Greed Or God - Matthew 6:24 Series

Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and eating destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and eating do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Introduction

You cannot serve two masters. Who is Jesus talking to here? Who wants to serve two masters? Is there a crowd of people out there who read this and think, “Oh, bummer. I really wanted to have more than one person telling me what to do”? I do not know about you, but the people I bump into usually are not clamoring for multiple masters. Most people think two masters is two too many - what they want is zero masters. So who is Jesus talking to that are tempted to have two masters?

One of the most basic principles of interpreting the Bible is to pay close attention both to what is stated and to what is implied. And that is especially important here because Jesus is making two points – one implied and one stated. And if you do not pick up on the first one then the second one is meaningless. So let’s look carefully at the context and make sure we understand what Jesus is implying about money. Then we can move on to what He actually states explicitly.

Implied: Earthly treasure enslaves (you cannot serve zero masters)

Two Treasuries, Two Outlooks, Two Masters

So far Jesus has given three paragraphs about earthly treasure. And all three paragraphs draw a line in the sand with two clear sides. First, there are two treasuries – treasure on earth or treasure in heaven. Then there are two outlooks – the evil eye (selfishness) or the sincere eye (generosity). And now there are two masters – money and God. And the two masters correspond to the two outlooks and the two treasuries. So the implication in context is that if you have treasure in heaven and generous eyes then God is your master. But if you have treasure on earth and selfish eyes then money has become your master.

Earthly treasure enslaves.

In other words, earthly treasure enslaves. The language is very strong. The word translated serve means to serve as a slave. And the word master means slave owner. If you have something in your earthly treasury (something in this world that you feel you must have to be happy), then you are enslaved to that thing. You are enslaved to it because whatever it takes to obtain that thing and keep that thing – those are your orders. And you will obey those orders.

Earthly treasure distorts perception, enslaving you to its conclusions

“Oh no, I won’t. I admit, I do covet that thing (or person, relationship, job, reputation), however I will not become enslaved to it.” Yes you will. It is unavoidable because of the principle Jesus taught us last week in verses 22-23. When there is something in your earthly treasury – something you believe you have to have in order to be happy, that distorts your spiritual perception. There is something deep down inside you that will color all the facts before they reach your mind so that your life becomes a pursuit of that treasure without you even realizing it.

Can you serve no master? No, because you do what you do for some reason

So what is implied here is that you cannot serve zero masters. If you talk to one of those people who is so proud of how he is his own master and bows the knee to no one, ask him, “Isn’t it true that there are things in your life that you wish you wouldn’t do, but you do them anyway? And things you know you ought to do but can’t get yourself to do them? If you are in such command of your own self, why are you behaving in a way different from the way you want to behave?” There is always a master in the background driving what we do. If you are a rational human being you do what you do for some reason. Unless you are having a spasm or seizure, you do what you do for some reason. So whatever that reason is dictates what you do and is therefore your master. If you just do whatever you feel like doing then your feelings are your master. If you do what you do to be successful then success is your master. If it is for maximizing your own comfort, fame, power, prestige, wealth, fun, a feeling of accomplishment, satisfaction, pride, to meet other peoples’ expectations – whatever the reason behind your actions, that thing is your master. Nobody intentionally sets out to become enslaved to anything, but…