. To Hall’s credit, however, there is nothing wrong with his hinting. He did not set dates; nor did he make end-time speculation his trade. Robert Hall was not the spiritual forefather of Hal Lindsey.      

How shall we live presently, seeing that we have this kingdom—this kingdom that cometh not with observation—inside of us? This is more important than dates and times. Every Christian would like to be alive when the gospel sets multitudes right; possibly every Christian would like to be alive when the Lord comes back to resurrect, judge, rule, purify, and create whole worlds anew. But while we keep watch, we should be acting as if we have 200 years more to wait. What about the dominion of God right now? Perhaps we complain about a dull and powerless life under God’s dominion. If so, are we really living for his kingdom and righteousness? Or are we living for the world to gratify the self? It may be that even as we seek his kingdom and righteousness, we honestly feel that it is a dark walk sometimes, and a frustrating search. But if we persevere during this, the darkness that we feel will be in proportion to the light that others see in us. To be made to walk in the dark while the light is in us is an opportunity to shine. This is that candle not hid under a bushel. “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house” (Matthew 5.15.) It is the blessing that was vouchsafed to Noah, Job, and Daniel; and to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and John the Baptist, to list but a few. Our greatest potential is achieved through faith on trial. Regardless of what we are selected to live out and to persevere in and through, we must be missed in the ‘counsel of the ungodly’ in order to ‘run the race,’ not to mention win it. We will be looked at with suspicion when we shun the television programs, the movies, the magazines, professional sports, and popular music. We will be looked down upon because we lack the treasures of the world. We will be laughed at when we trust God for the essentials. We will be scorned when we stand for what is just. We will be persecuted when we judge and preach. We must clear a passage to the kingdom for others. Infirmity and sabotage will make us limp as we work. When our light shines in the dark—in this darksome world of treasure and worry—we will be asked what our focus is fixed on. Then we’ll be assured that we are living the lifestyle that Jesus commands us to live. 

“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12.2-3.) It follows that if we are to turn sinners toward righteousness, we must be seekers of righteousness ourselves. The Christian should be obsessed with what is right because he possesses what is right: the kingdom of God inside him, and the righteousness of Christ that is his by faith. If we have the righteousness of Christ by faith, we are Christ’s, and all things are ours; that is, all good things that the Lord has to give (1 Corinthians 3.21-23.) He who has an eternity of good for his own has an unlimited bounty to share. To turn a sinner toward righteousness, then, should be, as far as spiritual action is concerned, our meat and drink, our essence and treasure. One man points to the door, another man chaperones, God opens the door and brings the sinner through it; which is another way of saying that one man seeds, the other waters, and God grants the increase. If our eye and mind are properly fixed, this mission of seeding or watering is the frontlet, as it were, on our forehead. “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12.4.) It may be that sometimes even dedicated Christians appear to be crazily running about. We can say this about that: the person who is habitually occupied in running to and fro across the world, down the streets, and through the web, looking for treasures and worrying about essentials, must not be interested in anything or anyone outside the borders of this present life in a world condemned by God to burn (2 Peter.3.10.) He is not a Christian who lives like that. The evil eye should be a single eye instead; the worried mind should be a trusting mind instead; the kingdom of God should be daily sought; the righteousness of God should be reckoned ours as much as the kingdom of God is inside of us. We should know this; we should feel this; we should regularly check to make sure that our knowledge and feeling run parallel with what the Bible says the lifestyle of a saint should be.

PART I, ARTICLE III: LIVING FOR THE KINGDOM; OR, A LIFESTYLE MANIFESTO, SECTION VI

Fixing the Mind on the Kingdom

To complete the lifestyle pattern, the disciple is told to fix his mind on the kingdom by emptying his mind of worry, from which conduct the essentials are taken care of. It is a principle based on trust.

‘Take no thought’ occurs three times in the passage. In other words, ‘Don’t worry, never mind, forget about it.’ We need to be continually reminded. ‘Why take ye thought?’ (verse 28.)

Don’t worry because “your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (verse 32.) If our needs are in the mind of our Father—in the mind of the one who created the universe and sent his only Son to die in our place, what is there that we should worry about? Food and clothing seem to be legitimate items to worry over. To say otherwise seems foolish. If there is something harder to do than to not worry about the things we need to live, I don’t know what it is. Who would not a climb a mountain if it meant that worrying about essentials would be trampled underfoot by the ascent? But if faith can move a mountain, it follows that we don’t need to climb one. Is there a person anywhere who does not worry about essentials for as much as a week? I used to stand in front of a bank to offer tracts to passersby. I noticed while standing there that no one looks more concerned than a man in a suit. How many of these worried individuals are Christians? Worry governs people; it leads to sickness; it shortens lives. Worry is in vain since Jesus said to ‘take no thought.’

But are we to be no more anxious than the birds are? The illustration that Jesus gives about the fowls of the air means exactly that. Birds do not have what it takes to worry. Our trust ought to be so complete that we seem incapable of worry. The bird eats what is made available; it lives where it can; it doesn’t gather more food than it needs (except for the blue-jay, I guess, who has been hiding peanuts under the leaves to the side of the house.) I have never seen a bird starve. I probably never will. In fact, I don’t remember ever seeing a skinny bird. They all look rather plump. We had a pet starling when I was a boy. Each morning dozens of flies were gathered on the window sills and panes waiting to be eaten. That bird never went hungry. He was always fat. The number of flies that he could eat amazed me. And so now, remembering all the flies that he ate, I look at the birds outside, and exclaim, “How does God feed all these birds?!” It seems impossible. Feeding us is as mysterious as that, and as possible as it seems unbelievable. 

