The light came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ, and His presence condemned those in darkness.

John 3:19a: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world ….” John has already introduced Jesus as the Light (1:4-5): “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Later (8:12; also, 9:5; 12:46), Jesus states, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

In the Bible, light is used symbolically in two main ways: First, it refers to God’s absolute holiness and, by extension, to the holiness of His people; whereas darkness symbolizes Satan’s domain and sin (Col. 1:13; Acts 26:18). Paul says (1 Tim. 6:16) that God “dwells in unapproachable light.” In 1 John 1:5, the apostle declares, “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” In this vein, Paul exhorts us (Eph. 5:7-10):

Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

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Second, light refers to the spiritual illumination or understanding that we get when we are born again, whereas darkness refers to our natural spiritual blindness before we are saved (2 Cor. 4:3-4, 6):

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

In that sense, God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105). Proverbs 6:23 says, “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; and reproofs for discipline are the way of life ….” God’s Word gives spiritual light so that we understand God’s truth and how He wants us to live.

God’s light is embodied in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh. John has told us (1:9), “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” When Jesus came into the world, His very presence exposed the world to who God is as holy and to the fact that we are not holy. D. A. Carson explains John 1:9 (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 124):

It shines on every man, and divides the race: those who hate the light respond as the world does (1:10): they flee lest their deeds should be exposed by this light (3:19-21). But some receive this revelation (1:12-13), and thereby testify that their deeds have been done through God (3:21). In John’s Gospel it is repeatedly the case that the light shines on all, and forces a distinction (e.g. 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:39-41).

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Leon Morris (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 233, italics his) explains John 3:19,

The word translated “judgment” here denotes the process of judging, not the sentence of condemnation…. It is not God’s sentence with which [John] is concerned here. He is telling us rather how the process works. Men choose the darkness and their condemnation lies in that very fact…. They refuse to be shaken out of their comfortable sinfulness.

As we saw in 3:17-18, even though Jesus did not come for the purpose of judgment, because of who He is, His very presence brought judgment and divided people. Have you ever been in the presence of a very godly man, so that his very presence made you uncomfortable? R. C. Sproul (The Holiness of God [Tyndale], pp. 91-92) tells about a leading professional golfer years ago who was invited to play in a foursome with Gerald Ford, Jack Nicklaus, and Billy Graham. He had played with Nicklaus before, but he was in awe of playing with President Ford and Billy Graham.

After the round was finished, one of the other pros came up and asked, “Hey, what was it like playing with the President and with Billy Graham?” The pro unleashed a torrent of cursing, and said in a disgusting manner, “I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat.” With that he turned and stormed off, heading for the practice tee.

His friend followed the angry pro and watched him take out his driver and beat ball after ball in fury. The friend said nothing, but just sat on a bench and watched. After a few minutes, the pro had calmed down. His friend said quietly, “Was Billy a little rough on you out there?” The pro heaved an embarrassed sigh and said, “No, he didn’t even mention religion. I just had a bad round.”

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Billy Graham’s presence made that golf pro feel condemned, even when Billy didn’t say a word about God! How much more would we all have felt condemned to be in the presence of Jesus Christ! Do you remember one of Peter’s early encounters with Jesus, when Jesus caused the miraculous catch of fish? Peter fell down at Jesus’ feet and said (Luke 5:8), “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Have you had that experience with Jesus Christ? Have you seen who Jesus is and instantly recognized, “He is holy and I am not holy! I am under God’s judgment because Jesus is Light and I am darkness!” When you’ve that kind of encounter with Jesus, you can go one of two ways. First, John presents the negative reaction:

2. People love darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil.

John 1:19b: “… men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” This phrase contains several significant truths about sin. First, sin is far deeper than outward deeds; sin is a matter of our affections or desires.“Men loved darkness.” The past tense (Greek aorist) could be translated, “Men set their love on darkness” (Morris, p. 233). Loved indicates that this was not a cool, rational decision: “Having weighed all the factors involved, I think the best decision is to love darkness rather than light.” No, it was in large part an emotional choice that stems from desires that dwell in our hearts due to the fall. We lovedarkness rather than light.

This leads to a second significant truth about sin: Our sin problem is far deeper than we ever imagined. The Bible does not teach that we are basically good people who need to overcome a few flaws in our character. We’re not merely in need of more education or learning some anger management skills so that we can develop better relational skills. We don’t need to go through therapy to explore our pasts and figure out why our parents treated us as they did so that we can now understand why we are the way we are. All of these approaches to sin are too superficial from a biblical standpoint. The Bible shows that our root problem is that we love our sin rather than God’s holiness. It’s a matter of the heart, and the only remedy that goes deep enough is the new birth, which gives us new hearts that hunger and thirst after righteousness.

This phrase also shows us a third truth about sin: The reason that people reject Christ is not primarily intellectual, but moral. Unbelievers do not love darkness rather than light because they have thought it through carefully and concluded that darkness makes more sense. No, unbelievers love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The light exposes their evil deeds and convicts them of their true moral guilt before the holy God. But, frankly, they like sinning!

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Aldous Huxley, the famous atheist of the last century, once admitted that his rejection of Christianity stemmed from his desire to sin. He wrote (Ends and Means [Garland Publishers], pp. 270, 273, cited in James Boice, Genesis[Zondervan], 1:236):

I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had not; and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning for this world is not concerned exclusively with the problem of pure metaphysics; he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to…. For myself … the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.

This means that when you’re sharing the gospel, don’t be intimidated by a Ph.D. who argues in favor of evolution or who cites arguments from the latest popular atheist. Don’t panic if someone says, “I don’t believe in the Bible because of its contradictions.” You can give philosophic arguments for the existence of God or scientific arguments against evolution all day long, but even if you were to convince the unbeliever intellectually, you have not dealt with his main problem. His main problem is that he loves his sin and he stands guilty before the holy Judge of the universe.

I’m not saying that we should not have good answers to these intellectual questions. But I am saying that they are usually not the real issue. You can ask the person raising the objection, “Are you saying that if I can give reasonable answers to these questions, you will repent of your sins and trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord?” Invariably, the answer will be, “Well, I have other objections, too.” The objections are smokescreens to hide the fact that unbelievers love their sin.

This phrase shows us a fourth truth about sin: Sin must be determined by God’s absolute standards of holiness, not by men’s relative standards of goodness. When John says that men’s “deeds are evil,” we may recoil and think, “Terrorists and drug dealers and pedophiles and pimps are evil. But most people are not evil. Just look at all the good people in this world!”

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The Bible acknowledges that there are unbelievers who are relatively good people. Because of God’s common grace, all people are not as evil as they could be. The human race would have self-destructed millennia ago if everyone acted as badly as they could. God restrains outward evil through civil government, through social disapproval, and through the fear of shame and the desire to look good to others. But God looks on the heart. Hebrews 4:13 reminds us, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” When God looks at our hearts, even the best of people, humanly speaking, are filled with pride, selfishness, greed, lust, and other sins that may never come into public view.

But the situation of loving darkness rather than light is far worse than just loving sin:

3. Those who practice evil hate Jesus, who is light, and do not come to Him for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

John 3:20: “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” Unbelievers do not just love their sin; they also hate Jesus! They hate the One who out of love offered Himself on the cross so that every sinner might not perish but have eternal life simply by believing in Him! They hate Him because He exposes their evil deeds.

A teacher assigned his fourth-grade students to write a topic sentence for the following phrases: “Sam always works quietly. Sam is polite to the teacher. Sam always does his homework.” The student’s topic sentence? “I hate Sam.” (Reader’s Digest [November, 2007], p. 59)

We need to understand several things about this verse. First, John does not mean that all sinners do their evil deeds in secret. Many do, of course. Many otherwise respectable men would never frequent a strip club in their own city, for fear of being seen. But if they’re traveling far from home, where they think they’re safe, they might yield to that sin. But in our day, when people call good evil and evil good (Isa. 5:20), it’s cool to flaunt your sin. Movie stars and other celebrities go on television to tell about their immoral behavior. We have “gay pride” celebrations to boast in what God condemns as evil. John is merely pointing out that such sinners do not come to the Light (Jesus) because they know that He would condemn their behavior as evil.

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Second, John does not say that those who practice evil are neutral toward Jesus; rather, they hate Him. Many unbelievers would object. They would say that they don’t have anything against Jesus; they’re indifferent towards Him. They think that Jesus was a good man. Some may think that He was a prophet. They may say that He was a good moral teacher. They might even feel bad that He got crucified for His teachings and beliefs. They recognize that that was a miscarriage of justice. But they would protest if you said that they hate Jesus. They’re just indifferent. But John says that they hate Jesus. Jesus Himself told His then unbelieving brothers (John 7:7), “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”

Third, John gives the reason why unbelievers hate Jesus: they fear that He will expose their evil deeds. It’s like the golfer playing with Billy Graham: just being around a guy like that makes you nervous because you’re always afraid that you’ll slip and utter a swear word or say or do something that will expose your evil heart.

When I was a new pastor, Marla and I went to look at a house that was for sale. The owner was an old codger who was smoking a cigarette as he talked with us about his house. He got around to asking me what I did for a living and I told him that I was the pastor of the church nearby. He got all agitated, threw down his cigarette, stomped on it and rubbed it out with his foot, and exclaimed, “Look at me! Look at me! Smoking in front of a reverend!” He must have thought that his smoking was a sin. But it never occurred to him that he always smoked in front of the living God!

The word translated “exposed” means to be convicted in a court of law. It was used of an attorney proving his case. Jesus uses it in John 16:8 when He says that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” Guilty criminals hate judges who convict them of their crimes, even though it’s not the judges’ fault. Guilty sinners hate Jesus because He convicts them of their sins.

But, because of God’s grace, not all reject Christ:

4. True believers practice the truth and come to the Light, so that their deeds are shown to have God as their source.

John 3:21: “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John does not mean that some have a natural bent toward practicing the truth or that doing so brings salvation. He has just made it plain that we all need the new birth and that salvation comes through believing in Jesus Christ (3:1-16).

Rather, John is describing two types of people in the world: Those that have not believed in Christ avoid the light and hate it, because it exposes their sinful deeds. Those that have believed in Christ gladly come to Him and give Him all credit for their good deeds, because they know that those good deeds came from God, who caused them to be born again (1 Pet. 1:3; James 1:18).

“Practicing the truth” is a Semitic expression which means to act faithfully or honorably (Carson, p. 207). But it also shows us that the truth is to be lived, not just spoken (1 John 1:6). “Truth” is an important concept for John He uses the word 25 times in his gospel and 20 more times in his epistles. Truth is embodied in Jesus Himself, who said (14:6), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jesus told Pilate (18:37), “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” This has two implications:

First, there is such a thing as absolute truth in the spiritual and moral realms and you can spot believers by their obedience to that truth. Contrary to the postmodern mindset, truth is not relative to the culture or situation. All truth is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21) and He declared that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). This means that believers are committed to the truth. We seek to understand the truth more deeply. We hold to the truth of God’s Word even when our culture goes against it.

Second, believers willingly, gladly, and repeatedly come to the light of God’s Word in order to grow in holiness and to give God glory for His work in their hearts. True believers read God’s Word over and over, allowing it to shine into the dark corners of their lives and expose the sinful thoughts and intentions of their hearts (Heb. 4:12). False believers avoid the Word and they find churches that don’t preach the Word to expose sin. False believers try to keep up a good front to impress others, but they don’t live openly in the light of God’s presence on the heart level.

Conclusion

J. C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on theGospels [Baker], 3:164) points out that eventually sinners will get what they desired while on earth: they loved darkness; they will be cast into outer darkness. They hated the light; they will be shut out from the light eternally. God will be perfectly just in condemning those who rejected Christ. They saw the Light, but hated it and turned away from it because they loved their sin.

John Piper summarizes our text (DesiringGod.org, “This is the Judgment: Light has come into the World”): “The coming of Jesus into the world clarifies that unbelief is our fault, and belief is God’s gift. Which means that if we do not come to Christ, but rather perish eternally, we magnify God’s justice. And if we do come to Christ and gain eternal life, we magnify God’s grace.”

I pray that we all will believe in Jesus and rejoice in His light, so that we magnify God’s grace!

Application Questions

1. Why is it crucial to judge not just outward sins, but also to judge our sins on the thought (or heart) level (Matt. 5:27-30)?
2. How can you determine whether a person’s intellectual objections are genuine or just a smokescreen?
3. How can we determine whether commands in the Bible (e.g.women’s roles) were limited to that culture or whether they are absolute for every time and place?
4. How open should we be in sharing our sinful thoughts with others? Does walking in the light require total disclosure?

Probably this is the most familiar portion of Scripture found in 2 Corinthians.  The statement that begins verse 14 may be one of the most oft-quoted portions of this marvelous epistle.  It says, “Do not be bound together, or unequally yoked with unbelievers.”  And that is the principle which is so foundational, so much a cornerstone of Christian living that we have to give our attention to it very, very carefully.

