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.“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.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.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
15 sermons cite this verse
… Jesus said this, Matthew six, 24. No one can serve two masters. Either you'll hate the one and love the other or you'll be devoted to one and despise the other. And he says very directly, you cannot serve both God and money. He could have said you can't serve God in a lot of things, could have been there, but he actually chose money. And why was he focusing on money? Why should we not serve money? Because money is a false God. Money, when you think about it, money promises what only God can provide. Think about it. What does culture teach you? Well, if you have enough money, you'll be secure. If you have enough money, you'll be happy. If you have enough money, you'll have peace. But only God can provide those things. The spirit of mammon tends to take our heart toward the things of this world. And so every time you tithe, you take the first 10% of what God trusts to you and you give it back to him. …
… This is Jesus talking. No one can serve two masters. If you really either hate the one and love the other, be devoted to one and despise the other, you cannot serve both God and money. Now notice he doesn't say there you should not serve God and money. He says you can't. It's impossible. Nobody can serve two masters. So you're gonna have to decide what's gonna be number one in my life, God or making money. you can only have one number one in your life whatever's number one in your life is your God whatever's number one in your life is what you love the Bible says you cannot serve God in money as I said earlier money is a terrific servant it is a terrible master when it masters you you're always under stress it's always controlling you you're always worried you're always uptight about it When you are the master of your money, when it is your servant, it serves you. When money works for you instead of you working for your money, then you have peace. …
… your whole body is full of light and then he says no one can serve two masters you're like man he won't let this go louie this is crazy 107 verses and he will not let it go no one can serve two masters either you will hate the one and love the other or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve both god and money you're like jesus give it a rest he's like no i want you to have a happy and a healthy heart. And you've got to get this right. And then he goes into this beautiful passage that we've sung about at our church so much, the Lord will provide, which capstone is verse 33. But seek first his kingdom. And let's don't forget the and, and his righteousness, right things. and all these things will be given to you as well. In the kingdom economy of God, that Jesus followers seek first. his kingdom. What's he doing? What's he talking about? What's he thinking about? What's important to him? What are his objectives? What's his mission? What's on God's heart today? …
… When you think about it, money can do a lot of the very same things that God promises to do for us, at least at first glance. And I think that explains why Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 24, no man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will despise the one and hold on to the other. You cannot serve, you cannot worship God and money. Notice Jesus didn't say you cannot worship God and your work. Or you cannot worship God and sex. It's not that those other things cannot be idols for us. They can. But Jesus understood that money has a unique ability to take our heart's affection because of all of the things it can do for us. That also explains why Paul said in 1 Timothy 6.10, for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many a pain. …
… like Bitcoin, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with somebody else's property, who will give you property of your own? No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Then the Pharisees who love money heard all this and they were sneering at Jesus. And he said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts and what people value is highly detestable in God's sight. I want to preach a message today, write down the title. It's called Stewardship, a Samaritan, and Self-Righteousness. Stewardship, a Samaritan, and Self-Righteousness. Come on, let's pray over the word of God today. Lord, we thank you that your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We pray that today you'd open up our eyes so we can see marvelous things from your word. …
… Matthew 6, 24, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. This is very black and white. This isn't a gray area issue. You cannot serve God in mammon. Money is the idea of mammon. Material possessions and wealth. And so we ought to ask ourselves today, who am I serving? Am I serving myself? and the false gods in pursuits of this world? Or am I serving the Savior? Joshua gave this command to Israel because they could not have both their false gods and the Lord. So they had to make a choice. Our second point today is the choice is yours. The choice is yours. This is what we go on to see. In verse 15, when Joshua says, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. …
… how terrible that darkness will be. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth. All right, this is so interesting. So he's making the same statement, the same point he made in just a moment ago when he talked about what you treasure. Now he's making that same point using a different metaphor. So in this case, the metaphor he's using is the eye and what you're letting into your body. So the eye is the lamp of the body. And scholars debate exactly what did Jesus mean by that? That's kind of a strange thing. How is the eye the lamp of the body? Is it sending light out from you? Or is it actually allowing light to pass through you and into your soul or your mind? And that's really what the big idea, I think, here. It probably means both. …
