No One Can Serve
Pastor Zach Pummill • February 07, 2021
Sermon Overview
MATTHEW 6:19–21, 24–34
In this passage we see Jesus’s statement how no one can serve two masters, no one can serve God and money. We consider how we approach money in the same way that we should approach God, and we trust that it will provide us with security and satisfaction. But when we have a wrong view of money, it creates anxiety. How does Jesus speak into this anxiety and offer something better?
Sermon Transcript
Good morning. Today we are talking about everybody's two favorite topics. First is money. So we'll be taking up a little special offering at the end of the day, let you make little vow of faith, plant that seed money and just wait on that abundance.
And secondly, we're going to talk about anxiety. Which is good. Because after last week's sermon, Marq had all of us go home and immediately cancel that camping trip, for fear of being eaten by wolves. Maybe we'll just take a little stroll around the block. No, we can't, because you might be kidnapped. Thank you, Marq for making us all afraid to leave our homes.
So today, money and anxiety are on the table. And really what better topic to talk about in these uncertain times?
We're in the middle of a series called "No One Can." And it's in this series that we're looking at the exclusive statements that Jesus makes that begin with those three words, 'no one can.' So we've considered how no one can see the kingdom of God, unless they are born from above. We've considered that no one can come unto Jesus unless the father draws them. No one can take Jesus's life from him. He lays it down of his own accord for you. And no one, can snatch you away from the hands of Jesus because you are secure in his hands. You can think about this series and these 'no one can' statements as these statements tell the story of your life.
And thus far in this series the statements that we've considered really fall into a broader category of telling us how we enter into this kingdom. They remind us of how God initiates the work of salvation in our lives. But today, we consider a statement that comes down to ground level. And it addresses not so much how we enter into the kingdom, but how we live by the values of this kingdom. Today Jesus says to you, "No one can serve two masters. No one can serve God and money."
And right there we cringe a little bit and we think, "Easy, hands off. I love hearing about God's love and saving and rescuing me. I love that he's taking care of my eternity, but don't start poking around on my bank account. Don't start doing a financial audit on my life."
Tim Keller tells a story about how he did a men's breakfast a number of years ago. And in that men's breakfast, they went through the seven deadly sins - envy, pride, lust, and so on. And his wife Kathy, asked him one day, she said, "Are you telling people ahead of time? Are you publicizing what each of the topics is going to be each week?" And Tim said, "Yeah, we're letting everybody know what we're going to be looking at." And she said, "I bet the week you talk about greed will be the least attended." And Tim didn't think so. And it turns out, the week they talked about greed, she was right. She was really right. Because hardly anybody showed up that week. And why is that?
Well, the easy answer is that people just don't like to talk about money. We all know that. But I think the deeper answer is, perhaps, is that nobody thinks they're greedy. Greed is deceptive. It has a strange way of hiding itself, in your life. Partly because the way we use our money, how we consider using our money, we can very quickly look outside of ourselves and compare ourselves with others.
So we look at that neighbor that is driving that Mercedes. Or we look at someone that just posted a picture of a new kitchen, a lavish vacation. We see how friends are always wearing new clothes, we see a co-worker and how they live their lifestyle. We see the new toys that our neighbors constantly seem to be buying. And we think to ourselves, "Well, at least I don't spend my money like that", right?
And yet, isn't that a bit hypocritical on our part? We don't like it when Jesus pokes around on us and does a financial audit on our lives. And yet isn't that exactly what we are doing whenever we look around and survey the lives of others? We can easily find someone that makes us look frugal. We can find somebody that makes us look like Ebenezer Scrooge, if we look hard enough. Because greed is deceptive. Greed can so easily hide itself in your life. And Jesus says greed is very destructive, which is all the more important that we understand how it looks, how it operates. But greed is deceptive and it hides and it especially hides in a culture like ours.
