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| SERMON #136 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, MAT 6:24. In His Sermon on the Mount, from MAT 6:19-34, Jesus' central theme is the single eye concept. As I have commented previously, this is like a game of ball. If you take your eye off the ball, you will lose the game. When you are crossing a stream on a log, you will fall into the water if you look down at the water flowing beneath you, but if you center your eye on some distant object, and steadily move toward it, you don't see what is below your feet, and you can cross safely. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one object on which our eye must be centered. The single eye concept means we have our eye fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we take our eye off from Christ, we start to look at ourselves, the flesh, and things of the world, and we will fall. The verses preceding our text talk about the love of money. In V:19-20 we read, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." Our mind must be centered on this concept. MAT 6:22-23 explains the single eye concept. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 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!" Jesus is speaking of this principle when He says we cannot serve two masters. Let's take notice as we follow this through; God follows the same pattern in re-creation as He did in creation. We must understand that we are fallen creatures since the fall of Adam; we no longer bear the image of God. We lost the image of God in the fall of Adam, but in the re-creation God restores the image of God in our hearts that we might live eternally in His image. The re-creation starts exactly as the creation. Notice the pattern of creation in GEN 1:2-3, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Re- creation follows the same concept. In re-creation, when we are spiritually dead, the Spirit moves upon the soul, and by the power of His Word, light enters the soul. It is by the light of the Word that a sinner learns to see the true character of God and the true nature of sin. Before re- creation we are without any spiritual form and without spiritual light; the Spirit of God must move upon our heart and open our soul's eyes to see. The first thing the Lord does is command that there be light. When light enters the soul in re-creation, we see the true character of God and the true nature of sin. What do we see when we see the true character of God? Let's turn to ROM 1:16-18 for the light of the Word on this. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." When the gospel of Christ comes to us, the first thing taught to us will be the true character of God. Verse:17 says, "For therein [Where? In the gospel of Christ] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." The first thing revealed in our heart by the light of the gospel of Christ is the righteousness of God when He comes in the re-creation saying, "Let there be light." Now we see the true character of God and the nature of sin. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness," ROM 1:18. The gospel begins with the word, Repent. In MAT 3:2 Jesus tells us, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The effect of the light of the gospel of Christ is to turn from serving the prince of the power of the air to walking under the Kingship of Christ. We must now turn from sin and turn to serve the living God. It isn't until we learn to see the leprosy of sin by the light of the gospel of Christ that we come to realize that we need a Redeemer. A woman told me of a tremendous heart specialist. She had had open heart surgery and spoke so very highly of her physician. The operation was a tremendous thing because she needed heart surgery. However, I don't need heart surgery so the information didn't cause me to search him out nor draw me unto him. When the Holy Spirit moves upon our heart by the light of the gospel of Christ we learn to see our malady, i.e., that we are plagued with the leprosy of sin. Not until then do we know we need a Redeemer; we must learn to see the sinfulness of sin. When the Holy Spirit quickens the soul's eyes by the light of the gospel of Christ, we start to see the true character of God; we then begin to realize He is a righteous God who demands full performance under the law. After many futile attempts we begin to realize we are not capable of keeping that law; now we see and realize we need a Redeemer. Now we need that heart surgeon who can give us a heart transplant; He must remove that old heart of sin and give us a new and understanding heart; "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure," PHI 2:13. This self-knowledge is needed before we will ever have a desire to follow our Saviour with a single eye. That single eye will never be there until we understand the sinfulness of sin and that there is a Redeemer; a heavenly Physician who is a heart surgeon capable of removing the heart of sin in us and giving us a heart that seeks after God and His will. Then, we start walking in the way of self-sacrifice. "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin," ROM 6:4-6. Before we can begin walking in the footsteps of Christ, our rebellion must be broken and the ugly monster, self, must be crucified. Then with our heart set upon the living God, we will willingly follow His law of love. The rich, young ruler had kept the law from his youth, but his eye missed the key element, which was love as defined in both tables of the law. The first table of the law is to love God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind. The second table of the law is to love your neighbour as yourself. The rich, young ruler missed both concepts of love. He had his heart set upon his riches instead of upon loving God. Also, he did not love his neighbour because when "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions," MAT 19:21-22. The rich, young ruler's love was a love of self; he could not part with his riches, the things of this world. He did not love God above all for his riches meant more. He did not love his neighbour as himself because he couldn't part with his riches and distribute them to the poor, to help them in their poverty. He missed both concepts of the law of love. The Pharisee in the temple had an eye on self, but the publican had a single eye of desire to his Saviour. LUK 18:11-13 tells us the story. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." The Pharisee spoke of how wonderful he was, but the publican saw how he had sinned; he had his eye fixed on the Saviour. The publican saw no merit in himself, but with a single eye he saw the redeeming love of God that came to save the chiefest of sinners. He asked only for mercy for he saw he was a sinner. In MAT 5:20-48 Jesus taught love according to the second table of the law by the six contrasts which He showed between the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and the righteousness that excels. "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven," MAT 5:20. In MAT 6:1-18 Jesus taught love according to the first table of the law by the contrast between Godliness and ungodliness, i.e., with an eye on God's honour instead of our own honour. Jesus used the example of the Pharisees to teach us the sin of promoting self with a hateful spirit towards a brother. The Lord Jesus contrasted the righteousness of the Pharisees with the true love He taught towards our neighbour. We are now taught to love our enemies, pray for them who are despiteful to us. This contrast shows us the righteousness that excels in the heart of one whom the Holy Spirit has shown the light of the gospel of Christ. In MAT 6:19-20 Jesus crystallizes this, teaching us to raise the question in our hearts, "Where is your treasure?" If our treasure is in things of time and sense, our heart will become fixed on such elements; they become our treasure. In our text Jesus appeals to our human reasoning, "No man can serve two masters...Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." As I explained in the previous sermon, mammon is anything for personal gain. It is anything we do to gain honour, wealth, or credit for ourselves; even good works can be a mammon if we do them thinking we can gain heaven by them or to be seen of men to gain honor and praise. All those things and more can be our mammon. Jesus tells us we cannot serve both God and mammon; we must come before the Lord asking for salvation on the merit of Christ, not on any merit in or of ourselves. ISA 1:18 teaches us, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The Lord has come to his people who have fallen in sin, appealing to their human reasoning. Our sins shall be taken away if...; the very next verse begins with "If". "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land," ISA 1:19. The Lord is appealing to our reasoning; we cannot go out and serve sin then come to Christ asking Him to wash away our sins so we can go back and wallow in them. We cannot serve two masters; we cannot go on doing the things that please the flesh and expect God to come with His blessings. The issue is not whether or not we serve a master, but rather which master we will serve. We will either serve God or self; one of the two will be our master. It is very important to understand what Jesus says in our text; it is most important! "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon," MAT 6:24. Jesus said we will "hate the one and love the other." This word hate, comes from the Greek word, Miseo, which has three different meanings. It is very important to see what Jesus meant by hate in this verse. First, it is "an unjustified feeling of hatred toward an innocent person." The word hate is used in Scripture to convey this meaning in MAT 10:22, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." Second, it is a proper diversion from, or despising of evil as shown in ROM 7:15 "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." In this sense, it shows a righteous indignation against evil and sin. HEB 1:9 says, "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." The meaning conveyed here is also a righteous indignation against sin. The third interpretation is the meaning that applies to our text. It is "to love less" indicating that we love both, but we love one above the other. LUK 14:26 also uses this meaning for the word, hate. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." In this instance, hate does not mean a righteous indignation; it does not mean to hate our mother and father as we hate sin. Hate means that we love others less than we love Christ. In other words, we must love God above all. This hatred is a self-sacrifice. In JOH 12:25 we read, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." In other words, we are to love our life in this world less than our eternal life. We are willing to sacrifice that which is near and dear to us here, for we love God above these things. This third interpretation is the meaning of the word hate in our text, MAT 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." We must also look at the word, despise, because it raises an important issue. This verse teaches us that one master will be preferred, and the other despised, i.e., thought less of or held in less esteem. It does not mean that we deplore or disrespect the Master, but that other masters are held in less esteem by us. This principle could be illustrated by Jacob and his two wives. Jacob loved Leah, but he loved her less than Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel more. I want to read this to you out of Scripture so you will see what I mean. GEN 29:30 says, "And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years." That does not mean Jacob did not love Leah, but he loved Rachel more. Jacob's love to Leah was not wholehearted, therefore Scripture says he hated her. We are now back to that same word, hate, meaning he loved her less than he loved Rachel. GEN 29:31 continues, "And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren." Our text is not saying we must have a righteous indignation against our life or against the blessings the Lord gives us in the way of prosperity, but we must love them less than we love the Lord. We must be willing to sacrifice everything for the Lord. This is why we cannot serve two masters, we will love the one and hate the other, i.e., we will love the one less than the other. Jesus described true Godliness in MAT 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." What does this mean? It means we hate