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The only false god that Jesus ever
mentioned by name was “MAMMON”
[Strong says mammon is of Chaldee origin (confidence, i.e. wealth,
personified); mammonas, i.e. avarice (deified): --mammon]. Jesus said, “No
man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon.”
Robertson’s N.T. Word Pictures says
of this verse, “No man can serve two masters.
Many try it, but failure awaits them all. Men even try "to be slaves to God
and mammon". Mammon is a Chaldee, Syriac, and Punic word like Plutus for the
money-god (or devil). The slave of mammon will obey mammon while pretending
to obey God. He will hold to one.
The word means to line up face to face (anti) with one man and so against
the other.” In other words, if you turn toward mammon you have turned your
back to God.
For years I have observed a pride in
many who will actually claim the Christian’s use of money is the mark of his
being a “good” Christian or not. They always make a reference to being a
“good steward” of money, as if those who don’t handle money prudently are
second class Christians. I simply cannot find that in the Bible.
As we look at “His View of Money,”
we will see something quite different from what most financial advisors
would recommend. Jesus again uses the
Pharisees as a backdrop for His teaching about money. He said,
“"No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money." The Pharisees,
who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”
Paul tells us, “The love of money is
the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
What a powerful hold money can have on a Christian if he doesn’t have the “mind
of Christ” regarding it.
I have often heard church members
debating with each other about the use of “their” money in the church.
People wanting an accounting of “their tithes and offerings.” In the
book of Acts we are told, “All the believers
were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his
possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With
great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons
among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them,
brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet,
and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
Too often we measure success by
money. Money is the “score card” to many people. In the day Jesus walked
on this earth it was certainly considered the mark of God’s favor for a
person to be rich. If you were poor, the Pharisees would consider you a
sinner under the judgment of God. That is why Jesus used so many parables
about money. He put a completely different perspective forth and it was
astonishing to His disciples. He said to them, “Verily
I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of
heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
of God.” This was shocking news to His disciples. “When
his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, ‘Who
then can be saved?’” They had been taught the exact opposite all
their lives.
Giving is a matter of pride in the
hearts and mouths of many church members. They boast of giving tithes and
offerings, which certainly should be given, but they take an attitude that
they will be blessed financially because they are faithful to tithe. They
think that they will be cursed financially if they don’t tithe. I could not
tell you how many Christians over my many years of ministry have told me
they decided to start tithing. And as a result, instead of seeing financial
prosperity they had one financial disaster after another. Instead of
telling people that they will prosper financially if they tithe, I tell
people to prepare to be “tested” by “famine.” (Note Genesis 12, when Abram
was called to follow God and immediately after he left all his financial
security “there was a famine in the land.”)
The tithe in the Old Testament was
not 10% of their total income, but 10% of this and 10% of that, right on up
to as much as 40 to 60% of their total income. I don’t know anybody who
truly tithes according to the Law of Moses. (See our three-hour teaching on
CHRISTIAN GIVING.)
Christian giving is based on one’s
ability and one’s heart. Jesus took the opportunity to make this point when
He watched the people putting their money into the treasury. “And
Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money
into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there
came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a
farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily
I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they
which have cast into the treasury: for all they did cast in of their
abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her
living.” It has always been true that the poor are the ones who
really support the Lord’s work financially. James even tells us, “Listen,
my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of
the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised
those who love him?” The poor are the ones who have the faith to
give.
Jesus demonstrated the heart of the
rich with a parable about a rich man who had more than he could store and
said, “And he said, This will I do: I will
pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits
and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said
unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then
whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Of the
rich, Jesus said, “Woe unto you that are
rich! For ye have received your consolation.”
Your very salvation can be expressed
by your attitude toward money. When Jesus chose to go to the house of a tax
collector, Zacchaeus, it is said of Zacchaeus “he
was rich.” The Pharisees hated the tax collectors and “when
they saw it, they all murmured, saying, that he was gone to be guest with a
man that is a sinner.” There is nothing said of salvation coming
to Zacchaeus UNTIL HE DECLARED HIS POSITION TOWARD MONEY. “Zacchaeus
stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give
to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold.” It was only
after he declared his freedom from the grip of financial security
that “Jesus said unto him, This day is
salvation come to this house.” Jesus said, “The
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The
EVIDENCE of salvation coming to Zacchaeus was his declaration to
abandon all dependence upon money for his security. Can we say what
Zacchaeus said?
When it comes to financial advice,
Jesus said some pretty hard things. To the rich young ruler He said, “Yet
lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when
he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.”
It is not that the rich cannot be
saved. When the disciples heard Jesus say how hard it is for the rich to be
saved, they replied, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus answered, "With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible." Zacchaeus was saved,
though he gave up all his wealth. Joseph was referred to as “a
rich man of Arimathaea.” “Salvation
is of the Lord” and God can and will save whom He will. “For
he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion."”
When a man approached Jesus about
the unfair treatment he was receiving from his brother, he told Jesus, “Master,
speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.”
Jesus shrugged it off with, “Man, who made me
a judge or a divider over you?” Then He warned the man, “Take
heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
It is amazing to think of the
greatness of Jesus in that “by him were all
things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all
things, and by him all things consist” and yet Jesus said of
Himself, “The foxes have holes, and the birds
of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
Jesus had such little regard for
money that even though He knew Judas “was a
thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put
into it,” Jesus did nothing about it. Everyone trusted Judas.
He was trusted with the bag that held their money, but Jesus didn’t warn the
others even though “Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.”
What do you think your pastor would do if he knew that the treasurer was
dipping into the treasury? Jesus did nothing. Jesus had a shocking
attitude about money, even about paying taxes. When the Pharisees asked
Jesus “Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is
it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" They were just trying
to trap Jesus, but Jesus shrewdly answered them, “Give
to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.” We should
not be surprised that Jesus thought very little of earthly wealth “For
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
When Jesus sent His disciples out
two by two, “He commanded them that they
should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no
bread, no money in their purse.” Even when it comes to
lending money, Jesus didn’t tell us to think like the world thinks, but “Give
to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not
demand it back.”
What is your view of money? Does it
compare with His view? If we “let this mind
be” in us that was in Christ Jesus and “we
have the mind of Christ” regarding money, what changes would it
make in the way we see life? How many worries that haunt us now would never
be a problem again.
Jesus encourages us NOT to make
money our security, but to set our hope in Father. “No
one can serve two masters. 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
both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than
clothes?”
“Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can
add a single hour to his life?
"And
why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the
fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“So
do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?'
or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
“But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU AND HAVE HIS VIEW OF MONEY.
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