Wesley's 8th Discourse
- Pastor Gary
- 3 hours ago
- 21 min read
We are beginning a new sermon series based on the Sermon on the Mount. As part of this we will also be studying Wesley's original sermons. These sermons are a part of the rich history and doctrinal teachings of Methodism.
Below you will find a study guide our small groups and Bible study groups will be using during this series. Also there is an Ai translated version of Wesley's original sermon to aid in your reading (Wesley's Quotes and key ideas are in bold). Also there is a preached sermon video from youtube if you are like me and find listening as a better avenue for the content.
Keep growing!
SERMON 28
UPON OUR LORD’S SERMON ON THE MOUNT
DISCOURSE 8
“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!”Matt. 6:19–23.
1. From what are usually called religious actions—real parts of true religion when they come from a pure and holy intention and are done in the right spirit—our Lord moves on to the actions of everyday life. He shows that the same purity of intention is just as necessary in our ordinary work as it is in giving, fasting, or prayer.
Without question, the same pure intention that makes our giving and devotion acceptable to God must also make our daily work an offering to Him. If a man carries on his business in order to gain honor and wealth in this world, he is no longer serving God in his work. He has no more right to expect a reward from God than the man who gives to be seen by others or prays to be heard by them. Earthly and vain motives are no more acceptable in business than in acts of worship. They are just as evil in our everyday employment as when they mix with our religious duties. If it were acceptable to pursue worldly goals in business, then it would also be acceptable to pursue them in prayer. But just as our giving and prayers are not pleasing to God unless they come from a pure intention, so our daily work is not service to Him unless it is done with the same godly heart.
2. Our Lord declares this powerfully in these strong and sweeping words, which He explains throughout the chapter: “The light of the body is the eye. If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.” The eye represents the intention. What the eye is to the body, the intention is to the soul. As the eye directs all the movements of the body, so the intention directs all the movements of the soul. The eye of the soul is said to be single when it looks at only one thing—when we have no aim but to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, to know Him with fitting love, loving Him because He first loved us; to please Him in all things; to serve Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength; and to enjoy Him in all and above all, both now and forever.
3. “If your eye is single,” if it is fixed on God, “your whole body will be full of light.” Your whole body—that is, everything guided by your intention, just as the body is guided by the eye. All you are and all you do—your desires, tempers, affections, thoughts, words, and actions—will be full of light. First, this means you will be filled with true knowledge from God. “In His light you will see light.” The God who once commanded light to shine out of darkness will shine in your heart. He will enlighten your understanding with the knowledge of His glory. His Spirit will reveal the deep things of God to you. The Holy One will give you understanding and teach you wisdom in your heart. The anointing you receive from Him will remain in you and teach you all things.
Experience confirms this. Even after God has opened our understanding, if we begin to desire anything more than God, how quickly our hearts grow dark again. Clouds settle over the soul. Doubts and fears return. We feel tossed about, unsure of what to do or where to go. But when we desire nothing but God, the clouds disappear. We who were once darkness become light in the Lord. The night shines like day. The path of the upright becomes clear. God shows us the way we should walk and makes the path straight before us.
4. The second meaning of this light is holiness. When you seek God in everything, you will find Him in everything—the source of all holiness—continually filling you with His own likeness: justice, mercy, and truth. When you look to Jesus alone, you will be filled with the mind that was in Him. Your soul will be renewed day by day after the image of the One who created it. If your mind does not turn away from Him, if you endure as seeing Him who is invisible and seek nothing else in heaven or earth, then as you behold the Lord’s glory, you will be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.
Daily experience shows that we are saved by grace through faith. It is by faith that the eye of the mind is opened to see the light of God’s glorious love. And as long as that eye stays fixed on God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, we are more and more filled with love for God and neighbor, with meekness, gentleness, patience, and every fruit of holiness, all through Christ Jesus to the glory of God the Father.
5. This light also means happiness as well as holiness. Surely light is sweet, and it is pleasant to see the sun. But how much sweeter to see the Sun of Righteousness shining continually on the soul. If there is any comfort in Christ, any peace that passes understanding, any joy in the hope of God’s glory, it belongs to the one whose eye is single. His whole life is filled with light. He walks in the light as God is in the light. He rejoices always, prays without ceasing, and gives thanks in everything, enjoying whatever God’s will is for him in Christ Jesus.
6. “But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.” There is no middle ground between a single eye and an evil one. If the eye is not single, it is evil. If our intention in anything we do is not directed only to God, if we seek something else, then our mind and conscience become defiled.