I read this week about a new documentary that just premiered this week on HBO. It's called Fake Famous. And it's a documentary that they say they are trying to expose how ripe our culture is for manipulation. And this documentary explores the world of social media influencers. And if you don't know what a social media influencer is, it's basically somebody that makes money simply because they have lots of followers on social media. And so companies use these accounts to promote their products, because of the exposure that it will give them. So the documentary talks about how people used to be famous because they have a skill, right? Like a chef, an author, an athlete, an artist. But now with the onset of reality TV and social media, people are just famous for being famous. And so the filmmaker set out on a little experiment, to take three normal people and see if he could transform them into influencers, and make them fake famous.
And so he gave each of them a makeover. He spent a few thousand dollars on each of them to buy up a bunch of followers for their social media accounts, which really are just bots posing as followers and posting fake comments. And then he rented a mansion and a private jet to stage photo shoots. And the filmmaker points out that none of this has to actually be true, whatsoever. The whole industry is built on presenting a lifestyle that people want to mimic. In fact, he said everybody knows it's in nobody's best interest to ask questions and reveal the deception. As long as it fabricates a certain lifestyle, well, the money's made and the rest is history.
You might think to yourself, "What a weird little subculture that is in our greedy little world." Hardly. Oh, it's much bigger than that. To give you a sense of how powerful of a phenomenon this is and how pervasive it is in our culture, there's a recent study that came out that survey children between the ages of 6 and 17. And 50% of those kids surveyed, said that their career of choice is to be an influencer. Fifty percent. Billions of dollars have been made in this manufacturing of online lifestyles that have zero connection with reality. And the filmmaker, his name is Nick Bolton, he summed it up quite nicely. He said, "It's an industry that has figured out how to monetize making you feel worse about your life." Because you are constantly presented with what you don't have.
And what's my point? Well, who's going to feel greedy living in that type of culture? Who's going to feel greedy living in a world that's obsessed with excess, lifestyle brands, influencers and a media machine that's constantly showing what you could have, and constantly reminding you of what you don't have? It's the very envy that drives people to follow these accounts that hides the very greed that drives the industry. It gives you that built-in out, it plagues that notion within us that always wants us to compare ourselves with somebody on the outside. And so when it's always telling you what you don't have, says, "Hey, how could you possibly be greedy?"
And yet Jesus doesn't talk about greed this way. He talks about money completely differently. He doesn't say, "Blessed are you when you find a neighbor that spends more money than you do." He doesn't want us to look outside at others. He actually wants you to look inside at your own heart. Because money isn't about your relationship with anyone or anything else. It's about your relationship with God. And Jesus will tell you the place that you have given to money in your life, is a reflection of the place that you have given God in your life. Which makes money an incredibly important topic in our faith. That's why Jesus talks about it so much. It's because he loves you. He wants you to know real wealth.
And so if you were honest with yourself this morning, what's your relationship with money? How do you think about it? How often do you think it? Do you feel like you have too little? I'm positive none of you just thought, "You know, I have too much." If you did, please lunch is on me. Let's talk after the service. I'd love to hear more. But really, honestly, do you live in constant worry about having enough? Do you live in this constant cycle between Buy-It-Now and Buyer's Remorse? Where does money fit in your life? What power does it wield?
That's an important question to ask, because Jesus at the heart of his teaching on money tells you exactly where money wants to fit in your life. It wants to sit on that throne inside your heart. It resists being a servant and instead it wants to be served. It wants to master you. It preys on those subconscious insecurities, and desires within you that are unknown, that influence you in ways that you aren't even really aware of.
So it's in this teaching on money that Jesus wants to reorient you. And he does that by beginning with a very simple kingdom perspective on life. He says in verses 19 to 21, he says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." So for us to have this kingdom perspective towards money that Jesus wants us to have in our lives, what does he do? Well, he takes two realities of our existence and places them side by side. The earthly and the eternal. And he says to focus on the imperishable riches that a life of faithfulness stores up, to focus on the imperishable riches that come from a life devoted to God's kingdom, instead of focusing on the temporal, tarnishable, perishable riches of this world. It's very simple.
But don't start going to extremes immediately when you hear him say that. Because notice that Jesus does not say, "Store up treasure in heaven by renouncing all earthly wealth." And he doesn't say, "Store up treasures in heaven, by never owning anything." He's never going to come to you and say, "Do you have a healthy 401 account? Okay, well you were banished to the outer darkness." He doesn't say that.
