We are all servants to someone or something.  It does not matter who you are or what your station in life might be, you answer to someone greater than yourself.  The question is, who is your master?   Jesus put the importance of this question into perspective for us.

Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
²⁴  “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. 

Jesus is not saying that we cannot serve two masters in succession.  We have all done that, especially from a spiritual standpoint.  Before we obeyed the gospel, the Devil was our master.  We were servants of Satan and sin, but now, by our obedience to the gospel, we are servants of Christ.  We have changed masters.  Furthermore, the fact that we are servants of God right now does not mean that we cannot once again become a servant of Satan.  I hope none of us do that, but the possibility is always there.  We can serve different masters in succession.

There is something else that Jesus did not mean when He said we cannot serve two masters.  He did not mean that it is impossible to serve two different masters that demand the same things from their subjects, or at least they do not demand contradictory things.

What, then, is Jesus telling us about serving two masters?  He is saying that we cannot be servants of two masters who are hostile to each other, or who demand conflicting things, at the same time.  This is the case with God and mammon.  The demands and desires of mammon are incompatible with the demands and desires of God; thus, we cannot serve both simultaneously.  God commands you to walk by faith, while mammon commands that you walk by sight.  God commands that you be humble, while mammon desires a heart full of pride.  God wants you to set your affections on things above, but mammon wants you to set your affections on things of this earth.  God desires that you seek happiness in Him, the Creator, while mammon wants you to seek happiness in him, the creation.  It is plain that there is no serving two such masters.    We have to choose who our master is going to be.

One thing is for sure, when it comes to serving God, we cannot remain neutral.  Too many of God’s children are weak, and many have even died spiritually, because they could not make up their minds who they were going to serve—God or mammon.  Some have thought they could have it both ways, but they discovered the truth of our Lord’s teachings, that is, serving two masters is impossible.  I once preached on this and said, “too many people want to have one foot in the world and one foot in Christ.”   When we got home, my wife corrected me, reminding me that when we try to split our loyalty between God and the world, we have already chosen the world.  We either serve God completely, or we are not really serving Him at all.  Jesus once said, “Whoever is not with me, is against me” (Matthew 12:30).

What will your choice be?  God is not going to force us to be His servants.  We have to decide Who or what we are going to serve.  It really is not much of a choice.  You can choose mammon and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, or you can choose God and be blessed with the riches of heaven forever.  I hope you will choose well.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.