our life, father, mother, everything. Does that mean with indignation? No. It means we love them less than the Lord. It means we love God above all; "This is the first and great commandment," MAT 22:38. This is the first table of the law; it is the very basic and essential element of Godliness. Elijah said in 1KI 18:21, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him." Elijah is saying we can't serve both; serve one or the other. Trying to serve both is to serve neither. Neither you nor I could accept a divided heart in our marriage union. Christ, who is the manifestation of love, cannot possibly accept such a situation. If you had a marriage partner whom you knew had a divided heart, and who really had a yearning after another person more than you, you couldn't accept that. In the spiritual sense, Jesus Christ cannot accept a divided heart. If we are the bride of Christ and if our heart is divided, then we commit spiritual adultery by yearning after something ahead of Christ. He cannot accept this; it is beyond tolerance. 1CO 10:21-22 says, "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He is?" The Lord is telling us we cannot be divided, and we may not provoke Him by intimating that we have more power than He does. A double-minded man must not think he shall receive anything from the Lord. Being double-minded means trying to serve the world and the Lord together. JAM 1:5-8 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double- minded man is unstable in all his ways." If our heart is divided or split trying to serve ourselves and the Lord, we shall receive nothing of the Lord; He will spew us out of His mouth. The Lord requires a wholehearted service. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up," JAM 4:7-10. See how grievous a sin it is to be double-minded! "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." Then He will lift us up; He wants our heart. He doesn't want us speaking with a forked tongue. A serpent has a divided tongue that goes to the left and to the right. The Lord does not want double speech going both ways; He does not want a double-minded person. This does not mean we can serve God without failure. We all fail; "...in many things we offend all," JAM 3:2, but God looks at our heart. We all come short of God's glory in many things, but God looks at the desire of our heart, our thoughts, and the intents of our heart. See what it says in ROM 7:21-22, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." The Apostle Paul was a man who had a heart that was so tender for the will of the Lord, yet he complained that evil was present when he wanted to do good. The very next verse says, "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." The desire of his heart was to serve the Lord. That is the single eye concept. Then our eye is on the Lord with a desire to do His will even though we find we are not capable and come so short. People who wholeheartedly love the Lord make mistakes time and again. Our prayer becomes that of David in PSA 19:12-14, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. [As we receive more of the light of the gospel of Christ, we begin to understand that we have errors. We will learn to cry out with David] Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins [Presumptuous sins are sins against our conscience; sins that we know are sin, yet we do them.]; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." David saw that he needed to be redeemed from the power of sin; he saw how the power of sin was stronger than he. He asked for the strength of the Lord. He did not have a divided heart; he didn't try to stand on his own strength. David looked to the Lord as his strength and his Redeemer; he saw he needed to be redeemed from the power of sin. When we interact with people, we are like two boys walking side by side with one dog following them. You cannot tell whose dog it is until their ways separate; then you will be able to identify the dog's master because the dog will follow him. We are in the world, and we must interact with the people of the world. Jesus said to His Father in JOH 17:14-15, "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." When the ways separate, we will see who is our master. The world will also know whom we are following. We are in the world, and we must interact with the world, but when the two ways separate the world will clearly see "they are not of the world, even as I [Christ] am not of the world." This is clearly illustrated by the lives of Joseph and Daniel. They are beautiful illustrations of wholehearted service unto God in the social structure in which they found themselves. Both men came into the position of being in the kingdom of a heathen nation; yet both were Godly men. They had to interact daily with the men of this heathen nation, but see how their walk of life showed precisely who their master was. They dressed as their captors, not as the Hebrews. They spoke the language of their captors; Joseph spoke the Egyptian language, and Daniel spoke the language of the Babylonians. They interacted with the people; they were clean-shaven or bearded according to the custom of their captors, but none of these things violated the laws of the God they served. We must also interact with the people in our area, but we follow the ways of our community only as far as they do not violate the laws of God. That is where the two boys part, and we see which one the dog follows. When it comes to sin, we can see why these two men, Joseph and Daniel, are such beautiful illustrations of this interaction and where they drew the line. When it came to sin, i.e., dishonesty in business, walk of life, worshiping their God or their prayer life, there was a clear distinction between them and their captors. Remember, Daniel was one of the governors; the other governors watched him daily to try and catch him in some dishonesty in his business. Other governors were willing to be dishonest. Joseph would rather go to prison than walk in sin against God. Potiphar's wife was willing to commit adultery, but not Joseph; that is where they parted. They did not interact with the people in their prayer life or their worship. Daniel would not interrupt his prayer life, even if it put him in the lion's den. When it came to sin, there was a