“The ‘god’ that can Never be Satisfied”
Matthew 6:24-34
Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters…
…You cannot serve both God and money.”
The word translated as “money” here is “mamona.”
The King James Version of the Bible
brought “mamona” into the English language as a new word: Mammon.
When capitalized Mammon sounds like the name of a pagan god.
While there was no religion in Jesus’ day that worshiped a god called Mammon, people in every age worship at Mammon’s altar.
Today we might call it affluence or success or promotion or prosperity or the good life.
For many of us, we use it as a guide to set the direction of our lives.
But Jesus says we can’t be guided by both Mammon and God.
We can’t be the disciples of both Jesus and Money.
Think about it:
Jesus calls us to walk by faith, Mammon calls us to walk by sight.
Jesus calls us to be humble and Mammon calls us to be proud.
Jesus calls us to set our minds on things above and Mammon on things below.
Jesus calls us to the light of love and freedom, Mammon calls us to fear and darkness.
Jesus tells us to look toward things unseen and eternal and Mammon to look at things seen and temporary.
A few verses earlier Jesus teaches us:
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Worry or anxiety as it has to do with material things, with money, with Mammon is what Jesus is really getting at in our lesson for this morning.
The problem is not so much in having Mammon than in serving it—giving our heart to it—letting it rule our lives—making it our top priority—letting it stand between us and God.
David writes in Psalm 62:10: “if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”
Wealth can tempt us to selfishness, but it is possible and vitally important to use wealth unselfishly.
God expects those of us who follow Him to help the hungry and the homeless, and that requires some financial resources.
Toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus will warn that, on Judgment Day, God will count as sheep those who have taken care of the needy and will count as goats those who have not done so.
While that might seem overwhelming in its scope, Jesus calls us to trust God and not to worry.
And there can be no doubt that worry as it has to do with money or Mammon is a soul-cancer that strikes at the rich, the poor and those in the middle.
“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” Jesus says in our Gospel Lesson.
This may cause some of us to balk and say: “That is impossible!”
And there is no doubt that worrying is a normal part of our human experience—we all experience it from time to time.
But left unchecked, it can get the best of us.
I find that worry gets me the most when and if I am struggling in my relationship with God.
If my faith has become weak, my worrying about the things of this world increases.
But if my faith is strong the opposite is true.
What exactly is worry?
Worry means to give way to anxiety or unease; to allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.
It is distress caused by something that we might possibly experience in the future.
The object of our worry can be anything from a presentation we have to give in 30 minutes to developing a serious health condition 20 years from now.
Mark Twain wrote: “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.”
Have you known a great deal of troubles that have never happened?
Do you ruin your peace and happiness by allowing your mind to dwell on things that might or could happen in the future?
Are you an excess worrier?
Perhaps you unconsciously think that if you “worry enough” you can prevent bad things from happening.
But we all know this is not true.
Worrying is feeling uneasy or being overly concerned about a situation or problem.
Excess worrying can cause our minds and bodies to go into overdrive as we constantly focus on “what might go wrong.”
And it’s difficult to think of others or to serve and love God when we are caught up in worrying—especially if that worrying has to do with Mammon, wealth, money.
If we are wealthy we might worry about our ability to accumulate more wealth or to protect what we have against moth, rust, embezzlement, accounting fraud, inflation, deflation, high and low interest rates, and innumerable other threats.
And of course, death will sooner or later take it all away no matter what.
The more we have, the more we stand to lose—and the more we worry about losing it.
The middle-class person might worry about job security, health insurance, car payments, house payments, tuition, the cost of child care, leaky roofs, and a host of other things.
The poor person may be worried about keeping a roof overhead and food on the table, and may be tempted by lotteries and other unlikely get-rich-quick schemes, due to such desperate needs and so little hope.
In the New Testament Church, at least at the beginning, we are told that the believers took care of one another.
Acts 2:45 says “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
What a way to live--with complete trust in God and love for one another.
Can we seek to replicate this?
It’s been said that Matthew 6:24-34—what we are looking at this morning—is one of the most countercultural sermons Jesus ever preaches.
I mean, when the warning is against worrying and is yoked with the idea that money is not the highest goal, we are going against the grain of much of the way the world thinks and we are taught.
“do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”
These words of Jesus, when taken to heart, offer us freedom and release from that which holds us captive.
They are both an invitation to live in a new way and a criticism about the way we live.
“You cannot serve both God and money.”
Just about every facet of society sets itself up against these words of Jesus.
But, I know in my heart and from experience, when I worry about money and things—I have a hard time loving and serving God and others.