Our eye is evil whenever we aim at any end other than God—if we have any purpose except to know, love, please, and serve Him in all things; if we desire anything more than to enjoy God now and forever.
7. If your eye is not fixed on God alone, your whole life will be filled with darkness. A veil will remain over your heart. Your mind will be more and more blinded by “the god of this world,” so that the light of Christ’s gospel cannot shine on you. You will remain ignorant and confused about the things of God, unable to understand them. Even when you want to serve Him, you will feel uncertain how to do so, surrounded by doubts and difficulties, seeing no clear path forward.
And if your eye is not single—if you seek earthly things—you will be filled with ungodliness and unrighteousness. Your desires, tempers, and affections will be out of order—dark, empty, and corrupt. Your speech will reflect this darkness. It will not be gracious or helpful, but idle, harmful, and grieving to the Holy Spirit of God.
8. Both ruin and misery lie in your path, for you do not know the way of peace. There is no solid, lasting peace for those who do not know God. There is no true contentment for anyone who does not seek Him with their whole heart. While you chase what perishes, everything you gain turns out to be vanity and frustration, both in the pursuit and in the enjoyment. You walk in shadows and trouble yourself for nothing. You walk in darkness that can almost be felt. You may sleep, but you cannot truly rest. Life’s dreams can bring pain, and you know that; but they cannot bring peace. There is no rest in this world or the next except in God, the center of all spirits.
“If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” If the intention that should enlighten the whole soul and fill it with knowledge, love, and peace—if that very intention is turned away from God and aimed at something else—then instead of light it spreads darkness. It fills the soul with ignorance, error, sin, and misery. O how terrible that darkness is! It is like the smoke rising from the bottomless pit. It is the deep night of the shadow of death.
9. Therefore, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal.” If you do, it is clear your eye is evil; it is not fixed on God alone.
In many of God’s commands, whether about the heart or outward behavior, the so-called Christians of Europe are little different from the so-called heathens of Africa or America. In many matters, they live much the same. For example, many in England who call themselves Christians are about as sober and self-controlled as those near the Cape of Good Hope. And Christians in France or Holland may be no more humble or pure than the Choctaw or Cherokee. It is difficult to say whether one group truly surpasses the other in moral conduct.
But when it comes to this command, the heathen often surpass those called Christians. The heathen desires little more than simple food and clothing, and seeks only enough for each day. He stores nothing beyond what is needed for the season. In this way, without knowing it, he obeys this command: he lays up no treasures on earth—no gold, no fine garments, no riches for moth or rust to destroy or thieves to steal.
How do Christians treat this command from the Most High? Not at all. Even those considered good Christians pay it no attention. It might as well still be hidden in Greek for all the notice they take of it. In what Christian city can you find even one man in five hundred who hesitates to gather as much wealth as he can? Many will not steal or cheat; some will not take advantage of another’s ignorance or need. But they do not object to laying up treasure itself—only to dishonest ways of doing it. They fear breaking human morality more than they fear disobeying Christ. In this matter, they no more obey this command than a thief or robber. It never even entered their minds to obey it. They were raised by Christian parents and teachers without ever being told they should. Instead, they were taught—directly or indirectly—to break it as soon and as much as possible.
10. There is hardly a greater example of spiritual blindness in the world than this. Many of these very people read or hear the Bible read every Lord’s Day. They have heard these words hundreds of times, yet they never imagine that they themselves are condemned by them—no more than by commands forbidding the worship of false gods.
O that God would speak to these self-deceived souls with His own mighty voice! That they might finally awaken from the devil’s trap and that the scales might fall from their eyes!
11. You may ask, What does it mean to “lay up treasures on earth”? We must examine this carefully. First, let us see what is not forbidden, so we can clearly understand what is.
We are not forbidden, first, to provide what is honest in the sight of all people—to provide what we owe to others. We are taught to “owe no one anything.” Therefore, we should work diligently in our calling so that we owe nothing to anyone. This is simple justice, and Christ did not come to destroy justice but to fulfill it.
Second, we are not forbidden to provide what is necessary for our own bodies—plain, healthy food and clean clothing. As far as God gives us the ability, it is our duty to provide these things, so that we may “eat our own bread” and not be a burden to anyone.
Third, we are not forbidden to provide for our children and those in our household. Even basic human morality teaches this. A man ought to provide the plain necessities of life for his wife and children and to place them in a position where they can provide for themselves after he is gone. I say plain necessities—not luxuries or excess—and that through their own diligent work. No one is required to supply his children with the means of idleness or indulgence. But if a man does not provide even the necessities for his family, he has practically denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Finally, we are not forbidden to set aside what is needed to carry on our business in such a way that it fulfills these same purposes: first, to owe no one anything; second, to provide the necessities of life for ourselves; and third, to provide them for our household while we live and enable them to provide for themselves when we are gone.
