Title: God & Wordly Wealth (Mammon) - Part 1
Posted: 10/25/2004
Author: Pastor Dan Duncan

Introduction

This morning we’re going to begin a series that we went through about 4 years ago. Some of you may remember it by when you see the powerpoint slides coming up; so it will be just a good refresher for you. For others, I want to challenge your thinking regarding the Biblical perspective of Worldly Wealth… we may also call them treasures.As a backdrop, let me just mention that there are three kinds of assets that we have to spend… (watch) TIME, (hands) TALENT, (wallet) TREASURE. Time and talent are not physical assets like treasures are; but they can be converted into physical assets. For example, if a carpenter gets paid $40/hr; he is spending TIME converting his TALENT into TREASURE.It works backwards also. If I don’t have the TIME or the TALENT to achieve the results that I desire; I willingly exchange some of my TREASURE for the TIME and TALENT of someone capable of performing the task that I need done.So time, talent and treasure are the three assets that we have to spend, but for this series, we are only going to be speaking about TREASURE. (Call it money, assets, etc)In the future, this series will be part of the People Path that we are designing for spiritual growth at LFC, but we’re going to go through it all together. And as we begin, let’s get a couple of things straight right off the bat:

Being wealthy, or being poor is not an indication of your godliness. Paul experienced both, and said he could be content in either situation.

Phil 4:12-13 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

• Money is NOT the root of all evil… , 1 Tim 6:10 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Money is neither good nor bad, it’s the motive behind our use of money that is good or evil.

Now, in case you aren’t aware, we live in Canada, where people on welfare are among the wealthiest 15% in the world. So I we may ask the question, “Aren’t you already living in plenty?”I want you to know that those words are accurate, but the assumptions behind those words may be false.

1. One assumption is that I am already “blessed enough” and a desire for greater blessing would be equal to greed.

The assumption that asking for more equals greed, assumes also that I want more for “myself” and does not make room for the motive to have more so I can give more to those who need it. “Aha”, some will say, “why don’t you just pray that God will give more to the people who need it rather than give it to you first so you can give it to them?” That argument reveals a lack of understanding of the principle that God wants to bless us so we can bless others, which is paramount to the every aspect of spreading the Gospel of the kingdom. As a church locally and worldwide God wants:- to teach us more wisdom so we can teach others more, - to strengthen us more so we can help others more, and - to give us more financially so we can support others more.

And in every aspect He wants to use these opportunities to draw others to Himself. He doesn’t teach you more so that you know more, he teaches you more so that you can teach others. He doesn’t give you more strength so you can have a cakewalk through life, He gives you more strength so that you can do greater work with Him and draw more people to Him.

1 Pet 4:10-11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, … If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

2 Tim 4:16-18 the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Back to what I mentioned in the introduction; there are three things that accomplish anything in this world, TIME, TALENT, AND TREASURE. God wants to provide His people with TIME, TALENT, AND TREASURE to spread his kingdom in this world. So the first assumption is what many have labeled a poverty mentality. The biblical perspective is not that wanting more money is evil; its wanting more money so that you can consume it yourself that makes it evil. Motive is everything. We’ll talk about that more as we go through this series.

2. The second assumption is the exact opposite of the poverty mentality.

• If you aren’t rich then you aren’t living as God wants you to live; therefore “money = godliness”.

As I’ve already described; neither poverty nor wealth is any indication of godliness. In fact, whether you’re talking about TIME, TALENT, or TREASURE, this one principle applies to all of them. It isn’t how much you have that makes you godly, it’s what you do with what you have that matters… motive. Biblical Perspective

What I’m saying is that as I read things the Biblical perspective on our financial affairs goes like this …Just because you are rich doesn’t mean you are greedy and not godly. And just because you are poor doesn’t mean you are godly and not greedy.  It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have.&What you do with what you have depends on how you view what you have.Two Masters I want to begin by developing the thought that in the area of money or treasures or however you want to describe it, there are two masters you can serve. With all of your possessions you can serve God, or you can serve Mammon.Now at the start here, I want to define for you the word “Mammon”. In the KJV of Scripture, we read

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

In the modern language NIV we read it this way,

Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

In the NIV the greek word “mammonas” is translated Money (with a capital M). The reason it has a capital is because in the days when the Jesus walked the earth, the empowering spirit of greed was deified.