We covet treasures through the eye. Then we worry about essentials with our mind. It is hard to trust the Father for essentials when the eye is trained on treasures. When the mind is in bondage to treasures, it seems absurd to trust God to provide the essentials. How can a person who is still trying to serve both God and mammon be capable of trusting God for the essentials of food and clothing? The pursuit of treasure is in itself a demonstration of lack of trust. “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1 Timothy 6.8.) It makes sense to have to subdue the lust for treasure before one is able to trust God for the essentials, because treasures occupy the mind, and the mind must be burden-free in order to trust God. The battle over luxury must be won before the battle of necessity can be overcome. If a person is occupied with treasures, he will worry about essentials. Oftentimes, it is because he has treasures that he has no essentials. How often have we noticed that the poorest person has the latest gadget? A fixed eye can regulate treasures. A fixed mind can go even farther. It can rest in God who provides the essentials. We need to trust God by ‘taking no thought.’

“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” ‘Take no thought’ is the lifestyle principle for the essentials. What does it mean to ‘take no thought?’ The Lord criticizes the Gentiles to teach us what it means: “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:)” (verse 32.) To ‘take no thought’ is to ‘seek not.’ To ‘take no thought’ is a demonstration of faith. ‘Seeking’ demonstrates lack of faith.

Just as the starling went to work pecking the flies off each morning, disciples must go to work to support themselves. The Lord’s comment is a lesson for disciples to not meet their needs in the way that Gentiles do. The way Gentiles do it reveals their lack of trust. They seek after the essentials in a harried, confusing fashion. They do not draw a distinction between essentials and treasures. They work frantically to get all they can. Such is the case for persons who have no kingdom inheritance. We can learn how to ‘take no thought’ by observing how the Gentiles ‘seek.’ Then we need to quit imitating the Gentiles and trust God instead. 

The Gentiles, or unbelievers, are obsessed with getting their needs met. To them, treasures are as essential as food and clothing. Many of these Gentiles abandon their babies and toddlers to strangers all day long because they ‘need’ to own a house or drive a certain car. These ‘needs’ are so essential to them that in order to meet them they are willing to sacrifice the most precious years with their children. It seems no sacrifice to such people to have their children raised by total strangers. Because they value material possessions over their children, they go even farther by recommending government run daycare. A cold Communist State is to them an idyllic utopia. Fatherhood and motherhood are both necessary to form the character of an infant. But parenthood does not rank alongside belongings with such people. The acquisition of treasures is more important to them than bonding with their children. They pay dearly for this, for their children rebel, and lash out through drugs, fornication, and bad behavior generally. A few wise men have suggested legislation that would hold parents accountable for the crimes of their children—crimes committed by children neglected by parents who are busy working for treasures as if they’re essentials. Parents who abandon their kids are later committed to senior homes, where they are as neglected as their children were. Poetic justice runs in a circle, and no one can outrun it. The standards of the world are in our local churches now, and being taken for commandments by professing Christians. What the world runs after, Christian professors follow. At first they shyly trot; then they sneak a lope; at last they shamelessly sprint. “These things ought not so to be.” The lifestyle of the Gentile is not the only way to live. He who is ‘the way’ has taught us a better way. And he demonstrated it to us.  

Our nation’s lifestyle is that of the Gentile. Canada is no more Christian than Cuba is. But consider an example from Japan. So obsessed are the Japanese with amassing goods that their government rejected daylight savings time for fear that it would encourage laborers to work even more than they do. What is the government worried about? Ten thousand Japanese citizens die of overwork each year, either by heart attack, stroke, or brain hemorrhage. A word has even been coined to identify this modern ‘disease.’ Karoshi is a growing threat. Karoshi support groups have been started for those who have lost loved ones to overwork. Forty-two hotlines provide advice for Karoshi candidates. I heard the testimony of one such candidate, a Japanese man who commuted hours to work every day to do the job that would enable him to buy his bigger house. Because he could not endure all that traveling, he ended up sleeping at work instead of at home. Then, the four hours that he saved from not having to commute, he used for work. He testified that he was not even able to think about his family when he retired to sleep at night. ‘Take no thought for your life,’ Jesus says. The end result of taking inordinate thought is that something as fundamental as the family is no more thought of. A god such as mammon or overwork is an enemy to faith and a destroyer of life and family. Or shall we expect that gods work together for our good? France’s legislated thirty-five hour work week does not help matters for the French. Even when people are forbidden to work hard enough to buy essentials and pay taxes—even when labor inspectors are hired by the state to enforce this law—what person is more luxuriously attired than a French citizen? Essentials are commonly sacrificed in order to possess treasures. A people with heavy tax burdens will seek solace in treasures, and escape through entertainment. What do we need, then, but politicians who live modestly and who legislate mercifully? We need politicians who live according to the way set forth by Jesus. And because this lifestyle can hardly be lived except by grace from God through faith, Christian magistrates are what we need. But wicked people will not have the righteous rule over them. Therefore what can we do but pay high taxes and then relieve our anxiety by needing less to live on than we thought?      