Now just at first reading it is clear from this passage that the apostle Paul identifies two opposing worlds, two opposing realms or spheres or kingdoms or dimensions of life.  One is described and characterized by righteousness, light, Christ, believers and the presence of God.  The other is characterized, or described as lawless, dark, satanic, occupied by unbelievers and the presence of idols.  Two societies, two realms, two spheres utterly different, utterly distinct, completely incongruous, and incompatible.  And the apostle says there is no possibility for people in these two kingdoms to be bound together in common work, no partnership, no fellowship, no harmony, no commonality and no agreement does or can really exist.

Years ago there was a ballad titled, “Two Different Worlds,” and the first line simply said, “We live in two different worlds.”  And that is precisely the case here.  Two different worlds that have utterly nothing in common.  No one really lives in both.  Some people try unsuccessfully, but they are two distinct.  One is old; the other is new. One is earthly; the other is heavenly. One is deadly; the other is life giving. One is material; the other is spiritual. One is filled with lies; the other is all truth.  One relates to the unclean and the other to the pure.  And Paul’s message in this text is intended to make it very clear to all Christians that thereis no possibility of living in both or shuttling back and forth.

You say, “Why does he address that here?”  Answer, because the Corinthians were endeavoring to live in both or at least to shuttle back and forth.  They had come to Christ.  In chapter 5 in verse 17, the apostle Paul had stated that “If any man is in Christ he is a new creature.  The old things passed away,behold new things have come.”  Salvation is called newness of life, and the Corinthians had entered into that newness.  They had come to the new and the heavenly and the life giving and the spiritual and the true.  They had come into the kingdom that is characterized by righteousness, light, Christ and the presence of God. 

And there was no possibility of having a relationship of any intimacy with what was old and earthly and deadly and material and filled with lies, what was lawless and dark and satanic and idolatrous.  They had been made pure and they could have no further fellowship with what was impure.  That’s Paul’s message and the Corinthians needed to hear it.  Why?  Because they were moving back and forth between the two incompatible, incongruous realms. 

Like the Thessalonians of whom Paul says, “You turned to God from idols,”1 Thessalonians 1:9, they had done that.  The Corinthians had turned to God from idols but because of the influences of the pagan culture they were in, they kept going back to the old idolatry.  And there was really no possibility of any agreement, any harmony, any partnership, any fellowship with that old kingdom.  They were allowing themselves, because of the influence of their culture, to get sucked back into the forms of their old idolatry. 

And to make matters worse, into their midst had come false teachers who brought a syncretistic eclectic kind of religion that took Christianity, Judaism and the most popular forms of pagan idolatry and melted it all together to form a false and satanic and damnable heresy which had had a great influence in the Corinthian church to the degree that some of the Corinthians had even turned against Paul in favor of these false apostles and lying teachers who had come with their doctrine of demons,their satanic concoction. 

And now they were trying to link Christianity with this new stuff and link Paul with these false apostles, and such was an absolute and utter impossibility. And more than just being impossible, it was frighteningly damaging, as we will see.  So Paul has to address himself to this problem in Corinth.  It was there when he wrote the first letter, 1 Corinthians, to them.  It was there before 1 Corinthians when he wrote his initial letter which doesn’t appear in the Scripture. 

It is still there and it has been exacerbated now because of the arrival of the false teachers who have brought in another form of pagan religion mingled with perhaps Judaism and somehow Christianity to make it more palatable.  And so here are these erstwhile Corinthians, flopping back and forth from Christ to their pagan religion of the past, sometimes unwittingly.  And so Paul makes a direct statement in verse 14 that is the command, the mandate, the standard and the principle which is elucidated in the rest of the text.  It is this, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.”

That is a classic statement.  As I said, probably the most familiar statement out of this entire letter.  It is a classic call by the apostle to separation from unbelievers.  And, in fact, that is the greatest challenge that you as a Christian have, and me, too.  Not to be bound together with unbelievers is our greatest challenge.  To live a separated life is a tremendous challenge, particularly in a culture which is bombarding us with all of the elements of paganism.  It is not only our greatest challenge.  It is our greatest source of joy and usefulness when we obey that command. 

The pure and the polluted share nothing in common ultimately.  And the people of God cannot form intimate relationships with those who don’t belong to God.  All relationships like that are superficial.  You cannot make a meaningful relationship with an enemy of the gospel.  They live in a different world with a different and completely hostile and antagonistic leader. 

Now what does that mean?  What are the implications of that?  Well first of all,the term “bound together” is usually translated “unequally yoked” because it comes from a Greek term that can have that implication.  In fact, the Greek term, the Greek verb that is sometimes translated “unequally yoked,” heterozuge, can be used of yoking up in a common effort.  Paul draws this analogy, however, not from the usage of the Greek termbut from a concept back in Deuteronomy 22:10. 

When God was laying out prescriptions for the conduct of His people, He gave them a lot of prescriptions that on the surface are not particularly spiritual; they had to do with the uniqueness of Israel’s life.  But some of them were very practical and wise.  And one of the things that He instructed them, recorded in Deuteronomy 22:10, is that they were not to plow with an ox and an ass yoked together.  And the reasons for that are obvious.  Those two animals have two different natures. 

They don’t have the same gait, they don’t have the same disposition, they don’t have the same strength.  They don’t have the same kind of instincts.  Completely different natures.  You can’t yoke them up and expect a straight furrow.  And Paul is borrowing off of that analogy andusing a Greek term that was used in that same kind of way, speaking of unequal yokes or equal yokes.  In fact, in Paul’s time that very verb was used to refer to teachers linked up in a common religionor a common philosophy or a common school who did not agree and they were said to be unequally yoked.

And so, Paul is borrowing from the Hebrew analogy of the Old Testament,and as well, borrowing from some of the Greek usage of that very term because it does mean to be yoked, to be involved in a common enterprise linked together. And to have to do the same thing in perfect harmony is an utter impossibility if we are talking about a believer and an unbeliever.  Do not allow yourself to be bound together in a yoke with an unbeliever.  Now that opens up all kinds of possibilities.  What in the world does Paul mean when he says, “Don’t be bound together with unbelievers?”  How are we to understand that because the implications of that have all kinds of significance for our lives?

Now, somebody is going to come along and say, “Well look, in the purest and truest sense it’s really calling you to the monastic life style.”  Well what it’s calling you to is that you should do like those monks of centuries ago, put on some dirty clothes and find a cave and stay there till you die.  And you know, just stay up there and get dirtier and dirtier and read the Scripture and contemplateyour navel and don’t let anybody influence you.  Just isolate yourself. That’s really…it was the misinterpretation of this that was behind the monastic mentality. 

And some of us in a more modern environment might say, “Well what it really means is you better be sure that you buy your home from a Christian real estate agent, and you buy your car from a Christian car dealer.  And that you make sure you’ve got Christian neighborsand you make sure that you have your kids in a Christian school.  And you make sure you buy your insurance from a Christian agent, and you make sure you find a Christian butcher,” and on and on and on, ad infinitum.  “And we just cannot get into any kind of thing and make sure, boy, you don’t want to be in a mutual fund, boy, then you’re really linked up with unbelievers.  You better be careful who’s putting money in your bank.”  I mean, it goes on and on and on.

Where do we draw this line here?  How far does this go?  What about dating? What about marriage?  What about a partnership?  What about being on a team?  What about working together with someone?  What about recreating together with them?  What about a mutual fund?  What about a common business?  What about a partnership? What about a limited partnership?  What about…what about?  Where do we draw the line here?  What are we talking about?  Are we supposed to go out of the world?  Well that’s kind of hard because the great commission says go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, right?  So we’re not supposed to go out of the world. 

In fact, look what Paul said to the Corinthians.  They would understand that statement in the context of what he had already said to them.  So let’s go back to 1 Corinthians and see how Paul defines what he means by that.  And he sets some very clear parameters so that we don’t have to be confused.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 9…and we’re going to kind of look at a few Scriptures in 1 Corinthians. 

I hadn’t intended to really develop this this way.  But that’s the way it turned out in the first service so that’s the way it will turn out here.  In fact, I told the people that…that I spent hours and hours and days and days preparing all of this and covered what I wrote in five minutes.  And that’s the adventure of preaching.  I’m interested to hear what I’m going to say, and if I can remember what I said to them, I’ll say it to you.

First Corinthians chapter 9 verse 20, now Paul…verse 19 really sets it up. “Although I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all that I might win them more.”  Now Paul is saying,“Look, I’m free from all men, in one sense.  I have been catapulted into the kingdom of light.  There’s no encumbrances in this world, but I have made myself consciously and purposely a slave to them all for evangelistic purposes.”  So Paul didn’t want to pull out of the world.  He was anything but a monastic.  I mean, he was in the middle of everything. 

He was in the middle of every crowd there was.  He was like Jesus; he created crowds.  He went where the sinners were for the purpose of evangelism.  And he says, verse 20, “To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might win Jews, to those who were under the law as under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those who are under the law.”  He became a Jew and to those fastidious law-keeping Pharisees,he even followed their path, if need be, to win them.

And to those who are without law,Gentiles, verse 21, he “became as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all men that I may by all means save some, and I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may become a fellow partaker of it,” another way of saying that I might have partners in this deal, I want to win people to Christ.

So, look, Paul didn’t leave the world.  He didn’t run from it.  He got right in the middle of it for the purpose of leading people to the knowledge of Christ.  He is not calling for isolation.  There’s no place for isolation from unbelievers.  If God wanted us isolated from unbelievers, He would have saved us and instantly catapulted us into heaven.  He’s not calling for isolation.  In fact, we are mandated to intersect with the unsaved all the time.  Now let’s follow this and see where Paul really sets his limits. 

Let’s begin by going back to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 1 Corinthians chapter 5.  Somebody is going to say,“Well, I’ll tell you right now, I…I’m going to limit my association with worldly people.  I’m just not going to associate with…with, really, the riff raff; I’m not going to associate with the bad ones.  I just want to stay away from that.  Is that where I draw the line?”  Well, 1 Corinthians 5:9, “I wrote to you in myletter – ” previous to 1 Corinthians he had written them a letter – “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people.”  And somebody is going to say, “That’s it, there it is, that’s the proof, I’m not associating with them.” 

But, verse 10, “I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world.”  I’m not talking about unregenerate immoral people or covetous or swindlers, or idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.  And the implication would be to do that would be what? Sinful, wrong, shirking your responsibility.  I don’t want you to go up in a cave.  Paul says, “No, no, I’m not talking about not associating with immoral people in the world, – ” verse 11 – “I’m talking about associating with so-called brothers who are immoral,covetous, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, swindlers.” 

I’m not talking about immoral people in the world, I’m talking about immoral people where?  In the church.  You’ve got to deal with those people.  They’ll pollute the fellowship.  They’re like leaven.  You’ve got to put them out,you’ve got to turn them over to Satan,you’ve got to deal with them, don’t eat with them.  If they’re heretics, admonish them a few times and then dismiss them.  Verse 12, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?  Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside God judges.” 

What I’m concerned about, Paul, is those who are outside, Paul says, “are going to fall into the judgment of God,” and I need to reach them with the gospel.  So whatever it means not to be joined together or unequally yoked with unbelievers, it doesn’t mean that we are to cut ourselves off from sinful unbelievers.  Then we would have to go out of the world.  And going out of the world would defeat the very purpose for which God has left us in the world, and that is to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 

And what was the highest level of accusation ever rendered against Jesus from the religious establishment?  They said he is the friend of what?  Sinners.  He hangs around drunkards and wine bibbers and prostitutes and et cetera, et cetera.  Sure, cause that’s why he came. He didn’t come for the righteous, but he came for sinners.  So whatever it means not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, it doesn’t mean that we are to cut off all association from them. Otherwise we would have to go out of the world and that would be defying the very purpose for which the Lord saved us and left us and that is to go into the world.  We need to be where they are.

Well somebody else is going to say, “I know what it means.  I know what it means.  It means that if…that if you’re married to an unbeliever, you get to get a divorce.  You’ve got to get rid of them because, I mean, if you can’t have any kind of fellowship at the most intimate level, how can light have any fellowship with darkness?  I mean you can’t…how you going to have a marriage?  So dumped that unsaved partner.  Find yourself a nice Christian guy, nice Christian lady.”  Is that what it means?

Turn to 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7verse 12, “Paul says to the rest, I say not the Lord – ” please understand what that means, it doesn’t…it’s not a divine disclaimer.  All he’s saying here is “I’m not quoting Jesus anymore.”  He is inspired by the Holy Spirit to say what he said.  It’s the truth of God, but he is no longer drawing from the teaching of Jesus.  So he says, “If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, let him not – ” it is the technical word for divorce.  If you have an unsaved wife and she wants to stay married to you, then she’s to stay.  God hates divorce, any kind.  And the same is true in verse 13, “A woman who has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, let her not send her husband away.” 

