No doubt, we’re all familiar with the verse: “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 (mammon in the KJV).”
I am going to take that even further. Not only can we not have two masters, our relationship with money can be a very dangerous one. We’re always walking a fine line, because the money we have in our pocket that we think is our friend, might not be our friend, especially if we don’t recognize its spiritual power. It's dangerous, because it can pull us away from the One True God.
Money As a Spiritual Stronghold
Money has spiritual power. Therefore, it can be a spiritual stronghold. And it’s a topic covered extensively in the Bible. Because it’s a spiritual stronghold, it leads to the tendency for money to become an idol. It draws our idolatrous hearts away from God and toward the worship of money and what money can do for us.
If we don’t recognize this danger and take it seriously, the idols of our heart will draw us toward mammon. (Mammon is defined as money, but with a deistic property attached to the gods and forces of this world.) When our hearts are drifting toward mammon, it makes it much harder for us to worship at the altar of the One True God.
Here are some ways in which money affects us like nothing else in this life does:
Money grips our hearts and causes us to hold on to it for all kinds of reasons.
Money becomes part of our identity, and we struggle to let go of it.
It can cause us to stop trusting God as our provider.
It makes us lack contentment about what God has already provided for us.
We always want more.
We lack deep joy about how God has blessed our lives.
What Jesus Says About the Danger of Money
Jesus spoke extensively about money, and two places are especially noteworthy, because he makes the exact same point in these two very different stories and contexts.
Luke 16 and Matthew 6:
“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.”
We see in Luke 16 that money having power over us is nothing new. Jesus tells his disciples about the dishonest steward who was mismanaging his master's money and warns them that they cannot serve God and money. And in Matthew 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, He says the same thing. Anytime Jesus makes the exact same point more than once, we need to pay close attention to that.
Jesus isn't necessarily against us having riches or wealth. What he’s against is those riches getting between us and Him. He’s against us having a closer relationship with our money than we do with Him.
Who Among Us Is In Danger?
Every single one of us. Jesus is really, really clear. He didn't say many people will have a problem with this. He said there’s not one person who has ever walked the face of the earth, or who will ever walk the face of the earth, who can serve two masters. None of us can do it.
It’s so important to understand this, especially in America today. We are one of the most money loving cultures in all the earth, yet we shy away from these types of conversations. Churches aren’t addressing the dangers of loving money more than God.
So let’s start addressing it. Talk to the people in your church about this on a regular basis. Explain to them that when they serve the one true God and Him alone, their hearts will be transformed, they will be surrendered to Christ, and they will joyfully give of their time, money, and resources for His glory.
Here are some ways you can start to normalize this conversation. Many of these suggestions can be incorporated into your weekly giving moment:
Share stories of people whose giving has been transformed by God’s grace. When people share their giving journey and how God has moved in their lives, it provides an example and encouragement to others in their journey.
Teach the church’s theology of giving and how each person should embrace that as part of their discipleship journey.
Demonstrate the impact of giving to your church. Tell people what happens by connecting giving to impact.
Continue to build a sense of trust that your church stewards money well to build and reinforce trust in your church.
Make sure your people know and understand that God is not after their money, and neither is the church. God is after their hearts. He doesn't really want the money out of their pockets, but he does want the idols out of their hearts.
That’s how we eliminate the danger of our relationship with money. And then God can use that as one of the means of transforming us more and more into His likeness. A proper relationship with our money. Not a dangerous one.
As always, if you would like to talk about this further, email me at jim@generis.
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