Warning against Mammon:

v. 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.

It is a general truth, commonly accepted: For a slave to serve two masters is impossible. True, undivided service presupposes love and attachment, or at least a strong interest. He will regard the one with devotion, the other with aversion; he will take the part of the one, or at least put up with him, the other he will disregard. The conclusion; It is impossible to be faithful to God and at the same time be a servant of riches, making an idol of them. Christ does not condemn the possession, but the service of riches. Man can have only one highest good and principle of life. The service of heaven cannot be combined with the earthly inclinations, the two cannot be reconciled. If he chooses filthy lucre as his highest good, the service of God is out of the question, and he loses substantial and eternal blessedness. The disciples of Christ will shun covetousness with all their hearts and give their life’s devotion to their God and Savior.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 6:24. No man can serve, &c.mammon Mammon is a Syriac word for riches, which our Lord beautifully represents as a person whom the folly of men had deified. It is well known that the Greeks had a fictitious god of wealth; but I cannot find, says Dr. Doddridge, that he was ever worshipped in Syria under the name of Mammon. According to some, mammon, derived from , amen, signifies whatever oneis apt to confide in: and because men put their trust generally in external advantages, such as riches, authority, honour, power, &c. the word mammon is used to denote every thing of that kind, and particularly riches, by way of eminence

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 6:24 . But certainly do not suppose that ye can combine the eager pursuit of wealth with striving after the kingdom of God! no, aut, aut!

] i.e. of course, two who are of opposite characters.

] he will either hate A and love B, or if not, vice vers , he will cleave to A and despise B. In the second clause is without the article , because the idea is somewhat different from that in the first, namely: “or he will cleave to one (not both) and despise the other concerned.”

and , like and , are used neither here nor anywhere else (Gen 29:31 ; Mal 1:2-3 ; Luk 14:26 ; Luk 16:13 ; Joh 12:25 ; Rom 9:13 ) “with a less forcible meaning” (de Wette, Tholuck, Bleek), so as to be equivalent to posthabere and praeferre. See, on the other hand, note on Rom 9:12 , also Fritzsche on this passage. The two masters are conceived of as being of such a nature that the one is loved, the other hated, and vice vers, and that in a decided manner, without any intermediate attitude of indifference. Luther: although the world can do it skilfully; and as it is expressed in German, by “carrying the tree on both shoulders.” In the second alternative, then, the corresponds to the as being the effect of the hatred, while to the corresponds the as the effect of the love.

] he will hold to him, faithfully cleave to him. Plat. Rep. x. p. 600 D; Phil. p. 58 E; Ax. p. 369 E; Dem. 290. 9; 1Ma 15:34 ; Tit 1:9 .

] Chaldee , Syr. , consequently it should be spelt with only one , and derived, not from , but from , so that its origin is to be traced to , thesaurus (Gen 43:23 ). Gesenius, Thes. I. p. 552. It means riches, and, according to Augustine, is, in the Punic language, equivalent to lucrum. In this instance it is personified owing to its connection with , and from its antithesis to : wealth conceived of as an idol (Plutus). Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 1217 f.

Moreover, the idea implied in the prevents the possible abuse of the saying. Luther says well: To have money and property is not sinful; but what is meant is, that thou shouldst not allow them to be thy master, rather that thou shouldst make them serve thee, and that thou shouldest be their master. Comp. Chrysostom, who quotes the examples of Abraham and Job. According to the axiom in the text, Christ justly (see on Luk 16:9 , the note) requires unfaithfulness in regard to mammon.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1323
THE SERVICES OF GOD AND MAMMON INCONSISTENT

Mat 6:24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hale the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

THE dictates of pure and undefiled religion are so remote from the apprehension of the natural man, and so contrary to his inclinations, that they need to be presented to him with the clearest evidence, and most convincing energy. Hence our blessed Lord continually illustrated his doctrines by images taken from common life, or by truths universally known and acknowledged. The irreconcileableness of the service of God with the service of Mammon is very little considered: the world in general have no idea of it: but the impossibility of being wholly at the disposal of two earthly masters is obvious enough; because, when their commands interfere with each other, the servant, in obeying one, must disobey the other; and in cleaving to one, must, virtually, renounce the other. This being acknowledged, we are prepared to confess the same in relation to God and Mammon. It is thus that our Lord introduces and confirms the aphorism before us: in discoursing upon which, we shall shew,

I.

The import of our Lords assertion

Mammon is a Syriac word, signifying riches; and it is the great idol to which all the world are bowing down. But as wealth is principally sought for on account of its connexion with pleasures and honour, we need not confine ourselves to the precise idea of riches; but consider Mammon as signifying the world with all its poor vanities, of whatever kind they be.

But what are we to understand by serving God and Mammon? Here is the difficulty; and this is a point that must be determined with much caution and judgment. When our Lord says, Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,

He does not mean that we cannot render them any services

[This is not the case even with earthly masters: for we may serve two or three masters, provided they be contented with services that are partial, subordinate, or successive And in such a manner as this, we may serve both God and Mammon.]

He does not mean that we cannot render them the services which are their due

[If only we clearly ascertain what services are due to each, we shall find that they are not at all incompatible with each other. Those who are averse to perform their duties to God, are very apt to represent them as inconsistent with the duties of relative and social life. But this is without any just foundation. It would be strange indeed if the duties of the two tables opposed each other: on the contrary, we cannot truly perform the one without performing the other also: in serving God, we shall serve the world; and in serving the world, we shall serve our God.]

His meaning is, that we cannot render them the services which they require

[God requires that we should love and serve him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. He requires, that every thing bad shall be renounced for him; every thing indifferent be subordinated to him; and every thing good be done with a direct reference to his will as the rule, and his glory as the end.

The world, on the contrary, prescribes laws and maxims for our conduct which God has never prescribed, yea, which he has expressly forbidden. And it is in this contrariety of the one to the other, that we must look for the fuller explanation of the words before us.]
Let us then proceed to state, in reference to this assertion,

II.

The grounds and reasons of it

If it be asked, Why can we not serve both God and Mammon? we answer, Because,

1.

Their interests are different

[God has a cause which is exceeding dear to him; a cause which occupied his mind from all eternity, and for the promotion of which he has given his only-begotten Son to die for us, and his blessed Spirit to instruct us. The interest he pursues, is the reign of Christ on earth, and the establishment of his kingdom throughout the world [Note: Rev 11:15.]. He longs to bring down heaven upon earth, that men may be, as nearly as possible, in a paradisiacal state, and in a constant meetness for glory [Note: 2Pe 3:13.].

The world knows nothing of such an interest as this: it proposes nothing of the kind: on the contrary, to please and gratify the carnal mind is the one scope of all its plans. In pursuit of this it labours to draw away its votaries from the consideration of heavenly things, and to fix their attention upon the things of time and sense.
What prospect have we then of rendering acceptable service to those whose interests are so widely different?]

2.

Their commands are contrary

[God commands us to make our light shine before men: he tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to come out from it, and to be crucified to it through the cross of Christ; and not only to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them.
Against all this the world sets its face. It does not approve that we should serve God even in secret: but that we should trouble others with our light, this is insufferable. How peremptory it is in its commands respecting this, may be seen in every age, from the time of Cain to this present moment [Note: Joh 7:7. 2Ti 3:12. See a specimen, Est 3:8-9. Act 16:19-24; Act 17:6-7.].

Now how is it possible that we should render obedience to both these masters? The one says, Arise, shine: the other says, Make the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. It is evident, that, whichever we obey, we must of necessity disobey the other.]

3.

Their services are inconsistent

[This appears in part from what has been already spoken. But the inconsistency is expressly and frequently stated by God himself. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him [Note: 1Jn 2:15-16.]: the friendship of the world is enmity with God [Note: Jam 4:4.]: the minding of earthly things marks us enemies of the cross of Christ [Note: Eph 3:18-19.]: the carnal mind is enmity against God [Note: Rom 8:7.]; and we must mortify it, if ever we would live [Note: Rom 8:13.].