Because it might have been a natural implication of the gospel and all things being new and entering into the kingdom and into the light from the darkness, and having a new master,namely Christ, and realizing that you no longer could have the kind of intimate relationship that makes life rich and meaningful and makes marriage what God designed it to be, because you are now married to an unsaved person and you are absolutely living in two completely different worlds at the most profound level of your being, and so the right thing to do would be to dump that person and find a Christian so you could really fulfill life.  And the Bible says no, absolutely not.

So what does it mean?  It doesn’t mean dump your unsaved partner.  It doesn’t mean cut yourself off from all the bad people in your society.  What does it mean?  Where are the limitations to be drawn?  Let’s take another text, 1 Corinthians chapter 8.  And again, remember now, the Corinthians wouldhave this letter and they had an understanding of this letter with which to create a context to understand Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 6:14.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul is talking about some limits here. 

Now…now let me just follow this.  You say, “Well, look, we’re supposed to go into the world and we’re supposed to reach the unbelievers.  Okay, I’m willing to do that.”  And, you know, all those unbelievers are gathering all the time at the pagan festivals.  You know, life in the ancient world revolved, particularly in Corinth, around the paganism of the time, around the worship of the god Aesculapius and all of the rest of the stuff that went with it.  And all these pagan things were going on, ceremonies and festivals, the whole of life surrounded that idolatry. 

And if you wanted to go where the unbelievers were, you would go there. And that would be a great place to meet a bunch of pagan people.  They all assembled there.  And so, perhaps, some of the believers would go there.  And you have absolute and unmitigated and complete freedom to go there and say,“Look, I’m free in Christ.  I’ll go and I’ll kind of watch.  In my heart and soul I won’t participate.  I’ll do those things that are not consequent…have no consequence, morally, but it will keep me there, it will kind of keep the connection going there.  And that will be fine and I’ll be able to reach these people.” 

You’ve got a little problem here in verse 10, “If someone sees you there who has knowledge.”  What does that mean?  I think saving knowledge, someone who is a believer and sees you dining in an idol’s temple.  “Will not his conscious, if he’s weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?”  And here’s a new Christian, a baby Christian, who is called the weaker brother also in Romans 14and 15; same kind of discussion.  And he looks at this strong Christian and thestrong Christian is over at the Bacchus festival. 

And he’s in there and the sexual stuff is going on, the temple prostitutes are doing their thing, the drunkenness is going on, they’re feasting and gorging themselves and they’re having this wild time.  And he’s going over there,ostensibly, to witness.  And he sits down and he eats the meal.  I mean, he just eats the meal.  The meal is there and it’s part of the deal and he eats.  And there’s no…an idol is nothing.  First Corinthians 8, early in the chapter, what’s an idol?  An idol is a nothing.  Something offered to an idol is nothing.  It doesn’t mean anything.  It’s pointless because the idol is nothing.  So he just eats the food.

But there’s a Christian who is a new Christian, weak.  He’s just been saved out of idolatry.  He sees his mature brother doing this.  He says, “Oh boy, I’m free to go there.  Wow, I’m free to eat that stuff.  Whoa, this is wonderful.”  He goes, he’s too weak, he gets sucked right back into his old paganism.  He doesn’t have the spiritual strength to cope with that liberty.  What has happened is the stronger brother has used his freedom to cause the weaker brother to stumble,right?  So he’s got to guard his life. 

As believers in Christ, we have been turned from idols to serve a living and true God; mammon is an idol, demanding worship, and we need to be saved from mammon in our experience. Amen!

This week we come to a new Holy Word for Morning Revival on the matter of, Material Offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, and this week’s title is, Principles of Material Offering (1).

A Christian needs to deal with mammon in an absolute way and be delivered from mammon in order to begin his pathway of revival.

It must be clear to us that we cannot serve both God and mammon; we either love one and hate the order, or we cling to one and reject the other.

Mammon is an Aramaic word signifying wealth, riches; it stands in opposition to God, and it indicates that wealth, or riches, is the opponent of God, robbing God’s people of their service to Him.

In the world we see that people run after fame, money, and riches; more and more people want to get rich quickly and then even become richer and richer.

The love of money is promoted and appreciated in the world, and even in our workplace, climbing up the corporate ladder and having a better salary is what is recommended.

This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want His people to be rich; rather, He wants us, His people, to be saved from mammon.

May the Lord have mercy on us and show us what should our attitude as Christians be toward money, toward mammon, as seen in the New Testament.

May we not think that we serve God but actually we serve mammon, for we can either serve God or mammon, not both.

We are the Lord’s “household servants”, and we can’t serve two lords; we either love the Lord and hate mammon, or we will cleave to mammon and despise the Lord (Matt. 6:24).

To serve here means to serve as a slave; we either serve God as a slave, giving Him the love and service that He desires, or we serve mammon as an idol.

Mammon, therefore, is in direct opposition to God, replacing God, and being an alternative to God; we either serve God or mammon.

The Lord indicates that, for us to serve Him requires that we love Him, give our hearts to Him, and cleave to Him, giving our entire being to Him; it also means that we hate mammon and are saved from mammon.

When we love God in such a way, we are released from the occupation and usurpation of mammon so that we may serve the Lord wholly and fully.

May the Lord be merciful to us and shine on us concerning whom do we serve so that we may choose to serve the Lord and be saved from mammon!

Mammon is an Idol – we need to be Saved from Mammon and Serve the Living and True God

The Bible describes mammon as an idol, placing it in opposition to God.

The world may promote riches, fame, and being wealthy, but the Bible has a different view concerning this.

As believers in Christ, we need to take God’s view in His word as being our worldview; according to the Bible, we either serve God or we serve mammon.

In other words, in God’s eyes, there are no true atheists; the Bible doesn’t recognize the non-Christians as “adherents of other religions” and thus atheists.

Men either serve God or serve mammon.

People may identify themselves as being Buddhist, Muslim, or Agnostics, but in God’s eyes, there are only two objects of worship: mammon and God.

They may say that they don’t believe in God, but they still serve another god, the alternative to God, which is the mammon of riches.

It’s not about being poor or rich, that is, it’s not that the rich people serve mammon while the poor don’t; rather, it is what we worship inwardly, do we worship God or do we worship mammon?

As Christians, it is unthinkable for us to read the Bible and pray to the Lord on one hand, and then spend time in an idol worshipping temple; these two are not compatible.

Similarly, we cannot say that we worship God and yet pursue mammon, desire to get wealthy and seek to get richer apart from God.

1 Thes. 1:9 shows us the minimum requirement of being a Christian, which is to turn from idols to serve the living and true God.

Hallelujah, we have been saved from idols, from worshipping anything apart from God, and we have been brought into the worship of the living God and true God, the only God!

In our Christian experience, however, we need to continue to be saved from worshipping idols, and the top idol is mammon.

We all agree that we need to repudiate and cast down all idols, but we may not consider mammon to be an evil thing; we may think that mammon is harmless and that we’re not worshipping mammon but God.

But the Bible clearly says that mammon is an idol, and we need to be saved from mammon and serve the living and true God!

We cannot worship idols, for they are demonic alternatives to the living and true God; we as believers in Christ cannot serve God and mammon.

This truly requires the Lord’s light, for we may be convinced that, since we don’t earn a lot of money or we don’t have a lot of things outwardly, we do not serve mammon.

Mammon is in rivalry with God, competing with Him; therefore, mammon is evil.

We may be like the Pharisees in the Lord’s time who served God and followed the law to its letter, but inwardly they loved money and worshipped mammon.

We shouldn’t look at the rich and famous people around us and say that they love mammon; rather, we need to allow the Lord to shine and expose our love for mammon and be saved from mammon in our daily experience so that we can serve a living and true God!

Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and expose our love for mammon. Make it clear to us, Lord, that we can serve either God or mammon. Save us from mammon. Save us from thinking that mammon has no grip on us. Save us from loving wealth, riches, or money; save us from loving mammon and deliver us from mammon. Dear Lord Jesus, we love You and we give our whole being to You. We cleave to You, dear Lord, and we give our heart to You; expose in us any love for mammon and save us from mammon! We want to serve a living and true God and be truly delivered from any idol!

Mammon Usurps Man’s Worship and Christians must Deal with Mammon in a Thorough Way

In Christianity, we may often hear how the leaders or preachers ask the members of their church to give them their mammon, their money because they need to build a church or for this or that need in their ministry.

This has become so often that we don’t even think it is wrong.

Even in the church life, we may ask the saints to offer their mammon because of the need to build a meeting hall or because we need to take care of an aspect of the work or the poor.

This is wrong, for it is a lowering of the meaning of consecration to the level of satisfying needs.

Yes, there is a need, and yes, there is a need for money to build a meeting hall or care for the work and the poor, but this is not why we need to offer our mammon.

We need to deal with mammon and be saved from mammon because it is an idol.

Some may say that they don’t want to offer money for the building of meeting halls or for taking care of the poor, but is this one saved from worshipping idols?

Dealing with mammon is not a matter of being rich or poor; it’s a matter of idolatry. Mammon usurps man’s worship.

To buy anything, to have anything physically, you need mammon. In this way, mammon becomes the center of man’s worship, and it replaces God.

Mammon is diametrically opposed to God, and mammon is the most common object of worship.

Just as it is terribly wrong for a Christian to remain in an idol worship temple, so it is terribly wrong for the idol of mammon to remain in our homes.

Mammon is not something that we have to use to get food, drink, and shelter; mammon is something that demands worship.

The Bible says that those who are poor in spirit are blessed (Matt. 5:3); it doesn’t say that those who are poor are blessed, but that those who are voluntarily poor in spirit are blessed.

Those who don’t have money may still worship mammon because it is an idol in their heart.

The beggars are not necessarily delivered from mammon; they may still worship mammon in their hearts.

We believers in Christ need to deal with mammon in a thorough way, realizing that it demands our worship.

We need to be saved from mammon, deal with mammon, and serve a living and true God.

This matter must be settled in our heart: mammon is an idol, and we Christians must deal with mammon in a thorough way.

Mammon is out there in the world to gain souls by usurping man’s worship; man was made to worship God, but mammon usurps man’s worship.

When we grow up, as children, we are not aware of mammon, but as we grow older, we are more and more aware of it, and man’s aspiration is to gain more riches, more wealth.

Out of a hundred people, eighty may serve mammon, and the remaining eighteen or nineteen may serve God and mammon, even without knowing it.

May the Lord shine on this matter in our being and deliver us from worshipping mammon.

May we open our being to Him again and again and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we love You, we cling to You, and we choose to worship You. Save us from worshipping anything or anyone other than You. Cause us to see that mammon is an idol, and cause us to deal with mammon in a thorough way. Amen, Lord, we just love You. We give our heart to You. Shine in every part of our heart and being and remove any idol from our heart. We choose to be poor in spirit so that we will receive Your blessing and be in the kingdom of the heavens. Save us from worshipping idols and bring us into the worship of Yourself as a living and true God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, (Set 3) Vol. 59: Miscellaneous Records of the Kuling Training (1), Chapter 9, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 1, entitled, Principles of Material Offerings (1).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him? / Is not thine a captured heart? / Chief among ten thousand own Him; / Joyful choose the better part. / Captivated by His beauty, / Worthy tribute haste to bring; / Let His peerless worth constrain thee, / Crown Him now unrivaled King. (Hymns #436)
  – 1 Thessalonians 1:9: / For they themselves report / Concerning us / What kind of entrance we had, / For they themselves report / Concerning us / What kind of entrance we had / Toward you / And how you turned to God from the idols / To serve a living and true God, / How you turned to God from the idols / To serve a living, true God. (Scripture song)
  – O Lord our God, we worship Thee, / In Thee we have our all; / Thyself we treasure in our heart, / Thy Name we love to call. (Hymns #56)

There is an over-arching subject that Jesus never directly mentions in the context of Matthew 6:19-21, but He was undoubtedly concerned about it. No one ever had a clearer understanding of human realities than Jesus. This subject concerns two levels of diversion from what is proper within achieving a desire, the first being minor compared to the second.

First, then, is that, humanly, we can become so deeply involved in achieving an especially desired goal that we become inattentive to virtually everything else, including God. Some refer to it as “losing oneself in the moment.” We can be thankful that these kinds of diversions generally do not last long. We usually “catch” ourselves within them and redirect our efforts accordingly. How many serious accidents have been caused by this type of distraction is beyond knowing.

The second concern is far more damaging to our calling: We allow our human nature to re-enslave us to this world. This return to carnality happens when we fail to discipline ourselves daily. We fail to maintain our focus on the absolute fact that what really matters in our lives are glorifying God and attaining spiritual value in our character. We must put everything else in second, third, or fourth place in order of importance. No one can do this for us; we must do it ourselves.