Opportunists take advantage of faithless souls. It is easy for them to do this because the world does not operate on the basis of trust. We are deceived by marketers into believing that we need more than we do. Some of the most beguiling marketers are behind our pulpits. One of their tricks is to convince us to give money to them in order to get God to give the money back to us through another channel. Then they accuse us of having little faith when the money that we gave doesn’t come back. Another one of their tricks is to make us believe that we give to God through them. “You’re not giving to us but through us,” says one radio solicitor, as if the donations go right through him without funding his well-known travel habits and golf addiction. So they cajole us into believing that we give to God by giving to them. Then they take our money and spend it on what we were going to buy for ourselves. No one preaches more vehemently than that pastor whose gospel is mammon. He pleads with his audience to give its treasures up; and he pleads with incomparable passion because he wants these treasures for himself. Ignorant churchgoers never figure these fraudsters out. Why not? Are these churchgoers not defrauded because their eyes are dark with envy? They want to be as well off as they think the fraudster is. Some of us, practically every time we go to church, are fooled into believing that the essentials of life are more than they are, or that treasures are nothing more than essentials that we need. If we were to apply the principle of moderation to pastors who are living more like popes than paupers, we would no longer feel obliged to enrich them. If we had grown wise by now, we would have more money from being fooled less often. Then we could give to actual persons in need and not being haunted anymore by the suspicion that we’re being robbed on the Sabbath by a con man posing as a Christian. We must learn what the essentials are, which lesson may be apprehended by reading no more than one Bible verse. Then we need to get into the practice of not worrying about these few things and to fix our mind on the kingdom of God instead. Right now the oil sector is being obstructed in a spiteful way by hate-filled politicians in eastern Canada. This is a great evil, for it has been granted to us by God to extract his resources. However, we should not miss the blessing that lean times bestow. What is this blessing but to feel our need for God so much as to turn to him in our distress? Does the young man feel any need for God as he drives his new truck to and fro from the oil patch? Does the young woman feel any need for God as she drives this man’s new truck to the mall to buy more lingerie? A rusted truck is a better magnet to God than a new one; a humble girl is more likely to be found in frayed cotton than frills and satin. In 1987 a US politician shot himself on live television before a crowd in order to seal a pension to his family. Is that not the antithesis of taking no thought for the essentials of life?  

Observing the people around us can help us to know how to seek in a sinful way, how to disbelieve God instead of trust him, and what a mind is like that is fixed on the world instead of the kingdom of heaven. But what saint—what sinner saved from sin like ourselves—can we look to for a positive demonstration of ‘take no thought?’ There is a prophet from the Old Testament who took no thought for food and raiment. Habakkuk was an optimist in a time of impending doom. In fact, he was the one prophesying the doom. Vexed by the sins of his people and tormented by his own prophecies of destruction and bloodshed, Habakkuk demonstrated the trust that would be required in the future siege: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3. 17, 18.) This is what it is to ‘take no thought’ for food and raiment. This is what it is to have the mind focused on a kingdom that lies beyond this present world and time. It will be easier to ‘joy in God’ when essential meat is lacking if we are used to going without figs and fruit. Luxuries and dainties are fine—until we think we need them. Then, by their unwonted absence, the stomach begins to crave; and then we repine instead of rejoice. 

Once the eye and mind are fixed on the kingdom, treasures are out of mind if not out of hand, and essentials are left for God to provide as we do our best to fulfill a decent role in society that will put bread on the table. To live nearest to what God’s ideal is for us—that should be our aim. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6.33.) This verse is the summary manifesto of the lifestyle pattern. If we seek first the kingdom of God, treasures and essentials will be pushed out of mind. To seek the righteousness of God is to seek what the future kingdom will be like: righteous and peaceful. It is to seek what heaven itself is like, heaven being the ruler by which the earth will be judged. To seek this righteousness is to imitate what the Lord is like. It is to seek to do the Lord’s will ‘as in heaven.’ It comes down to practical matters like treating people fairly, governing wisely, avoiding impurity, laboring patiently, eschewing false doctrine, and exposing works of darkness. Training the mind on what is right, weans it from the world.

PART I, ARTICLE III: LIVING FOR THE KINGDOM; OR, A LIFESTYLE MANIFESTO, SECTION V

Part II: What about Essentials? Matthew 6.25-34.

After teaching the evil of being preoccupied with earthly treasures, the Lord continues his discourse by addressing the essentials of life. This topic is the second part of the lifestyle pattern. Life is simplified when the anxiety that worldly ambition heaps upon us is judged unnecessary. By first pronouncing the last rites on treasures, the essentials will not appear so unobtainable. 

Anyone who has had to reduce his possessions to a minimum will have noticed the freedom that resulted. When I joined the infantry, I gave my possessions away, boarded a train, traveled to Boot Camp, and lived off the army. Just knowing that all I owned could be got into a barrack box, a duffel bag, and a suitcase was a liberating experience. I could mobilize in an instant; I was free to move at once to fulfill the duties that were given me. I had gone down from treasures to essentials, and the liberty and romance of it thrilled me. I once heard a Hollywood star tell the story about how all his possessions were burned up in a fire in California. He had become a slave to the accumulation of treasures, he said, and he vowed never again to lay them up. He claimed to want nothing but essentials from that moment forward. A similar revolution needs to take place in our lives if we are unwilling to mortify the flesh that craves treasure. At the very least, might we not strive to be minimalists? If not, how do we feel about circumstances leading to minimalist living—circumstances beyond our control? 

The passage on essentials reads like so: “Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6.25-34.) This passage may be paraphrased like so: “Do not worry about the essentials, like food and clothing. Life is about more than this. Your Father in heaven will feed you. Look at the birds. He takes care of them. And he loves you more than he loves the birds. To worry does not help. The lilies do not worry. Yet they are better dressed than Solomon was. God dresses grass with lilies. Will he not clothe you as well? Stop worrying about the essentials, like the unbelievers do. Don’t you have more faith than that? Your Father in heaven knows what your needs are. Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and your needs will be met. Do not add worries to the evils you already face. Live day by day.”

The transition from the subject of treasures to essentials takes place in the last sentence of verse 24 and the first phrase in verse 25: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought.” It is assumed by Jesus that the disciple does not want to end up being cold toward God by attempting to serve both God and mammon. Therefore he should be willing to go a little farther than treasure abstinence; he should take no thought for the essentials that sustain life.

It is for the disciple who lives in an affluent country to understand what his material needs are. Of what do essentials consist? Verse 25 reads, “Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

The essentials that are mentioned by Jesus are food and clothing. A roof is implied for those of us who live in harsh climates. Yet a citizen of the country in which we live is said to be entitled to much more than this. There is hardly a limit to what socialist parties say the citizens of a country are entitled to. But the essentials for us disciples are food and clothing. It is not essential for a disciple to be above the so-called ‘poverty line.’ A person can easily live below the poverty line and still have more than enough to eat and wear. I testify from personal experience that this is true. Whatever line of poverty has been suggested by one political party or another, I have been under it. But I have not suffered any lack. It is an easy thing to spend less than $100.00 a year on clothing. I have done this without effort as an adult in a post-2000 world. I remember thinking that I could have done better. It is not essential to own a house, to have bonds, and to have money in the bank. If you believe the essentials to be something more than Jesus says they are, your mind will be plagued with worry. ‘Take no thought for your life.’