12. Now we can clearly see what is forbidden—unless we refuse to see it. What is forbidden is purposely gaining more than is needed for these reasonable purposes. It is striving after a larger portion of this world’s goods—seeking more gold and silver than is necessary—laying up beyond what these ends require. If these words mean anything, they mean this. Therefore, whoever already owes no one, has food and clothing for himself and his family, and has enough to carry on his business for these proper purposes—whoever then seeks to gain still more—he openly denies the Lord who bought him. He has practically denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
13. Hear this, all who live in and love this world. You may be highly respected by others, but you are an abomination in the sight of God. How long will your soul cling to the dust? How long will you burden yourself with thick clay? When will you wake up and see that open unbelievers may be nearer the kingdom of God than you? When will you choose the better part, which cannot be taken away? When will you seek to lay up treasures in heaven and reject all others?
If you aim at laying up treasures on earth, you are not just wasting your time. If you succeed, what have you done? You have destroyed your own soul. You have put out the last spark of spiritual life within you. In the midst of life you are dead. You are alive in body but dead in faith. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Your heart is sunk into the dust. Your affections are fixed on earthly things, on what cannot satisfy an eternal spirit made for God. Your love, joy, and desire are all tied to what perishes. You have thrown away the treasure of heaven. You have lost God and Christ. You have gained riches—and hell.
14. “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples were shocked at this, our Lord did not soften it; He strengthened it. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” How hard it is for those who are praised by others not to think too highly of themselves. How hard not to see themselves as better than the poor. How hard not to seek happiness in wealth or in what wealth can provide—in satisfying physical desires, the desire for possessions, or pride in status. O you who are rich, how will you escape judgment? Only this: with God all things are possible.
15. And even if you never become rich, what happens if you try? “Those who want to be rich”—those who desire and pursue it, whether they succeed or not—fall into temptation and a trap. They fall into foolish and harmful desires—desires that do not belong to rational and eternal beings but to creatures without understanding. These desires drown people in ruin and destruction, both now and forever. We see this daily. People determined to be rich pierce themselves through with many sorrows and begin to experience the misery of hell even now.
Notice carefully: it is not simply riches that are condemned, but the desire for them. A person may become rich without seeking it. But those who calmly desire and deliberately pursue wealth—whether they gain it or not—lose their souls. They sell the One who bought them with His blood for a few pieces of silver. They make an agreement with death and hell, and that agreement will stand. They are preparing themselves for their inheritance with the devil and his angels.
16. Who will warn this generation to flee from the coming wrath? Not those who flatter the wealthy or fear their displeasure. Not those who love earthly things. But if there is a true Christian anywhere—a person who has overcome the world, who desires nothing but God and fears only Him—let that person speak boldly. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Show these honored sinners the danger they are in. Perhaps one in a thousand may hear and break free from the chains that bind him to the earth, and at last lay up treasures in heaven.
17. And if one awakened person asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is clear. God does not command every rich person to sell all he has. That was required in one specific case. But His general instruction is first: Do not be proud. God does not value you for your wealth, status, or possessions. All these are nothing to Him. Do not think yourself wiser or better because of them. Measure yourself only by the faith and love God has given you. If you have more knowledge and love of God than another person, then you are richer in what truly matters. But if you do not have this treasure, you are more foolish and more pitiful than the poorest beggar at your gate.
18. Second, do not trust in uncertain riches. Do not trust them for help or for happiness.
Do not trust them for help. Gold and silver cannot raise you above the world or above the devil. They will not protect you in trouble, even if you keep them. And often they do not remain; they “grow wings and fly away.” What help can they give in sickness or sorrow? When someone you love is taken from you, can money restore them? Can it keep you from pain or disease? Often the poor suffer less sickness than the wealthy. And when you are in pain, what comfort do your treasures give?
19. But a greater trouble is coming: you must die. You will return to the dust. Your spirit will return to God. Time moves quickly. Perhaps your best years are already past. You feel your strength fading. What help are your riches now? Do they make death easier? Do they delay it? Can they add a single hour to your life? Can they follow you beyond the grave? No. You came into this world with nothing, and you will leave with nothing.
Surely, if these truths were not so obvious, no one about to die would trust in riches.
