We Need To Serve God Not Money Series

Introduction

Today, we come to our fourth “God has to Win” sermon. We have seen over the past several weeks that God has to win the battle of our choices; then secondly, God has to win control over those areas of our life that we have trouble giving over to Him; and last week, we saw that as we accept God’s discipline in our lives, He makes the corrections that are needed and so I win and more importantly God wins.

Today we look at the fourth area that God has to win. God raises the bar on this area because instead of having to win; it is a must win. Let me show you why I say that. If you have your Bibles turn with me to Matthew 6:24. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word if you are able.

Matthew 6:24 NKJV

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

I am sure most of you are familiar with that Scripture from the Sermon on the Mount. But let’s suppose that we were there that day on that mountain, and we were heard Jesus say those words for the very first time. You cannot serve two masters, you will hate one and love the other, you will be loyal to one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and then all of a sudden Jesus pauses for a moment to allow those listening to complete that sentence in their mind. And then Jesus continues, you cannot serve God and you know that you know that the next word out of Jesus’ mouth will be Satan or the devil. And you are sitting on that mountain just gleaming because you know the next word the Son of God will speak. But instead, the final word to complete that sentence is mammon. “You cannot serve God and mammon.” And you say to yourself, “Where did that come from?” I didn’t see that one coming. I know that Jesus came to earth to defeat the devil, so where does this mammon come in the picture.

So, I am left with a little investigation here. What is Jesus talking about when He talks about mammon? In the Greek, the word means wealth, money, riches, and it could include property riches. In the NIV, the word is actually translated money. “You cannot serve both God (Capital G) and Money (Capital M). The NIV personifies the word Money as if it is a living breathing person just like God. And it competes for us just like Satan competes for us to move us away from God.

So, I am left with this all-important question that I need to answer for myself. How is it possible, and when are those times that I serve money over God? And that is what we want to see today: how is it that I serve money over God sometimes.

Body

Point #1

THE NORMAL ORDER FOR THE CHRISTIAN SHOULD BE THAT I SERVE GOD AND MAKE MONEY. BUT AT SOME POINT, THESE TWO THINGS COME IN CONFLICT WITH ONE ANOTHER AND THERE IS A DANGER THAT YOU WILL LET GO OF SERVING GOD IN FAVOR OF THE MONEY.

2 Peter 2:15–16 NKJV

They (the false teachers) have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

First, how many of you in here can say that you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, and you believe that you are trying to live the way God wants you to live? How many of you let’s say through the month that just past (September) made some money either from working at a job or investments or receiving social security because you previously worked at a job? That is the perfect order I am trying to serve God and support my family.

What sometimes happen though is that the money gets a hold of you and the decisions you make are not based on serving God but rather upon getting money. So, getting money becomes the driving force and God is pushed to the back.

Let’s use the example of a minister because we all probably think we know a minister or two that switched churches, left one pastorate for another, not because God sent them to another church, but because money called them and they followed the money. And to be honest with you that does happen.

And let call a spade a spade. There are some churches that use money as the leverage to make sure the pastor don’t leave. Instead of trusting God to keep that pastor there, they give him too high a salary or too nice a place to stay that the minister can’t afford to leave. They are letting money lead the church rather than God.