PART I, ARTICLE III: LIVING FOR THE KINGDOM; OR, A LIFESTYLE MANIFESTO, SECTION IV

Fixing the Eye on the Kingdom

The first principle in the lifestyle pattern involves the eye. We get it from these words of Jesus: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6.22, 23.) This principle is the way to subject, avoid, or get rid of, worldly treasures.

We can become divided between money and God by what we take in through the eye. The word ‘single’ conveys the idea of ‘singleness of purpose.’ What we look at influences our purpose in life. If we look at good things, the light that goes in through the eye will light up the body. But if we take in evil things, light will be shut out, and the body will dim. This is true for the individual disciple as well as for a body of disciples that make up a local church. The light of the local body is only as bright as the individual bodies that are in it. When a disciple joins a church that is in darkness, he runs the risk of having his light dimmed.  

We are accountable to God and responsible to each other for the images that we allow to pass through the eye. The ‘evil eye’ of verse 23 is the eye of covetousness and envy. We look at, then we long for, what the Lord forbids us to have. When we have done this, we have coveted; we have begun to envy. Then we prepare to serve mammon to procure the treasures that we want. By this time our body is growing dark because our eye is fixed on the world.

What is the average disciple looking at today? How numerous are the evil images that are presented to the eye! How much greater are we tempted in this than were the first disciples! How much more are we tempted to look than they? But how much might our blessing be if we can resist the more formidable temptation?

It is through the eye that the colors of the rainbow remind us of God’s ancient promise to never flood the world again. But it is also through the eye that the coat of many colors identified the favorite son of Jacob. God directs our eye to the sky; but man trains his eye on his favorite treasure. In like manner, the world wants to train our eye on its coat of many colors to extract money that is entrusted to us to further God’s designs. We have a utilitarian device called the internet that will take us around the world in seconds to offer us every treasure imaginable, and the treasure may be accessed by the push of a button from the comfort of home. Many such devices are used to bring disciples under foreign dominion. How many disciples are in bondage to devices that are under the dominion of the ‘god of this world?’

To keep from coveting through the eye, we must turn away from what worldly people commonly put before it. The television is nothing but a box of images for an evil eye to look at. Who needs it? Who should want it? Who should risk having it? To protect our light we must also turn our faces from the tempting magazine covers, and resist turning a page if the cover suggests evil intent. It is not necessary to read trashy magazines or turn to gaudy sites to get our news; much that is newsworthy someone will tell us about anyway. The conscience can become darkened if we do not guard what passes through the eye. When that happens, what is good is hardly discerned from what is evil. If we answer in the affirmative to the following questions, our light has become dim by the images that we have allowed to enter through the eye. Are we familiar with the latest television programs? Are we able to discuss their plots? Can we hum today’s commercial jingles? Do we anticipate the images that we know are between the covers of the magazine that we reach for? Is our inner eye held hostage to music videos? If we feel pangs of guilt from indulging in any of the foregoing, we are not too far gone; we may reform. If we balk at such questions, we are dark indeed; our recoiling should make us wonder at regeneration, whether we have experienced one or not. If we are Christians, we don’t mind being preached to; we know that we can do better and that our light can burn brighter. By shielding the eye from evil, we can block out the temptation to lay up treasures on earth. We can fix our eye on God’s kingdom and lay up treasures in heaven instead.

Money is the way to the treasures that we want. No matter what we covet and envy, money is the conventional medium by which to acquire these treasures. This is why the text reads, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” We serve mammon to get the things that we want. But if we shield the eye from taking in the images of the items that we covet and envy, we will not be tempted to serve money to get these treasures. Treasures on earth are objects that degenerate. But not all treasures are inanimate. To the disciple who covets the woman on the street, the immoral woman on the screen, the naughty woman on the cover of a magazine, or the nude harlot between the pages of a book, she is the object of his desire. A man will serve mammon to get the women, or at least to get pictures or movies of them. To the woman who covets the latest furniture in the ‘home magazines,’ the next pair of shoes that she does not need, or the new face that the doctor can give to her, these become the objects of her desire, and she will serve mammon to get these treasures.

Whatever image we allow to enter through the eye remains with us, maybe for life. When we look, pathways along what scientists call synapses are opened, and what we see is stored in our memory. The more often the memory is recalled, the more that particular path is trod, until the path becomes a highway. Recall an image often enough, and it becomes next to impossible to push it out of the mind’s eye. Is this not why so many people commit suicide? They brood on a lost love so much that they are tempted to kill themselves rather than live without the person that they obsess over. How tragic this is when the person obsessed over and killed for is not an ideal specimen of humanity, but just another sinner come short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23.) It would make some sense if a person committed suicide on account of unity with a perfect mate being missed. But even the prettiest people are more depraved than perfect. If we saw people as God sees them, we would desire them less and desire heaven more. That is why we need to read the Bible more, for the nature of man is therein exposed to view. It is often in the dark with our eyes closed that we review the images of the day; with the inner eye of imagination we turn the images into fantasy and immoral longing. If this will not cause a suicide, it will hinder the process of sanctification. That which is looked at can be called forth to be played with years later; this is to the detriment of God’s dominion over our lives. What we look at today matters for tomorrow. The evil eye of envy can determine for us the kind of treasures that we lay up. The negative exercise of looking away from evil frees us up to store treasures in heaven. Covetousness is perhaps the best word to define this desire for treasures that we don’t have, because right now these treasures belong to someone else. The woman might belong to another man. She might belong to the devil. She might belong to God. She is not ours.   

