Sermon Tone Analysis

Whom Do You Serve?

April 2, 2006

Matthew 6:19-21, 24

*/Focus:/*/ Mammon seeks to control our lives, but with God’s strength we can oppose this false god./

*Introduction: Even Disciples Need to Think about Money*

A missionary traveling in Africa said, “While traveling in Ghana, I learned that in the dominant language of Ghana the only way to ask the question, “What is your religion?” is to ask, “Whom do you serve?” “ I like that!

It does answer the question doesn’t it?

Regardless of denominational loyalties and official creeds, your true god is the one you serve.

Whom do you serve?

That’s the question Jesus puts before us in three of the four gospels.

He wants us to understand that we must make a choice.

We can serve God, or we can serve money.

We cannot serve both.

If you have your Bible with you, please turn to Matthew chapter 6 and follow along as I read verse 24: /"No one can serve two masters.

For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.”

/ Luke 16:13 says the same thing.

Money, now more than ever, is a problem.

We live in a materialistic society where many people serve money.

They spend their lives collecting and storing it.

Their desire for money far outweighs their desire to serve God.

Jesus doesn’t tell us it’s unwise to serve both.

He doesn’t tell us it’s difficult to serve both.

He doesn’t tell us it’s spiritually immature to try to serve both.

He tells us it’s impossible to serve both.

He tells us we must make a choice.

He knew that whatever you store up, you will spend much of your time and energy thinking about: where your treasure is, there your heart is.

I would guess that if I put it to a vote this morning—all those in favor of serving God raise your hands, and all those in favor of serving Mammon raise your hands—God would win a decisive victory here.

I think it would probably be unanimous because, after all, we’re sitting in a sanctuary devoted to the worship of God, not the worship of money.

But before we get too comfortable thinking we’ve already settled this issue in our lives, we would do well to remember that these words of Jesus were addressed to disciples, to those who had already decided to follow Jesus and trust his God.

Jesus thought that it’s precisely people like us who need reminding of this choice between God and money.

And if we need reminding of this choice, it’s because we constantly underestimate the power of money.

Jesus did not.

Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17-19 to: : /“Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone.

But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

Tell them to use their money to do good.

They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.

By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life.

“  /Prior to this passage, in the tenth verse, Paul uttered the now well-known adage, /“for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil….”

/ In 1 Timothy 3:3 Paul makes the love of money a disqualifier for leadership in the church.

*I.

Mammon Is a Personal Force*

It’s very interesting that Jesus gave money a Semitic name: /Mammon/.

This was not a part of the culture.

We find no parallels in the historical texts of money being called /Mammon/.

The word /“Mammon”/ is used only four times in Scripture.

All by Jesus.

All in a derogatory sense.

The Pharisees understood though.

Unrighteous mammon was a Pharisaical term for wealth acquired legally, but tainted in the sight of God.

Jesus, however, used the term to refer to all material resources not used to the glory of God.

Mammon, uniquely used by Jesus alone in Scripture, is Aramaic for “that in which one trusts”, hence “money”.

Jesus saw things in a unique way.

Jesus did something completely unique because he saw things in a unique way.

Jesus saw things with the eyes of God.

Jesus saw things the rest of the world chooses not to see.

Jesus understood that money is not simply an object.

Money is a personal force.

In the Old Testament, Solomon recognized the pervasive force of money.

Look with me now at Ecclesiastes 5:10: /“Those who love money will never have enough.

How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness!”/

By naming money /Mammon/, he personalized money.

He understood that money is a living power, a driving power.

By stating it in just this way, by putting Mammon in a position to oppose God almost on equal terms, Jesus was indicating clearly that he understood money to be a spiritual entity.

He left no doubt that money could threaten our relationship with God.

In this sense, we would have to say that money is demonic.

Money seeks an autonomy from God.

It seeks to control.

It insinuates itself into the center of our lives and tries to organize our lives according to its will rather than God’s will.

Jesus recognized this power.

If you think this spiritualizing of money overstates the case (“After all, isn’t money just an object?”), then consider how we treat money.

Next time you’re at a party and the conversation begins to lag a little bit, just say, “Let’s all share how much money we made last year.”

You’d never be invited back to that house again.

That would be considered the greatest kind of social mistake you could make.

Most people in our society would far rather tell you about the details of their sex lives than to let you read the register of their check books.

That’s a very personal issue, isn’t it?

It’s a very private matter; money is almost sacred with us.

We might define the sacred as that which has the mysterious power to elicit our loyalty, to confer worth to us personally, and to organize our lives around itself.

Does money do this?

Just consider how much of your life is spent, in one way or another, in relationship to money: thinking about money, working to accumulate money, worrying about money.

How much “head space” are you giving money?

Right now, at tax time, I really notice the power of money: What are people thinking about?

RRSPs – protecting my money – avoiding tax – having more money to spend, etc.

What does the Bible say we should be thinking about?

Turn with me to Philippians 4:8 ….. /we are to “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right.

Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

/ Has money ever been described in these terms: true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, worthy of praise?

No! Money has had a lot of nicknames over the years: bread, cash, cabbage, dough, greenbacks, legal tender, moolah, shekels, wampum, and the one I like the most filthy lucre.

Not very flattering, are they?

Jesus called “mammon” a powerful lure away from Father God: a force to be recognized and reckoned with!

We plan our lives around money.

We’re fretful because of money.

We fight with our spouses over money.

More than a few people here would have to confess that one of their favorite preoccupations in all of life is spending money or plotting how they will spend their money.

When Marcy and I used to buy lottery tickets, we would spend hours entertaining ourselves discussing how we would spend our windfall.

Don’t tell me that money isn’t one of the holy things in our lives.

There is sacredness and spirituality to money.

We hate to admit it has power over us, but it does.

Agree?