Mammon was considered the god of Greed. If Jesus had simply been talking about money itself, there would be no need for a capital letter in the translation. What He is specifically addressing in this passage and the passage where this saying appears in Matthew is the way in which we use our money reveals the God we are serving. Does our use of money reveal an appetite of Greed depicted by the god of Mammon, or does it reveal an attitude of Grace depicted by the God of all Grace.Jesus was clear, if you follow one god you will hate the principles of the other. Be aware of that as we begin this study. Don’t make your financial decisions based on whether you like the principles or not, base your decision on whether you believe them to be true or not. For if you have been following the principles of Mammon it is clear that you will hate the principles of the true God that we will be looking at over the next few weeks. And even if you have been following the principles of the true God, you will recognize the ways of Mammon that still tug at you.These next few weeks will be a time, I hope, for each of us to take a good look at how we are running our financial ship. And if need be, a time to repent and change course on that ship.Contrasting God & MammonAt the very beginning of this study, let’s look at this passage in Luke and its sister passage in Matthew to draw a dividing line between the two gods which we can serve with our money.Notice that I did not say that you serve one god with money and the other without money. The way you handle your money and all your possessions/treasures for that matter reveals which god you are serving. You cannot serve both, but you will serve one or the other.

Luke 16:1-15 Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg -- I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' "'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' "Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' "'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Now in this passage, there are so very many messages. But for this week we will deal only with the parable and use it to contrast the god of Greed and the God of Grace.Several things are noticeable within the first few verses:

• The manager was managing the rich man’s possessions not his own
• The manager was wasting the rich man’s possessions
• He had to give an account of how he managed those possessions
• The manager realized he had no way of making it without his master
• Turned his attention to how he was treating the debtors
• Removed some of the debt of the debtors to gain favor later
• Master commended the manager’s shrewdness
• World is acting more shrewdly than people of the light

• We are simply managers of God’s possessions
• Do we waste God’s possessions?
• We will give account for how we manage God’s possessions
• We must realize that we are destitute without God’s provision
• The answer to our dilemma is to turn our attention to how we are treating God’s “debtors”
• Stop demanding of people and start discounting their debts
• God will honor how you treat other people
• We ought to act more shrewdly even with out worldly wealth

Jesus ends the parable with the lesson of comparison … “use your worldly wealth (given by God; financial and moral) to gain friends (absorb their debts; financial and moral), so that when it is gone (judgment day), you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings (your reward will be in heaven)” You see, this parable, is not about the manager making money for the master; it is about how the manager was misusing the master’s money that was at his disposal. And how the master was pleased when he changed from using his influence for himself to using his influence for the benefit of others. This is obvious by the way the master commended the manager when he began to forgive the debts of the debtors. Even though the manager did that only to protect his own interests, the rich man commended him for it.

God wants us to use our influence (TIME, TALENT, TREASURE) not for ourselves but for his debtors. (Grace)The point is, that the manager was originally wasting the rich man’s money and was going to be held accountable. It wasn’t until he shifted his motive to Grace and started using his influence to forgive the debtors that the rich man was pleased with him.I’ll repeat again the all important parameters which guide our motives… It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have.&What you do with what you have depends on how you view what you have. With that in mind, let’s turn to the other passage where Jesus’ words in vs 13 are quoted and we’ll see that Matthew also records this saying. Yet Matthew focuses on something that Jesus said other than the parable of the shrewd manager. I want to extract some of the phrases for you from the passage in Matthew 6 and I want you to see that although Jesus is speaking on broader topics the concepts here are the same as the parable.

1. Get your attention off of yourself
2. Put your attention on others
3. God will reward you for that transfer of focus

Matt. 6:1-4 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

1. Forgive men of their debts (sins)

Matt 6:11-15 Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

1. By doing these things you will lay up for yourself eternal treasures

Matt 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1. No one can serve two masters, either you serve Greed or Grace.

Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Conclusion

As the introduction; I wanted only to set the template for understanding that the scripture is clear, we will give account of how we manage God’s assets. In a spirit of greed or a spirit of grace. That, in fact, is the dividing line between the two gods Jesus was referring to. One is a god of Greed, the other is the God of Grace. Next week, I want to look a little more in depth at what it looks like when we are using our TREASURES to serve the God of Grace or the god of Greed. Then following that, we will leave Greed behind and carry on with the principles of the God of Grace as they pertain to our outlook on financial things.

Cell Notes

pow·er of at·tor·neynoun
power to act for another:  the legal authority to act for another person in legal and business matters We know that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”.

• It is His to manipulate with cause & effect in whatever manner He pleases and for His own purposes. Eg. Ex. 9:28-29
• In light of His awesome majestic power & position, who qualifies to commune with Him and to receive His blessings? Psalms 24:1-6
• Originally, God gave mankind power of attorney over the earth. Gen 1:27-31
• Christ redeemed that position, and we exercise our own power of attorney as appointed by Him Eph 1:18-23, Matt 28:18-20
• Although Christ’s power of attorney is universal, ours is relegated to the sphere of influence individually assigned to each one of us. 2 Cor 10:12-13, Rom 12:3-6a
• Use your attorney/ambassador position not for yourself (greed) but for God’s glory (grace). 1 Cor 10:23-33 (esp 23 & 31)