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” His counsel, valuable within its context, applies in spades to our calling. The context does not delve into the fact that not all things a person desires and works for are of equal value. Herein lies another reality that we must resolve because heavenly treasure and earthly treasure are not equally important, especially after God calls us.

The proper balance of the time and effort we give to seeking treasure must be an important companion to determining our priorities in what treasures we seek. Once God calls a person, a new effort with far greater, more important goals has entered his life. The called-out individual must never allow himself to forget that the Creator God personally and specifically called him; he is not among the elect by accident or stroke of luck.

We must add to this astounding truth what Jesus says in Matthew 6:33 to those God calls: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” This burning dedication to the same goals that God has called us to must accompany the called-out person's efforts to be a profitable servant. Without this characteristic, we can be quite busy accomplishing, but unless we are also deeply committed to what God is focused on for us to achieve, we will merely burn time without achieving much of value in terms of God's spiritual purpose.

God wants us to give our time and life purposefully over to attaining His Kingdom. Merely being busy and productive are not the only issues. Being focused on what God assigns works hand in glove with what one's treasure is. Matthew 6:24, just a few verses later, gives us a significant reason why: “No man 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 mammon.”

The reason may escape the reasoning of many, but Jesus clearly warns that giving our lives over to the achievement of the things of this world is blatant idolatry for a Christian! Do we truly want to place ourselves in the position of hating God—or even loving Him less than something else? The things of this world are those things God has not assigned to the Christian life.

Unlike those in the world, few called-out ones fall into such calamity, but some do and find themselves re-enslaved to the world by it. Such a person will be so preoccupied with gathering his worldly treasure that his skewed focus will confuse his values. His achievement in that area of life will obscure the goal God has established for our spiritual existence. The human heart will follow the carnal influence rather than the godly one. We must make diligent efforts to avoid this trap because the world acts like a magnet, always trying to recapture what has been pulled from it.

Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God."  (Hebrews 3:12)

During one of my YWAM training schools, I learned a new word, Renounce, which changed my life and the way I daily practice dependance on God.

One of Merriam Webster's definitions for Renounce jumped off the page when I looked it up:

1. To say in a formal or definite way that you refuse to follow, obey, or support any longer.

I can't recall ever hearing this word before nor can I remember ever using it. It's a huge word though and should be a bigger part of all of our vocabulary, especially as we seek to worship Christ alone.

In class, we took a big dive into the topic of finances. Actually the Bible has a lot to say about money, and it was refreshing to dig into the Word and let it speak to our hearts. I appreciate how YWAM values God's Word and encourages us to be in it regularly.  One particular passage profoundly impacted me during that week.

"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. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24 NKJV)

Many translations use the word money or wealth in the place of mammon. However, money has no power itself. The rectangular pieces of paper and glittery coins in my wallet cannot control me. Mammon represents something much darker and always has a debasing influence.

The spirit of mammon seeks to keep me in bondage and often operates out of fear. Every time I've worried over money concerns, I've bowed a knee to mammon. When I've withheld my tithe because I didn't think I had enough money to give, I've worshipped mammon. When I've been impulsive in my purchases and discontent with what I have, I've succumbed to mammon's influence. Yet the Word is clear, no one can serve two masters!

So as we studied finances through a Biblical lens, I fell under a deep conviction sitting in that classroom because I knew there'd been times I had served mammon. It became clear that this spirit had tried to wreck our family over the years too, and my heart grieved. Then I saw the truth being laid before me: Renouncing is my ladder to freedom. I cried out to God for forgiveness, and then I grabbed hold of my authority in Jesus Christ and told this evil spirit he was no longer welcome in my life or family.

I refuse to follow, obey, or support mammon any longer. He's a liar and a thief, robbing me of joy and peace. My loyalty lies with God alone, for He is a good Father and worthy of my complete trust and worship. Since that training school, renounce has been incorporated into my vocabulary! Whenever this dark spirit wants to throw me off course, I just tell him to get lost! I don't want to be diverted from the living God anymore!

Maybe you too will find this word to be significant in your life as you refuse to follow, obey, and support any other besides Jesus! One of YWAM's foundational values is to practice dependance on God. If you are wanting to gain a better grasp on what it to means to practice dependance, come do a Discipleship Training School. You won't regret it, and you just might gain some new vocabulary that'll change your life😃

No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely). 14 Now the Pharisees, who were covetous and lovers of money, heard all these things [taken together], and they began to sneer at and ridicule and scoff at Him. 15 But He said to them, You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted and highly thought of among men is detestable and abhorrent (an abomination) in the sight of God.  Luke 16:13-15 AMP

 

Jesus says that a person cannot serve these two masters – God and mammon. Mammon is riches, money, possessions, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely. God and mammon are diametrically opposed to each other and you will always end up choosing one over the other. When you choose to serve one you are in effect rejecting the other. Nobody can avoid this choice. Every single person on the earth makes the choice either for God or their stuff. You cannot love God and love mammon. You cannot trust in mammon and trust in God at the same time. If you trust in mammon it is because you do not trust God to supply what you need or to take care of you. 

 

If you truly trust in God, then you will not be dependant on money or possessions – it makes no difference to you whether you have any or not – you know that God will take care of you on a daily basis. If you do not trust God to take care of you and supply your needs, you will be clinging to your mammon for dear life. The Pharisees were supposed to be spiritual leaders, but they did not love God anywhere near as much as they loved money. The very reason that they were angry and offended at Jesus is because they were covetous and lovers of money. If they were not, they would not have been offended at all. Jesus hit the nail on the head and exposed their sin and so they reacted violently. Instead of receiving the word and humbling their hearts before God, they derided Jesus - they sneered at Him, ridiculed Him, and scoffed at Him. This is a religious spirit. 

 

A religious spirit hates it when you talk about money and giving and being a blessing. A religious spirit makes the appearance of being humble, but in reality it is very proud at heart. A religious spirit makes the appearance of honoring God, but it is serves and promotes itself. A religious spirit makes the appearance of obeying God, but it does what it thinks is right without asking God what He wants. Many religious people are sincere, but they have been taught wrong principles and ideas by their religious leaders and they just don’t know what the word of God actually says about their situation.

 

The devil likes to cloak himself in religion and deceive people into rejecting the living word of God that will break bondages and bind him up. The devil knows that if you tithe, God will rebuke him and not allow him to destroy you or your family. The devil knows that if you get a hold of God’s word and begin to put God first in your life and begin to obey Him in your giving, that God will begin to bless and prosper you. The devil is going to try to prevent people from getting to the truth because when they know the truth, they will realize that they can take authority over him!

 

Colossians 3:5 AMP says, “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).” Covetousness is idolatry. You worship money and stuff instead of God. 1 Timothy 6:10 AMP says that, “the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs.” Covetousness will cause you to sin – to be jealous of what others have, to steal from them, to lie, and even to kill. The devil wants to control and destroy you and if he can get you to make mammon your idol, he can do both! 

 

Luke 12:15 AMP says, “And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man's life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs.”  Covetousness, according to the Amplified Bible, is the immoderate desire for wealth and the greedy longing to have more. Covetousness will cause you to reject God in your pursuit of possessions. The most important thing you need is eternal life and this you can only get from God. Money cannot buy salvation. The devil knows this and this is why he tries to fill you with either fear or arrogance or both – so that you will keep your focus on your stuff and trust in your stuff and neglect to pursue God, Who holds the key to heaven and your freedom.   

    

Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God]  Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor  give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not,[I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor  let [you] down ( relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]  Hebrews 13:5 

So, yeah…it’s a very cheerful book.

All of this has brought us to Ecclesiastes chapter 5, the whole of which I can summarize in two sentences: “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.” (FUN FACT: I didn’t come up with that summary; Jesus said it, and you can read more about it in Matthew 6.) The whole point of this chapter, in the end, is to prove that, ultimately, you should respect God and not love money. This is Solomon’s thesis and main point for this chapter, and I believe it can be further broken down into five separate sections:

PART 1: REMEMBER YOUR PLACE

(v.1-3)

Before even addressing the topic of money, Solomon wants us to talk about our personal relationship with God, which He begins to address by giving us some advice: When we go to God in prayer, we need to remember who it is we are talking to! While God has given us many metaphors to go off of in order to understand our relationship to Him – man and beast, father and son, teacher and student, artist and artifact, husband and wife – we have to realize that no metaphor does or can properly grasp the entirety of our relationship; it is something entirely unique that only He and we share. He cares for us like a man cares for a dog, seeking only love in return; He raises us like a father raises a son, seeking to lead him along the right path; He molded us like a potter molds clay, seeing our true beauty despite the faults we gave ourselves; He teaches us like a teacher to a student, patient with us in our slow learning and encouraging us to hunger for knowledge; He love us with the passion of a husband to a wife, though we constantly cheat on Him and find our meaning in the meaningless. But despite all these metaphors, none of them manages to encapsulate the relationship we share with Him, so Solomon is reminding us to remind ourselves.

You see, this chapter provides a dramatic shift that will pick up and be built upon for the remainder of the book. Solomon is showing us that, in order to truly take our minds away from the hevel (vapor, smoke, meaninglessness), we have to remind ourselves of who God is. He is in heaven and we are on earth, so rather than trying to justify ourselves to Him, we must accept our imperfection and align our minds with the truth. Rather than making rash promises that we cannot keep – for instance, “I will never sin again!” – we should approach God with an open mind and let Him bring the solution into our hearts. He has overcome the world (John 16:33), so He knows what to do! So as we go to God to turn away from the meaningless things we struggle with, Solomon encourages us to “guard our steps” (v.1) and remember not to accidentally answer our own questions. It is far too easy to attempt to solve our own problems, but we need God’s help in keeping our minds on Him (Col 3:2).

"Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." Ecclesiastes 5:2

PART 2: BE ACCOUNTABLE

(v.4-7)

Having realize who God is – the bigger your view of sin, the greater your understanding of our lowly, unworthy states and, resultantly, salvation – we likewise see how important it is to keep our oaths to Him. For the sake of metaphor (though, as we established, no metaphor accurately portrays God and us), imagine a homeless man making a promise to a multi-billion-dollar CEO. Little that the homeless man promises the CEO (wealth-wise) can affect the CEO, but given his position and status, the promise made between them has become the forefront of the homeless man’s life – it can make him or break him.

In a similar way, God cannot be affected by what we do for Him – for no one can add to or subtract from God or take away from His glory, since He is complete, perfect, all-knowing, all-good, all-powerful, and all-present – thus in our promises we should remember the importance in fulfilling those vows made to Him. We are lowly creatures and He the Creator of all things, so promises made to Him should not be taken lightly. Especially in Old Testament times (and still now), promises to God had/have very serious implications (Deut 23:21-23, Jdg 11:35). It’s better to not make a promise at all than to promise something and not fulfill it, a truth that applies not only to the God-man relationship, but to earthly relationships as well.

Solomon also warns us to choose promises wisely – in other words, don’t promise something that your fleshly desire will break. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41), this is something we need to remember! Think about Peter the night of Jesus’ arrest – “I would die for you!”…denies Jesus three times; “I will watch over you”…falls asleep while Jesus prays in agony. It’s very easy, in our selfish and fleshly desires, to break promises (think of all the times you cancelled plans with a friend or, say, put off church of a Bible study because something more “interesting” came up). And, likewise, fess up when you dobreak a vow, something Solomon also wants to drill into our heads. Don’t deny your sin or make it seem like a small thing. “Be responsible for your actions,” Solomon is telling us, taking on the fatherly role he wishes to portray.

Empty words and unrealistic dreams are vapor, something that will slip through your fingers and fog your vision. Also, they will affect your accountability and make it so that people can’t – or don’t feel that they can – rely on you. It’s a “boy who cried wolf” scenario where people will see you as flaky or unreliable, so Solomon gives us some friendly advice in reminding us to be accountable.

PART 3: RICHES ARE MEANINGLESS

(v.8-15)

We once again approach the backwardness, the chaos, in society, as Solomon tells u not to be surprised if our idealized and moralized aspirations of the world are not reflected in the reality of it all. Those who have a high status in life will undeniable find easier and simpler ways to achieve further success, whereas for the poor man the struggle for a penny will be just as hard if not harder than before. Though we wish this were not the case, this is life and we can’t change it. The utopian ideal of our minds will not be realized until heaven.