20. And do not trust in riches for happiness. If they cannot prevent misery, they cannot create joy. Are the rich truly the happiest people? Are they happier in proportion to their wealth? Often they are among the most miserable. Speak honestly. Even in abundance, something is always missing. Something corrodes the heart. This will continue until life ends.
To trust in riches for happiness is foolish. Can gold, food, clothing, houses, pleasures, or entertainments make you happy? They can no more make you happy than they can make you immortal.
21. Do not be taken in by these empty appearances. Trust instead in the living God, and you will be safe under the shadow of the Almighty. His faithfulness and truth will be your shield and protection. He is a present help in trouble—help that never fails. Then, even if every other friend dies, you will be able to say, “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock!” When you lie sick on your bed and human help is useless, He will remember you. When everything on earth gives no comfort, He will make your bed in your sickness. He will soften your pain. The consolations of God will sustain you even in suffering. And when this earthly house is ready to fall into dust, He will teach you to say, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Trust in Him not only for help but for happiness. All the springs of true joy are in Him. He gives us all things richly to enjoy. From His own generous mercy, He places them in our hands as gifts and as signs of His love. When we receive them as from Him, they become a means of joy. His love gives sweetness to all we taste. Every created thing leads us up to the Creator, and the whole earth becomes a ladder to heaven. He shares with His thankful children the joys that are at His own right hand, so that those who have fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ enjoy Him in all things and above all things.
22. Third, do not seek to increase your wealth. Do not lay up treasures on earth. This is a clear and direct command, as plain as “You shall not commit adultery.” How then can a rich person grow richer without denying the Lord who bought him? And how can anyone who already has what is necessary aim at more and remain innocent? “Do not lay up treasures on earth,” says our Lord. If, in spite of this, you continue to gather wealth—adding house to house and field to field—why do you call yourself a Christian? You do not obey Christ. You do not even intend to obey Him. Why then call Him Lord if you do not do what He says?
23. You may ask, “What should we do with our extra goods, since we must not lay them up? Should we throw them away?” I answer: if you threw them into the sea or burned them, that would be better than what many now do. You cannot waste them in a more harmful way than by storing them up for your heirs or spending them on yourself in excess and foolish pleasure. These two uses are the worst of all—most opposed to the gospel and most damaging to your own soul.
When money is wasted on unnecessary things, it not only wastes a gift from God but harms the one who spends it. Whenever money is spent wrongly, it feeds some wrong desire or supports some unhealthy attitude that Christians are called to renounce.
Money, like intelligence or talent, cannot simply be wasted without consequence. If it is not used according to reason and faith, it will lead to a foolish and self-indulgent life. If you do not spend your extra money on doing good to others, you will spend it in ways that harm yourself. It is like refusing medicine to a sick friend that you cannot take yourself without poisoning your own body. Extra money, given to those in need, is life-giving; spent on yourself without need, it inflames and disorders the soul.
Using wealth where there is no real need feeds unhealthy desires and weakens the heart. Fine living, luxury, show, and endless entertainment all tend to disturb and corrupt the soul. They weigh down the mind and make it less willing and less able to seek the things above. So money spent in this way is not merely wasted—it is spent to our spiritual harm. It becomes poison instead of blessing.
24. Just as wrong is hoarding wealth that is not needed for reasonable purposes.
Imagine a man who had extra hands, eyes, or feet that he could give to those who lacked them. If he locked them away in a chest instead of giving them to the blind and lame, would he not be considered cruel? If he chose to amuse himself by hoarding them rather than gaining eternal reward by giving them to those in need, would he not be considered insane?
Money is very much like hands and eyes. If we lock it away while the poor and suffering lack what is necessary, we are close to the cruelty of such a man. If we prefer to hoard it rather than use it in a way that leads to eternal blessing, we share in his madness.
25. This may be another reason why it is so hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. A great number of them live under a serious judgment, because they are continually misusing what belongs to God. By hoarding and wasting what He entrusted to them, they corrupt their own souls. At the same time, they wrong the poor, the hungry, the naked, the widow, and the fatherless. They become responsible for the suffering they could have relieved but chose not to. Does not the cry of those who perish for lack of what they have stored up or spent carelessly rise up against them? What account will they give to the Judge of the living and the dead?
26. The right way to use what you do not need for yourself is found in the words that follow: “Lay up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not break in and steal.” Invest what you can spare in something more secure than this world. Deposit your treasure in heaven, and God will repay it in that day. “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and what he gives will be repaid.”
Give to the poor with a single eye and an upright heart, and say, “This is given to God.” For “whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for Me.”
