God or Mammon
Making Sense out of Dollars • Sermon • Submitted
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“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“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 money.
matt. 6: 19-
As we continue our series: Making Sense our of Dollars, today we want to analyze where money lies in the hierarchy of importance and priority in our lives.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“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 money.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Basically in this series, we want to learn and apply God’s principles for financial management in our lives so we can be blessed and prosper.
Last week we learnt that “It’s all Yours God.” Everything we have in life belongs to God.
Today: “God or Mammon”
When we study the OT, we notice that the major problem God had with Israel was idolatry. False gods such as Baal, Molech, Chemosh, Ashtoreth. Not only were they false but the worship practices were abominable. Children were sacrificed in the fire. Temple prostitution. The nations of Israel and Judah were later destroyed, taken captive as they were judged by God so He can purify them. Today, the Jews are staunchly monotheistic in their practice.
In modern society, idolatry is not as prominent although it still exists, e.g. India, 330 M gods?
Today in the Word, June 14th 1989. Though we do not face a pantheon of false gods like the Israelites did, we face pressures from a pantheon of false values--materialism, love of leisure, sensuality, worship of self, security, and many others. The second commandment deals with idols. This may be something that most of us can't relate to--unless we include life goals that revolve around something other than God Himself. What is the object of our affections, our efforts, and our attention? Where does the majority of our time go? On what do we spend the greatest amount of our resources?
Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount mentions a god in contrast to the true God. You cannot serve God and Mammon - Money. Notice that He did not say, God or Satan. Serving the true God is not challenged by serving Satan or other gods but by money.
Serving the true God is not challenged by serving Satan or other gods but by money.
If we want to put our financial lives in order, we have to understand how powerful the impact of money can be on our lives.
Everything revolves around money.
Time is money.
Money makes the world go around.
We value everything by dollars and cents rather than by how God values it.
That begs the question - Who is God? God or Money.
Jesus teaches us we can determine who our God is by analyzing three factors.
Today we wil look at what Jesus said about money. In these verses there are four elements that He mentions. They are all connected and actually help us to assess who our God really is?
1. What is your treasure?
1. What is your treasure?
Where are your treasures?
Where are your treasures?
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Where are your treasures?
Where are your treasures?
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
: 19-
Do not lay up treasures on earth.
Do not lay up treasures on earth.
Do not lay up treasures on earth.
Our treasures
From a very young age, we all have treasures.
How many went on a road trip and had to turn because your 4-year old didn’t have her blankie?
Tried throwing away all the little toys your 9-year accumulated since toddler years?
My bicycle
Some people have a chest with their treasures
Some a drawer with all the jewelry
Others it’s their investment
What are your treasures? _____________________________
Subject to destruction.
Moth - In those days, even today, costly dresses were stored up. But they were subject to destruction by moths. Mothballs.
Rust destroys metal. That’s why we protect our treasured cars - rust-protection.
Thieves break in and steal. We have a few people here who suffered and have violated because of thieves breaking into their homes
The stock market can destroy your investments.
Do you know how many people showed up at their doctor’s offices in 2008 when the market crashed. Can you imagine 30% of all your life savings vanish into thin air?
If life is all about material possessions, then we will always be in a state of panic. Some people live their lives by keeping their eye on the stock market. That’s a recipe for a heart attack. President Trump sends a tweet and the market rumbles.
Lay up treasures in heaven.
It is not subject to devaluation.
Ill. Dr. Pancham.
Earthly versus heavenly treasures.
Treasures on earth are what you lay up for yourself.
Treasures in heaven are what you give to God and others.
An easy way to determine what you treasure is to look at your cheque-book, your bank and credit card statement. What are you spending your money on? How are you using your money?
2. Where is your heart?
2. Where is your heart?
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The heart is the centre one’s being, our emotions, reason and will.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Think about where your heart goes in life.
When you fall in love - you become obsessed with that person, he/she fills the thoughts of your heart all day long, you dream of them at night and that’s not enough, so you day-dream also. You focus on how you can see them again. Now Facetime and Video-chat certainly changes the game.
Car - you become obsessed, make, model, speed, features.
House - appearance, interior, size of rooms,
Savings - Savings account, RRSP, Pension plan.
Point: throughout life, our heart wanders from one earthly treasure to another. Are they true treasures?
Our heart, our focus, worship follows our treasure.
In a sense my “God” is my treasure. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“What a man loves,” says LUTHER, quoted by THOLUCK, “that is his God. For he carries it in his heart, he goes about with it night and day, he sleeps and wakes with it; be it what it may—wealth or self, pleasure or renown
So when we sing “Lord I give you my heart.” Do we mean it?
3. How good is your eye?
3. How good is your eye?
The Bible Knowledge Commentary 6:19–24 (Luke 12:33–34; 11:34–36; 16:13)
But treasures built here are subject to decay (moth destroys cloth and rust destroys metal
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Eastern treasures, consisting partly in costly dresses stored up
Jesus talks about the treasure and the heart. Now about the eye.
: 22-
Not the physical eye, but the spiritual eye, the eye of the inner man.
The natural eye can look and focus on fine scenery: a beautiful sunset, catch the wonder of the eclipse, beach and lake or others may focus on pornography, violence and gore.
The natural eye is window/door into our brain and minds.
The spiritual eye is the window/door into our soul, our heart.
In Jewish literature, the “eye” is a lamp that reveals the quality of a person’s inner life.
A healthy eye [clear vision] suggests loyal devotion to God.
A bad eye [impaired vision] connotes moral corruption.
It is not just what things we see in life, but how we see things in life: Our value system, how we analyze people, situations. In a sense it is similar to the heart.
When He spoke about the heart, He did not mention the condition of the heart. All He said is the treasure determines the focus of the heart.
But now He examines the inner life more. What’s going on in your heart?
As we pursue the earthly treasures, our eye becomes bad. It leads us into spiritual darkness.
Do you realize that you have a warped way of analyzing situations? Seeing only deception.
A healthy eye brings light, life, love, joy and toward God.
An evil eye brings darkness, sadness, restlessness and away from God.
After we assess these three factors, we can now answer -
Who is Master?
Who is Master?
“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 money.
No man - none of us, can serve two masters.
This is the bottom line now. Outwardly - Treasure.
Inwardly, the heart and eye.
And we are serving somebody. From childhood, we are learning. Devotion to God or Money.
Some of us are thinking, I am smart. I will serve both. You underestimate your heart.
God can provide all you need materially in life. But Money cannot provide for you emotional or spiritual needs.
The Rich Fool - someone who made money his god.
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
:
This rich man made Money his god, pursuing the acquisition of material wealth, success in the eyes of the world and with it fame and friendship. But he did not have the greatest Friend of all, God. He lost everything and even his soul.
The Rich Man and Lazarus.
If you want to make sense out of dollars, you need not only to know its all God’s but also whom you will serve as God.
If you have never made Jesus Lord and Master, do it today.
If you are a Christian, you must always be aware of the tendency for Money to creep up god-like stature and you are serving him as god instead of God.
Go through your spending over the last month, and assess, what does it reveal.
Food god
Clothes god
Sports god
Entertainment god
How much was given to the kingdom and others?