Likewise, we then return to the idea of temporal satisfaction (v.10) and how no one will ever be satisfied with what they have (see 1 Tim 6:9-10). This is an easy pitfall to succumb to since pleasures, wisdom, knowledge, toil, and everything – all the things we so often find meaning in – are reliant on money. NOW LET’S BE HONEST…this is probably why Solomon waited so long to point out the meaninglessness of riches. In our earthly minds, money is necessary to go to college, to travel, to eat, etc. and thus it is so, so easy to hunger for wealth, but this is why we are called to live “in the world, not of it” (John 17:16), remembering that though there will be trouble in this world, it has no effect on us. What good is this money to us than for providing more meaningless things to distract us from the Lord? (This isn’t to say that money in and of itself is bad, but the love of money, as we saw in 1 Timothy 6:10, referenced earlier.) Earthly treasures have temporal benefits, yes, but they likewise bring anxiety (v.12) and pain (v.13). The more you have, the more you have to stress you out and keep you up late at night, and likewise wealth provides us with the opportunity to bring harm to ourselves. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Despite the work [typically] required to get wealthy, it can pass away from any person in but a single misfortune or some bad business (How often do we hear about famous people going bankrupt? All too often.). Wealth is so temporal that it can be gone with the blink of an eye (v.14).

To emphasize his point more, Solomon reminds us that we all die. Just as we came naked – no clothes, no money, no possessions – from our mother’s wombs, in the same way we will depart. Nothing comes with us. Despite all our hard work and effort, none of it comes with us.

Still, remember his uplifting reminder in 2:24 and 3:22 to take pleasure in your work, for that is your lot! While we are called to keep an eternal mindset, we still have to provide for ourselves and others while living here on earth. The point is that we can’t get too caught up in it. You can be friends with both God and money (or, better, mammon), but you can serve only one (Matt 6:24, Luke 16:13). A life defined by the confines of earthly wealth will never satisfy, so don’t get lost in the hevel. You can serve one of two masters, so choose wisely.

PART 4: LIFE IS FRUSTRATING

(v.16-17)

If, at this point, you are beginning to think how annoying it is that we have all these earthly things to distract us from our true meaning in God, you aren’t alone: Solomon reflects on the previous grievances by once again pointing out that after all we do, nothing is ultimately gained from it, and that isannoying! He discusses this grievance in direct terms with moods: though we have been given gifts by God, we are still haunted by foul tempers, pained agony, and a seeming constant annoyance. Though life is good, we, as imperfect and temporal humans, are often frustrated by even the minor conveniences.

PART 5: COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

(v.18-20)

Having stated all these things, Solomon feels comfortable enough to draw a conclusion: Life is short, so appreciate what good the Lord has given. Finding meaning in creation is a dumb thing to do (though we all do it), but if we instead turn that meaning into gratitude, a greater meaning can be found! If God is your true source of wealth, then you can suddenly find a means of enjoying all other pleasures and riches. God gives us what nothing on earth can give, so we must remember Him, enjoying the satisfaction in all He has given.

And here’s the best part: When a person recognizes the goodness and sovereignty of God, the result is joy! Rejoice and sing, for the Lord cares for you! We will not dwell unduly on any earthly troubles when we are guarded and have become one with the One who has already overcome the world, and the result of this revelation is that we will “rejoice always” (1 Thess 5:16) and will be in constant reminder of how awesome our God is. We won’t even have time to worry about our troubles because we will be lost in the blessings of an Almighty God, seeing the true beauty in all of His creation.

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

a. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men: Charitable deeds is actually the word righteousness. Jesus tells us to not do righteous things for the sake of display or image (to be seen by them).

i. Jesus has just clearly shown God’s righteous standard; perhaps He anticipated the thought “Wouldn’t everybody be impressed if I was like that?” So here Jesus addressed the danger of cultivating an image of righteousness. It is almost impossible to do spiritual things in front of others without thinking what their opinion is of us as we do those things, and how they are thinking better or worse of us as we do what we do.

ii. This does not contradict His previous command to let your light so shine before men (Matthew 5:16). Although Christians are to be seen doing good works, they must not do good works simply to be seen.

b. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven: The idea is when we do righteous deeds for the attention and applause of men, their attention and applause is our reward. It is much better to receive a reward from your Father in heaven.

i. There are some who say, “All that is important is the doing of the deed. How I do it is much less important than the doing of it.” It is true that in some cases it would be better to do the right thing in the wrong way or out of the wrong motive than to do the wrong thing, but Jesus’ point is clear: God cares about how we do our good works, and with what motive we do them.

ii. Jesus thus begins to deal with three spiritual disciplines: giving, prayer, and fasting. “These three were (and are) the most prominent practical requirements for personal piety in mainstream Judaism…These same three activities, together with the specifically Islamic requirements of the Hajj and recitation of the creed, constitute also the Five Pillars of Islam.” (France)

2. (2-4) Examples of the wrong kind of giving and the right kind of giving.

“Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”

a. When you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet: It was a custom for some in Jesus’ day to draw attention to their giving so they would be known as generous. Today, people do not sound a trumpetto project the image of generosity, but they still know how to call attention to their giving.

i. There aren’t good examples in ancient literature of people actually announcing their giving with the sound of a trumpet. It may be what Jesus had in mind was the gifts given during feast times, which were signaled by the blast of a trumpet. “These occasions afforded golden opportunities for ostentation.” (Carson)

ii. Yet the idea of doing a charitable deed – giving alms and charity – was deeply established in the Jewish mind. “To give alms and to be righteous were one and the same thing. To give alms was to gain merit in the sight of God, and was even to win atonement and forgiveness for past sins.” (Barclay)

b. As the hypocrites do: Such performers are rightly called hypocrites, because they are actors, acting the part of pious, holy people when they are not. It is not having a standard that makes someone a hypocrite; it is falsely claiming to live by that standard when you in fact do not, or when you have a double standard that makes one a hypocrite.

i. “In older Greek a hypocrites(‘hypocrite’) was an actor, but by the first century the term came to be used for those who play roles and see the world as their stage.” (Carson)

ii. “There are religious actors still, and they draw good houses.” (Bruce)

iii. “Oh, let us rather seek to be good than seem to be so.” (Trapp)

c. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward: Jesus tells the one who gives so he can hear the applause of others that he should enjoy the applause, because that will be all the reward that he will receive. There will be no reward in heaven for the one who did it for the motive of an earthly reward.

i. It is all they will receive. “It would be better to translate it: ‘They have received payment in full.’ The word that is used in the Greek is the verb apechein, which was the technical business and commercial word for receiving payment in full.” (Barclay)

d. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing: Instead, our giving is to be – if it were possible – even hidden from ourselves. Though we cannot really be ignorant about our own giving, we can deny ourselves any indulgent self-congratulation.

i. “Keep the thing so secret that even you yourself are hardly aware that you are doing anything at all praiseworthy. Let God be present, and you will have enough of an audience.” (Spurgeon)

e. That your charitable deed may be in secret: If someone finds out that we have given something, do we automatically lose our reward? The issue is really a matter of motive. If we give for our own glory, it doesn’t matter if no one finds out and we will still have no reward from God. But if we give for God’s glory, it doesn’t matter who finds out, because your reward will remain because you gave for the right motive.

f. Our Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly: Jesus pointed out the great value of doing good deeds for the glory of God. It is much better to receive our return from God, who rewards much more generously and much more openly than men do.

i. God does see in secret. “We should ever remember that the eye of the Lord is upon us, and that he sees not only the act, but also every motive that led to it.” (Clarke)

ii. We should not miss the strength of the promise – these things done the right way will certainly be rewarded. We can be sure of that, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

3. (5-6) Examples of the wrong kind of prayer and the right kind of prayer.

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

a. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites: Jesus assumed that His disciples would give, so He told them the right way to give (Matthew 6:1-4). He also assumed that His disciples would pray, and it was important that they not pray in the same manner as the hypocrites.

i. “There are no dumb children in God’s house; the least he hath can ask him blessing. All are not alike gifted, but every godly man prayeth unto thee, saith David, Psalm 32:6.” (Trapp)

b. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets: There were two main places where a Jew in Jesus’ day might pray in a hypocritical manner. They might pray at the synagogue at the time of public prayer, or on the street at the appointed times of prayer (9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m.).

i. “In synagogue worship someone from the congregation might be asked to pray publicly, standing in front of the ark.” (Carson)

ii. “Prayer was not normally practiced at the street corners, but…one who strictly observed the afternoon hour of prayer could deliberately time his movements to bring him to the most public place at the appropriate time.” (France)

c. That they may be seen by men: These hypocrites prayed not to be heard by God, but to be seen by men. This is a common fault in public prayer today, when people pray to impress or teach others instead of genuinely pouring out their hearts before God.

i. Such prayers are an insult to God. When we mouth words towards God while really trying to impress others, we then use God merely as a tool to impress others.

d. They have their reward: Again, those praying to be seen of men have their reward, and they should enjoy it in full – because that is all they will receive. There is no reward in heaven for such prayers.

e. But you, when you pray, go into your room: Rather, we should meet with God in our room (or “closet”). The idea is of a private place where we can impress no one except God.

i. The specific ancient Greek word “room” was used for a storeroom where treasures were kept. This reminds us that there are treasures waiting for us in our prayer closet.

ii. Jesus certainly did not prohibit public prayer, but our prayers should always be directed to God and not towards man.

4. (7-8) The right way to pray.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” 

a. When you pray, do not use vain repetitions: The right kind of prayer does not use vain repetitions, which is any and all prayer which is mostly words and no meaning; all lips and no mind or heart.

i. “Rabbi Levi said, ‘Whoever is long in prayer is heard.’ Another saying has it: ‘Whenever the righteous make their prayer long, their prayer is heard.’” (Barclay) One famous Jewish prayer began like this: “Blessed, praised, and glorified, exalted, and honored, magnified and lauded be the name of the Holy One.”

ii. One can pray long – but to the wrong god. In 1 Kings 18:26 the prophets of Baal cried out, “O Baal answer us” for half the day. In Acts 19:34 a mob in Ephesus shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” for two hours. The true God isn’t impressed by the length or eloquence of our prayers, but the heart. “Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. The eloquence of prayer consists in the fervency of desire, and the simplicity of faith.” (Clarke)

iii. When we try to impress God (or worse, other people) with our many words, we deny that God is a loving, yet holy Father. Instead, we should follow the counsel of Ecclesiastes 5:2: God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

iv. “Christians’ prayers are measured by weight, and not by length. Many of the most prevailing prayers have been as short as they were strong.” (Spurgeon)

v. The NIV translates the phrase vain repetitions as “keep on babbling.” That may be an accurate sense of the ancient Greek word battalogeo, which may be a word that sounds like “babbling” and has the sense of “blah-blah-blah.”

b. Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him: We don’t pray to tell God things that He didn’t know before we told Him. We pray to commune with and appeal to a loving God who wants us to bring every need and worry before His throne.

i. “Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery; to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul from earth to heaven, and to put him in mind that THERE is his Father, his country, and inheritance.” (Clarke)

ii. In the following verses, Jesus will begin a memorable explanation of the right way to pray with the words, “In this manner, therefore pray.” Jesus then gave His disciples a model for prayer, prayer marked by close relationship, reverence, submission, and trust and dependence. Since Luke 11:2-4 has much the same material, it is reasonable to believe that this was not the only time Jesus taught His disciples on this subject.

ii. “In contrast with ostentatious prayer or thoughtless prayer, Jesus gives his disciples a model. But it is only a model: ‘This is how [not what] you should pray.’” (Carson)

iii. “We may use the Paternoster, but we are not bound to use it. It is not in turn to become a fetish. Reformers do not arise to break old fetters only in order to forge new ones.” (Bruce)

5. (9-13) The model prayer.