It's because what he's after isn't about how much you own, it's about what owns you. He's calling you to live in light of eternal realities. To live in light of the fact that this life is but a vapor. It is here and it is gone in a moment. And yet Jesus doesn't want us to live in a way that we just give mental assent to that fact every time we attend a funeral. He wants us to live in light of that fact and allow it to shape how we live each and every day. And yet, that's hard, isn't it? Because we know how easily those two realities get lopsided. We know how easily we can focus on worldly treasure and wealth and completely forget about the heavenly treasure that we can store up. I am as guilty of it as anybody.
On Christmas Eve, I drove my wife's car to Target to do a curbside, last minute curbside pickup order. And I drove up, bam, it's gonna be a great day. Why? Because that first number one curbside pickup lane was open. So I pull in and it was busy, crazy busy people doing last minute shopping. Waited there about 30 minutes. And finally I saw the person coming out to bring me my order, and as I tried to roll down my window, the car died. It just shut off. So I tried to start it again, nothing. Dead as a doornail. I'm like Merry Christmas. What is going on? So this was about a week-long ordeal. But in the end, I finally got it to the mechanic shop. Alternator went out, bam, 600 bucks. Life happens, right?
Well, two weeks later, I walked out of church after the second service on Sunday afternoon, get in my truck ready to go home for that Chiefs AFC Championship game. Start my car, dead, won't start. So I have to call Melissa. and say, "Can you come jump my car?" So she has to get the kids, wake them up from naps, get them in the car and drive up here. So she's happy, I'm happy. And so I'm sitting there thinking, as I'm sitting in my truck waiting for her to get there, "I just paid $600 just so I can actually have my wife come up and jump my truck, so I can go spend more money." So I took it to the shop, the alternator on my truck went out.
And so, as I'm swiping my card, I am not sitting there thinking, "You now Lord, I just glory in the heavenly treasure that awaits me. This earthly wealth is of little value compared to the eternal riches that" - no. My thoughts can be summarized by that great American prophet the Notorious B.I.G.: "More money, more problems."
And it takes a lot of money to live in our world, it's why we have so many problems. Especially in our corner of the world. Things fall apart, cars break, your kids need braces, your washing machine goes out the first week of the lockdown last March and floods three rooms in your house. Life happens, doesn't it? And yet, that is the point of Jesus's teaching. He wants you to see the world as it is, not the way you want it to be. This world constantly pushes back against the accumulation of wealth, comfort and security. Why? Because from the very beginning of this story, it told you what? That thorns and thistles this world will bear for you. It's only by the sweat of your brow, it will give you any fruit whatsoever.
So really, we know that logic, to cling to the treasures of this world is, in the end, completely unreasonable. And no matter how hard we try, we will never make this world work for us the way that we want. We will always be fighting against it, which means this world can never become heaven now. And we know this to be true. We inherently know the value of earthly treasure. We know how fleeting it is.
That's why we know how awkward it would be if an obituary listed someone's net worth or detailed their financial portfolio or listed all of their assets. Why? Because who cares? What's it matter? It amounts to nothing. We inherently know that in death, there is no upper, middle, or lower class. We all die flat broke. And yet even as Christians, we know how we can devalue that eternal wealth that a life of faith stores up, and instead, we focus on earthly wealth and treasure - knowing full well that we will leave all of that behind and those priorities get reversed and lopsided. Why? Because our perception of wealth is an issue of the heart. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. That's why money can get us into such trouble. It doesn't just go after a part of your life. It goes to the very heart of your existence.
That's what Jesus says in verse 24, he says, "No one can serve two masters. No one can serve God and money." No one can serve two masters. No one can serve God and money. And look we all try to figure out a way to make that work. Can we do both? Can we come up with an agreement? And no, no one can serve God and money. But the real question is why? Why is that the case? The reason is because both God and money vie for that same real estate in your life. They both desire to sit on that throne inside your heart. And ultimately, your heart can't be divided between the two, because devotion to one sacrifices devotion to the other.