Here the point is determined by God himself: and it is carried further than under the preceding head: for, if we would serve God acceptably, we must not only in some things disobey the commands of the world, but must utterly renounce all kind of allegiance to it. We must even oppose it, and fight against it. To parley with it, is perfidy; to make a truce with it, is treason.]

People standing very differently affected towards the world, we must address,
1.

Those who are altogether servants of the world

[Too many, alas! think not of any thing but the world: they find no pleasure but in its services. Now, we grant that its service is pleasing to flesh and blood: but to whom has it ever afforded solid and permanent satisfaction? But suppose it could satisfy us here, what can it do for us hereafter? If we have served it, we must look to it for our reward. We cannot expect any reward from God, except indeed that which our contempt of him has merited, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.]

2.

Those who are endeavouring to unite the services of God and Mammon

[Notwithstanding our Lord has so plainly declared the absurdity of all such attempts, men will not be persuaded to desist from them. They think that they may serve God sufficiently to secure his blessing, and yet serve the world in such a manner as to retain its favour. But, in addition to what our Lord has spoken, such persons have also within themselves a demonstration that their wishes are impracticable. What is the state of their minds after mixing with worldly company, and drinking of the cup of worldly pleasures? Can they go to their God with freedom, and find access to him with confidence? Have they any enlargement of heart in their addresses to him? Are not their services a mere forma cold, lifeless ceremony, in which they find no pleasure, and from which they derive no benefit? Is it not manifest that they make no progress in religion, and that, while their services are divided, the world has their hearts? Such peoples religion answers no other end than to deceive and ruin them for ever: for God is a jealous God; and will despise the offerings of a divided heart.]

3.

Those who are halting between the two

[Many are convinced that they ought to serve God alone; and yet they know not how to turn their backs upon the world: they are afraid of the contempt and ridicule which they shall incur, or of some losses which they shall sustain: and therefore they are undecided in their minds, how to act. But what folly is this! Is not the approbation of God and of our own conscience sufficient to counterbalance all the frowns of the world? and is not heaven sufficient to compensate for any sufferings which we can be called to endure on earth? Let it only be remembered that eternity is at hand; and that will be sufficient to make all the concerns of time to appear lighter than vanity itself. Our Lord has plainly told us, that we must hate even our life itself, if we would be his disciples. Let us then make our choice: If Mammon be God, let us serve him; but if Jehovah be God, let us serve him [Note: 1Ki 18:21.]. Let us say, with Joshua, We will serve the Lord [Note: Jos 24:15.].]

4.

Those who are decidedly in the service of their God

[Who amongst you has ever found reason to regret that he took a decided part? Who has not found it a ground of exceeding thankfulness to God for enabling him so to act? Go on then, having the world under your feet, and God in your hearts. Be bold, yet be meek, in the service of your Lord. Be meek, I say, and patient under any trials you may meet with. You must carefully distinguish between the ways of the world and the people of it: the former you are to regard with aversion; the latter with pity. Let it be seen in your temper, as well as in your conduct, whose you are, and whom you serve. Shew that, though you refuse to be servants to the world, you are its greatest benefactors. And look forward to the day when God will acknowledge and reward your services in the presence of the assembled universe.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 23

God and Mammon Be Anxious About the Right Thing the Healing Power of Nature Dr. Thomas Goodwin

Prayer

Almighty God, truly thou dost remember thy children, and with infinite mindful-ness dost thou watch thine own, in all the way that they take, in all the sufferings they undergo, and in all the purposes which form the inspiration of their life. We rejoice that there is an eye evermore looking upon us which never slumbers and never sleeps; it is our joy to believe that the arms of everlasting strength are round about us, and that the defences of omnipotence protect us from all injury. This is our confidence in God, this creates the music of our life and the hope of our gladdest expectation. We rejoice and are exceeding glad because the covenant of the Lord is written in righteousness and is signed with his own best name of love. Though the righteous stumble, he shall not utterly fall, though he be cast down, he shall not be utterly destroyed; the Lord’s hand is round about him, behold his defence is greater than fire.

We have tested thy word, all thy promises have been renewed and redeemed in our own experience, we are the living to bless thee, we are the living to magnify thy name. Truly, each of us can say, “This poor man cried unto the Lord and he heard him, and delivered him out of his distresses.” Thou didst find us in the deep clay and in the horrible mire, and thou hast set our feet upon a rock and lifted up our face towards the sun; thou hast hidden thy word in our hearts it has been meat to us in the time of keen hunger, and water from heaven in the hour of distressing thirst. Thou hast made thine angels our ministering servants, and thy comforts have delighted and strengthened our souls. What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards us? We would give him our whole life, we would spare nothing of our energy, we do but render thee thine own, for we are bought with a price, and our body and our soul are God’s. We remember the price thou dost pay for our redemption, we are not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ; we are the purchase of his sacrifice, we are the trophies of his redeeming strength, he is our Priest, our Sacrifice, our Reconciliation, he is our all and in all; we would see no man in our redemption but Jesus only, and lying low before his cross, hiding our mouth in the dust, by reason of infinite shame, we would hope to receive the offer and the gift of thy pardon because Jesus died for us.

We thank thee for this glorious gospel; it turns our weakness into strength, it sows the very stars of light upon the field of infinite darkness, and it brings us hope when reason brings us nothing but despair. Our trust is in Christ, our daily confidence is in his blessed cross, we flee to him for succour, for pardon, for hope, we find all we need in thy Son, our Saviour his riches are unsearchable.

We give thee praises for all thy kindness to us during the time that has elapsed since we met together in holy fellowship at the altar. Thou hast kept our eyes from tears, our feet from falling, and our soul from death; thou bast renewed our youth, thou hast rekindled the lamp of our hope, our table thou hast spread, our chamber thou hast watched, our house has been surrounded by thy protecting angels. We therefore take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord, and bless him with all our love, and trust him with our whole heart. Thou hast brought some of us up from long solitude, wherein we have seen the darkness of afflicting providences; thou hast chastened us sore, thou hast reduced our strength so that it has been turned into the weakness of water, thou hast given us to feel how frail we are and how little before thee. Yet hast thou nourished us with secret comfort and enlightened us with glory from heaven, and now that we have returned to thy house having exchanged the chamber of affliction and solitude for the open church of enjoyment and high Christian fellowship and rapture, we thank thee for all thy mercies, we bless thee for thy gentle care. Others of us thou hast been with on land and on sea, at home and in distant places; thou hast brought us from our wanderings to our accustomed associations. The Lord’s mercy be magnified and praised in daily hymn for all this wondrous care. Thou dost number the hairs of our head, thou dost watch our steps, thou dost keep our feet from falling, thou art mindful of thine own, thy patience is long-suffering, thy love what man can measure? We therefore praise thee, yea we bless thee, yea we magnify thee, yea with all music would we elevate thy name, and call upon our soul and all that is within us to give honour unto God, to whom we owe our life and our hope.

Let the study of thy word be useful to us to-day may we eat of thy word as men who are hungered eat of bread, may we drink of thy word as those who are dying of thirst long for living streams. Destroy all prejudice that would hinder a right conception of thy sacred messages, release us from the anxieties and reflections and tormenting fears of this world, and give us such sympathy with light, divinity, and all things spiritual and truly beautiful, as shall enable us to regard this service as a banquet spread by the king’s own hand, and may we hear his welcome and enjoy his hospitality.

The Lord’s blessing, like the light of the sun, run everywhere and carry with it morning and hope and summer, and all the joy of life. The Lord visit the sick-chamber, the prison where the penitent lies, the land where the prodigal mourns his folly and curses his sin. Be with the broken-hearted, the spirit suffering in silence that dare not utter itself in mortal speech, be with the widow and the fatherless in their affliction and dumb hopelessness: be with the man who utters to-day his first prayer, with the pilgrim who is just going home, with the little child, opening like a bud in the summer morning yea, be with every one of us, exclude none from thy blessing, that the appeal of thy love may be the beginning of our redemption. Amen.