When envy matures inside of us, we want to be envied by others. We look. We envy. Then we want to be seen and envied. If we become dark with envy, how dark will our darkness be! In the passage we read, ‘how great is that darkness!’ How dark? We will end up hating God because he stands between us and the treasures that we want. We will try to serve both God and mammon, and we will rationalize our behavior with poor arguments and bad theology. We can easily find support for our ‘treasure on earth’ lifestyle. Almost any book chosen at random will support us in it. Almost any app on the computer will lend its helping hand. But to serve both God and money is to attempt the impossible. If we try to serve both, we will put a god before God. We will have violated the first and great commandment: to love the Lord God with the whole heart, soul, and mind. ‘Mammon’ is personified in the text (verse 24) to remind us that when we serve mammon to obtain treasures on earth, we are serving an entity, a master, a god: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Who is this mammon-god but the devil in money’s clothes? Serving mammon is idolatry. What we stare at determines who we worship.

What we gaze at becomes the treasure that we want. We get the treasure that we want by serving mammon instead of God. By this fact, we can understand the importance of fixing the eye on the kingdom. We must exhort one another by repeating the words of Jesus: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” Lay them up in heaven. Why should we do it? Because our heart will be where our treasure is, and our treasure should be where our Saviour is. How can we help ourselves from laying up the wrong treasures? We help ourselves by applying the principle of eye discipline. We can turn our head. We can refocus. We can moderate our lifestyle by changing what we look at. The light of our body depends on it. Our testimony depends on it. The degree of God’s dominion over us depends on it. Treasures in heaven depend on it. The eye is fixed on the kingdom of God when the eye turns away from treasures on earth.

How did Jesus resist envy? How did Jesus resist the urge to lay up treasures on earth? His eye did not become an evil eye of envy, because he kept his eye under obedience. His eye was fixed on the kingdom of God, not on the kingdoms of this world and what they have to offer. This does not mean that Jesus never enjoyed looking at things. Surely nobody enjoyed to look more than Jesus did, for he could see deeper into nature than anyone else. Given his parables, he was a keen observer. He fixed his eye on good things. He looked with the pure and discerning eye of a Man in perfect communion with his Father. His eye was single. His body was full of light. He is called, in Scripture, ‘the light of the world’ (John 8.12.) And even though he is now ascended from the world, he is still the light of the world through Christians who are in the world because Christians are themselves ‘the light of the world’ (Matthew 5.14.) They are called the light of the world by no one less than the Lord Jesus. If we are generously styled ‘the light of the world,’ our duty is to shine, lest we seem to make a liar of both Scripture and Saviour.  

Jesus’ body was full of light because his eye was single; it had oneness of purpose. He diffused that light through teaching. Jesus looked at people, cities, fields, trees, and birds; but he saw more than people, cities, fields, trees, and birds. Because his eye was perfectly fixed on the kingdom of God, Jesus looked out and saw spiritual lessons in the physical dimension. What do we see when we look at a lily? An orange flower with spots on it? In the lily, Jesus saw a moral that could help the disciple overcome anxiety and to trust God in a deeper way. The other day a friend saw snow crystals in the air where the sun shone just right; after thinking about it she deduced that the crystals must have been just as present where the sun wasn’t showing them. Likewise, there are more angels about us than men have ever seen: ministering spirits called ‘a flame of fire’ (Hebrews 1.7.) Light from above will make them visible sometimes, as it happened for Elisha and his servant (2 Kings 6.17.) Light lends visibility to a person whose eye is rightly fixed. I knew this man once who obsessed about the likelihood of seeing an angel. But how likely was he to see one since he was watching the Oprah Winfrey Show regularly? Oprah viewers are not the kind of people who witness angels. By fixing the eye on the kingdom, even God, in some real sense, will be seen one day by genuine disciples. How do we approach this vision while on earth? Maybe we go to church. But what church? What a world away from a vision of God are lying wonders in voodoo churches where miracles are as common and fake as dyed hair! The first thing to do to draw near to a vision of God is to get farther from illusions.         

If we are not careful to guard our eye from evil, we will never see the way that Jesus saw; we will not see the spiritual in the natural. All we will see are the treasures that we have or want. The next time you are in a store, look around and realize that every item you see has come from the earth. I was shocked when I first discerned this. All of it is nothing but soil, rock, or wood. Treasures are earthy, not heavenly. The person whose habit is to consume what is earthy is in danger of consuming darkness and becoming as earthy as what he consumes; he has no light with which to see spiritual lessons. The Christian should be so heavenly that every object he looks at yields a spiritual lesson. It is in this vein that Augustine says that the Christian should ‘heavenlize earthly things’ as much as the men of the world ‘earthlize heavenly things.’ It should become instinctive for us to do so. One day while walking down my street I saw this girl chase a boy. As she ran to catch him, she said, “Justice, I will do anything for you!” This confused me until I realized that the boy’s name must be ‘Justus.’ By then I was in a reverie about Jesus running after Justice in order to obey the law and to satisfy the wrath of God for the sins of fallen men. The Christian should be an observer more than a consumer. He should be detached from the earth, as it were, already ascending to heaven, looking down and judging what he sees by God’s heavenly Book. Indeed, the saint is on his way to becoming something akin to an incarnate angel, says Thomas Case, the Puritan. What better thing to call a fully saved saint? When the resurrection takes place, and along with it the redemption of the body, body and soul will reunite, and glorified saints will be the blessed result. Saints will be glorified; and it is not too much to say that they will be angelified.    

The issue of treasure must be brought under the dominion of God. This is achieved by obedience to the first principle of fixing the eye on the kingdom. Then one can proceed to trust God for the essentials, which is the second principle. The disciple who does not live out the first principle will hardly attain to the second.

