Last week we talked about how Paul not only preached and wrote about a trust in God that dispels anxiety and brings peace, but we talked about how he lived that out in his daily life.
I quoted M. Robert Mulholland, author of, Invitation to a Journey. "It would appear that Paul is not expounding theory but exhibiting a truth he has learned through years of faithful discipleship. Paul provides here not the argument for trust but the anatomy of trust." (Mulholland, 86)
When we are in relationship with God there is another important factor to consider when we are dealing with the anxieties of life. That other factor is the power and resource of God Himself. The important question we should ask ourselves is, "how do we tap into this powerful resource in our daily lives?".
Quoting Mulholland again; So far "Paul has described only the human side of the anatomy of trust. There is also God's side." (Mulholland, 91) That is what we want to come to understand today.
It is important that we do not loose focus on our purpose in studying this. To keep that focus I want to read the key verse for the Sermon on the Mount.
Mt 7:24 (NASB)
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock...
The text that will help us understand how we can tap into the power and resource of God for daily living is found in...
Matthew 6:24 (NASB)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
When people study this verse the first word they usually focus on is the word WEALTH. This verse is usually used to get across the lesser priority concerning finances and wealth in an individuals life. Now it is undeniable that finances are mentioned, but only as a completion to an illustration seen in the verses above. We will look at those next week.
This verse is not just teaching about matters concerning wealth. Jesus' teaching here goes way beyond the illustration He is using. Jesus is trying to teach the people, and us, that God should be the top priority in every aspect of an individuals life. So we look a little deeper into what Jesus is saying here.
Another word that is focused on in this verse is the word MASTER. In Biblical teaching and in life experience, we notice that in some way, everyone has a master.
To some their master is some kind of material possession like a car, home, electronic gadget, or a thousand other things I could list. To others the master in their life is a career or job, or as Jesus mentions here, wealth. To some it is another individual, a sport, an exercise routine, or even food.
But you will notice that in a few cases, there some individuals that have surrendered control of their lives to God. They have decided, and made a commitment to follow Jesus in every aspect of their lives, every day of their lives. Jesus is Lord and Master of everything in their lives.
But often there is a great chasm that separates how different people understand and define what the master of their lives might be. I think that this is because most people, especially in our culture, do not understand what it means to be under a master other than self.
So, we must dig deeper into our text to get what Jesus was really trying to teach here.
That brings us to a third word that Jesus used in this verse, it is the word SERVE. In fact I want to propose to you that serve is the key word in this verse.
Without a proper understanding of the word Jesus uses here for serve, we will never understand the idea of having a master. In our culture of individuality and personal freedom, we only understand the written law to be a master over us and very loosely at that. We keep the law when it is convenient for us to keep it, but have no problem explaining it away when it becomes an inconvenience to us.
One author said that, "The mind justifies what the heart wants to do." But Jesus has a better idea. He would have us surrender our lives to Him. He promises that, although life will not be free of foul circumstances at all times, life will be better than we could ever make it on our own.
Robert Mulholland says; "The trust to which Paul calls us is a giving of ourselves to God so that God can be 'played' through our lives in whatever circumstances we encounter. When God is released in our lives in this way, our lives are held in the flow of God's presence and purpose." (Mulholland, 92)
So we must look even deeper into the meaning of this word serve, for it is the focus of what Jesus was saying in our text for today. Not only is this a text that contains the teaching of Jesus, the Scriptures are a testimony to the fact that He lived out His teachings here on earth. It is also what Paul taught and lived out in his daily life.
I want to look at our text one more time. This time you will notice that there are index numbers that indicate the Greek word used for serve.
Matthew 6:24 (NASB)
No one can serve (G1398 douleuo) two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve (G1398 douleuo) God and wealth.
The Greek word douleuo (G1398) means to serve as one in bondage. This is the word used, to refer to a slave. We talked earlier about how everyone has a master. And if everyone has a master that would indicate that everyone is a slave to something or someone. That is what Jesus was saying here. You cannot be a slave to wealth (or anything or anyone else) and God. It is one or the other.
One of the big struggles of the early church was this separation of the old life and the new life in Christ. In fact it is still a big problem in the church today. Paul gives several examples that help us understand this slavery to the world. For example in...
