Matthew 6: A Single-Audience Life

MATTHEW 6 STRUCTURE
    │
    ├─ vv. 1-18   AUDIENCE    → Who are you performing for?
    │   ├─ Giving
    │   ├─ Prayer
    │   └─ Fasting
    │
    ├─ vv. 19-21  TREASURE    → Where is your security stored?
    │
    ├─ vv. 22-23  EYE         → What shapes your perception?
    │
    ├─ v. 24      MASTER      → Who do you obey under pressure?
    │
    └─ vv. 25-34  RESULT      → If first four are right, worry dissolves

AUDIENCE determines TREASURE
    │
    └─► Playing to crowds → store earthly treasure (reputation, approval)
        Playing to Father → store heavenly treasure (secret obedience)

TREASURE shapes EYE
    │
    └─► Heart follows treasure (v. 21)
        What you invest in, you focus on
        What you focus on, you see through

EYE reveals MASTER
    │
    └─► Divided eye = divided loyalty
        What you look at determines what you serve
        "If the light in you is darkness..." (v. 23)

MASTER determines AUDIENCE
    │
    └─► Mammon demands visible performance (prove your worth)
        God operates in secret (knows your worth)
        │
        └─► Full circle back to AUDIENCE

THE SPLIT
    │
    ├─ HYPOCRITE: Announces giving → Audience sees → Reward: applause
    │   └─► Transaction complete. Nothing more coming.
    │
    └─ DISCIPLE: Gives in secret → Father sees → Reward: from Father
        └─► Transaction pending. Payment in full later.

TWO WRONG PRAYERS
    │
    ├─ HYPOCRITE'S PRAYER: Public performance
    │   └─► Audience: other people
    │
    └─ PAGAN'S PRAYER: Word multiplication
        └─► Audience: a god who doesn't know/care

THE LORD'S PRAYER: Structured intimacy
    │
    ├─ Address: "Our Father" (relationship, not manipulation)
    ├─ God's agenda first (name, kingdom, will)
    └─ Our needs second (bread, debts, protection)

THE CONDITION
    │
    ├─ "IF you forgive others...
    │   your heavenly Father WILL ALSO forgive you"
    │
    └─► "But IF you do NOT forgive others...
         your Father WILL NOT forgive your sins"
        │
        └─► Unforgiveness = blocked pipeline
            You can't receive what you refuse to give

THE INVERSION
    │
    ├─ HYPOCRITE: Looks miserable → Visible suffering → Human pity
    │
    └─ DISCIPLE: Looks normal → Hidden hunger → Father's notice

THE TWO VAULTS
    │
    ├─ EARTH: Moths, rust, thieves
    │   └─► Temporary, vulnerable, anxious
    │
    └─ HEAVEN: No decay, no theft
        └─► Permanent, secure, peaceful

THE DIAGNOSTIC (v. 21):
    │
    └─► "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"
        │
        └─► Not: Move your heart, then treasure follows
            IS: Move your treasure, heart will follow

THE EYE AS LENS
    │
    ├─ HEALTHY EYE (ἁπλοῦς):
    │   ├─ Undivided focus
    │   ├─ Generous perception
    │   └─► Whole body full of light
    │
    └─ UNHEALTHY EYE (πονηρός):
        ├─ Divided focus
        ├─ Stingy perception
        └─► Whole body full of darkness
            │
            └─► "If the light in you IS darkness..."
                Your guiding vision itself is corrupted

THE IMPOSSIBILITY
    │
    └─► "No one CAN serve two masters"
        │
        ├─ Not: "should not"
        ├─ Not: "ought not"
        └─► IS: structurally impossible
            │
            ├─ "Hate one / Love other"
            └─ "Devoted to one / Despise other"
                │
                └─► No 50/50. No balance. No compromise.
                    Allegiance is binary at the root.

THE LOGIC
    │
    ├─ IF your AUDIENCE is the Father → no need to perform
    ├─ IF your TREASURE is in heaven → nothing here can be lost
    ├─ IF your EYE is single → you see provision, not scarcity
    ├─ IF your MASTER is God → He assumes responsibility for you
    │
    └─► THEREFORE: Worry is structurally unnecessary
        │
        └─► "Seek FIRST his kingdom and righteousness,
             and all these things will be given to you"

ARGUMENT 1: BIRDS (v. 26)
    │
    ├─ They don't sow, reap, or store
    ├─ Yet "your heavenly Father FEEDS them"
    │
    └─► "Are you not MUCH MORE VALUABLE than they?"
        │
        └─► A fortiori: If God feeds birds who can't work,
            how much more you who can?

ARGUMENT 2: FUTILITY (v. 27)
    │
    └─► "Can any one of you by WORRYING
         add a single hour to your life?"
        │
        └─► Worry changes nothing
            except your peace

ARGUMENT 3: FLOWERS (vv. 28-30)
    │
    ├─ "See how the flowers of the field GROW"
    ├─ "They do not labor or spin"
    ├─ "Yet not even SOLOMON in all his splendor
    │   was dressed like one of these"
    │
    └─► "If that is how God clothes the GRASS...
         which is here today and tomorrow thrown into fire...
         will he not MUCH MORE clothe YOU?"
        │
        └─► "You of LITTLE FAITH"
            Small faith = big worry

ARGUMENT 4: PAGANS (v. 32)
    │
    ├─ "The PAGANS run after all these things"
    │   │
    │   └─► Food, drink, clothes = their obsession
    │       No Father to trust
    │
    └─► "Your heavenly Father KNOWS
         that you NEED them"
        │
        └─► Worry = living like an orphan
            when you have a Father

ARGUMENT 5: PRIORITY (v. 33)
    │
    └─► "But SEEK FIRST his kingdom
         and his righteousness,
         and ALL THESE THINGS will be given to you as well"
        │
        ├─ SEEK = present imperative (keep seeking)
        ├─ FIRST = priority, not just chronology
        └─► Kingdom + Righteousness = God's agenda
            Everything else follows

ARGUMENT 6: BOUNDARY (v. 34)
    │
    └─► "Do NOT worry about TOMORROW,
         for tomorrow will worry about itself.
         EACH DAY has enough trouble of its own"
        │
        └─► Today's grace is for today's problems
            Tomorrow has its own supply
            Borrowing future trouble = carrying weight
            you weren't designed to hold

THE SINGLE-AUDIENCE LIFE
    │
    ├─ AUDIENCE: I perform for the Father alone
    │   └─► Giving, prayer, fasting = private
    │
    ├─ TREASURE: I store in heaven
    │   └─► Heart follows investment
    │
    ├─ EYE: I focus on kingdom priorities
    │   └─► Generosity, not accumulation
    │
    ├─ MASTER: I serve God when forced to choose
    │   └─► Mammon loses every conflict
    │
    └─► RESULT: Anxiety dissolves
        │
        └─► The Father who sees in secret
            provides in the open