Mat 6:24-34

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.

25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;

29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?

31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek): for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

“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.” I venture to say that the true meaning of this passage has not been always represented. The common notion is that a man may try to serve God and mammon. Jesus Christ does not ask you for one moment to believe so flagrant an absurdity. The experiment cannot even be tried. What, then, becomes of your interpretation of your neighbour about whom you have said, many a time, “That man is trying to serve God and mammon.” The experiment does not admit of trial. You must get into the profound meaning of this word cannot. It indicates an impossibility even so far as the matter of trial or experiment is concerned. So the passage is a consolatory one; it is not a warning against any kind of practical hypocrisy and double-handedness Jesus is not lifting up his voice against the ambidexters who are trying to do the same thing with both hands he lays down, as he always does, a universal and everlasting law; ye cannot serve God and mammon, equal to ye cannot go east and west at the same time. Have you ever tried to do that, have you ever made such a fool of yourself as to endeavour to cross the Atlantic by staying on shore? The meaning is, if a man’s supreme purpose in life be to seek God and to glorify him, whatever his business upon earth may be, he elevates that business up to the level of his supreme purpose.

Where, then, is the value of your criticism upon the rich Christian man? You have said, mockingly, “That man has served God and mammon to some purpose, for he has accumulated immense wealth.” Your reasoning I would call childish but for my fear of degrading the sweet name of child. Where a man’s heart burns with the love of God, if he be the owner of the Bank of England, he lifts up all his property to the high level of the purpose which inspires him.

I now see a new and gracious light upon the Saviour’s words. I have cudgelled myself mercilessly in many a piece of self-discipline, by imagining with the foolish that I could be serving God with one hand and serving mammon with the other. I thought the Saviour was teaching that narrow lesson. To-day he says to me, “I lay it down as a law that the supreme purpose of a man’s life gives a character to all he does.”

Now let us look at the subject from the other end, and thus get double light upon it. Ye cannot serve mammon and God. The meaning is If your supreme purpose in life be selfish, narrow, little, worldly if your one object in life be to accumulate property, power, renown, anything that is sublunary, ye cannot serve God, though you may sing hymns all the day long, though you may attend church whenever the gates are open, though you may give your body to be burned and your goods to feed the poor.

All these, are but so many mammon arrangements, without religious value. The supreme purpose of your life is to be satisfied with the things at hand, within the circumference of this world, and therefore ye cannot be religious, ye cannot serve God, God can only be served by the supreme purpose, the dominating and all-inspiring impulse that moves the heart and controls the behaviour.

Poor soul, you thought when you asked for an increase of income that the people would suspect you of being something of a mammon-worshipper. Never mind: they were cruel and foolish, and they did not know Christ’s great gospel. You were no money-lover, no money-grubber, you only wanted to work your way honestly in the world, and to eat the wealth gotten by honest labour. And you, when you told that huge lie, so black that there is no paint in the darkness grim and gloomy enough to give it right character, when you said that if you had a thousand pounds more you would feed the poor and support the church and did not mean a bit of it, it was a lie you told you were serving mammon. As the poet says of you, anticipating your coming into the world, “You stole the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.”

The passage no longer affrights me, I understand its glorious meaning now. It is impossible to go east and west at the same time: the whole law of gravitation says “No,” in an instant. It cannot be done. And so if I want to be heavenly and worldly it is impossible; if I am heavenly I sanctify the world, if I am worldly I debase the heaven. You are therefore one of two things, and there is no mixture in your character. Judge ye what I say.

Now we come again to the long and yet pithy lecture on earthliness, and its mean and fruitless anxieties. I have gone at length into that subject, yet I have something more to add. You tell me, when the Saviour warns you against thought understanding by that word, as explained in the last lecture, cankering anxiety, killing fretfulnsss that man is an anxious being; you say that no allowance is made for that great constitutional fact that man must forecast and provide and previse and meddle with things contingent and uncertain. You say the gospel arbitrarily forbids that which is instinctive. Let me once more correct your mistake. Jesus Christ does provide for this very instinct of anxiety; in effect he says, “You say you must be anxious: very good, by all means be anxious; be true to your nature, obey the law of your constitution only this is what I have to say to you, be sure you direct your anxiety along the right lines. Do not waste your anxiety, do not make your anxiety a leak in your nature through which all that is sweetest and best may ooze.” Anxious? Certainly, be anxious, but fix your anxiety upon the right object. Thus: Here is a friend who is going to take a railway journey. We will, in imagination, accompany him up to the point of starting. He has gotten everything with him that he thinks he requires. He drives to the station, he hastens to the book-stall, he is most anxious to get the last and best news. He buys papers representing every section of religious and political thought, he fills up his compartment with that varied literature. He has been most anxious about it, most fussy, almost turbulent; he has pushed other people aside in order that he might get his favourite paper and the principal antagonist to the doctrines which he believes in. And now there he is, with his compartment almost snowed up with the literature of the morning. The train will start in a minute. “Tickets, please.” He has not got his ticket. Then he cannot go too late; the law may run that if you have not got your ticket there is no time to get it, and you must wait for the next train. Has the man been anxious? Most anxious about nothing, about the wrong thing. Of course I say to him “Be anxious, be vigilant, be on the alert, be on the qui vive , do not close your eyes and fall into a slumber; be anxious, but be anxious about the right thing, sir.” What avails it that he has stuffed his carriage with the literature of the morning and has forgotten the one thing without which he cannot go? How would you accost him, if he explained his case to you on the platform? You might audibly accost him in the language of sympathy I fancy you would mentally accost him in a more appropriate tone.

That is precisely what many of us are doing, and Jesus Christ says: “Be anxious, most certainly, but do not waste your anxiety; fix it on the right objects, direct it to the proper quarter and the right end; seek, seek, seek” and that word seek, as he spoke it, has in it agony, paroxysm, passion, importunity “seek.” O, how you did misunderstand him when you thought he forbade anxiety, and had omitted a constituent element of your nature, and had made no provision for the outgoing and association of an almost necessary anxiety. He hits the case very graphically, with a sharpness the dullest eye must see; for he says, “Which of you by taking thought, by doing all this kind of thing, of the nature of fretfulness and peevishness, which of you by indulging in that expensive luxury, can add one cubit to his stature?” What does it all come to in practical effect? is the meaning of Christ’s doctrine. Which of you by fretting about tomorrow, planning for it and scheming about it, and worrying out your very souls concerning its fortunes and destinies, can make one hair white or black? There are rocks which your anxiety cannot melt into water; there are great rolling seas which it is not in the power of your anxiety to divide. Spend your solicitude upon the right objects; be careful about the supreme purpose of your existence: in that direction there cannot be too much solicitude. Give your eyes no rest nor close your eyelids in slumber until you have acquainted yourselves with God and become at peace with him. And remember that anxiety, improperly used, wastes your nature, dissipates your energy, incapacitates you for the discharge of the noblest duties of life.

Let us put the thing again before us illustratively. Here is a man whose son is very delicate. He has not known what it was to enjoy a day’s real health since he was born. He appears to be declining day by day in strength. The father comes to us, and we ask questions concerning the child; and in reply to our inquiries the father says, “I am always most anxious that he should dress well, that his gloves should fit him like his skin, that his boots should be of the best possible quality, and that he should never go out without being so dressed as to attract the admiring attention of those who may pass him on the road.” What would you think of a man who could talk so under such circumstances? Do not be hard upon him, because your admission I will take and apply to you as a whip. Do you acquit him? Remember that the judge is condemned when the guilty are acquitted.

This is the very thing we are doing, and Jesus Christ comes to us and says, “Is not the body more than raiment?” So you have said to the man described thus imaginatively, “Sir, what about your boy’s health? Is he getting stronger? is he more robust? what can be done to establish his health? And as for his dress and his gloves and his attire altogether all these things may be left to settle themselves. Seek ye first the establishment of the child’s health.”