And so Jesus wants you to see money is not something that you have, money is something that wants to have you. Money wants to be your master. How so?
Well just to unpack it a little bit further, let's think about what Jesus says from a different angle. Think about his statement like this. We approach money in the same exact way that we should approach God. We approach money in the same exact way that we should approach God. Or more simply put, we replace God with money.
And so we desire security, do we not? I know I do, 100%. We want to feel safe. We want to feel secure. Because we know how unpredictable and how dangerous the world can be. Alternators go out, tragedies happen, this world bites back. Of course, we want security. That's not a bad thing. But how easy is it to believe that money will provide it for you? We look at our bank account. We think about whether or not we have enough to make us feel safe. We think about whether or not we have enough to wonder if we'll be left destitute. We want enough to keep a broken world at bay. And when money begins to become your master, we begin to believe the lie that if we have more of it, it's going to offer us some measure of control and power over situations and circumstances in life. And sure you may have enough money for that illusion to last for a while.
But in the end, one day, that illusion comes crashing down. That day rushes towards all of us in which it just does not matter how much you own. It will do nothing against that cancer diagnosis or the loss of a loved one. We look to money to provide us with security and when it begins to sit on that throne in our hearts, our hearts say to it like the psalmist, "You are my refuge. You are my high tower."
We look to money for security, but we also look to money for satisfaction. Because who hasn't thought, "Man, if I just had that. If I just had that, I'll probably never buy anything else again. Why? Because I'd be so happy, if I had that. I'd be so satisfied. If I could just have that wouldn't life be so much better?" And we live in a world where what? We're constantly presented with more toys and accessories and lifestyles and products that make promises that life would be what you want it to be if you just had this. Order, peace, joy, comfort, rest, all of it can be yours. We live in a world that's filled with endless lifestyle possibilities.
And money preys on that dissatisfaction within you, that wishes that life could somehow be better. It preys on that hunger within you for something more. And it makes those promises that say what? It says, "Come to me, I'll give you rest. I'll lead you besides still waters, I'll restore your soul."
This is why Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters", because your money tries to make the same promises as your God. It wants to sit on that throne in your heart and make you think that you can circumvent your need of him. And when that begins to happen, it creates the deception that money is serving you, but in reality you are serving it. Because you're offering it your trust, and your devotion. And whatever has your trust and devotion, has your heart. And whatever has your heart, is your master.
And so how do you know if that might be you? Well, one of the ways we know that might be us is that when we have a wrong view of money, and it begins to sit on that throne in our lives, what happens? It actually becomes an incredible source of anxiety for your life.
Because it makes promises that it can't keep. And it creates anxiety because we continue to believe in those promises. It's anxiety that comes from feeling like you don't have enough and you never will have enough. Constantly afraid of what may be around the corner, constantly feeling vulnerable in the midst of an unpredictable world. Or maybe it's just the anxiety that comes from just being discontent with life. Just feeling dissatisfied, because you constantly feel like something better is out there. And so what did Jesus say to that type of anxiety within us? What does he want to teach us?
He says in verse 25, "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Again, do you see how he wants you to see life as it really is? But even further, do you see how he wants you to come to know something more? Life is more than food, the body is more than clothing, your existence is about coming to know and experiencing something more. Look at his words to you in verse 26, he says, "Look at the birds of the air, they neither reap nor sow, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Are you not have more value than they?
And then in 28-30, he says, "Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. If God so clothes the grass of the field, will he not much more clothe you?" Jesus wants you to know what that 'more' is. And it's the reality that you don't just have a god, out there, somewhere. You have a Father in heaven, who is rich in power and provision beyond measure, and to him, you are priceless and precious. Why? Because you are his child. You are his son. You are his daughter.
Jesus is presenting the only remedy for this type of anxiety. It's realizing your value to the heavenly Father. Are you not of more value than they? Won't your Father in heaven clothe you? Won't your Father in heaven provide for you?