Romans 16:17-18 (NASB)
[17] Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.
[18] For such men are slaves (G1398 douleuo), not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
Notice that when Paul talks about these people being slaves to their own appetites, he uses the same Greek word that Jesus used in our text for today. In his letter to Titus, Paul talks about this slavery, being enslaved to lust.
Titus 3:3-5 (NASB)
[3] For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved (G1401 doulos) to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
[4] But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
[5] He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
The Greek word for serve, douleuo (G1398) comes from the Greek word Paul used here, doulos (G1401). In this passage Paul shows a radical transition in his life. He was once enslaved to lust. Then he encountered the experience of salvation in Christ.
That is what Jesus wants us to understand in Matthew 6:24. We have a choice to make, but we cannot be slaves to both wealth, or something, or someone else, and God. It is one or the other. I think most of us, in a most intimate way, can identify with being enslaved by our lusts and appetites. But we must move on from there and come to understand what it means to be a slave to God.
Romans 6:1-6 (NASB)
[1] What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
[2] May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
[3] Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
[4] Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
[5] For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
[6] knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves (G1398 douleuo) to sin;
Notice the turn around that a relationship in God brings to one's life? Just deciding to be religious, good, attending church, and getting involved in a church does not make one Christian. There is a radical change that takes place.
In his first letter to the Corinthian church Paul talks about this radical change.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NASB)
[19] For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.
[20] To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law;
[21] to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.
[22] To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.
[23] I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
Paul makes himself a slave to all for the purpose of winning others to Christ. In verse 21 he talks about being under the law of Christ. We read a few verses in Romans chapter 6 but there is more there we need to see.
Romans 6:15-18 (NASB)
[15] What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
[16] Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
[17] But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
[18] and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Paul's words here are stated, almost as if he has a copy of the words of Christ on paper in hand, that he has just read. I can see Paul reading them now...
Matthew 6:24 (NASB)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Then he takes his pen in hand and writes these words...
Romans 6:15-18 (NASB)
[15] What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
[16] Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
[17] But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
[18] and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:19-23 (NASB)
[19] I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
[20] For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
[21] Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
[22] But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
[23] For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is a term used in the New Testament for becoming a slave to God. The term is "bond-servant". For example in...
Philippians 2:3-8 (NASB)
[3] Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
[4] do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
[5] Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
[6] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
[7] but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
[8] Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Well, I could go on, and on, and on, but I think we get the point. This is not some casual comment that Jesus made in the text we read today. This is something He lived and died for. In fact it became the practice of the early church and is the example we are admonished to live out in our lives today if we are to be followers of Christ.
Do you get the message? This is what Christ is asking of each of His followers. This is the responsibility of everyone who would call himself or herself a follower of Jesus Christ. This is the responsibility of becoming a true Christian.
There is one other thing we must cover before we leave this passage. It is one thing to show the command for one to be a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, but it is quite another thing to help them understand what that fully means. What does it look like?
Revelation 4 (NASB)
[1] After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."
[2] Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.
[3] And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
[4] Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.
[5] Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;
[6] and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
[7] The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
[8] And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
"HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."
[9] And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
[10] the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
[11] "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."
Are you getting a picture yet of what Christ meant. We either bow down as a bond-servant to the world, or we bow down as a bond-servant of Jesus Christ. Let me give you one more picture.
Isaiah 6:1-8 (NASB)
[1] In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
[2] Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
[3] And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
[4] And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
[5] Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
[6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
[7] He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."
[8] Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Look at Isaiah's reaction to the vision of Almighty God on the throne with creatures worshiping Him. He falls to his face declaring his sinfulness. Then he declares himself a bond-servant of the Lord, willing to do whatever God needs for him to do.
Can I ask you a simple question this morning? Where do you stand? To whom or what are you a slave? If you think you are a slave of God, a follower of Jesus Christ, is it evident in your daily life or are you just a social Christian? Only you and God can answer that simple question
Mt 7:24 (NASB)
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock...
Matthew 6:24 (NASB)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and your own interests.
Mulholland, M. Robert, Jr. Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation; Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1993.
NASB - New American Standard Bible (NASB). Cedar Rapids: Laridian, 2002