Well, then, this Christian doctrine is not so impracticable and otherworldly. This Christian doctrine is not a metaphysical quibble in the clouds; there is downright common-sense strong, robust, graphic common-sense about this Christian preaching. I should not wonder if this carpenter’s Son seated upon the mountain talking to his disciples should turn out, in the long run, to be the world’s greatest preacher. Let us not, however, anticipate, but attend him, and listen with the understanding to. the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth.

It is not enough to speak against anxiety or to direct it into proper quarters. Jesus Christ, recognising this fact, proceeds to mitigate the anxiety that eats up the life like a canker. What do you think he does in the way of mitigation? Something most beautiful. He takes us all out for a day into the open fields. It is only recently that some doctors have learned from the great Physician to get their patients out of town as soon as they could. I speak now to many doctors: stand by that rule, get your patients away out of their old associations, out of their old chambers, where they know every pattern upon the paper, and get them away to the sea, and into the country, and up the mountains and by the riversides as soon as you possibly can, and take your own course as to whether yon throw physic to the dogs. This was Jesus Christ’s plan: he said, “Take a walk, change your circumstances, get rid of these narrow brick walls, get into the wide fields, read the flowers, listen to the music of the birds.” Was this a novel suggestion on the part of Jesus Christ? Not at all. Did he borrow from any man? No, other men borrowed from him, only he was not always the revealed and incarnate Teacher; he was the invisible and incomprehensible Inspirer of all that went before him in the kingdom of truth and light. Where do we find this recipe before? A thousand years prior to the incarnation of the peasant teacher, and a thousand years more than that. Once Zion was ill; she was bowed down to the dust; there was no more hope in her fainting heart, and Jacob was slain with an intolerable thirst. What was the recipe of the divine Physician? Nature. How did it run in English? Thus: “Lift up your eyes and behold who hath created all this.” First he points to the stars, then to the lilies, then to the birds to all nature; its infinite light, its minute flushes and blushings of colour, and its little trills of song from tiny and tremulous throats. Are you in great trouble and care and anxiety? Go away as soon as you can. First of all get a right theological conception of your circumstances and understand that anxiety is wasted energy, if it be directed to such things as lie beyond your control. And then, having taken a right theological view of the case, go away, go into the fields there is healing in nature; she is a kind and noble mother, always ready to nurse and carry us in her generous heart. The soft wind cools our fever, the infinite light charms our despair, the great space offers us new liberties; the all-filling music, subtle as an odour wafted from distant paradises, stirs the heart to better hope. You have no money to go far away, do you say? Then go as far as you can walk. You cannot tell how healing and medicating this is. Kind Nature, Alma Mater, Loving Mother, she spreads her bounties with infinite hospitality, and by every open way to our natures she sends her healing ministries.

You now tell me that whilst you nave no doubt about the doctrine, that you are confronted by certain facts which astound and distress you, facts, for example, of this kind, that good men of your own acquaintance are often in great trouble, that praying men who really and truly love God and wait upon him are sometimes in great straits, and you are puzzled to harmonize the doctrine and the fact. There I think you occupy solid ground, and deserve a respectful answer. My reply is threefold. Trials are useful, trials often develop the best faculties of our nature, qualities that stir us sometimes into our healthiest energy. I would never have known how rich and good some friend were hut for the afflictions that befell me. I have seen what I thought were pampered children, spoiled boys and girls; I have sometimes ventured to reason with the parents as to their method of bringing up their children; I have ventured perhaps to say, “Now, what can become of them in the event of any misfortune befalling you?” I have seen that misfortune come, and I have seen the children of such parents turned out to make their bread, and they have done it with such noble temper, such high quality of heroism, as to affect me deeply with a consciousness of my entire ignorance of what lay hidden in their character. Those children themselves have come to bless the misfortune that battered in the roof of the old house they called their home, those children have, in some cases, traced the beginning of their best and healthiest developments to afflictions which, for the time being, distressed them with intolerable agony. I call you to witness whether you would have been the man you are to-day in wisdom, in range of experience, in mellowness, if your one ewe lamb had not been taken from you, if your fig-tree had not been barked, if your little heritage had not been shaken by the rude winds. You are the sweeter for every loss you have sustained. You are the kinder and nobler for every affliction you have rightly received, your weakness has become your strength.

Then I would remember in the second place that prosperity has its pains and trials. Do not imagine that prosperity of a worldly kind is another word for heaven. You think what you would have done if your circumstances of an outward kind had been very different. You are mistaken. Let us go into this rich man’s fine house and sit in the sumptuously garnished room until he comes in. What a room it is; I see the artist’s hand everywhere. What a beautiful outlook, what noble grounds, what ancient trees, what singing birds! The man who lives here cannot be unhappy; surely this is the very vicinage of some better land. So you soliloquise, and when you get into confidential conversation with the occupant of that noble mansion you may find that there is a thorn under every rose, a worm at every root, bitterness in every cup, and that the house is but a garnished sepulchre. It may be so, it may not be so still the solemn fact remains that prosperity itself is a continual temptation, a subtle and persistent trial of every virtue of the heart.

To this double reply I add another answer, namely, that God knows exactly with how much he can be trusted. If he knows what temptations We can bear, understanding that word in its narrow sense as including only diabolic assaults on the heart, he knows also what prosperity we can bear. He gives me just what I can do with; he that gathers much has nothing over, he that gathers little has no want. A contented spirit is a continual feast; when the heart has rest in God there is always bread enough on the table. We think we can do with more, but God knows what we can do with, and he will see that we shall have it. Your Heavenly Father knows what ye have need of, and his knowledge is the measure of his service. I rest in that doctrine, and no fool can throw a troubling stone into the pacific lake of my profoundest confidence.

Is this a new doctrine in the church assembling in this place? We have often reminded ourselves that the church was founded by the most learned man of his day, the illustrious Dr. Thomas Goodwin, two centuries and a half ago. What was the doctrine he preached what kind of preacher was he? Did he mumble platitudes that had no meaning? Did he speak without accent, or was there a strange sharpness and an occasional tartness in his way of delivering: himself? Was he figurative, illustrative, metaphorical? I will tell you. The other day I met with a short passage in his writings upon this very subject, and I have it before me. Let our founder speak to us, let the illustrious Goodwin come back as it were to his own pulpit and preach a homily in our hearing, and let us listen with a view of ascertaining whether the pulpit of to-day contradicts the pulpit of two centuries ago. Says Goodwin on this particular text, “To do unnecessary things in the first place and neglect those which are most necessary, and put them off to the last is not this the part of a fool? If a man should go to London to get a pardon, or about some great suit at law, and should in the first place spend the most or chiefest of all his time in seeing the lions at the Tower, the tombs in Westminster Abbey, or the streets and buildings of the city, or in visiting friends, and put the other off to the last would he not be a fool?” Why, then, this church is keeping up its old traditions, is speaking in the old, old language, is trying to be as graphic and as keen as was the man who humanly founded it. Yes, a fool. There have been some persons who have objected to the use of that word in the pulpit; I am glad to find that our founder was not among those dainty people. We had better know exactly what is the value of our actions; do not trifle with us, speak a plain clear language about our conduct: if we are acting foolishly do not address us in terms of mere courtesy which would convey a false impression to the mind, tell us exactly what we are and what we are doing, and then in the final day we shall not be able to turn upon our teachers with reproachful face and to pour into their ears an accusing voice.

Now what are we seeking? What is our supreme purpose? What is the set and ambition of our life? Is it to glorify God? Then all the rest will come right. Is it to glorify self? Then nothing we do can ever make it right. You may paint it, decorate it, visor it, mask it it is a lie.

The Lord inspire us with the spirit of truth: may we be found at last, though faint, yet pursuing, our hands indeed weak and tremulous, but using their last energy in gripping the right plough!

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

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.