PART I, ARTICLE III: LIVING FOR THE KINGDOM; OR, A LIFESTYLE MANIFESTO, SECTION III

Part I: What about Treasures? Matthew 6.19-24.

The first topic addressed by Jesus in this passage is treasure. This is the first stage of the lifestyle pattern. What is lifestyle without treasure? Is it not often by treasure that men make themselves known? Is it not often through treasure that men labor to feel worthy? Is it not based on treasure that many of us settle on a mate? Why does a man leave home but to find his fortune? If a man lays up for himself treasures on earth to quench his lust, is it not correct to say that he lives for the world that yields him these treasures? If the devil is the evil influence over the world’s kingdoms, is it not right to say that he who lays up treasures on earth is living for the devil? When Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of this world, the Lord did not deny that it was in Satan’s power to offer them in some sense (Luke 4.) Jesus knew precisely what the devil had in his power to give, whatever it was, though he knew that the devil always exaggerates his claims. The devil’s promise to Eve that she would not die was followed by her death, Adam’s death, and the death of their offspring and descendents. And this death was both physical and spiritual. So the devil is a liar, which is one of the earliest truths to be learned since the Fall of Man. Nevertheless, he is not called ‘the god of this world’ for nothing (2 Corinthians 4.4.) He is the god of this world in a comprehensive, malignant sense. There are ‘rulers of the darkness of this world…spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Ephesians 6.12.) There is ‘the course of this world’ through which ‘the prince of the power of the air’ works in ‘children of disobedience’ (Ephesians 2.2.) The devil may tempt disciples of the Lord. But he does not work in disciples like he does through his own children—the children of the devil (John 8.44.) Disciples have the ‘kingdom of God within,’ which implies the resident Spirit of God, to resist the promptings of their lusts, all the powers of the world, and the master of the world’s evil forces, the devil. They can resist the temptation to lay up treasures on earth.    

The text concerning treasures reads like so: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6.19-24.) This text may be paraphrased like so: “Do not accumulate treasures here where they will not last. But lay up treasures where they will last, up in heaven. Your heart will be where your treasures are. Your eye is a window through which light comes in. So look at what is heavenly and wholesome, and your whole body will light up. But look at what you lust after, and you will grow dark with envy. If your light is darkness itself, how dark are you! No man can serve money and God together. If he tries, he will vacillate. He will go back and forth between God and money; and the danger is that he will end up hating God. You cannot serve both God and money.”

This radical message is extremely challenging. The teachings of Jesus confront the lies of Satan; and they challenge Christians to live consecrated lives. The message contained in this passage is about as far as one can get from the ‘prosperity gospel.’ Those who preach that God promises material wealth point out that Jesus spoke much about money. What they do not tell us is that Jesus used the subject of money to teach spiritual lessons that are a world away from financial promises. His kingdom is not of this world. So often, neither are his blessings. The text singles out for us a life of simplicity. If we are not weighed down with the kingdoms of this world, how easy it is and how buoyant do we feel! The more we plan to carry, the greater our care; the more we acquire, the heavier we feel; the more we are persecuted, the greater our loss. A man with nothing to lose is not afraid of losing all; a man with much to lose is so afraid to lose that he can’t relax. The man that Daniel Defoe based Robinson Crusoe on was Alexander Selkirk. After more than four years alone on a deserted island, “the man frequently bewailed his return to the world, which could not, he said, with all its enjoyments, restore to him the tranquillity of his solitude” (John Howell, quoting Sir Richard Steele, who met Mr. Selkirk and talked with him, The Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, p. 126.) Confessing still further, Mr. Selkirk said, “I am now worth eight hundred pounds; but shall never be so happy as when I was not worth a farthing” (Ibid., p. 127.) Eight hundred pounds was a lot of money in those days, especially considering, if it’s true, that the British pound has lost over 99% of its value since 1750, thirty years or so after Selkirk died.      

In spite of the many times that the Lord mentioned money during his ministry, we find that the exhortation to abstain from treasures is consistent throughout his teachings. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth’ is an unrelenting theme that easily disproves the opinion that Jesus recommended or promised material wealth. For instance, on the surface, The Labourers in the Vineyard (in Matthew 20) teaches us to be content with the wages that we have agreed to work for, regardless of what others are being paid. On the deeper level, the parable is about reward for service for those who are effectually called and a lesson on the sovereign right of God to distribute goods and grace as he sees fit. On no level at all are treasures on earth promised here. The Parable of the Talents (in Matthew 25) is about future accountability for how we use our opportunities, resources, and means of grace. Again, no earthly treasures are promised. The Two Debtors (in Luke 7) is about gratitude to God as the mark of having been pardoned. But no treasures are promised. By The Parable of the Unjust Steward Jesus teaches the ‘children of light’ to make friends with the ‘mammon of unrighteousness.’ Even here we find no license to lay up treasures on earth. We know that there is no such license because of the reaction that these words elicited among Pharisees:  “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him” (Luke 16.14.) The parable is about being as wise in the welfare of our soul as a shrewd man might be in worldly affairs. The parable right after this, if we may call it a parable, is the example of the consequences of serving mammon in the place of God. The ‘rich man’ selfishly ate his fill while Lazarus suffered hungry at his gate, for which manner of life the rich man was condemned to a miserable end in a ‘place of torment.’  The abundant life that Jesus came to give by dying is eternal life, not prosperity on earth (John 10.10.) The truth is that ‘a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 19.23.) There is a pronouncement of woe for those who live for treasures: “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation” (Luke 6.24.) When Zacchaeus told Jesus that he was giving half his goods to the poor and making restitution at a heavy price, Jesus replied, “This day is salvation come to this house” (Luke 19.9.) About John the Baptist, Jesus said, “But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses” (Matthew 11.8.) The ‘certain rich man’ of Luke 12 planned to build bigger barns to store his treasures in, and his soul was required of God, and not for good. Such are some of the chief instances of our Lord’s teaching on money. When Jesus spoke about money, he was not teaching about money. He spoke of what men esteem in order to teach the way of grace. He spoke of unrighteous mammon in order to lead men to his own righteousness, which may be appropriated without price, by faith alone. Right after pronouncing salvation to Zacchaeus, Jesus pointed to himself as the agent of salvation: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19.10.) When Jesus was asked to arbitrate an inheritance, he warned of covetousness (Luke 12.13-15.) We do not go to Jesus for things of the world, but to obtain a passage to another world. The prosperity gospel is ‘another gospel.’ The appropriate action to be taken against those who preach it is this one: “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1.9.) Prosperity preachers may, and should, be shunned and abandoned just like that. If any of them come back repenting, we rejoice over lost sheep being found, and we help to turn them to the Lord for sure this time for a saving reception.        

