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No Man Can Serve Two Masters
Matthew 6:24-34

This past week has been a disastrous week in the life of many people. We are all aware of the catastrophe of hurricane Katrina, bringing home so much destruction, suffering and need.

We have watched the devastation and the drama as it unfolded in the subsequent events of these days. Many times with tears in my eyes, thinking in various instances as I saw the images how that could have been my baby, or my children, my wife, family or friends suffering through similar circumstances.

Then came the news of the murder of Michael Osborne, a former REC priest, married, father of six children, who was shot in Hattiesburg, Mississippi while trying to get some supplies for his family stricken by the hurricane.

All the time, there was an underlying thought in my mind. I knew I was to preach on this particular passage appointed for the gospel lesson of today which brings us face to face with what is for us a hard saying of our Lord Jesus. Perhaps the hardest saying for our generation, especially in times of such a crisis as this.

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. Matthew 6:24

If we had any doubt about what our Lord is referring to, He goes on to name the specific master he has in mind:

You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24

And if we had still any doubt, he goes on to explain the applications of his teaching to the ordinary things of this life which tend to make all of us more anxious. Food, drink, clothing, and the future.

It is hard to speak of these things when so many people have died before our eyes while waiting to be rescued under terrible conditions. Many had little or no food, or drink or cloth or shelter. Many thousands along the gulf Coast today are homeless, their churches, schools, jobs, livelihood destroyed and are now dependent on charity facing an uncertain future.

Yet over all this, we must hear the powerful voice of our Lord, speaking to our hearts this morning reminding us: No one can serve two masters, You cannot serve God and mammon. Commanding us, not to be anxious for our food, drink, clothing or future. Trusting that our lives are more than material things and that God cares for us.

How can we obey his commandment while facing squarely such a major catastrophe and the implications of its aftermath?

Well we may begin by understanding what our Lord is talking about.

The word mammon comes from a word in Aramaic which simply means wealth or profit. Mammon was not the name of a deity in antiquity. Actually what we know about mammon is what Jesus told us about it.

Jesus uses the name to denote a master of the heart of man, when that heart is consumed by self-interest and pride, as in the case of the Pharisees whom he exposed as being driven by greed.

This is what makes his teaching so difficult for us today. We are part of society in which greed is covertly considered a good thing. No body says so too loudly but everyone knows its true. To a large extent capitalism is based upon the principle of self interest. Do not take me wrong, I am not here to preach politics or economics. As an economy model I do not know any other that surpasses Capitalism, but there is a danger when Capitalism becomes the basis for the spiritual life, when self-interest is not only a necessary principle for free market but the foundation upon which our hearts are built, our sense of identity and mission and value; the law of our personal, communal and spiritual life;

When economical success becomes equivalent in our minds to the blessing of the kingdom of God. When our sense of security derives from our wealth and not from our God. Then the leaven of greed leavens the whole lump; Then the love of money rules over the use of money; Then our trust is in Money instead of God.

And that may be a very subtle virus. Mammon is a tricky fellow. He seldom presents his ugly face directly unless taken by surprise as it happened with this hurricane. He has a very persuasive voice, that easily appeals to our deepest yearnings. He promises, pleasure, comfort, security, worldly glory, happiness and even goodness and blessing. He lures us to trust in him for our future, to justify our hardness of heart to others with all sort of rationalizations. He promises all this  if only we give him our unconditional allegiance by pursuing our own self-interest first in all we do, while we stop caring for our neighbors as ourselves and God above all things.

Mammon is the Lord of self-interest, profit and wealth.

And we say what is wrong with that? Every normal human being must have a degree of healthy self-interest and learn to fend for himself, pursue profit and wealth as much as he can. And Yes, that is true. But there is a problem. Self-interest, profit and wealth are not the purpose God created us for. We were not made to serve things or ourselves. We were created to serve God, and self-interest, profit and wealth must be crucified with Christ, that is, brought to the service of God and not vice versa.

When how much you got defines how much your lives is worth; When making money, because of its potential to satisfy our temporal needs, becomes the predominant purpose and preoccupation of our lives, we have fallen victims of slavery to mammon.

The sad thing is that this may happen to us while we are not aware.

As the Lord said: Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness:

We must take heed because there are many aspects of our lives that may be and have been under the influence of mammon servants for a long time. So long that we may feel we cannot live without following their advice.

Which is clearly and constantly: You must worry.
You must worry for your food, you must worry for your clothes and for your drink, for your health and your house, and your car and gasoline prices; for no one will take care of you but yourself, and that is what money is there for; to provide you with that security and stability that you really need for a good and happy life. That is why you need to go to college, and get a credit card, and buy insurance. Etc. Etc. Etc.

So according to mammon and his servants we must, worry, and worry and worry and our lives should be consumed with worry about answering for all these things, until we secure enough money when we wont have to worry about anything, anymore.

Worrying about clothing. Worrying about food and drink. worrying about the future. Exactly the opposite of that which the Lord tells us.

The Lord clearly says be not anxious about these things. And that we cannot serve two Masters. So let us be honest with ourselves: Are we not anxious about these things?

