Do we serve God, or do we serve Mammon

General
1

In his sermon on the mount Jesus said that we can’t have two masters. Either we are servants of God or we are servants of Mammon.
Therefore we have to ask, “What does it mean to be a servant of God? What does God want from us that will please Him?’

Jesus gave the answer to the Jewish clergymen. They asked Jesus, “What is the most important rule of the scriptures?” The Jewish scriptures are filled with rules for how we are to lead our lives. And they wish to be pleasing to God by following all these rules. Sometimes the situations that arise in our lives can be very confusing. By trying to follow one rule, we find ourselves in conflict with another rule. For example scripture tells us to honor our parents. At the same time, we may find that our parents are not the best examples to us, and we feel we have to go against them. Or, we would like to help the man on the street, but we have to meet our rent or our car payment. That’s when we have to see a rabbi, or a priest for advice.

Jesus gave the clergymen a very direct and simple answer. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your strength.” Period.
If we love God, everything we do will be for God’s pleasure. If we love God, every thought we have will be filled with gratitude towards God. If we love God, we will glorify Him with all of our strength.” In other words, if we love God with all of our heart, as Jesus instructs us, we will automatically become servants of God, with every thought, word, and deed.

And the moment our feeling of love for God evaporates, the moment we fall into forgetfulness, we find ourselves loving everything else….. the whole spectrum of what Mammon has to offer us: Our bank account, our car, our house, our clothes, our social status, our jewelry, our honor, our name, our nationality, our race, ……..all the things of this world…….which we can’t keep.

Jesus says it’s one or the other. And the secret is……. it’s only the heart that is filled with love of God, that can let go of attachment to the things of the world. When Jesus fasted for 40 days, the Devil appeared to Him and saying that Jesus could have everything and anything that the world had to offer, and Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan.”
It’s true that we have our responsibilities, to society, to our friends and families, to our community. But it’s one thing to try to fulfill our duties, and another thing to want the world to work the way we want it to. When things don’t go the way we want, and we find ourselves feeling angry, or depressed…….this means Satan has got us. This is the service of Mammon.
A person who’s heart is filled with love for God will understand that God is in control, and this will enable him to accept God’s decision, and to turn the other cheek when people don’t treat him very nicely.
Our only defense against being concerned about the ups and downs of every day life, is to be in love with God. Then we become servants of God, in stead of servants of Mammon. The moment we become forgetful of our love for God, we immediately become attached to the outcome our actions, gain and loss, victory and defeat, honor and dishonor, friend and enemy. But love for God places a protective wall around our hearts. Jesus laid it on the line. We are either servants of God or servants of Mammon.

Being a servant of mammon, doesn’t necessarily mean being a bad person. The wealthy man who came to Jesus for advice was very pious. He was a good person. But when Jesus advised him to sell everything and give the money to the poor and follow him, the pious man couldn’t do it. That’s when Jesus said that it is more difficult for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of God than to put a camel through the eye of a needle. The man was pious. But he was a servant of Mammon. To really follow Jesus, it seems, is to become a living saint. He wasn’t talking about being a well-adjusted middle class family man. He even said that he came to break the family apart to find the one family member who could follow him. He talked of the wealthy man and the camel. He told the fishermen to lay down their nets and become fishers of men. It appears that the standards that Jesus set were extremely high.

2

My good old Doubleday dictionary defines mammon as riches, especially as a source of corruption. However, I think it’s OK to have it stand for all the things that we can pursue instead of holiness.

3

I recently pulled my old dictionary off a top shelf in the kitchen, marvelling at the work that must have gone into producing it. (Webter’s II, New Riverside University Dictionary, 1984).

Today everyone uses AI. Sometimes I ask people, “When I go to heaven, will they ask me for my User ID and Password? Will they tell me I have the wrong password, and send me down somewhere else?”

I looked online:

”In the Bible, Mammon is an Aramaic word for money, wealth, or material possessions, personified by Jesus as a rival master to God, representing materialism, greed, and false security found in riches instead of divine trust. It signifies anything that lures people to trust in earthly gain for happiness, creating an impossible conflict with serving God, as seen in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 where Jesus states, “You cannot serve God and mammon”.

So…..my thought is that so many of us are afflicted in this way. We don’t necesarily realize that we are “servants of mammon.” We may think that we are good Christians, Jews, or Muslims….but our hearts are so much concerned and anxious, arranging for our “security” for ourselves and our families, in so many ways……..without actually realizing that Jesus is saying that this is an indication of our lack of trust in God.
Therefore it is difficult to know where to to draw the line. It seems that Jesus wants so much more of us than we are able to give of ourselves.
I recall one section where Jesus says, “Consider the lillies of the fields…….they don’t work hard, or worry about how to get what they need, and God has made them so beautiful.” (paraphrase).

Jesus is teaching a very advanced path of spiritual life, that requires an extremely high level of faith. I know that I am not on this platform myself. But perhaps one day I will be able to live in the way that Jesus instructs.

When Jesus says, “Oh ye of little faith…”, I know that he is talking to me. I’m just a beginner. Still I am ready and willing to bow down before him, and ask him to help me to move forward.

4

“You cannot be my disciple unless you renounce all your possessions.” For most of my life, I didn’t pay any attention to that verse. I haven’t renounced all my possessions, but I’m not so bold as to call myself a disciple. I’m not expecting that Jesus will one day say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I’ll be happy if He says, “Thanks for trying to help.”

5

I don’t mean to sound judgemental. I feel just like you do. I have so far to go. It is almost as if Jesus is preaching to the monks who are expected to live in that way. But then he also instructed the wealthy pious man to give it all up and follow him. For one who has family duties and responsibilities, who has to maintain in the ways of the world…….these guidelines presented by Jesus ………..I find to be a tremendous challenge. I can only guess that as we come closer to God, and feel His loving presence in our hearts, our faith in His support, in every way, will increase proprtionately. I don’t think Jesus wants us to renounce artificially, but to come closer to him, so that our faith and trust gradually increases. I think that Saint Francis is an example of what Jesus is describing. I read that he came from a well-to-do home life, and walked away from it all. I feel happy and grateful that I can understand that such transformation can happen, even if I can’t yet live my life in that way. But in our own little ways, we can begin. Just as you are doing, by being situated in prayer outside of the abortion clinic, which I deeply admire and respect. Also we can support different good causes …..taking little steps forward. I try to be helpful to a few single ladies (friends of my wife) who live alone and can’t do the kind of jobs that men are better suited for. When I go to town, I hand out scriptural material. I feel so forunate, now that my life has meaning.