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

a. Our Father in heaven: The right kind of prayer comes to God as a Father in heaven. It rightly recognizes whom we pray to, coming with a privileged title that demonstrates a privileged relationship. It was very unusual for the Jews of that day to call God “Father” because it was considered too intimate.

i. It is true that God is the mighty sovereign of the universe who created, governs, and will judge all things – but He is also to us a Father.

ii. He is our Father, but He is our Father in heaven. When we say “in heaven,” we remember God’s holiness and glory. He is our Father, but our Father in heaven.

iii. This is a prayer focused on community; Jesus said “Our Father” and not “My Father.” “The whole prayer is social. The singular pronoun is absent. Man enters the presence of the Father, and then prays as one of the great family.” (Morgan)

iv. “There is no evidence of anyone before Jesus using this term to address God.” (Carson)

b. Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven: The right kind of prayer has a passion for God’s glory and agenda. His name, kingdom and will have the top priority.

i. Everyone wants to guard their own name and reputation, but we must resist the tendency to protect and promote ourselves first and instead put God’s name, kingdom and will first.

ii. Jesus wanted us to pray with the desire that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven there is no disobedience and no obstacles to God’s will; on earth there is disobedience and at least apparent obstacles to His will. The citizens of Jesus’ kingdom will want to see His will done as freely on earth as it is in heaven.

iii. “He that taught us this prayer used it himself in the most unrestricted sense. When the bloody sweat stood on his face, and all the fear and trembling of a man in anguish were upon him, he did not dispute the decree of the Father, but bowed his head and cried. ‘Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.’” (Spurgeon)

iv. A man can say, “Your will be done” in different ways and moods. He may say it with fatalism and resentment, “You will do your will, and there is nothing I can do about it anyway. Your will wins, but I don’t like it” or he may say it with a heart of perfect love and trust, “Do Your will, because I know it is the best. Change me where I don’t understand or accept Your will.”

v. One might rightly wonder why God wants us to pray that His will would be done, as if He were not able to accomplish it Himself. God is more than able to do His will without our prayer or cooperation; yet He invites the participation of our prayers, our heart, and our actions in seeing His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

c. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one: The right kind of prayer will freely bring its own needs to God. This will include needs for daily provision, forgiveness, and strength in the face of temptation.

i. When Jesus spoke of bread, He meant real bread, as in the sense of daily provisions. Early theologians allegorized this, because they couldn’t imagine Jesus speaking about an everyday thing like bread in such a majestic prayer like this. So they thought bread referred to communion, the Lord’s Supper. Some have thought it referred to Jesus Himself as the bread of life. Others have thought it speaks of the Word of God as our daily bread. Calvin rightly said of such interpretations which fail to see God’s interest in everyday things, “This is exceedingly absurd.” God does care about everyday things, and we should pray about them.

ii. “The prayer is for our needs, not our greeds. It is for one day at a time, reflecting the precarious lifestyle of many first-century workers who were paid one day at a time and for whom a few days’ illness could spell tragedy.” (Carson)

iii. “Sin is represented here under the notion of a debt, and as our sins are many, they are called here debts. God made man that he might live to his glory, and gave him a law to walk by; and if, when he does any thing that tends not to glorify God, he contracts a debt with Divine Justice.” (Clarke)

iv. Temptation literally means a test, not always a solicitation to do evil. God has promised to keep us from any testing that is greater than what we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13).

v. “God, while he does not ‘tempt’ men to do evil (James 1:13), does allow his children to pass through periods of testing. But disciples, aware of their weakness, should not desire such testing, and should pray to be spared exposure to such situations in which they are vulnerable.” (France)

vi. “The man who prays ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ and then goes into it is a liar before God…‘Lead us not into temptation,’ is shameful profanity when it comes from the lips of men who resort to places of amusement whose moral tone is bad.” (Spurgeon)

vii. If we truly pray, lead us not into temptation, it will be lived out in several ways. It will mean:

· Never boast in your own strength.

· Never desire trials.

· Never go into temptation.

· Never lead others into temptation.

d. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever: The right kind of prayer praises God and credits to Him the kingdom and the power and the glory.

i. There is some dispute as to whether this doxology is in the original manuscript Matthew wrote or was added in later by a scribe. Most modern Biblical scholars believe this line was a later addition.

ii. “It is variously written in several MSS., and omitted by most of the fathers, both Greek and Latin. As the doxology is at least very ancient, and was in use among the Jews, as well as all the other petitions of this excellent prayer, it should not, in my opinion, be left out of the text, merely because some MSS. have omitted it, and it has been variously written in others.” (Clarke)

6. (14-15) More on the importance of forgiveness.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

a. If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: Forgiveness is required for those who have been forgiven. We are not given the luxury of holding on to our bitterness towards other people.

i. “Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offence against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offences of others, it proves that we have minimized our own.” (Stott, cited in Carson)

b. Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses: Jesus has much more to say about forgiveness (Matthew 9:2-6, 18:21-35, and Luke 17:3-4). Here, the emphasis is on the imperativeof forgiveness; on the fact that it is not an option.

7. (16-18) The right way to fast.

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

a. When you fast: Jesus spoke to these fundamental practices of spiritual life in His kingdom: giving, praying, and now fasting. Clearly, Jesus assumed that His followers would fast.

i. The Old Testament commanded fasting on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31 and 23:32-37; Numbers 29:7). During the Exile, the Jewish people expanded the practice of fasting (Zechariah 7:3-5and 8:19).

ii. “A fast is termed by the Greeks nhstiv, from nh not, and esyein to eat; hence fast means, a total abstinence from food for a certain time. Abstaining from flesh, and living on fish, vegetables, &c., is no fast, or may be rather considered a burlesque on fasting. Many pretend to take the true definition of a fast from Isa 58:3, and say that it means a fast from sin. This is a mistake; there is no such term in the Bible as fasting from sin; the very idea is ridiculous and absurd, as if sin were a part of our daily food.” (Clarke)

iii. Fasting is something good that was corrupted by the hypocrisy of the religious people of Jesus’ day. Our corrupt natures can corrupt something good into something bad. A modern example of a good thing gone bad is the manner of dressing nice on Sunday. There is nothing wrong with this in itself – it can even be good as an expression of reverence; yet if it is used to compete with others or to draw attention to one’s self, something good has become something bad.

iv. “Fasting took a leading place in devotion under the Law, and it might profitably be more practiced even now under the Gospel. The Puritans called it ‘soul-fattening fasting,’ and so many have found it.” (Spurgeon)

b. When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites: The hypocritical scribes and Pharisees wanted to make sure that everybody knew they were fasting, so they would have a sad countenance and disfigure their faces so their agony of fasting would be evident to all.

i. The Pharisees typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12). “Twice a week in ordinary Pharasic practice: Thursday and Monday (ascent and descent of Moses on Sinai).” (Bruce)

ii. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward: When hypocrites receive the admiration of men for these “spiritual” efforts, they receive all the reward they will ever get.

iii. The real problem with the hypocrite is self-interest. “Ultimately, our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may be pleased.” (D. Martin Lloyd-Jones)

c. When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting: In contrast, Jesus instructed us to take care of ourselves as usual and to make the fast something of a secret before God.

i. “Oil does not here symbolize extravagant joy but normal body care.” (Carson)

B. The place of material things: a warning against covetousness.

1. (19-21) The choice between two treasures.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

a. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth: The ancient Greek more literally says do not treasure for yourself treasures on earth. The idea is that earthly treasure is temporary and fading away (where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal), but heavenly treasure is secure.

i. The issue isn’t that earthly treasures are intrinsically bad, but they are of no ultimate value either. If this is the case, then it is wrong for the disciple of Jesus to dedicate his life to continually expanding his earthly treasures.

ii. To lay up for yourselves treasure on earth is also to doom yourself to a life of frustration and emptiness. Regarding material things the secret to happiness is not more, it is contentment. In a 1992 survey, people were asked how much money they would have to make to have “the American dream.” Those who earn $25,000 or less a year thought they would need around $54,000. Those in the $100,000 annual income bracket said that they could buy the dream for an average of $192,000 a year. These figures indicate that we typically think we would have to have double our income in order to find the good life. But the Apostle Paul had the right idea in 1 Timothy 6:6: Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

iii. “The Master does not say it is wrong to possess earthly treasure. He does say it is wrong to lay it up for self. We are to hold it as stewards.” (Morgan)

b. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven: In contrast, heavenly treasures are everlasting and incorruptible. Treasures in heaven give enjoyment now, in the contentment and sense of well-being that comes from being a giver. But their ultimate enjoyment comes on the other side of eternity.

i. It has been wisely observed that a moving truck full of possessions never follows a hearse. Everything one might take with them to the world beyond is left behind. The pharaohs of Egypt were buried with gold and treasures to take into the afterlife, but they left it all behind. Even further, though gold is a precious thing on earth, God uses it to pave the streets of heaven.

ii. Jesus once told a parable that has troubled some. In Luke 16:1-14, He spoke of a dishonest manager, who was about to be called to account. Knowing he would be fired, he began to settle accounts with his master’s debtors at terms favorable to the debtors, so they would treat him kindly when the master fired him. The master ended up complimenting the manager for his shrewd tactics (presumably before he fired him). This dishonest manager was praiseworthy for two reasons. First, he knew he would be called to account for his life and he took it seriously. Second, he took advantage of his present position to arrange a comfortable future – and we can use our material resources right now for eternal good – even though we can’t bring them with us.

iii. Our material treasures will not pass from this life to the next; but the good that has been done for the kingdom of God through the use of our treasures lasts for eternity, and the work God does in usthrough faithful giving will last for eternity.

c. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also: Jesus drew the conclusion that you can only have your treasure (and your heart) in one place; we can’t store up treasure on earth and on heaven at the same time.

i. “It is not so much the disciple’s wealth that Jesus is concerned with as his loyalty. As Matthew 6:24 will make explicit, materialism is in direct conflict with loyalty to God.” (France)

2. (22-23) The choice between two visions.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

a. The lamp of the body is the eye: Simply, the idea is that “light” comes into the body through the eye. If our eyes were blind, we would live in a “dark” world.

b. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light: The idea behind having a good eye is either being generous or being single minded. Both principles apply to the disciple’s attitude towards material things.

i. “There seems to be a deliberate double-entendrehere, with haplous taking up not only the theme of undivided loyalty but also that of detachment from material concern, hence of generosity.” (France)

ii. Being generous brings light to our lives. We are happier and more content when we have God’s heart of generosity. But if we are not generous, it is as if your whole body will be full of darkness. Our selfish, miserly ways cast darkness over everything that we think or do.

iii. Being single minded brings light to our lives, and we are also happier and more content when we focus on the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that all the material things will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). But when we are double-minded, it is as if your whole body is full of darkness. We try to live for two masters at the same time, and it puts a dark shadow over everything in our life.

c. Full of light… full of darkness: In any case, Jesus tells us that either our eye is directed at heavenly things (and therefore full of light) or it is directed at earthly things (and therefore full of darkness).

i. “An evil eye was a phrase in use, among the ancient Jews, to denote an envious, covetous man or disposition; a man who repined at his neighbour’s prosperity, loved his own money, and would do nothing in the way of charity for God’s sake.” (Clarke)

d. How great is that darkness: Building on the analogy of the eye, Jesus reminds us that if we are blind in our eyes, the whole body is blind. The darkness is then great in our whole body. In the same way, our attitude towards material treasure will either bring great light or great darkness to our lives.

i. Often a materialistic, miserly, selfish Christian justifies their sin by saying, “It’s just one area of my life.” But even as the darkness of the eye affects everything in the body, so a wrong attitude towards material things brings darkness to our whole being.

3. (24) The choice between two masters.

“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. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

a. No one can serve two masters: Having two masters is not like working two jobs. Jesus had the master and slave relationship in mind, and no slave could serve two masters.

i. Jesus states that serving two masters is a simple impossibility. If you think that you are successfully serving two masters, you are deceived. It can’t be done. As ancient Israel struggled with idolatry, they thought they could worship the Lord God and Baal. God constantly reminded them that to worship Baal was to forsake the Lord God. To be loyal to the one is to despise the other.

ii. “In the natural sphere it is impossible for a slave to serve two masters, for each claims him as his property, and the slave must respond to one or other of the claims with entire devotion, either from love or from interest.” (Bruce)

iii. It can be simply said: Don’t serve your money. Let your money serve the Lord and it will serve you.

b. You cannot serve God and mammon: There are different opinions regarding the origin of the term mammon. Some think it was the name of a pagan god. Others think the name comes “From the Hebrew aman, to trust, confide; because men are apt to trust in riches.” (Clarke) Whatever its origin, the meaning is clear: mammon is materialism, or “wealth personified.” (Bruce)

i. According to France, the idea of mammon itself was morally neutral. The word was used in some ancient Jewish texts that showed this, translating Proverbs 3:9 as Honor God with your mammon and Deuteronomy 6:5 as You shall love the Lord your God with…all your mammon. Therefore mammon itself represents material things we possess or want, and those things can be used for God’s kingdom and glory or as idols.

ii. Certainly, Jesus is talking about the heart here. Many people would say they love God, but their service of money shows that in fact they do not. How can we tell who or what we are serving? One way is by remembering this principle: you will sacrifice for your God. If you will sacrifice for the sake of money, but will not sacrifice for the sake of Jesus, don’t deceive yourself: money is your God.

iii. We must remember that we don’t have to be rich to serve mammon (money and material things); the poor can be just as greedy and covetous as the rich can be.

C. The place of material things: anxiety over material things.

1. (25) Therefore: because the Kingdom of God is so greatly superior to earthly pursuits, itdeserves our attention.

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

a. Do not worry about your life: We should not get tangled up worrying about the things of this world, because our life is more than those things.

i. “You can be as unfaithful to God through care as well as through covetousness.” (Bruce)

ii. What you will eat or what you will drink… what you will put on: “These three inquiries engross the whole attention of those who are living without God in the world. The belly and back of a worldling are his compound god; and these he worships in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the eye, and in the pride of life.” (Clarke)

iii. Perhaps Adam Clarke would add in our own age, “What you will do to entertain yourself.”

b. Do not worry: There is a difference between a godly sense of responsibility and an ungodly, untrusting worry. However, an ungodly, untrusting sense of worry usually masquerades as responsibility.

i. “You cannot say that Jesus Christ ever troubled his head about what he should eat, or what he should drink; his meat and his drink consisted in doing his Father’s will.” (Spurgeon)

ii. We are to be concerned with the right things; the ultimate issues of life – and we then leave the management (and the worry) over material things with our heavenly Father.

c. Is not life more than food: The worry Jesus spoke of debases man to the level of an animal who is merely concerned with physical needs. Your life is more, and you have eternal matters to pursue.

