“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.” (Matthew 6:24)
This passage in Matthew is found in the discourse of Christ known as the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most widely quoted sections of the Gospels. This beautiful passage is Christ’s collective instruction and exhortation to us to leave the ways and offerings of the world behind for a life of faith, devotion, and service to God and his kingdom. It is his invitation to integrate a singular devotion to the one true God into our day-in-day-out life.
And some of the best examples given in Scripture of what it means to serve God with a singular devotion may well be the response of the apostles to the call of Christ. His words to Peter, James, and John, for instance, were “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him,” (Mark 1:17-18).
These men truly chose to serve one master over everything and everyone else. And this is the choice before us as followers of God still today, for he will not tolerate a rival for our devotion. He will not share the throne of our heart with another. “You shall have no other gods before Me,” (Exod. 20:3), for God is a jealous God (Exod. 34:14, Deut. 4:14, Nahum 1:7). So if we do not choose Him as master and Lord, by default we are choosing another and dethroning the true God.
This verse in particular (Matt. 6:24) specifically warns, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” The word “mammon” in Scripture refers to riches and parallels a love of the world and it’s temporary treasures. The Apostle John adds, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” (1 John 2:15). And in the very next verse (v. 16), John explains that the “love of the world” is the summed up in “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”
After warning us that we cannot serve God while at the same time seeking to gain the material wealth of this world, Christ goes on to add his promise that if we, instead, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness that “all these things will be added to you.” In other words, God will take care of everything else if we submit to him having preeminence in our life as the Great King.
But we cannot sit on the fence. Not choosing God as master and Lord is actively choosing another master by default. The same challenge Joshua put to the children of Israel, “Choose you this day whom you will serve,” (Joshua 24:15) is before us today. Choose rightly. Choose wisely. Choose to serve God.
Contemplations:
- O Lord, this practice of considering our ways is a hard thing, so help me to consider well! Help me consider what I seek most, that my seeking would be of you and your Son, Jesus Christ (Ps. 119:59).
- Lord, help me not give into serving riches and the attractions of the world that come at me continually. Rather, help me seek first your kingdom, your righteousness, knowing that you promised when I do, “all these things shall be added” to me to sustain and care for me. For if I diligently seek first your kingdom, You will provide!
- Help me, Lord to be careful to use all the means of grace, neglecting none of them, so that I may be able to serve you with a whole heart.
- Sin is ever around us and also still remains in us, though we are redeemed. Lord, guard me against worldly cares that they may not steal away my heart from you.
Further References for Matthew 6:24:
Luke 16:13; 1 Kings 18:21; James 4:4; 2 Kings 17:41