This is one of the main reasons I tithe over 10 Percent of my income to the Church.
It’s about who I am making the decision to trust—to follow—to put first.
Clair and I have a monthly budget, and right off the top, more than 10 % of what we make goes to the church.
If we don’t have money to buy extras later in the month, we don’t change what we give to the church--We wait until the next pay period or save or go without.
That is one of many ways to keep oneself from serving money rather than God.
And take a look at any reputable financial planning or money management curriculum.
Giving money away is almost always at or near the top of the list.
When our main focus is not on money and consumer goods, worry decreases.
In this country you and I are tempted by an endless array of material possessions that promise to impress our neighbors—luxury cars, huge RVs, fancy boats, oversized McMansions.
Jesus doesn’t call us to keep up with the Joneses—or to impress them into envying us.
Jesus calls us to love them.
How can we love our neighbors if we are trying to get them to envy us?
How can we love our neighbors if we put self above all?
How can we love Jesus if we are disproportionally concerned about self?
Humility is one of the most, if not the most important quality in following Jesus.
Humility doesn’t show off.
Humility doesn’t expect to be served.
Humility serves.
Humility puts others above oneself.
And humility doesn’t seek to get rich.
Listen to the words of 1st John Chapter 3: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers [and sisters].
If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in them?
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
St. Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier living in the mid-300s who came upon a half-naked beggar on a freezing cold night.
Martin cut his coat in half and gave the half of it to the beggar.
That night Martin had a dream.
In it Jesus was wearing the half-coat Martin had given the beggar.
An angel asked Jesus where He had gotten that coat.
Jesus answered, “My brother Martin gave it to me.”
Billy Graham once wrote: “We are rich in things that perish, but poor in things of the spirit.
We are rich in gadgets, but poor in faith.
We are rich in goods, but poor in grace.
We are rich in know-how, but poor in character.
We are rich in words, but poor in deeds.”
It’s been said that the greatest danger to Western Christianity is not, as it is sometimes alleged, other prevailing ideologies, but rather the all-pervasive materialism of our affluent culture.”
“You cannot serve both God and money.”
Whom or what do you love?
Whom or what do you worry about?
Who or what is your master?
These are important questions for us to ask ourselves if we seek to follow Jesus…
…if we seek to love God and neighbor.
Remember in all of this, though, money is neutral.
It is how we feel about money that distorts our priorities and judgments.
For, as Paul writes in 1st Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
And it’s so true…
…so true.
People kill for it.
Families are torn apart by it.
Lives are ruined and wasted in pursuit of it.
“Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”
Jesus is giving us a case against worry in favor of a profound trust in God.
If we try to trust in riches we will never be satisfied.
If we trust in God and God alone, we will find that we have all we need.
And then, Jesus uses the birds of the air and the flowers of the field as examples and it’s brilliant.
I mean, the idea of birds and flowers having to make a choice whether or not to trust God is downright silly.
And Jesus teaches us to learn from them.
Will we trust in God or will we worry?
That’s what it comes down to really…doesn’t it?
Let’s keep in mind that while Jesus was giving this sermon we are looking at this morning—teaching people not to worry—He was aware that in His future was a Cross.
And though Jesus is not unmoved by pain—He will sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane—but He will also pray: “not my will, but yours be done.”
That is the greatest example of trusting in God.
What examples do you have from your life?
When were you able to trust in God for your peace of mind, your needs, your future?
When I was at my lowest point in life.
When my wife had left me and I didn’t know what I was going to do.
When hope seemed lost and I didn’t feel like I could go on…
…I found that God was right there with me.
I found that I could trust in Him no matter what.
And when that occurred, I called a friend and exclaimed: “Rock bottom isn’t so bad after-all because Jesus is here.”
And it’s true.
And then I started praying the Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition that Phil will put on the Screen.
For me, it is the ultimate prayer for trust.
Remember that old commercial about taking the Nestea Plunge where the person would fall backward into the pool without a worry that the water wasn’t deep enough?
Or have you ever been a part of that exercise where someone stands behind you and you must fall back and trust that they will catch you?
That is kind of what the Covenant Prayer is like.
As I pray it I also pray that I may mean it because in meaning it I find TRUE FREEDOM—freedom from worry, self-absorption, the temptation to give in to hopelessness and despair.
Putting money or anything else in our lives before God is idolatry and it only leads to worry, anxiety and ruin.
That is the reason God warns us so much against it.
God created us and God knows what we need to be happy, to thrive to live.
We need only to trust in Him, to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” and everything else will fall into line.
Let us pray the Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition:
“Lord, I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee.
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.”