clear distinction between Joseph and Daniel and their captors. When it came to customs of man which did not violate God's commands, both men were inconspicuous, but when it came to Godly principles they were very particular, and their behavior was like a beacon. That is how you sort out those who serve God and those who serve mammon. The Pharisees, which Jesus used to paint the dark shades in His art gallery, showed a total contrast to Joseph and Daniel. The Pharisees strove to appear separated and religious in the eyes of men, with their eyes and heart on self-honour. They would stand in the synagogues making long prayers to be seen of men. They would blow a trumpet when they did their alms so a crowd would see them give their donations. All of their religious activities were to be seen of men. Joseph and Daniel were willing to be persecuted for Godly principles rather than follow the crowd and offend God. The scribes and Pharisees made much about serving laws and customs of men, but when it came to Godliness and righteousness, i.e., honouring God with honesty, love to their neighbour through self-sacrifice, they were not concerned. They were not the least bit concerned about their neighbour. The Lord Jesus gave the parable about the good Samaritan to show them who was their neighbour. The Levite and the priest had gone by the wounded man along the road, but the Samaritan who came by took care of the man. This was a shocking revelation to the people at this time because it was 180o off from the beliefs and practices of the scribes and Pharisees. Joseph and Daniel had a single eye for hallowing God's name, the Pharisees had an evil eye of self-exaltation. The examples and illustrations in Scripture are there for our edification. Our text says, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon," MAT 6:24. The word other, in the English language has two meanings, e.g., it can speak of two objects that are similar. I may speak of the other man, or this man or the other one which are very similar. Or it can speak of two objects that are total opposites. Sometimes we need to take these very common words back to the original to see what they really mean. In the Greek this requires two different words. It is the second meaning which is meant by the word other, in our text. Where it says, "for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other," the word other, means "the opposite." This means serving God, and serving mammon are opposite interests. The one calls for self-sacrifice, the other calls for self-gain or self-interest. Mammon means gain. Self-sacrifice and self- gain are opposites; you can't serve both. The one calls for humility, the other serves the pride of this life. Serving God is laying up treasure in heaven, serving mammon is worldly gain. Serving God is giving, serving mammon is getting, i.e., gain. Serving God is sacrificing self by giving to the poor, serving mammon is destroying widows' houses for gain. Serving God is walking by faith; serving mammon is walking by sight. What is walking by faith or sight? Walking by faith means we see by faith and believe. Walking by sight means following human reasoning. The rich, young ruler spent all of his life gathering for personal gain. Jesus told him to sell what he had and to distribute it to the poor. Since this ruler was walking by sight, he couldn't sell his goods because then he would have lost his gain. He did not realize that the more he gave the more he'd get. J. C. Penney expressed this principle when he said, "I found I could never out-give the Lord." The rich young ruler did not understand that truth. He could not walk by faith; he could not give his earthly treasure to others while believing that the Lord would replace it. The Lord would never let a person walk without sufficient goods if he was giving to the poor, if he was doing everything to distribute to others the necessities of life. Everything we do will then prosper if we obey God's will. We read of another example: Joseph in the house of Potiphar, in GEN 39:5. "And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field." That was God's reward for Joseph's walk of faith. Walking by sight would say, "If I give it away, it is gone." Those who walk by faith find that if they give to the poor the Lord will replace goods because He wants them to keep giving, and therefore, they must have to have something more to give. Verse 21 focuses on the heart which is the womb of the mind. Everything that transpires in your mind, comes from your heart. MAT 6:21 says, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Verses 22-23 focus more on the mind. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 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!" We also see this principle in MAR 7:21. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts [You see how the mind, i.e., `evil thoughts' are the offspring of the heart], adulteries, fornications, murders." All of these abominations come to the mind, but they are conceived in the heart; when they are born, the offspring dwells in the mind. Our text focuses more on the will. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon," MAT 6:24. What is in our heart, mind, and will is revealed by our actions. What transpires in our life? What are our actions and walk of life? Our actions reveal our will, what we have in our mind proceeds from the heart. Our actions reveal whom we serve. God gave us our possessions to serve Him, but if we are serving our possessions, we are serving mammon. We do not realize how often we are guilty of serving our possessions. We become enslaved to the things we own. We can get so much hay on our fork that we are on the verge of breaking the fork's handle. So to keep from breaking the handle, we put in more hours, and more hours. There is no time left for the children or family devotions; the end result is that we are serving our possessions, and that is sinful. Serving our possessions is in direct opposition to God's intention in giving us our possessions. When we start serving those possessions, when we start serving mammon, then we have lost the single eye concept of having our eye on Christ. God gives us possessions that we might use them to serve Him. Amen. |
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