It Is Either God Or Money Series

Message

Matthew 6:19-24

"It Is Either God or Money"

Who loves math?

Subtraction, addition, multiplication, division.

Some of us love it but most of us don’t. Because over time some genius decided that having numbers in math was not enough. So they introduced letters. And then you get all these weird symbols and complicated equations.

I found this math equation on the internet.

(The equation I used is here http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/2trillionmethods.htm)

The Australian mathematician Burkard Polster came up with this equation to the number of different lacing methods that were possible for a shoe that has 12 eyelets. If you want to know the answer is 43,200.

Our world is full of complicated math, which most of us don’t love and most of us are not even interested in.

But in the Bible the math is very simple. One equation in Matthew 6:24 is an example of the simple math.

You cannot serve both God and Money.

Put the two names up on a chalk board and rub out one name.

God or Money.

Simple!

… …

Except it is not so simple.

Money is not just a medium of exchange.

In our culture money gives status and security.

It can make us feel strong and important.

Going out with friends and having a bankcard filled with money gives us confidence.

“Because I have money I am somebody” … is sometimes the way we think.

Without money we feel insecure, insignificant, vulnerable and concerned.

So when Jesus says

It’s God or Money … It’s one or the other.

… We know we are faced with a hard saying that presents us with a hard choice.

So let’s have a look at this hard saying. And to do so properly we need to read it in context.

Read Matthew 6:19-24

When we see the context we realise that Jesus is confronting us with the reality of clear and stark contrasts.

It’s one … or it the other. Not both … and.

It’s black and white. Not shades of grey (and certainly not 50 shades of grey).

I’m in this field, or I am in that field. I am not sitting on the fence.

In life there are times when we have a clear choice.

Jesus gives us three specific examples of these clear choices.

Two banks (Matthew 6:19-21)

One is the Bank of Earth and one is the Bank of Heaven. Both will take your treasure.

In one bank, the Bank of Earth, moth and rust will get to our treasures. All the stuff we put our energy into in this world:-

- our work and financial security.

- our study and our desire for status.

- our homes and material possessions.

- our collections and our addictions.

All of these treasures are going to be taken away at some point. It is like putting water into a bucket with holes in it. You keep pouring in the water but you have nothing to show for your effort. It just all runs away. Moth and rust.

We get a boyfriend then, once we are bored with him or find something more interesting, we move on to another boy. The relationship has rusted.

We find a job. It satisfies us for a while but then we are not treated as well as we would like. So we move on. The relationship has been eaten.

We get a new toy ... either a little person’s toy or a big boys toy. It excites us for a while and has our interest. But then it we move on. Rust.

There are all sorts of aspects of life that promise to give us so much. But it is all rusted and moth-eaten isn’t it. Even fame. Maybe one day you might be a bit famous. And they will put up a little plaque in your hometown:

Johnny was born here.

In 100 years’ time no-one will even know who Johnny is.

The pigeons will do what pigeons do to the plaque – and no one will care.

That’s what happens if all you do is store-up treasures in the Bank of Earth.

But you can also make a deposit in the Bank of Heaven. Which raises the obvious question. What are the treasures that are going to last which will not be destroyed by moth and rust? There are actually two.

God’s Word.

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

1 Peter 1:24-25

We need to be investing time into God’s Word.

To allow it to direct and guide our actions.

To realise that it is practical and applicable to our everyday situation.

To use it to understand our culture and be relevant to the culture.