We often think that the only way for us to stop being anxious about such things is by working hard to secure a big stock of all of them, and then we can say to our soul, like the foolish rich man of the parable,

Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. Luke 12:19

But that night God, told him: You foolish one, this night is your soul required of you; and the things which you has prepared, for whom shall they be? Luke 12:20

The Bible calls that solution of wealth foolishness.
Another natural catastrophe has once more shown how frail all that wealth really is, how easy it can be wiped out without a trace.

But there is another way to live responsible lives upon this world. Lives of stewardship instead of slavery. It is called he way of the cross, the way of faith, the way of love, trust and thanksgiving.

It means learning that our lives are not defined by what we have, but by what we do with what we have in the service of Christ. It means learning to be content with whatever the Lord has in store for us good or bad. Learning to be good stewards of all God puts in our hands little or much. Working hard while trusting God in his plan for our future, both in the abundance as with the scarcity, Caring for our neighbour as ourselves, Putting our gifts in Gods service, not only to help ourselves but caring also for others.

That is the way of rest, for our Master called all of us tired of the slavery of mammon who always promises and never delivers, To come to him.
the True Lord says, come on to me all ye that travail and are heave laden, Come to me and I will give you rest. Learn from me.

The most important men in the history of mankind had no place to lay down his head. He had no bank accounts or insurance, no college degree or luxury car, no palace, nor expensive clothing. Was born in a stable and laid in a manger to modest humble parents.

The Saviour of the world chose all those limiting circumstances to teach us something very important about life and the glory and the affluence of this world. The truth that:

‘a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Luke 12:15.
Life is more than clothing, eating, drinking and money.

Wealth is not the greatest good.
It is just a tool and as all tools it should be in our hands and not in our hearts.

Wealth is not the greatest rest, it is not the greatest happiness. It is not the ultimate blessing. Or the unconditional sign that God is with us. There is something better.

There is a richness, of which mammon knows nothing. It is the richness of the abundance of faith, and charity and compassion and love and peace.

It is the blessedness of a heart filled to overflowing with the grace and goodness of the Lord. Such a heart can be deprived of all the benefits of this world and is still content, because of the greatest riches of the spirit, which cannot be taken away, which remain for ever.

And this is where a catastrophe like Katrina may come to help us. It gives us and opportunity to examine our priorities, to see where the treasure of our heart really is. Which Master are we pursuing?; In which God do we trust? God or mammon.

As the city of New Orleans descended into chaos it was clear, who was in charge in the lives of many thousands. Self interest and temporal profit drove many to violence, murder and abuse, yet at the same time; countless were moved by mercy, compassion and love of neighbor to self-sacrifice even to a heroic extent.

I will like to invite you to consider, to look beyond the social, political and economic dimensions of this drama to the spiritual realm and see, if you cannot see at the bottom of all this the spiritual dimenssion as a fight between the Lord of Lords and the lord of mammon. All the evil related to the human side of this catastrophe can be traced to the demon of self-interest, and egotism. All the good that we has witnessed in the midst of this catastrophe can easily be traced to self- denial love compassion for your neighbour, the service of Christ.

The months to come will continue to reveal the hearts of many, as we face adversity either driven by self-interest or by the love of our neighbor and trust in God.

The principles that govern God’s people according to his righteousness are directly opposite to the demon of mammon.

Mammon cares for things over people.
God for people over things.

Mammon cares for comfort over kindness
God for mercy over affluence.

Mammon cares only for self.
God cares for self and neighbor.

Mammon cares for money
God cares for stewardship.

Mammon loves temporal glory.
God cares for eternal glory.

Mammon cares for appearances.
God cares for truth.

The church of God has run into trouble every time it has ignored the teaching of Jesus. Whenever the righteousness of the kingdom has been compromised by worldly interest and temporal glory the Church of God has suffered loss.

Remember the cry of the prophets in the Old Testament. How the Lord claimed against his people not only because they had abandoned his true worship, but because they had perverted the cause of the poor and the orphan and the widow.

Remember St. James exhortation concerning this very subject in his epistle. James 1:9-11

God revealed himself as a God of compassion for the poor, the orphan the widow, the weak and the defenseless.

How many passages of the Old and New Testament speak again and again to the same truth!

Jesus gathered all that teaching for us in this simple yet hard saying. Seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

No one can serve two masters. We must chose between the justice of the kingdom or the service of mammon. We cannot serve self interest first and the kingdom of God at the same time.

When we come each Sunday to the Lord’s Table we are doing something more than looking for our self interest. We are publicly declaring our allegiance  to a master above all masters. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That allegiance cannot be compromised by allowing our priorities to be dictated by other masters and other Lords.

This is a time to examine ourselves and reassess our priorities, to order them according to the values of the kingdom. As we come to the Lord’s table this morning let us renew our vows and commit our whole lives to the honor and service of the one and true master who is also the Lord of All. Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us Pray;

Keep, we bessech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Providence Reformed Episcopal Church
1201 Morgan Ave. Corpus Christi, TX 78404; Tel. 1 (361) 728-3720