It is more blessed to give than to receive; and it is better to have nothing to give than to be all out for gain. There is a kind of person who gives, moreover, but not from a gracious heart. There is such a thing as giving all that you have and yet not being any further ahead with God: ‘it profiteth me nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13.3.) Counterfeit philanthropy is not limited to misguided monks of the Middle Ages. How many among us give to charities, thinking to help pave our way to heaven by doing so? How many of us who give even check to see if we are giving to honest, prudent charities? I even heard on Radio Canada (where truth seldom gets to voice its opinion) that ‘institutionalized charities’ are corrupt. Giving is often nothing but a handmaid to stealing. Giving, in any case, is not a sure sign that grace from God has been received, that saving faith is in possession, and that the giver is on his way to heaven. Providing is the best form of giving. If a man, presumably an able-bodied man, does not provide for his household, he is not to be reckoned a man of faith, but ‘worse than an infidel’ (1 Timothy 5.8.) So while giving will not save, refusing to provide is a mark of unbelief. The more difficult it is for a man to provide bread, the less time he has for treasures on earth, which have a tendency to occupy the mind so much as to imperil the soul. If people are overtaxed, however, they may become depressed and even desperately melancholic, which is another snare leading to its own sins and fatal end. The poor man is just as lustful to get and spend as the rich man is lustful to accumulate. Poor people typically spend more on lottery tickets than do the better off. And many of these people are not lazy, but of that segment called the working poor. In a country whose government takes 30-50% of a citizen’s earnings off the top, then 5-10% of what’s left in sales tax, more thousands each year in property tax and gas tax, more still to cover sham pensions, and still more in other ways like the carbon tax, it is safely said that even a business owner may have a hard time getting by and that few people should feel obliged to give. It is a blessed thing that philanthropy is not a way to heaven since overmuch is taken by the government already. And it is a blessing that the inability to amass treasures or to pay the bills may lead to a search for God’s pearl of great price instead: the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13.46.) Once a man understands that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a pearl to possess, not a fable to dismiss, his frame of mind should be such that he will sacrifice everything in view of seeing, by faith, the sacrifice of Christ for his sins; of having the righteousness of Christ laid to his account; and of finding himself on the sure and safe passage to heaven. The kingdom of heaven must be owned before it can be entered.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” This is the beginning of the passage in question. No matter how little or how much we own, that little or much might mean more to us than God. Possessions may alter into treasures; and subsequently, transform into idols. I have often read or heard this passage on treasures reduced to something like this: “Own what you like, just do not allow your possessions to push God from the center.” A statement like this allows the disciple to be ambitious to a fault, and to ignore his conviction that to pursue wealth is to walk away from the Lord’s kingdom. It seems like a clever way of allowing treasures on earth to be laid up, after all. There are treasures that vie with God for dominion over one’s life. The preacher may avoid reference to what exactly a disciple should and should not own. But still he is duty-bound to say that a sinner must give up whatever stands between him and God, whether in between as an obstacle to faith, or whether in between as an obstacle to growth. The question might not merely be, “What can a person do to prevent his possessions from becoming treasures?” It might be this more radical one, “What should a person give away to eradicate the temptation that possessions pose?” The convicted sinner knows what he must give up. Maybe God will be so merciful as to use a thief to help him do it. Today I heard about an old man who was swindled out of his retirement savings. He was planning to buy a condo in Palm Springs with his $800,000.00; but he lost all this money to a crook. It must be a painful blow to be cheated out of all that hard-earned money. What a heavy burden to be made so light! But what if this money was the man’s obstacle to faith? What good would it do for a man to go from Palm Springs on his way to hell—from a balmy climate to a place on fire? 

What were the treasures of the average disciple to whom Jesus spoke? Did the disciple have two cloaks instead of one? Did the fisherman own a boat? What treasure does the Lord convict us of laying up? What do we need besides a roof to live under, a mode of transportation to get to work, access to the acquisition of knowledge, some food, and clothes to wear? One day while sitting in the kitchen, I was startled by a loud thud out in the yard. Then I heard a man hollering and cursing as if the world were coming to an end. Because loud cursing in the French language sounds like an emergency requiring an ambulance to be called, I thought that the man had at least run over a kid. So I ran outside as fast as I could to see what the matter was. To my shock, the disturbed man had merely backed his car into his truck. I was awed at how upset he could be about two hunks of used metal. Were this man’s vehicles not his treasures? I know this other man whose brand new truck was rear-ended while sitting at the lights in front of a mall. When next I saw him, he showed me the bumper that had to be replaced on account of the collision. Standing not more than two feet behind the truck, I told him that I could not see the dent. I bent down, and still I could see nothing. It just looked like a new bumper on a new truck. The man then used his finger to point to a depression in the bumper that a deerfly could not have filled. Canadian deerflies are notoriously large. But compared to a bumper they are nevertheless tiny. This truck was this man’s treasure. Before it had a chance to rust, he replaced it with a new one, and then that became his treasure. I know a third man whose car was backed into by another car while he was sitting at an intersection. What did this man do? To the relief of the offending driver, he simply gave her a nod, and both drivers went on their way as if no accident had occurred. The man did not even step outside to check for damage. His car was not his treasure. It was posing no problem to his soul. 