2. (26-30) Example and arguments against worry.

“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

a. Look at the birds of the air…your heavenly Father feeds them: God provides for the birds, and He takes care of them. Therefore, we should expect that God would take care of us.

i. Yet take careful note: the birds don’t worry, but they do work. Birds don’t just sit with open mouths, expecting God to fill them.

ii. “This argument presupposed a biblical cosmology without which faith makes no sense. God is so sovereign over the universe that even the feeding of a wren falls within his concern.” (Carson)

b. Are you not of more value than they: The worry many people have over the material things of life is rooted in a low understanding of their valuebefore God. They don’t comprehend how much He loves and cares for them.

c. Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature: Worry accomplishes nothing; we can add nothing to our lives by worrying. There may be greater sins than worry, but there are none more self-defeating and useless.

i. Can add: The ancient Greek may mean adding to life instead of adding to height, but the thought is the same. Indeed, instead of adding to our life, we can actually harm ourselves through worry. Stress is one of the great contributors to disease and poor health.

d. If God so clothes the grass of the field: God even takes care of the grass of the field, so He will certainly take care of you. We are confident of the power and care of a loving heavenly Father.

i. You of little faith: “‘Little faith’ is not a little fault; for it greatly wrongs the Lord, and sadly grieves the fretful mind. To think the Lord who clothes the lilies will leave his own children naked is shameful. O little faith, learn better manners!” (Spurgeon)

3. (31-32) You have a heavenly Father that knows your needs.

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

a. Therefore do not worry: We are invited to know a freedom from the worry and anxiety that comes from undue concern about material things. We can reflect the same kind of heart that Matthew Henry showed when he said the following after being robbed:

Lord, I thank You:
That I have never been robbed before.
That although they took my money, they spared my life.
That although they took everything, it wasn’t very much.
That it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.

b. For after all these things the Gentiles seek: Jesus contrasted the life of those who do not know God and are separated from Him with those who do know God and receive His loving care. Those who know God shouldn’t seekafter other things.

4. (33) Summary: Put God’s kingdom first – He will take care of these things!

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

a. But seek first the kingdom of God: This must be the rule of our life when ordering our priorities. Yet it is wrong to think that this is just another priority to fit onto our list of priorities – and to put at the top. Instead, in everything we do, we seek first the kingdom of God.

i. For example, we rarely have to choose between honoring God and loving our wives or being good workers. We honor God and seek first the kingdom of God by being good husbands and good workers.

ii. We should also remember this statement in its immediate context. Jesus reminds us that our physical well-being is not a worthy object to devote our lives unto. If you think it is worthy that your god is mammon, then your life is cursed with worry, and you live life too much like an animal, concerned mostly with physical needs.

iii. Jesus didn’t just tell them to stop worrying; He told them to replace worry with a concern for the kingdom of God. A habit or a passion can only be given up for a greater habit or passion.

iv. “What this verse demands is, therefore, a commitment to find and to do the will of God, to ally oneself totally with his purpose. And this commitment must come first.” (France)

b. And all these things shall be added to you: If you put God’s kingdom first, and do not think that your physical well-being is a worthy object to live your life for, you then may enjoy all these things. He promises heavenly treasure, rest in divine provision, and fulfillment of God’s highest purpose for man – fellowship with Him, and being part of His kingdom.

i. This choice – to seek first the kingdom of God – is the fundamental choice everyone makes when they first repent and are converted. Yet every day after that, our Christian life will either reinforce that decision or deny it.

5. (34) A conclusion with common sense.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

a. Do not worry about tomorrow: If you must worry, worry only for the things of today. Most of our worry is over things that we have absolutely no control over anyway, and is therefore foolish as well as harmful.

b. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble: Jesus reminds us of the importance of living for the present day. It isn’t wrong to remember the past or plan for the future; to some degree both of those are good. Yet it is easy to become too focused on either the past or the future and to let the day and its own trouble be ignored. God wants us to remember the past, plan for the future, but live in the present.

original Greek of this verse says that we cannot serve God and mammon (an Aramaic word meaning money or possessions). Jesus personifies mammon here, revealing its demonic power to hold us in slavery. Money is supposed to be a tool we use for good. In fact, it often becomes like a demon that possesses and controls us. For this reason, Jesus is clear that we cannot serve both God and mammon. Neither will share our allegiance. Both want our full attention and loyalty.

How tempting it is for us to try and prove Jesus wrong about God and mammon! We want to serve God. Yet, if we're honest with ourselves, most of us in Western culture also are servants of mammon. When I buy something I don't need so that I'll look good to others, I'm serving mammon. When I neglect to give away generously what God has entrusted to me so I can have more luxury items for myself, then I'm serving mammon. When I spend more time worrying about money than I do seeking the kingdom of God, mammondemonstrates its grip on my heart.

How can we free ourselves from slavery to mammon so that we might serve God wholeheartedly? We begin by honestly admitting our desire for mammon. We confess our mixed loyalties to God, seeking his forgiveness and cleansing. We find fellow disciples who can help us restructure our values and practices. And, as Jacques Ellul observes in Money & Power, we break the spiritual domination of mammon by giving generously and sacrificially.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: When do you struggle with serving mammon? What have you found that sets you free from bondage to mammon so that you might serve the Lord more fully?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I confess from the outset that I am a person with a divided heart. I want to serve you wholeheartedly, to declare that you're my sole master. But mammon has dug its grasping claws into my soul, and it doesn't easily let go. To be honest, there are times when I freely choose to serve mammon. Yes, there are times I want "stuff" more than your kingdom. Forgive me, Lord.

And cleanse me. Renew me. By your Spirit, remake my heart so that I desire you more than mammon. Help me to serve you with singleness of spirit. Teach me to be generous, not just when its comfortable, but also when it costs me something tangible. As I give by your help, may you break the power of mammon in my life.

Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow with ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.
Amen.

(Excerpt from "Take My Life, and Let it Be" by Frances Havergal, 1874)

what do we do about it? I want to put forward the crazy idea that inherent in Jesus’ teachings are a basic set of practices that work to defuse the power of Mammon and that these practices are, as in Moses’ summing up of the Torah, ‘not too hard for you, nor too far away. […] No, the word is very near to you.’ (Deut 30:11-14) Once we dig into what Jesus taught on money, we find a series of basic, consistent principles that each of us can begin to apply in some way or another.

There are three essential dimensions to the New Testament’s teaching on money: renunciation, generosity and gratitude.

1. Renunciation: The liberation of saying no

Consider the following two statements:

1. money is a spiritual power that can have an enormous hold over us, whether through desire (the things money can get for us) or fear (what might happen to us without it);
2. we cannot live without money; we are surrounded by it and it passes through our hands every day.

Clearly, this places us in a tricky position. Moreover, as I mentioned in the first article in this series (May 2015), Mammon is a belief system that has its own theology and laws which are instilled in us every day: time is money; money is security; money is essential to happiness; money must ‘work for us’; money is the most valuable thing we have to give. The whole point about idolatry is that you don’t have to like an idol to still believe that it would be prudent for you to make the sacrifices it demands.

Jesus’ concern is to break this illusion and help us come to a deep understanding of the truth that there is no security except in God and that the most important and valuable things in life cannot be bought and sold. And so he says things like, ‘Sell your possessions and give alms’ (Lk 12:33); ‘Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth’ (Matt 6:19); and ‘None of you can become my disciple unless you give up all your possessions.’(Lk 14:33)

Again and again, Jesus is effectively calling his followers to say ‘no’ to Mammon because that is the only way to break its power. And because we are beings made up of body and soul, spirit and matter, our saying ‘no’ to Mammon needs to be both spiritual and actual. That means giving it up. The aphorism so often spouted by Protestants, ‘It doesn’t matter how wealthy you are, as long as you don’t treasure that wealth’, is complete bunkum. Likewise, the very selective reading of 1 Timothy 6:10, ‘It is the love of money, and not money as such, that leads us astray’, amounts to a denial of the plain meaning of the passage (6:3-19) which is a clear warning against wealth.

Jesus repeatedly asks his followers to actively and materially say ‘no’ to the destructive force of Mammon in the world and to show up the lies of Mammon by breaking its laws. This was the example of Jesus himself, whom Paul emphasises ‘became poor’, and the community of his disciples who ‘gave up everything’ to follow him. They were an assembly of the poor who broke the laws of Mammon at every turn, and, in doing so, turned the world upside down.

At this point, some readers will be getting distinctly nervous. Am I seriously suggesting that you have to give away all your money to follow Jesus? The answer is no. It will come as some relief to readers to know that the church, even from the earliest days, has never taught a literal observance of Jesus’ teachings on money - although, I hasten to add, there have been saints through the ages who have taken them literally. But not taking these teachings literally does not mean that we do not need to take them very seriously. We are already pretty good at this with other parts of the gospel - when Jesus says, ‘If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off’, we understand immediately that he does not actually want us to cut our hands off, but to take sin very seriously. Why have we found this movement so difficult with his teachings on money?

All of us - and those of us in the wealthy West more than any others - need concrete practices of saying ‘no’ to Mammon to break its power. And, of course, the easiest way to do this is to give it away. When we simply give away money that we could have rightfully kept for ourselves, we commit a heresy against the laws of Mammon; we act according to another law and another Lord and, in doing so, we de-throne Mammon, turning money back into a mere means of exchange.

This does not mean that we need to give away all our money, but we do need disciplines of giving that take us out of our comfort zones. I have written about this at length elsewhere (see ‘Living with an open hand’, Manna Matters, August 2011), but, generally speaking, a healthy mix of giving should include a measure of structured giving (tithing) which is built into our household budgets as well as acts of spontaneous generosity (almsgiving) that are unplanned and uncalculated.

Another important way of renouncing Mammon is to choose not to earn it in the first place. This has been a key component in Kim's and my decision years ago to only work part-time and to be satisfied with lower wages if we thought we were doing the job we ought to be (see ‘Less is more’, Manna Matters, April 2013). Other examples would be passing up a promotion to stay working in a position where you feel you can do the most good; or if you are in business or self-employed, charging lower rates than the market for the goods or services you provide; or accepting a lower dividend of profits in order to employ more people. The point is, besides foregoing an opportunity to make more money as a healthy act in itself, there are thousands of scenarios in life where we can achieve substantive good in the world if we can only resist the allure of money.

The practices of responsible consumption (see Manna Matters, August 2013) are also a form of renunciation. Choosing to pay a higher price for the sake of more just and ecologically sound practices, when we could easily pay less, clearly contravenes the laws of Mammon; just ask all those economists who have decried the fair trade movement because of its flouting of the laws of the market. 

It is worth ending this section with a final observation about renunciation (saying ‘no’). Our culture has generally got the wrong end of the stick about this aspect of religious faith and it is widely looked upon with disdain. Movies such as Babette’s Feast and Chocolat - both of which I enjoyed - have been less than helpful in this regard. They both painted a very grim picture of dour religious asceticism – one that has some basis in history, but is typically overplayed - which is set free by the discovery of the sensual pleasures of food. If these movies had played to audiences caught up in a life-denying spiritualised and pharisaical asceticism, they might have struck the right note; however, the actual audience – us – was a culture that is hopelessly mired in addictive self-gratification of almost every kind. If ever there were a people who needed to rediscover the meaning of renunciation, it is us.

Let us get this straight. The way of the gospel is the way of renunciation:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. (Mk 8:34-35)

Whether it be money, community, forgiveness, prayer, fasting or service, we are in every dimension of Jesus’ teaching being led out of the abyss of ‘self’ and into the communion of love that is the only viable habitat for life. The teaching on money is just one subset of this great movement.

Finally, let’s not confuse renouncing Mammon with denying the goodness of material things. In fact, it is via the path of renunciation that we are liberated to discover the true goodness of the material world that God has created, but more on that later.

2. Generosity – the movement toward the other

So far, I have been discussing giving as a means of renunciation; however, it should also be clear that Jesus doesn’t just call us to practices of giving as a negative act against Mammon; he is also calling us to respond powerfully and materially to the need we see in the world. 

Jesus seems to advocate reckless generosity: ‘Give to everyone who begs from you’ (Matt 5:42). Once again, it seems impossible to take such a teaching literally. With the profusion of charities these days (some of them questionable) employing aggressive and intrusive marketing strategies to corner their slice of the charity pie, we clearly need some means of filtering and deciding who we give to. 