Ver. 24. No man can serve two masters, &c. ] The mammonist’s mind must needs be full of darkness, because utterly destitute of the Father of lights, the sun of the soul: for ye cannot serve two masters, God and mammon. By mammon is meant earthly treasure, worldly wealth, outward abundance, especially when, gotten by evil arts, it cometh to be the gain of ungodliness, the wages of wickedness, riches of unrighteousness, filthy lucre. a When Joseph was cast into the pit by his bloody brethren, “What gain,” saith Judah, “will it be if we kill him?” Gen 37:26 . The Chaldee there hath it, what mammon shall it be? what can we make of it? what profit shall we reap or receive thereby? Now these two, God and mammon, as they are incompatible masters, so the variance between them is irreconcileable. “Amity with the world is enmity with the Lord,” Jas 4:4 . Enmity, I say, in a sense both active and passive, for it makes a man both to hate God and to be hated by God: so there is no love lost on either side. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” that is flat. But the deeper any one is drowned in the world, the more desperately he is divorced from God, who requireth to be served truly, that there be no halting; and totally, that there be no halving. Camden reports of Redwald, the first king of the East Saxons that was baptized, that he had in the same church one altar for Christian religion and another for sacrifice to devils. b And Callenucius telleth us of a nobleman of Naples, that was wont profanely to say that he had two souls in his body, one for God and another for whomsoever would have it. The Ebionites, saith Eusebius, would keep the sabbath with the Jews and the Lord’s day with the Christians, as if they were of both religions, when, in truth, they were of neither. So Ezekiel’s hearers sat devoutly before the Lord at his public ordinances, and with their mouth showed much love, but their heart, meanwhile, was on their half-penny, it went after their covetousness, Eze 33:31 . So the Pharisees heard Christ’s sermon against the service of mammon, and derided him, Luk 16:13 ; and while their lips seemed to pray, they were but chewing of that murdering-morsel, those widows’ houses that their throats (as an open sepulchre) swallowed down soon after. Thus filled they up the measure of their fathers, those ancient idolaters in the wilderness, who set up a golden calf, and then caused it to be proclaimed, “To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah,” Exo 32:5 . And such is the dealing of every covetous Christian. St Paul calleth him an idolater, St James an adulterer, for he goeth a whoring after his gods of gold and silver; and although he bow not the knee to his mammon, yet with his heart he serveth it. Now “obedience is better than sacrifice;” and, “know ye not,” saith the apostle, “that his servants ye are to whom ye obey?” &c., Rom 6:16 . Inwardly he loves it, delights in it, trusts on it, secures himself by it from whatsoever calamities. Outwardly, he spends all his time upon this idol, in gathering, keeping, increasing, or honouring of it. Hence the jealous God hateth him, and smites his hands at him, Eze 22:13 , and hath a special quarrel against those that bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth, Psa 10:3 . As for his servants, he strictly chargeth them to have their conversation without covetousness, Heb 13:5 , yea, their communication, Eph 5:3 , yea, their cogitation, 2Pe 2:14 ; branding them for cursed children that have so much as their thoughts exercised that way. He will not have his hasten to be rich, or labour after superfluities, no, nor anxiously after necessaries. For worldliness (I say not covetousness), when men oppress themselves with multiplicity of business, or suffer their thoughts and affections to be continually almost taken up with minding these things on earth, is a main hindrance from heaven; it fills the heart with cares, and so unfits and deads it to divine duties, c The thoughts as wings should carry us in worship even to the mansions of God, which being laden with thick clay, they so glue us to the earth that the loadstone of the word and ordinances cannot draw us one jot from it. The soul is also hereby made like a mill, where one cannot hear another, the noise is such as takes away all intercourse ( ). If conscience call to them to take heed of going out of God’s way, they are at as little leisure to listen as he that runs in a race; who many times runs with so much violence, that he cannot hear what is said unto him, be it never so good counsel. And having thus set their hearts and anchored their hopes upon earthly things, if ever they lose them, as it often falleth out, they are filled almost with unmedicinable sorrows, so as they will praise the dead above the living, and wish they had never been born, Ecc 4:1-3 . Lo, this is the guise and guerdon of those inhabitants of the earth, those viri divitiarum, as the Psalmist styles them, those miserable muck-worms that prefer mammon before Messiah, gold before God, money before mercy, earth before heaven; as childish a weakness as that of Honorius the emperor, that preferred a hen before the city of Rome. Mammon, saith one, is a monster, whose head is as subtle as the serpent, whose mouth is wide as hell, eyes sharp as a lizard, scent quick as the vulture, hands fast as harpies, belly insatiable as a wolf, feet swift to shed blood, as a lioness robbed of her whelps. d Ahab will have Naboth’s vineyard, or he will have his blood. Judas was both covetous and a murderer, and therefore a murderer because covetous. He is called also a thief; and why a thief but because a mammonist? Covetousness draws a man from all the commandments, Psa 119:36 . And there want not those that have drawn the covetous person through all the commandments, and proved him an atheist, a papist, a perjurer, a profaner of God’s sabbath, an iron bowelled wretch, a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, a false witness, or whatsoever else the devil will. And can this man ever serve God acceptably? can he possibly please two so contrary masters? No; he may sooner reconcile fire and water, look with the one eye upward and with the other eye downward, bring heaven and earth together, and grip them both in a fist, as be habitually covetous and truly religious. These two are as inconcurrent as two parallel lines, and as incompatible as light and darkness. They who bowed down on their knees to drink of the waters were accounted unfit soldiers for Gideon; so are those for Christ, that stoop to the base love of the things of this life ( ); they discredit both his work and his wages; which Abraham would not, that ancient and valiant soldier and servant of the most high God. For when Melchisedeck from God had made him heir of all things, and brought him bread and wine, that is, an earnest, a little for the whole, &c., he refused the riches that the king of Sodom offered him, because God was his shield and his exceeding great reward, Gen 14:18-19 ; Gen 14:23 ; Gen 15:1 ; his shield against any such enemies as Chedorlaomer and his complices had been unto him, and his exceeding great reward, for all his labour of love in that or any other service, though he received not of any man, from a thread to a shoelatchet.

a Magna est cognatio divitiis et vitiis.

b Unam Deo dicatam, alteram unicuique qui illam vellet.

c .

d Quorum charismata, numismata, scripturae, sculpturae, quibusque , ut vulgo dici solet.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

24. ] And this division in man’s being cannot take place he is and must be one light or dark serving God or Mammon.

] Not merely ‘ serve ,’ but in that closer sense in which he who serves is the of, i.e. belongs to, and obeys entirely, , , , . Chrysost. Hom. xxi. 1, p. 269. See Rom 6:16-17 .

is not a repetition; but the suppositions are the reverse of one another: as Meyer expresses it, ‘He will either hate A and love B, or cleave to A and despise B:’ and keeping their individual reference in both members. and must be given their full meaning, or the depth of the saying is not reached: the sense ‘minus diligo, posthabeo’ (Bretschneider) for would not bring out the opposition and division of the nature of man by the attempt.

] Chaldee, , (from , confisus est,) riches. ‘Congruit et Punicum nomen, nam lucrum Punice mammon dicitur.’ August, in loc. Mammon does not appear to have been the name of any Syrian deity, as Schleusner asserts. Tholuck has shewn that the idea rests only on the testimony of Papias, an obscure grammarian of the eleventh century. Schl. refers to Tertullian, who, however, says nothing of the kind (see adv. Marc. iv. 33, vol. ii. pp. 439 ff., which must be the place meant, but not specified by Schl.).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 6:24 . Parable of the two masters . : 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. : We may take this clause as referring to the case of honest preference. A slave has his likes and dislikes like other men. And he will not do things by halves. His preference will take the form of love, and his aversion that of hate. , etc.: this clause may be taken as referring to the case of interest. The slave may not in his heart care for either of the rival masters. But he must seem to care, and the relative power or temper of one as compared to the other, may be the ground of his decision. And having decided, he attaches himself, , to the one, and ostentatiously disregards the other. In ordinary circumstances there would be no room for such a competition of masters. But a case might occur in time of war when the conquered were sold into slavery. , etc. Application of the parable to God and earthly possessions. , wealth personified = Plutus, a Chaldee, Syriac, and Punic word (“lucrum punice mammon dicitur,” Aug. de S. D.) derived from = to conceal or to trust ( vide Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. , p. 1217). The meaning is not, “ye cannot serve God and have riches,” but “ye cannot be faithful to God and make an idol of wealth”. “Non dixit, qui habet divitias, sed qui servit divitiis,” Jerome.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 6:24

24″No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Mat 6:24 “No one can serve two masters” This puts the world in stark reality. This is the reduction of true life to one simple choice. Humans are not really free. They serve one of two masters (cf. 1Jn 2:15-17).