And yet, doesn't anxiety make us feel so small and insignificant? Doesn't anxiety make us feel alone? Makes us feel like nobody cares about our welfare? Like we are the only ones that really do? Does anyone really feel like they matter whenever they feel so anxious? And yet, what is Jesus saying to you right here? He's saying, "Why do you think you are worth so little?" Why do you live as though you are worth so little? Do how know precious you are to the Father?
What would you sacrifice your child for in this world? Nothing, nothing whatsoever. And you have a Story that says your Father in heaven gave his Son for you. And then you have a Son who says no one can take my life from me, I give it of my own accord. And I give my life of my own accord because it's the will of my Father, to offer me for you. You have a Story of a Father that would give his Son, the eternal Son, God the Son, for you. What else would he possibly withhold from you? Do you have any clue how valuable and precious you are to him?
The same Father that resurrected your heart so you could see his kingdom. The same Father that promises you there is nothing that can snatch you away from his hands.
But Jesus says you don't find the Father out there, somewhere, and you look outwards in your anxiety. You can only find him in the one place that he wants to go. And it's the one place that he wants most, it's your heart. This is why Jesus stresses the simple importance of seeing the world as it is, because then you're ready to stop looking outside yourself. And you begin to look inside yourself at your own heart. And there is no other way.
Which means that it's in these moments of anxiety and restlessness, well, that's when you start to look inside. It's an opportunity to begin to start asking the real questions. Which is: "What am I really afraid of? Why am I so discontent? What am I really looking for? What is really so unsatisfied within me?" Those are the questions that take you on a different track to a different destination.
Because it's in that moment, when you begin to look inward and ask those questions, you realize all that turmoil and angst is not going to be satisfied by a Buy-It-Now option, or a next-day delivery status. It's those deepest parts within you, that you realize only can be satisfied by the Father. And it's in those moments you can offer your trust and your devotion to him. And it's only then that you will ever really experience real security and real satisfaction.
And I wish that I could just make you feel that way in a sermon. But nobody's that good. You have to choose in that moment of your anxiety to find the Father, of whom, or to whom, you are so precious beyond words that he would give his only Son. A Son that no one can take from you. And you are a son, and you are a daughter, that no one can take from him.
It's easy when we think about money to think of God as some Cosmic Tax Collector, who just come to take his cut. That's not how Jesus talks about money, is it? We struggle to remember that he wants us to give him something far greater than our money, so that he can give us something far greater than money can buy. He wants to have your heart, so that you can have more of him. A friend told me a story one time about how when they were first married, they barely had two pennies to scrape together. Poor, didn't have a lot. And one day they went to church and the sermon was on giving, generosity, seeking the kingdom – much like the things we're talking about today. And that person felt really convicted to give. They just felt a strong sense that they needed to give and give generously, give sacrificially. So they wrote the check, they put it in the basket, done.
They went home and three days later, they were looking at their bank account and they realized that they had overdrawn from their account. Just made a simple mistake. They had a different number in their head, so when they wrote the check, they thought it was there, they realized it wasn't. And when you have hardly anything whatsoever, those overdraft fees feel like they are insurmountable obstacles. And so the anxiety rushes in and this person is like, "What am I gonna do?"
Then the phone rings. Phone rings, they answer it. And the person says, "Hey, is this so-and-so?" And they say, "Yeah."
And he said, "Well, I'm a deacon at the church you were at on Sunday. And I just want you to know, I'm a little bit embarrassed to say, but I found your check in my pant's pocket. I have no idea how it got there. I did the count on Sunday. But I found your check in my pocket and the problem is, that I washed my pants since Sunday. And when I put them on, I found it and it's ruined. I could barely make out who it was to or whose these checks were. So I'll be able to bring it to you on Sunday. I'm really sorry about this."
The person said, "No problem, thank you," and hung up.
And in talking with that person afterwards, they said they realized something really important that stuck with them all these years later. They realize God was saying to him, "It's not really your money I'm after. It's your heart. You can trust me." And in that he said, "I just write the check. I know I'm gonna be okay."
That's security that you can't buy.
Who's sitting on that throne inside your heart this morning?
Let's pray.
