2 God and mammon

2) You cannot serve God and mammon 

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 “No one can serve two masters; for 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 God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24 RSV) 

When Jesus presented this tough choice to his listeners, they would have taken some time to absorb exactly what he was implying. He compared God with mammon. This was an unusual word to use. It was an ancient word which meant riches and in most of our English versions is translated as ‘money’. But I see it as significant that he didn’t use any of the usual words for money which we find elsewhere in the New Testament. I think he picked this word out to make a significant point.

idol

During the Sermon on the Mount, his listeners would have been largely ordinary or poor people. They would have been used to looking up to rich people and being patronised by them. Many of them would have been dependent on rich people for employment. But perhaps most of all, their religious leaders, the Pharisees, were very happy to acquire wealth. In one of his confrontations with them, we read this:

If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for 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 God and mammon.” 
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him.  (Luke 16:11-14 RSV)

The parable he had just told had succeeded in bringing out the true nature of the Pharisee heart: love of money. And this is why I think Jesus used this special word. It is not money that is the problem, but the love of money which is in direct conflict with God. 

There is no doubt that money can be an ultimate goal for people. It can become an idol to worship and serve. This is why it is in direct conflict with God who should be the only one we worship. That is, the love of money can be a spiritual power. This is drawn out in many ways in the New Testament.

conflicts

It was most famously expressed by the Apostle Paul:

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For 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. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

We see here the spiritual conflict over riches: some have wandered away from the faith. Jesus was not exaggerating when he told his listeners about this conflict of loves. I must emphasise again that the problem is not money, but love of money. 

Money is important in fulfilling God’s will. We must get to grips with being good stewards of money. To do that we have to learn to be in charge of it and not allow it to surreptitiously take charge of us [there is more on this on Rule of Life 3]. Paul continues with this advice:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

The incredible conflicts that love of money bring were especially manifested in someone Jesus loved:

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ … You know the commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.”’
‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’
Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were amazed at his words. (Mark 10:17-24)

The disciples’ amazement shows how hard a saying this was. But the conflict shows the clash of loves. This young man was a good living person; he sought to please God in how he lived his life; he was only one step away from being right in the centre of God’s will for him. But he stumbled on the last step. This encounter reinforces the truth that God looks, not to our good living, but to the good heart. The love of money had captured this young man and pierced him with many griefs!

neutral

Even those closest to Jesus were not immune from the pernicious love of money. It is always shocking every time to read this particular scripture:

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:4-6)

Judas had been with Jesus for three years. He had witnessed his teaching and miracles. He probably performed miracles himself when he was sent out as one of the Twelve. Yet this love of money had corroded his heart and stolen his original love for God. His example is a warning to us all; no matter how close we feel we are to Jesus, the love of money could still steal our heart away.

Mammon, as different to money, is a spiritual power. Of itself, money is a neutral commodity. However, because money brings power it also brings the threat of corruption. Those who can manage riches without being influenced by their spiritual power are living in excellent grace. But for some, the luring power and spiritual draw are too much. They can lose the distinction; and money becomes mammon – an idol. Money can also create power and influence over others. As those in the Old Testament were drawn to the seductions of Baal worship, so now people can be drawn by the seductive attractions of mammon.

This spiritual battle with money was illustrated in an early incident in the growth of the church:

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’
Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.’
Then Simon answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.’ (Acts 8:18-24)

Simon the Sorcerer thought money was a route to spiritual power and influence. Love for mammon is a sin.

wages

This principle is also illustrated by the complex story of Balaam in the book of Numbers. He was a prophet who was offered money to curse the people of God. After consulting the Lord, he declined, because the Lord forbade him to do it. However, when relating his decision to the messengers from Moab, he does mention the riches they offered him to curse Israel. This love of riches must have secretly got to him and clearly did influence his future decisions. He was visited and asked a second time; and this time the Lord said he could go, but only in order to bring a blessing on Israel.

But on the way the Lord sought to kill him during the famous incident involving his donkey. It seems he had inwardly decided he wanted to find a way to take the money offered, and going with the men gave him this option to get rich. Balaam is rebuked in the New Testament as an example of those who commit sin because of the love of money:

they are experts in greed – an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. (2 Peter 2:14-15)

After blessing Israel, Balaam found a way to get paid by suggesting the Moabite women seduce the men of Israel (Numbers 31:16). Balaam eventually sided with the Midianites and was killed during the fighting between them and Israel. It was a judgment on his perverse advice. 

This is a complex story because it involves a dubious character who had undoubted prophetic gifts. He was both able to bring a blessing on Israel and be the adviser who recommended destroying Israel through sexual sin. What we should learn is that a person’s gifts and spiritual manifestations are not an automatic sign of a wholesome heart. A life free from the control of sin is what we should look for. Those who are controlled by the sin of mammon-love are not to be trusted.

rich

We can’t really leave this subject without dealing with what is called ‘prosperity doctrine’. In summary this is the teaching that God’s blessing on a person can be measured by how much money they make. It is a bizarre teaching when one considers that Jesus contrasted the poor, who receive blessing, and the rich, as those who risk losing out:

 Looking at his disciples, he said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.' 
‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.' (Luke 6:20&24)

The main scripture used to justify prosperity teaching is this:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

The word ‘rich’ is taken literally to mean money. This is so strange; and leads to us asking the question: “When was Jesus ever rich?” It is true that millions of people over the centuries who have become Christians have become better off. But this is because they have turned their lives around. Where once they squandered money on indulgence and pointless possessions, they have instead become good stewards of what they have.

The riches which Jesus had were being with his Father in heaven before he came to earth and was born as a child. Those were spiritual riches: riches of love, riches of relationship. And it is exactly these riches which we inherit as we trust in Jesus: spiritual riches when the Holy Spirit comes to us; riches of love when God’s love is poured into our hearts; and relationship riches when we become members of the Body of Christ. We cannot love God and mammon because it is a deceptive spiritual power. If we are seduced by the promises that money offers, we shall become its lovers and, without repentance, lose our way as mammon chokes the word and makes us unfruitful.

freedom

If we recognise that we have made mammon into an idol which competes with our commitment to God, how should we deal with it? The secret really is in the words of Jesus:

he will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24 RSV)

The danger of the love of money is that we begin to despise God and all that he represents in the gospel and the church. But we must turn this fact around: we must through grace learn to despise the love of money. Jesus constantly returned to this principle in his teaching. He used the metaphors of plucking out or cutting off whatever offends our pure love for God. He espoused the use of hate as a constructive emotion in this spiritual warfare.

We first have to see and acknowledge our weakness for money. Then we have genuinely to repent. True repentance is always heart rending and heart changing. Repentance is more than just saying sorry. Repentance reaches the motivations of the heart. The rich young ruler went away sad because he couldn’t repent. The Puritan writer, Thomas Watson, expresses true repentance in this wonderful metaphor:
“The eye is made both for seeing and weeping. Sin must first be seen before it can be wept for!”  

If you are accessing this website, it is more than likely that you can afford the equipment to do so. In world terms, compared to millions of people, that makes you and I relatively rich, and means mammon love will be a temptation. This hard saying of Jesus may prove to be one that saves us from that most subtle and deceptive of temptations – pretending that we can love God and mammon.

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