“he will hate the one and love the other, or” These are in a parallel relationship. The Hebrew terms “hate” and “love” were idioms of comparison (cf. Gen 29:30-31; Gen 29:33; Mal 1:2-3; Mat 21:15; Luk 14:26; Joh 12:25, and Rom 9:13). It does not refer to hate in the traditional sense, but one’s priority.

NASB, NRSV”You cannot serve God and wealth”

NKJV”You cannot serve God and mammon”

TEV”You cannot serve both God and money”

NJB”You cannot be the slave both of God and of money”

The term “wealth” was from the Hebrew root “to store up” or “to entrust.” It was used originally to denote a person putting his trust in another by investing money with him. It came to mean “that in which one trusted.” It seems to emphasize the object on which one bases his security. A. T. Robertson asserted that this term was used by the Syrians for the name of a money god. Although this has been denied by more recent scholarship, it would seem to be a logical analogy. William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible, on Matthew, vol. 1 p. 252, asserts that in the ancient Mediterranean world mammon came to be spelled with a capital “M,” a way to designate deity.

Money itself is not the problem, but the priority of money (cf. 1Ti 6:10). The tragedy of money is that we never have enough and soon it possesses us instead of us possessing it. The more we have, the more we are worried about losing it, and thereby, we are consumed with protecting it. See Special Topic below.

SPECIAL TOPIC: WEALTH

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

No man = No one. Greek. oudeis. See App-105.

can = is able to.

serve. As a bondservant.

masters. Greek. kurios. See App-98.

hate: or care not for.

cannot = are not (App-105.) able to.

mammon = riches. An Aramaic word. See App-94. Luk 16:13.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

24.] And this division in mans being cannot take place-he is and must be one-light or dark-serving God or Mammon.

] Not merely serve, but in that closer sense in which he who serves is the of, i.e. belongs to, and obeys entirely, , , , . Chrysost. Hom. xxi. 1, p. 269. See Rom 6:16-17.

is not a repetition; but the suppositions are the reverse of one another: as Meyer expresses it, He will either hate A and love B, or cleave to A and despise B: and keeping their individual reference in both members. and must be given their full meaning, or the depth of the saying is not reached: the sense minus diligo, posthabeo (Bretschneider) for would not bring out the opposition and division of the nature of man by the attempt.

] Chaldee, , (from , confisus est,) riches. Congruit et Punicum nomen, nam lucrum Punice mammon dicitur. August, in loc. Mammon does not appear to have been the name of any Syrian deity, as Schleusner asserts. Tholuck has shewn that the idea rests only on the testimony of Papias, an obscure grammarian of the eleventh century. Schl. refers to Tertullian, who, however, says nothing of the kind (see adv. Marc. iv. 33, vol. ii. pp. 439 ff., which must be the place meant, but not specified by Schl.).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 6:24. , masters) God and Mammon in sooth act as master to their servants, but in different ways.-, to serve) i.e.[278] to be a servant of.- , for either) Each part of this disjunctive sentence has (and) with a consecutive force, viz. The heart of man cannot be so free as not to serve either God or a creature, nor can it serve them both at once;[279] for it either still remains in enmity with God or it takes Gods part. In the one case, then () it cannot but love Mammon; in the other, then () it cannot but despise Mammon. This statement may be inverted, so that the clause referring to the laudable state of mind may precede the other. Cf. Mat 6:22-23. Attachment and a desire to please are consequent upon either servitude. See Mat 6:21.- , to serve God) Which is described in Luk 12:35-36.[280]-, Mammon) Mammon does not only mean affluence, but external goods, however few. See Mat 6:25.[281] Augustine[282] tells us, that both in Phnician and Chaldee mammon signifies gain.

[278] With ones full powers.-V. g.

[279] Although very many think themselves thoroughly versed in this art of combining both.-V. g.

[280] The servants of Mammon, in obedience to their natural instincts, hate Him, who alone is good.-V. g.

[281] Yea, even the commonest necessaries of life. Comp. Mat 6:32. But if even such a service of Mammon, as affects the mere necessaries of life, is opposed to the service of GOD, what then are we to suppose it to be to serve GOD. It is this: to be borne towards Him with the full tide of love, and with uninterrupted regard.-V. g.

[282] AURELIUS AUGUSTINUS, one of the most celebrated fathers of the Western Church, was born at Tagasta, in Africa, in 354. His mother Monica was a holy Christian woman: his father a heathen, in which religion he was educated. His early career, though one of extreme brilliancy, was disfigured by profligacy. At length, however, he embraced Christianity; was baptized by St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in 387; ordained priest in 391; and consecrated in 395 Bishop of Hippo, where he died in 430.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

serve: Mat 4:10, Jos 24:15, Jos 24:19, Jos 24:20, 1Sa 7:3, 1Ki 18:21, 2Ki 17:33, 2Ki 17:34, 2Ki 17:41, Eze 20:39, Zep 1:5, Luk 16:13, Rom 6:16-22, Gal 1:10, 2Ti 4:10, Jam 4:4, 1Jo 2:15, 1Jo 2:16

mammon: Luk 16:9, Luk 16:11, Luk 16:13, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10, 1Ti 6:17

Reciprocal: Gen 29:30 – he loved Gen 29:31 – was hated Gen 47:17 – for horses Lev 11:20 – General Deu 22:9 – shalt not sow Jos 22:5 – serve Jdg 6:25 – even 2Sa 12:10 – because Psa 119:10 – my whole Psa 119:69 – with my whole Ecc 2:3 – and to lay Ecc 5:10 – He that Eze 33:31 – but their Hos 7:8 – a cake Hos 10:2 – Their heart is divided Mat 12:30 – that is Mat 13:22 – the care Mat 19:22 – for Luk 8:14 – and are Rom 1:25 – the creature Rom 16:18 – serve 1Co 10:21 – cannot drink 2Co 6:16 – what Eph 6:5 – be 1Ti 6:2 – let Jam 1:8 – General Rev 3:15 – thou

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE TWO MASTERS

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

This is one of those passages which are very hard to preach upon honestly, making the words mean what they do, and refraining from making them seem to mean what they do not.

I. The sanctification of labour.Jesus Christ, Who made men to live together, and to live by their labour, and Who so ordered the world that men should have to lay up to-day what would be wanted to-morrowsow in order to reap, gather in summer what would not be given in winterHe, Who appointed all this, spoke these words for the instruction of men who, He knew, would have to live by their business and by their looking forward; and He spake them not only for those who first heard them, but for all generations to the end of time. To the first-called, indeed, those sharp, stern words, No man can serve two masters, Take no thought for the morrow, Take no thought for your life, had the most literal meaning which they could have. But Christ did not mean His Gospel to be always beginning, always a time of introducing His religion to the world. When the Apostles work was done, and the Gospel had taken possession of whole nations, men who had learned the great lesson about Christ and everlasting life were to return to their work and ordinary employment. The world was still to go on; and it can only go on by men being busy and provident, by their labouring each at his trade, and, as it is called, making money. Our Lord did not mean to abolish and condemn labour and business. What He meant to do was to fill it all with His Heavenly Spirit, to purify, sanctify, to direct it to its true end.