This is the way of a faithful and wise steward. He does not sell all he owns unless special circumstances require it. He does not seek to increase his wealth beyond what is necessary, nor does he waste it in vanity. He uses it fully for the wise and reasonable purposes for which God entrusted it to him. After providing for his household, he uses the rest to make friends with the “mammon of unrighteousness,” so that when this earthly life ends, those who were helped through his generosity will welcome him into eternal dwellings.
27. Therefore, we charge you who are rich in this world: make it your habit to do good. Be continually engaged in good works. Be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful. Do good according to the ability God has given you. Let this be your only measure—not the customs or opinions of the world.
Be rich in good works. Give generously. Freely you have received; freely give. Lay up no treasure but in heaven. Be ready to share with anyone in need. Spread abroad what you have. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Welcome the stranger. Visit or send help to those in prison. Care for the sick, not by miracles, but by timely support. Let the blessing of those ready to perish come upon you. Defend the oppressed. Speak for the fatherless. Make the widow’s heart sing for joy.
28. We urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be willing to share—to have the same spirit as the early believers who lived in holy fellowship and did not claim anything as their own, but shared all they had. Be a faithful and wise steward of God and of the poor. Your needs are supplied first from what God has entrusted to you, and you have the joy of giving what remains.
In this way you lay up a good foundation—not for this present world, but for the life to come. The only true foundation of every blessing is Jesus Christ—His righteousness and His sacrifice. No other foundation can be laid. But through His merits, whatever we do in His name becomes a foundation for reward in the day when each person receives according to his labor. Therefore, do not labor for food that perishes, but for what endures to eternal life. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength. Seize every opportunity for good, using the brief years of this life to secure eternity. By steady, patient obedience in doing good, seek glory, honor, and immortality. Wait for the day when the King will say, “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink… Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Week 8 - A Single Eye
What We Treasure Shapes Who We Become
Scripture:Matthew 6:19–23
Introduction
Jesus moves from religious practices like prayer and fasting to the everyday realities of money, work, and possessions. In doing so, He makes something very clear: what matters to God isn’t just what we do, but why we do it. Our intentions—what Jesus calls the “eye”—determine the direction of our lives.
John Wesley presses this point hard. He reminds us that we don’t stop serving God when we leave worship and return to ordinary life. Our work, our spending, our saving, and our giving are all spiritual acts. The question is simple but searching: What are we really living for?
GATHER
Purpose
To reflect honestly on what currently holds our attention, affection, and trust.
Personal Discovery
When you hear Jesus say, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” what comes to mind first?
What are some things in your life that quietly compete for your attention or security?
How would you describe the “focus” of your heart right now—clear, divided, or distracted?
Group Discussion
Why do you think Jesus connects treasure and vision rather than treasure and behavior?
How does our culture shape what we consider “success” or “security”?
What makes this teaching from Jesus both challenging and freeing?
GROW
Purpose
To understand Wesley’s teaching on a single eye—a life oriented fully toward God—and how divided intentions lead to spiritual darkness.
Summary
Wesley explains that the eye represents our intention—what we aim our lives toward. When our intention is single—focused on knowing, loving, and pleasing God—our whole life is filled with light. That light shows itself in three ways: clarity, holiness, and joy.
But when our focus is divided—when we seek God and security in possessions, status, or comfort—darkness creeps in. Confusion replaces clarity. Anxiety replaces peace. Desire becomes disordered. Wesley doesn’t say this happens only to dishonest people; it happens whenever our hearts drift from God as our true treasure.
The issue is not having resources—it’s trusting them. Jesus is not condemning provision, responsibility, or care for family. He is warning us against orienting our lives around things that cannot last and cannot save.
Personal Discovery
Where do you notice tension between trusting God and trusting material security?
How does divided focus show up emotionally (stress, fear, restlessness)?
What helps you re-center your heart on God when it drifts?
Group Discussion
Wesley says there is no middle ground between a single eye and an evil eye. How does that strike you?
Why is divided loyalty more spiritually dangerous than obvious rebellion?
What practices help keep our focus on God in ordinary, everyday life?
GO
Purpose
To realign our lives around God as our true treasure and live with clarity, generosity, and trust.
Take It Home – Mark of Holiness
A holy life is marked by undivided intention—seeking God first and trusting Him fully.
Scripture Readings for the Week
Matthew 6:19–24
Luke 12:15–21
1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19
Colossians 3:1–4
Proverbs 3:5–6
Memory Verse
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” — Matthew 6:21
Prayer Prompt
“Lord, search my heart and clarify my focus.Where my trust has drifted, gently call it back.Teach me to live with a single eye—to seek You above all else,and to trust You with all I have. Amen.”