… thing like we should be loving the creator God. And Jesus put it exactly that way in Luke chapter 16 when 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. There's only room for one number one. And if you ain't first, you last, Ricky Bobby's. What do you say? There's only room for one number one. So God's not going to share his throne with money. Only one can be that which you pant after. the Pharisees who loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. Listen, the worst thing you could ever be in this world and this culture is normal. What's normal in this world is detestable in God's sight. And what's highly valued in God's sight is what at the end of our lives we're going to be most proud of having fought for, of focused on. Jesus is telling us that money is a terrific servant and a terrible master. …
… And he says this, no one can serve two masters. For a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth. Money, wealth, they're important in our lives. They're a means to an end. They're a way of accomplishing certain things. But when we make them the focus, when our eyes are focused on them, when our heart is focused on them, then we've actually made them into a God. We've made them into a false god or an idol. And everything else gets messed up when that's what we end up doing. I want to mention one thing. This is, so every year when I prepare my taxes in the spring, I prepare a document for the accountant. And it lists all of our income. I do this, you know, kind of a record for me too, all of our income. And then I list on here all of our deductions. …
… Look at Matthew chapter six. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. You can't, it's impossible. You can't serve God and money. You're gonna get, no, you're gonna be devoted to one and you're gonna hate the other. So I've decided, how about you? I'm gonna love God, not money. I'm gonna give my life to Jesus and following Jesus, not for fame and fortune and comfort in this world. I want God to be the premium and priority of my life. So I don't just worship him with singing. I worship him with giving. In fact, watch what Isaiah says. This is Isaiah the prophet. Watch what happens to so many people. Isaiah 29. The Lord says, these people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. I just like that verse. …
… He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon. The Gospel of the Lord. We should have a seat. so my first wedding I ever did I uh it was a wedding of a woman I was a missionary with her uh after we graduated college and then years later I'm seminarian I'm a deacon and she's engaged and I never met her fiance her husband before before the wedding itself but I was on the phone with them and I asked them the question uh how did you guys what readings did you choose and how did you choose the readings and they gave me this answer that is like shaped the way I approach this. And they said this. They said, every time we go to Mass, every time we go to church, someone else has already chosen the readings for us. They said, this is the one time we get to have our family and friends in Mass and we're the ones who get to choose what story they hear. …
… says no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and money some of y'all are trying to serve God and money you can't serve them both one of them is going to call the shots one of them is going to be your master Here we go. I refuse to make God make money my God. I refuse to make money my God. Some of you need to say, you can have the money. I ain't going to fight with you over the money. You can have the house. You can have the car. You can have that stuff. It doesn't matter, even if it costs me. Even if it costs me because I know I serve a God who's greater than anything else, If I make this choice, if I humble myself, God will fight the battle for me. God will restore me. …
… and verse 13, No servant can serve two masters. Well, that's wrong. No servant 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. And if you're wondering what two masters he's talking about, he said, you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is just another word for things. And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. God will not work in second place. When you put God in second place that is idolatry, and that's the reason the Bible calls covetousness idolatry. We have in God we trust on our money, but we have me first written in the hearts. I heard about a man who loved gold. I mean he just loved it. He had an inordinate affection for gold. Finally he got a lot of gold. And he loved it. And so he put down a golden colored carpet, painted the walls parchment colored, got yellow drapes, got a gold colored bedspread. He bought him some yellow pajamas. …
… how great is that darkness! 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. There are three basic truths in these passages that I have read to you. Many things, but three basic truths. Truth number one, we must possess real wealth. We must possess real wealth if we would be successful in life. Look again in verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Now, there are many people who think that they're wealthy who are not. It's a strange thing. We see on television the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and really, and many times, it's the lifestyle of the rich and foolish. When is a rich man poor? Well, a rich man is poor when he tries to find satisfaction in his money because he will never find it. …
Well that's wrong. No servant 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. And if you're wondering what two masters he's talking about, he said, you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is just another word for things. And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. God will not work in second place. When you put God in second place, that is idolatry. And that's the reason the Bible calls covetousness idolatry. We have, in God we trust on our money, but we have me first written in our hearts. Let me give you a verse that proves beyond the shadow of any doubt that covetousness is idolatry. Colossians 3 verse 5. Mortify, that means put to death, therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. …