II. The essence of Christianity.But He did not speak in vain when He said: No man can serve two masters; Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; Take no thought for the morrow. He did not speak them merely for those who were to have the hard and painful work of setting up the beginnings of the Church; He spake them for Christians of quiet and settled times as well; and perhaps they are more solemn in their living and eternal meaning to us, who are not meant to fulfil them literally. Worldliness was not likely to be the special temptation of those who had (literally) given up all they had, and were going to die for Christ, but to those who are called to live a busy life in the world, whose duty it is to guide its affairs, to provide for their families. His words throw a responsibility upon us to live after their true spirit, and supply a test, which is continually making proof of the earnestness of our conscience. They remind us that the Gospel is a religion which was founded on the sacrifice of all that the world holds dear. Sacrifice of self, of will, of pleasure, of hope.

III. Our home not here.These words remind us, also, that our religion is one in which this world is absolutely as nothing in comparison with the world to come. Our home is not here. The will, the whole Will of God will be done, must be done there. No one there can serve two masters, and the time, during which it is possible to try and do it here, is as nothing compared to that eternity in which we shall have to take the consequences and lament our folly.

Dean Church.

Illustration

Are you not, at this moment, trying to give a divided service, and therefore are you not living a double life? You try to combine spiritual things with secular. Each has its plan, its time, its consideration. Now, it is an earthly object; now, it is a heavenly. Christ here, the world there. Your aim and intention is to compass bothto please both, to enjoy both. You know how differently you feel, and speak, and act, according to the circumstances in which you are placed. You wish to serve and enjoy Godyou wish to serve and enjoy this present lifeas much as you possibly can. So it comes to pass, that a divided service is making a double life? Now, what is a double life in the sight of Almighty God? He does not acknowledge it; He declares it is an impossibility. The far end, the centre of thought, the chief delight, determines who the master is. The master can only be one. And, your conscience being judge, if the world is uppermost, the world is your master; and if you serve the world you cannot serve God!

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

First Things First

Mat 6:24-26

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

What God puts first, we may not put second. There are some things that have our first thought, our first consideration. There are some other things that should be done first, before other things are done. The very word “first” carries with it the thought of precedence. Not but what the second and perhaps a third thing should be done, but that the first thing should have the place of prominence, or be given priority over other things.

In deciding what should be first we have some instructions from God which will be worthy of obedience.

The first verse of the Bible opens, “In the beginning God.” This is the order in which God should always be placed-first, ahead of all other persons or things. The creator should have pre-eminence over the creature; the potter should have “first place” over the clay.

A boastful student sought to humanize God, when, in his graduating thesis, he wrote:-

“Not throned above the stars of night,

Here in America we must see,

The love of man to man,

A new world, republican,

A Christ not super-human,

But reborn in man and woman.”

To make sure the meaning of his words, we quote this striking phrase from his poem:

“Mankind, is Christ, retired, re-crucified;

No God for a gift God gave us,

Mankind and man alone must save us.”

He who breathes the spirit of this verse, sets himself up above the Creator. He cries out with Pharaoh, “Who is the God of the Jews, I know Him not, neither will I serve Him.” He listens to the age-worn voice of Satan as he said to the first parents, “Ye shall be as gods.”

The second man, Cain, breathed this spirit of self-pride and of boastful arrogance, when he refused to bend the knee to God as a suppliant, in need of atoning Blood, but professed himself an equal, if not a peer to the Almighty, willing merely to pass respects with God.

Nebuchadnezzar gave himself the first place when, as he viewed the walls of Babylon and her hanging gardens, festooned with ferns and flowers and filled with birds, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?”

The Book of Romans sums up this spirit of debasing God and of deifying man, when it says, “And changed the glory of God into an image made like to corruptible man.” * * “And worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.”

I. CHRIST PRE-EMINENT (Col 1:18)

In our Scripture text, we are told to give Christ preeminence-that is to make Him first. He should have first place because He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature. In the beginning before anything was made that is made, Christ was with God, and Christ was God. By Him all things were made that are in heaven and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers, all things were made by Him and for Him, and He is before all things and in Him all things are held together.

If in order Christ is God and God is first, then the things which God created, and which are the work of His own hands, acknowledged Him Head to all things. Mark the significance of these words:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Shall we leave Christ there on the Cross, in our thinking and words and deeds? Shall we add other thorns to His brow, and other nails for His hands and feet? Shall we mingle our spit with the spit of the maddened rulers?

Or, shall we do what God the Father did-“Wherefore God also hath exalted Him, and given a Name that is above every name.”

God has said, “That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow,” and “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

When Victoria was crowned queen of England, it is said that at a signal in the ceremonies the old coronation hymn was to be sung. When they came to the words, “And crown Him Lord of all,” all the high-born ladies and lords of the realm were to bend the knee, while the queen wearing her new crown was to rise with bowed head. When the ceremonies reached the singing of

“All hail the power of Jesus’ Name,

Let angels prostrate fall,

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all,”

then all fell to their knees, and the Queen of England like-wise fell down as a suppliant, and crowned Christ as her Lord, and as Lord of all.

Are we willing now to crown Him? Are we ready to make the glad acclaim?

II. GOD FIRST IN OUR GIFTS (1Ki 17:13-15)

Elijah arose and went unto Zarephath where God had commanded a widow to sustain him. Upon arrival Elijah found the woman gathering sticks: and he called unto her and said, “Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink, * * and * * a morsel of bread in thine hand.”

The widow replied, “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Elijah answered. “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”

Even so it came to pass. The barrel of meal wasted not, nor did the oil fail.

There is a tremendous lesson in all of this for us. If God is first in honor and glory and in the worship of our hearts, He should be first in our gifts. How can we forget that the firstfruits of all our substance belong unto God? Before we meet our own needs, we should give to God His tithe, or even more than a tithe.

Is not God back of all that we possess? Does He not give us the power to make money? Are the cattle on a thousand hills not His? Are not the silver and the gold His? Have we not received of His bounties? Has not our God given us the increase of our fields? Shall we think first of ourselves when He has thought first of us?

III. GOD SHOULD BE FIRST IN OUR AFFECTIONS (Luk 9:58-62)

In this passage there are three would-be followers. The first wanted to follow Christ, but Christ plainly told him that “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” That seemed to put a quietus on that young man.

The second would have liked to have followed Christ, but he said, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father.”

The third would also follow, but he said, “Let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house.”

What right have we to place anything ahead of Christ and of God? The two tables of stone carried first our duties toward God, and secondly our duties toward our fellow man. We have no right to say that the first and great commandment is “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” for that is the second great commandment. The first commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”

Jesus Christ must have an unrivaled supremacy in the affections of the heart. If any man love father or mother more than Christ, he is not worthy of Christ; if any man love brother or sister more than Christ, he is not worthy of Christ. If any man loves wife, or any wife loves husband more than Christ, each is unworthy of Christ.

Peter said to Christ, “Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee.”

The Lord Jesus must have the first place in the affections. There is a story of the Roman Senate sending to Paul and offering him a nook in the Parthenon where he might place the relics of his God along by the side of the gods of other religions. Paul is reputed to have written to the Roman Senate and to have said, “My Lord will not share honor with any other. He must have all of the Parthenon, or He will have none.

IV. GOD MUST BE FIRST IN OUR OBEDIENCE (Act 4:18-20)

Peter felt this most keenly and expressed it most clearly when they said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Children should obey their parents, but they are told to obey them in the Lord. The authority of Christ must take precedence over parents.

Citizens should pay tribute to their governments, and obey the voice of their governments as expressed in its laws, but citizens should place God as supreme. We should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s but we should render to God the things that are God’s.

If the government should dictate to us concerning our obedience to Christ, we should reply, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak (or do) the things which we have seen and heard.”

When the soldiers of the Third Georgia Regiment, marched down the Central City Park (Macon, Ga.) under review of President McKinley it was a beautiful sight. How marvelously they obeyed the calls of their commanders! They stood still, or went forward, or turned right about face, and marched, as one man. Whenever the clarion voice of the officer gave the order, they obeyed.

We need obedience such as this in the Church of Christ. We should give ourselves first unto God.

