Matthew 6:24,25
With this very short, matter-of-fact statement in the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 16:13), Jesus declared that God and Wealth (identified by Him as the rival master), would compete for our hearts as our God/god. The nature of Greed was well developed, and devotion to it well established in Jesus' time. "Mammon" may as well be the name of a god. It demands deep, unwavering devotion. It possesses the souls of any who would devote their lives to it. I dominates our thoughts, feelings and actions. As people obsess over obtaining it for themselves, they are in fact owned by it, run by it, possessed by it. Jesus pointed out that we are not meant to have two LORDS in our lives. We cannot faithfully serve both God and Wealth. We will hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. But you see, we have tried to ride the fence, walk some line between and give lip service to God while truly serving Wealth as our god. We offer God our praise and tithes, as a very religious way of courting Wealth, our real god, in order to obtain its favor. We praise God with our lips, but our hearts are full of greed for more wealth (Mark 7:6-8). And we despise Jesus for pointing things like this out to us. We resent that we cannot get away with it, so we ignore what Jesus taught and exemplified, distort it, twist it or take it out of context to allow us to continue our duplicitous faith lives.
James 4:1-12
The New Testament prophet, James, points out that our devotion to our god - Mammon, is at the heart of why we engage in war, quarrel among our selves, commit all manner of sins against one another and are never satisfied. It is not for a lack of prayer that we do not get what we want, but a lack of concern for anyone else's well being. The nature of our greed means that our prayers are dominated by our being "blessed and highly favored", sometimes to the neglect of others around us in need, and sometimes because of our exploitation of them in order to get more. We will use our Military, Political Allegiances, our dominance of The World Trade Organization, fear, hatred, conspiracies, false accusations, lies, deception, corrupt power, charm and whatever else we need to use to get more for our selves at the expense of others around the world and within our own nation. A very few people, driven by their devotion to Mammon, control the soul of our nation for their own gain at the expense of the rest of us and others, and they will do ANYTHING to please their god.
The Old Testament prophets said it was wrong.
Jesus said it was wrong.
The Apostles and New Testament prophet said it was wrong.
Prophetic voices in our day and time, indeed for the past 32 years especially, have said it is wrong.
But at the promise of getting the benefits of pleasing this god, MANY have bowed down and serve it in their lives. They think it serves them, but it possesses their soul and ultimately the soul of our nation. We are arrogant, violent, selfish, defensive, ruthless and mean-spirited, because that is what it takes to offer our devotion to the god of wealth - greed - mammon. We have wiped out the land's original inhabitants for it, justifying it with a hatred based on a false sense of self-righteousness. We have enslaved generations for it, rationalizing it with a belief in our superiority. We have held people down for it, claiming that it was their lack of something and not our ruthlessness and exploitation that made it happen. We continue to exterminate, exploit and exclude others in our own country and the world because we want it all for our selves, as the true believers in it - all while claiming the name of Jesus with our lips and form of worship, but in function bowing at the feet of Mammon. Our value for independence of will separates us from the plight of those whom we trample. Our value for laissez-faire economics allows us to re-define morality in only sexual terms, so that we can ignore the deplorable nature of our actions. Our cries for limitless freedom and therefore profit in the world allow us to destroy the creation upon which we depend and other human beings with whom we are spiritually connected, all so that we can get MORE, NOW and only for "us". With all of this, our sense of entitlement has grown, so that we are indignant when anyone who is NOT "us" challenges us, gets some for themselves or claims a different value. We quite arrogantly claim faithfulness to Jesus, while giving our devotion to Mammon.
In order to follow Jesus, we must go where Jesus has gone and do what Jesus teaches, directs and commands us to do. If we were to live the Agape Love (committed action on behalf of the other) that Jesus COMMANDS, we would truly love neighbor as self and love God with all that we have. That is a threat to Mammon, for it means that our value would not just be for those things that keep our devotion tied to Mammon - the promotion of self above all else. It means we would value Jesus and His Way over Wealth and its ways, people over profit and the creation over quick personal gains. We would not believe that "the end justifies the means". We would not value self-indulgence over a true, loving relationship with God and people.
You cannot serve both. People who try to are deceived and deceivers. To whom will you submit your Will and conform your Way? Will it be the Way of Jesus - the Way of Agape Love, or will it be the way of Greed - the way of ruthless self pursuits? You cannot serve both; for you will either hate God for not letting you have whatever and however much you want and love Mammon for promising it to you, or you will be devoted to Mammon in order to whatever you want and despise God for not promising the same things. Or you will Agape Love God and Neighbor, and give your true devotion, singularly to God, knowing that it is best for you and everyone else. Make a strong choice and be genuine in living in it. God is worth it. Neighbor is worth it. You are worth it.
Pastor Jamie
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