On September 30, 2015, I was led to Matthew 6:33. Like many of you, I already had that particular verse memorized as being, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33, NASB). However, I went ahead and opened my Bible to this passage as I really felt led that I had to open the Word. As I continued in prayer seeking revelation as to why I was led to this particular passage, some of the words on the pages of my Bible started to move.

In my Bible the specific verse listed was in the bottom right corner. As we have segregated the Sermon on the Mount into different topics with headings and titles, I was seeing the titles disappear from the writing. We have the understanding that this was one sermon that Jesus shared on the side of a mountain. In our scholarliness, we have shaped this sermon of Jesus to be that of many different topics that needed to be reshaped in the church. As much as I believe that this is true, I also must look at the possibility that Jesus was sharing one message of one topic that has several facets in fulfilling the one topic.

Essentially, we could place the topic of the sermon to be Kingdom Living, or narrow it to say Living by Faith. To be even more specific, I was seeing the topic of handling our finances by faith. Yes, there is that portion of not storing up treasures on earth (Matt. 6:19), but when does the topic of finances start and when does the topic of finances end? What I was seeing was that the topic of finances was actually starting before we enter chapter 6. Even before the topic of prayer and fasting, the topic of finances has already been introduced. So what if the topic of prayer and fasting is inclusive with our finances? What if the topic of finances doesn’t end in Matt. 6:24? What if it continues through the end of the sermon? Chapter 7 talks about judging others. Do we judge how they spend their money? How they give to the poor, or not, like is mentioned in the beginning of chapter 6? The ravenous wolves are typically wearing three-piece suits! The battle between flesh and spirit is great, you cannot have two masters (Matt. 6:24). We must live by faith in order to be led by the Spirit. Does looking at this sermon from the topic of finances alter your understanding of the sermon?

I desire to live by faith, and faith alone!