We well remember speaking to an intimate friend of our college days. He had gone far beyond us in a collegiate way. He was ready to stand in the front of any educational standard. We met him as we walked across the campus in Northfield, Mass. A little later as we strolled together, we said, “Arthur, is your life wholly yielded to God?” He said, “No, Ed, it is not.” We said, “What, and you a minister of the Gospel and not yielded to God?” He told us the reason for his statement was that he had great plans to lead his denomination, and to surpass other preachers, and that he was working for a big church no matter what God said. Alas, alas! However, thank God, he soon did yield himself to God, without reservations, and today he is preaching the Gospel in the distant mission fields, being greatly used of the Lord.

V. GOD SHOULD BE FIRST IN THE SINNER’S QUEST (Mat 6:33)

There is a verse of Scripture that comes into our mind. All of you are familiar with it. “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness.”

Before Christ spoke these words He said, “Take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.”

That Christ did not mean that such things had no place we know, because He Himself gave them a place. However, He did teach that they should not have the first place, for He said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness.”

The question is that of preferment. There are some who give God no place at all. They live for the things which are seen. They lay up their treasures on earth. They love the present world. God is entirely forgotten and neglected. Christ has no place in their lives.

There are some who give God a place, but a small place. They relegate Christ and religion to some small recess of their heart. They carry a form of religion. They give the Lord a passing consideration. However, their chief thought is the world and the things of the world. They may appear to love God, but they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Let us look at this thing from another angle. There are some who want to be saved, but they do not want to be saved now. They first want to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; they first want to fulfill the desires of their flesh and of their mind. Then they argue with themselves that sometime, in the distant years they will turn to God.

This is all wrong. If one is coming to Christ he should come now. He should make Christ first, salvation first, Heaven first.

REMEMBER OUR TEXT-THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT BE FIRST.

AN ILLUSTRATION

How shabbily many of us treat the Lord! His work demands money. How can men go forth to the far-flung mission fields unless they are sent and sustained by the ones at home? How can the churches at home become effective unless the saints at home stand by them with their gifts?

Years ago we visited a church with one hundred thrifty members. They had given, during the past year the miserly sum of $5.00 to Home and Foreign missions in a whole year. We spoke to one of their members, a stalwart farmer. We asked him how many bales of cotton he had made the past season. He responded, “One hundred.” We asked him if he had been a Jew how many bales the law would have required at his hand, for God’s treasury. He told us “ten.” Ten bales of cotton represented $500 in those days. He had raised also an abundance of peanuts, corn, oats, and everything else raised on a Southern plantation. We asked him how much of the $5.00 he had given, and he said, “Twenty-five cents.”

Alas, alas. That is too often the story. The reason some give nothing and others give so little, is because God does not hold the first place in their lives. The Macedonian Christians first gave themselves unto God. Because of this, they also gave of their money, as they were able, yea, and more than they were able. In their deep poverty and affliction they abounded unto the riches of their liberality. They gave as they were able, yea and more than they were able, interesting the Apostle Paul to accept their gifts and to minister unto the needy saints.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

6:24

In the time of Christ and the apostles the country had many slaves and the relation of master and slave was referred to frequently in the speech and literature. If a man belonged to a certain master he would not be able nor even should desire to serve another or to divide his services. It he so much as attempted to do so he would be brought to punishment by his rightful master. Jesus made his own application of the illustration by comparing it to God and mammon. That word is derived from a Chaldean one that is defined, “what is trusted: treasure; riches.” We have seen in verses 19-21 above that our wealth can become an idol in our hearts, and that would make it another god that would be a rival of the true God. The lesson is that we must not try to divide our devotion between God and anything or anyone else.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 6:24. A still plainer illustration, to prove that man cannot be thus divided, must be one, light or dark, servant of God or of Mammon. Serve, i.e., be the slave of, yielding entire obedience. A hired servant might faithfully serve two masters, but such service is not meant here.

For either he will hate the one, etc. Explanations: (1) The suppositions the reverse of each other, with no particular difference between the two sets of verbs: He will either hate A and love B, or cleave to A and despise B. (2) The second clause less strong than the first, the reference being to the proper master and a usurper; the servant may hate the proper master, and love the usurper, or if he love the former cleave to him, and despise the latter. The proper master (God) may be loved or hated, but cannot be despised. Hence in any case one in the latter clause must be God.

Ye cannot serve God and mammon. This is the direct application. Money in opposition to God is personified and regarded as an idol, somewhat like Plutus, although it cannot be shown that such an idol was worshipped (Olshausen). The Chaldee word mammon originally meant trust or confidence, and riches are the trust of worldly men. If God be not the object of supreme trust, something else will be, and it is most likely to be money. We must choose. Not the possession of money, but its mastery over the mind, is condemned.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here a two-fold master spoken of, God and the world. God is our master by creation, preservation, and redemption; he has appointed us our works, and secured us our wages. This world is our master by intrusion, usurpation, and a general estimation: too many esteeming it as their chief good, and delighting in it as their chief joy.

Observe, 2. That no man can serve these two masters, who are of contrary interests, and issue out contrary commands; when two masters are subordinate, and their commands subservient each to the other, the difficulty of serving both is not great; but where the commands interfere, and interests clash, it is impossible. No man can serve God and the world, but he may serve God with the world: no man can seek God and mammon both as his chief good and ultimate end; because no man can divide his heart betwixt God and the world.

Learn, That to love the world as our chief good, and to serve the world as our chief and sovereign commander, cannot stand with the love and service which we bear and owe to God. The world’s slaves, whilst such, can be none of God’s freemen.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 6:24. No man can serve two masters Whose interests and commands are directly contrary to each other; for either he will hate the one and love the other And therefore, while he employs himself in the service of the one, will, of course, neglect the interest of the other: or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other That is, will adhere entirely to the love and service of the one, and quite abandon the other. Do not therefore impose upon yourselves so far as to imagine that your hearts can be equally divided between heaven and earth. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, that unworthy idol, to which many devote their hearts and their lives. Mammon is a Syriac word for riches, which our Lord here beautifully represents as a person whom the folly of men had deified. It is well known that the Greeks had a fictitious god of wealth; but I cannot find, says Dr. Doddridge, that he was ever directly worshipped in Syria under the name of Mammon. According to some, the term is derived from

, amen, and signifies whatever one is apt to confide in. And, because men put their trust generally in external advantages, such as riches, authority, honour, power, &c., the word mammon is used to denote every thing of that kind, and particularly riches, by way of eminence. The word hate, in this verse, signifies, to have a less value for, and to love, is to have a greater regard for, as appears from the remaining part of the verse, and from Mat 10:37, compared with Luk 12:16. See Bishop Newtons Notes on Paradise Lost, 1:620.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 24

Hate the one; that is, be indifferent to him. The word hate is frequently used in a sense analogous to this.–Hold to the one; be devoted to his service:–Despise; disregard.–Mammon; a heathen deity, supposed to preside over riches. The idea is, you cannot serve God and also fix your hearts upon this world.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

6:24 {8} No man can serve {h} 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 {i} mammon.

(8) God will be worshipped by the whole man.

(h) Who are at odds with one another, for if two agree they are as one.

(i) This word is a Syrian word, and signifies all things that belong to money.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The choice between two masters is behind the choice between two treasures and the choice between two visions. "Mammon" is the transliteration of the emphatic form of the Aramaic word mamona meaning wealth or property. The root word mn in both Hebrew and Aramaic indicates something in which one places confidence. Here Jesus personified it and set it over against God as a competing object of confidence. Jesus presented God and Mammon as two slave owners, masters.

". . . single ownership and fulltime service are of the essence of slavery." [Note: Tasker, p. 76.]

A person might be able to work for two different employers at the same time. However, God and Mammon are not employers but slave owners. Each demands single-minded devotion. To give either anything less is to provide no true service at all.

"Attempts at divided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to discipleship, but deep-seated commitment to idolatry." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 179.]

"The principle of materialism is in inevitable conflict with the kingship of God." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 263.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)