Similarly, the issue of direct begging on the streets is one that contains a knot of ethical, moral and spiritual conundrums for which it is impossible to come up with some sort of rule that adequately covers all cases. There are times when it is good to say ‘yes’ and times when it is right to say ‘no’, but unfortunately most times it is completely unclear. What does seem clear is that Jesus never wants us to be unaffected by such situations. He is calling us out of ourselves and into the pain of the world and the character of that movement is overwhelmingly one of grace and generosity.

If I am honest, I must admit that I find this extremely difficult. I am much more comfortable with a practice of giving, even if it is difficult, that clearly delimits my moral obligations. I usually don’t feel at all generous to those asking me for money. But I cannot get around the fact - and I have tried - that the generosity that Jesus is calling us to is open-ended. This means that generosity is something that I need to cultivate, spiritually and practically, and there will never be a point when I can say to myself, ‘Now I am generous enough’.  

3. Gratitude – the economics of content

As well as beginning to look for ways to say ‘no’ to Mammon and ‘yes’ to others, another key dimension of financial practice implicit in Jesus’ teaching is the cultivation of gratitude. It is hard to point to a single text that makes this point because the whole New Testament is so awash with thanksgiving that we often fail to notice its presence. It is like a vivid background that sets off a foreground scene – you don’t notice its effect until it is taken away.

Almost every time we see Jesus breaking bread in the gospels, he is giving thanks. The letters of Paul are full not only with his own thanksgiving, but also continual exhortations to be thankful, and very often he has people’s material circumstances in mind. In Philippians he says something rather like Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.’ (Phil 4:6) We should take Paul very seriously when he writes to the Colossians, ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving’ (Col 4:2). For Paul, prayer and thanksgiving are essential to staying alert to what is truly happening in life; it is essential to seeing clearly. We cannot hope to have a healthy relationship to material things if we are not properly, even reverentially, thankful for the goodness of the earth’s bounty and that part of the earth’s gifts that we call ‘ours’.

Gratitude ignores the voices and comparisons about what we could have, or should have, and instead pays close and mindful attention to what we do have and to the essential goodness of material creation: ‘For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving’ (1 Tim 4:4). Gratitude recognises that every thing that money procures for us comes to us from the earth, perhaps even at the cost of the life of another living creature, and comes through the labour of another person. That is, these things come to us at a cost which is more than just the monetary price. That is why so much of the economic instruction of the Torah is about observing limits to our consumption, in one way or another. (See ‘So Shall We Reap’, Manna Matters, August 2015 for a discussion on observing limits.)

Gratititude is the essential precondition for that other foundational biblical attitude to material goods: contentment. In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. At the centre of this prayer is a disarmingly simple request about economics: ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ (Matt 6:11). I have written about this before at greater length (see Manna Matters, November 2013), but essentially this is a way of praying that orients us to an economy of ‘enough’. The instruction on prayer is then followed by a teaching on a positive attitude to fasting (and note, the assumption is ‘when you fast’, not ‘if you fast (6:16-18)); the teaching on treasure (‘Do not store up treasure for yourselves’) which we have already discussed (6:19-21); a teaching on taking responsibility for how desire is shaped within us (‘The eye is the lamp of the body’, 6:22-23); the teaching on Mammon (6:24); and finally, the extended teaching on ‘Do not worry about tomorrow’ (6:24-34). Taken all together, we can see that an extended sequence of the Sermon on the Mount is given over to teachings that all point, in one way or another, to the importance of being content with what we have.

This theme is taken up strongly by Paul in that often-misrepresented passage of 1 Timothy 6:

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. (1 Tim 6:6-9)

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul takes this idea even further:

For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:11-13)

Here Paul is expressing a liberation to enjoy good things when they come to him. Having renounced the pursuit of material things, he is able to appreciate their full goodness when they come his way. 

This is not some deep spiritual mystery; it is something we all know at some level. My kids love lollies, but Kim and I don’t often let them eat them. By today’s libertarian standards, we must seem almost authoritarian, although we are really only following the parenting norm of about thirty years ago (when we were kids). I have seen kids guzzle a whole bag of lollies and hardly pay attention to what they are eating; however, my girls get genuine pleasure out of eating one or two lollies. By learning to be content without lollies in their life, they can experience in lollies a goodness that is otherwise hard to detect in our culture’s abuse of them. Economists know this as the law of diminishing returns: the more you have of something, the less enjoyment it brings you.

One of the truly great tragedies of the glutted affluence of modern consumerism is that we get so little enjoyment out of the earth’s good resources that come through our houses on the way to landfill. We have turned luxuries into necessities and made that which is wondrous, commonplace. As Wendell Berry and others have pointed out, our problem is not that we are too materialistic, but that we are not materialistic enough. We don’t actually recognise and give thanks for the true goodness of the material things that surround us and so are trapped on a treadmill of fleeting consumption and disposal. As a culture, we have gained the whole world, but lost our soul.

Right at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed us to this paradox: it is the meek - those who claim nothing for themselves - who inherit the earth (Matt 5:5). Only those who don’t feel the need to claim the earth’s good things for themselves can see how truly good they are. The economy of God begins with thankfulness.

So far I have been describing an attitude of gratitude and contentment but not really a practice. The key practices of these attitudes are not rocket science:

1. Limiting and curtailing consumption across the board. For most of us, this means attempting to reverse the process by which luxuries are normalised. This is incredibly difficult, like swimming upstream, and can really only be done one thing at a time.
2. Becoming conscious and then proactive about how desire is being shaped within us. This means taking arms against the sea of advertising and image production that surrounds and choosing to limit our exposure to such manipulation.
3. Becoming conscious that we all measure ourselves by comparison to others. The key question is, who are we comparing ourselves to? Forget the Joneses; as Paul says, they are ‘trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction’. If you have spent time in a developing country, then you have there a much healthier frame of reference by which to evaluate your material standard of living. If not, a good rule of thumb is to use your grandparents at your age as your frame of reference. If they are still alive, quiz them about their standard of living. Cultivate these alternate frames of reference.

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I began this series by asking a seemingly simple question: what is money? It turns out that answering that question – even in secular terms – is not at all straightforward. Nevertheless, for all its complications, money is merely a tool created by humans and it is a wonderfully useful tool. It is perhaps one of our most amazing inventions. However, such is the nature of fallen humanity and our disordered desire that we have transformed money into something much more - an idol of immense spiritual power and destructive force in the world. As with all idolatry, we have become enslaved by the work of our own hands.

Understanding that this is our condition is essential to understanding the intent of Jesus’ teachings on money. What I have been attempting to convey through this discussion is the movement from bondage to liberation; from the abyss of self into the communion of love; from death to life. There is no doubt that these teachings are hard, but I hope that as we understand his intent more clearly - the method to his madness - that they will begin to seem less hard. Moreover, I have tried to stress that just because we do not, and most of us cannot, take his teachings literally, does not mean that we should not take them very seriously. In the seemingly simple practices of renunciation, generosity and gratitude, we find a deep and multi-dimensional response to the problem of money, one that exorcises it of the spirit of Mammon and allows us to reconsider anew, and from an entirely different standpoint, the uses of money within the kingdom of God. Indeed, this whole series on money can be understood as just one case study, one outworking, of Jesus’ foundational proclamation, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand’.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV)

 

Idioms, proverbs, and phrases are like rivers; sometimes, it can be challenging to discover the source. For example, nobody knows the origin of the term money laundering. Still, it’s believed to have originated during the 1920s and 1930s when gangsters such as Al Capone took illicit cash from their criminal enterprises and mixed it with regular high-cash-flow businesses such as restaurants and laundromats. In other words, they washed their dirty money in the machines of legitimate business, and it came out clean on the other end. The catchphrase, follow the money, is hard to trace as well. Some suggest it was coined during the Watergate scandal that resulted in the resignation of former President Richard Nixon. It was supposed that fraudulent election practices cost money, so if you want to discover who was involved in the activity, you must follow the money. 

 

The great Greek scholar A.T. Robertson once pointed out that 1 Timothy 6:10 contains a well-known proverb from the first Century. It is attributed to the 2nd century B.C. Greek writing, Bion and to Democritus (teœn philargurian einai meœtropolin pantoœn toœn kakoœn), where “metropolis” (mother city) takes the place of “root.” In other words, the pagan Greeks would say, “the love of money is the mother city of all kinds of evil.” It is from the “mother cities” that the offspring of smaller cities spring up. However, Paul’s use of the word “root” is more pointed. Evil is the fruit of the root of the love for money. We have ample proof of this fact throughout history that men and women will commit any sin or crime for money. The most notorious was Judas, who betrayed the Lord Jesus for a mere thirty pieces of silver. 

 

 

 

Paul said that some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The greatest of these sorrows is Hell itself. The rich man discovered this when he was tormented (plural), while Lazarus was comforted in Abraham’s bosom. (Luke 16:23) Many in the First Century, and even more today, have what the Israelites called an evil eye. This is one “idiom” that we do know its source. We learn of this godless concept when Moses wrote, “Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the LORD against you, and it become sin among you.” (Deuteronomy 15:9 NKJV) 

 

Deuteronomy 15:9 is almost the definition of an evil eye. Before the year of release, greedy people refused to loan money. Why? Because they knew the year of release was coming, and they would have to forgive the debt. These wicked people would give nothing to a person in need. The poor called upon the Lord, who will run to the cry of the poor and needy. Nevertheless, these stingy-greedy people likely ended up with the same fate as the rich man who had an “evil eye” towards Lazarus. It is a great sin to use wealth as a means of exalting ourselves over our neighbors rather than helping them when they are in need. 

 

Exploitation and Money

 

In modern times, one of the most significant examples of greed is in the area of healthcare. The time would fail to list the major examples of how drug companies, healthcare systems, and insurance companies have exploited the medical needs of people for a profit. Fear of sickness and death has turned into a multi-billion dollar a year business. There is no incentive to cure disease, only treat it. It’s why most people can’t retire in the USA until they are qualified for Medicare or Medicaid. It’s not unusual for a family with a history of medical problems to dish out $10-20K a year in premiums, deductibles, and prescriptions. 

 

We see it all around us. When greedy corporate executives discover a means of exploiting the world through sickness and disease, they exploit it to the fullest extent. Take Covid 19 for an example. On an earnings call in February 2021, Pfizer CFO Frank D’Amelio said that “obviously,” the company is “going to get more on price” after the “pandemic pricing environment.” In short, D’Amelio explained that Pfizer expects its COVID vaccine margins to improve dramatically. Under one pandemic supply deal, Pfizer is charging the U.S. $19.50 per dose, D’Amelio said, which is “not a normal price like we typically get for a vaccine—$150, $175 per dose. So, pandemic pricing.” (See footnote 1) 

 

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist, anti-vax, or any other derogatory description to see the money machine running full-steam. So how many variants do you think we can expect and how many “booster shots” will be recommended once this type of pricing goes into effect? Simply doubling of the cost of a single shot would rocket their profits into orbit. What about a 3X or 4X increase? Understand clearly that the spirit of Mammon will drive people to evils that no one believed human beings were capable of doing. Whether it’s a real demon or humans acting like demons, the situation is abominable. 

 

 

 

Darkness and an “Evil Eye”

 

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. (Luke 11:34 KJV)

 

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23 KJV)

 

Modern scholars are just now rediscovering some critical “missing links” in New Testament exegesis. For example, there has been little teaching or understanding on the most basic concept of “light” and “darkness” for years. Often these terms are so misunderstood that they are spoken of in the abstract or not at all. Sometimes Bible teachers will shy away from the topic because some falsely assume Gnostic (dualism) implications. However, a close examination of key New Testament texts sheds much light on this subject (no pun intended). 

 

It is beyond the scope of this entry to cover all the facets of darkness and light. However, understanding the relationship between “generosity and contentment” as light compared to “stinginess (greed) as darkness” is essential. Our texts in Luke 11:34 and Mark 6:23 are front and center. We can deduce from what we learn in Deut. 15:9 and Luke 11:34 that a greedy person is full of darkness within and a generous person is full of light within. A greedy person is not generous. His attitude is, “tear down my barns and build bigger ones.” Greed has made many wise people into fools. (See Luke 12:20)

 

A wise person once said that when we are blessed with more than we need, it is not time to add to our bank account but another seat at our table. This is how we build accounts in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break in and steal. 

 

Money has a way of clouding our vision or dulling our ears. Unfortunately, money is too often the filter that we hear God’s voice through. “What will this cost me” or “how will this impact my finances” is often louder than “thus says the Lord.” We can’t make proper decisions in the will of God when His voice is competing with the spirit of Mammon. 

 

The enemy uses money to control people. Once he finds a way to get funds into their hands and they start improving their standard of living he has them where he wants them. All he has to do is threaten to take away the money and they will do his bidding. Why? We get comfortable and begin to trust in the money or the source of funds rather than trusting God. This is the practical side of determining whether we are serving God or serving mammon. Who is getting the last word in your life? Is it God or is it money?

 

No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money. (Matthew 6:24 ESV)