How many sinners, among them professing Christians, pursue lives of sport to obtain treasures on earth? What more befits an object that ‘rust doth corrupt’ than the medal that is received on the podium? This is a medal, by the way, that is so worthless that a thief would get almost nothing for it if it were melted down. Would Daniel and his three friends bow down to the Olympic gods to receive a medal? Would Paul run a race to obtain a corruptible crown? Would the son of Zadok run for sport? ‘Intoxicating’ is the adjective used by a young Olympian to describe what it feels like to compete in the Olympics. The corruptible prize, as worthless as it is, is intoxicating to win. This is reason enough not to pursue it. A man seeking God’s pearl of great price will be intoxicated by drafts of the Holy Ghost. “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5.18.)

Not long ago—just a few decades—men were paid thousands of dollars a year to play sports. Now they play for millions, and even tens of millions. The evil of hedonism is contributed to each time we watch these millionaires and cheer them on. How many similarities could be drawn between the Roman Coliseum of the first century and our hockey and baseball stadiums? We may be easily struck by how unspiritual the life of sport is by imagining the apostles Peter and John going to enjoy an evening at the Coliseum. How absurd is the picture? Time spent watching sports are moments that we treasure in our mind. These memories are our treasures. That is why we get so excited when we talk about them. Treasures are things that we cling to that we have no need of. A man polishes his memories just as much as another man polishes his car. We go over the games that we saw in order to keep our treasured memories from fading. This preoccupation is not in line with praying ‘thy kingdom come.’ Looking forward to a hockey game is like hoping the kingdom will wait awhile.        

The Son of God never laid up treasures on earth. When he went back to heaven, no one had to go to his house to sort out his treasures and to distribute them. He never owned a treasure and he had no house to store them in. Jesus demonstrated that the kingdom to live for is the one that is not of this world. His only treasure was to do his Father’s will. His heart was where his treasure was: with his Father in heaven.

Jesus warns, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” How can the heart be with God while the person is surrounded by treasures on earth? Treasures on earth draw and maintain our attention. They encourage us to live for the world and not for God. Treasures are laid up to be enjoyed later. But so often the soul is required of God before the treasures can be enjoyed. When treasures are laid up in the yard, are we not gratifying ourselves in the prestige of ownership? Do we not take pleasure in being envied for our treasures? Treasures must be laid up in heaven, where disciples are certain to go—where disciples will be given an eternity to enjoy what is laid up. I know of a woman who, while knowing her death was imminent, was anxious to have her son trade his rusting vehicle in for a newer one. She had a profession of faith. But is that faith genuine which concerns itself with appearances and corrupting treasures at the point of death?   

It is hard to distinguish children of the kingdom from children of the devil these days. Professing Christians often complain that there is no way to stand out and be noticed for the sake of the gospel. Should our lack of treasures not be a distinguishing mark? What message do children receive from Christian parents who are laying up treasures on earth? It is right to doubt the worth of religion that is without distinction, without moderation, without abstinence, and without sacrifice. There is such a thing as to have religion choked by the ‘deceitfulness of riches’ (Matthew 13.22.) A man whose religion is choked bears no fruit. Is that sinner who bears no fruit regenerated by God? Is God such a husbandman whose boughs are fruitless? “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away” (John 15.2.) One time an ailing doctor came to visit me. His household of three was seriously ill and worsening. Indeed, two members of that household died of their diseases a couple of years after he came to see me. During his visit he told me the sad story of how he had tithed to his church for decades, only to have his church give him the cold shoulder when he came to it for help. He called that church ‘a mile wide and an inch deep.’ What does a church fitting this description have but rootless members? That which has no root yields no fruit. That which bears no fruit is not fit for the Lord. The Psalmist calls it ‘chaff’ (Psalm 1.) 

Jesus identifies treasures as objects that deteriorate or that can be stolen. But he does not identify the treasures that we are to lay up in heaven except to say: ‘lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.’ Treasures are laid up in heaven by obedience to whatever Jesus commands, for example, in Matthew 25.35-39: feeding the hungry and giving the thirsty drink; clothing the poor; visiting the sick and imprisoned. It is that religion which we find commended in the practical book of James. This is mistaken today for feeding lazy thieves; giving money, needles, and even drugs to drug addicts; voting for politicians who let impenitent criminals out of prison before their terms are served; and voting, through these politicians, for judges who let criminals off the hook even for the most heinous crimes. Works like these are not treasures laid up, but trespasses that we need pardon for. Instead of identifying treasures in heaven, Jesus commands obedience to his teachings. The question is not, “What are these treasures that I am to lay up in heaven?” Nor is it so much, “How exactly do I lay them up?” The question is, “What lifestyle is required from the disciple who is commanded to lay them up?” Or, “What principles can I employ that will enable me to lay up heavenly treasures?” 

If the lifestyle commanded by Jesus is lived out, the disciple will be laying up treasures in heaven. Godly lifestyle must align with the works that we do for God. Our lifestyle affects our work. It reflects our work. One time I phoned a Christian man’s house in order to find out how his ailing son was getting on. The woman who picked up the phone shrieked at me about how they were too busy to answer my question. In truth, she could have used fewer words to answer my question than she used to rail at me. Do as many things for God as we will, our works will not become treasures in heaven if lifestyle is askew. A person will never be secure in the knowledge that he is doing the work that God has for him to do if the way he lives is different from the pattern laid down by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has a certain lifestyle for the disciple to live because works are not good if wrought in a miserable temper. From God’s perspective there is to be little distinction between our Sabbath habits and our week away from church (assuming that Sabbath habits are what they should be.) Spiritual life is daily life in fellowship with God. A pattern for living is needed for the whole week. The pattern is needed to keep the disciple from living a divided, inconsistent life. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”