You Can't Love Money and Live for the Kingdom of God! (Pt. 3)

Jesus teaches that true wealth is found in serving God not in earthly treasures. Yet how do you know which one you value more? How do you know if you work more for money or for God’s kingdom? In Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus presents three ways to tell what you value most. Today we consider the second and third ways. (Click here for Pt. 1 and Pt. 2).

2. What Do Your Eyes Focus On? (v. 22-23)

The context of these verses makes it clear Jesus was not referring to healthy eyes or diseased eyes. The eye becomes the object that stands for desire. Since the eye is the only channel of light the body has, the only way to receive enlightenment is through a clear eye.

The “so then” gives the implication. When our spiritual desires are clear, then our whole lives will be guided rightly. If your eye is clear your whole body will be full of light. The word clear “haplous” has the idea of singleness - not looking around at other things, wishing you had them in your possession.

The opposite is the bad eye. This is the greedy person – the covetous one. He wants what he sees now. So he can’t live for what he does not see. We often refer to the evil eye. That is what the people of the near east did too. A bad eye looks and covets.

What is said of the one who has this kind of eye? V. 23, “… your whole body will be full of darkness.” Desire for possessions leads to darkness and sin. First Timothy 6:10 warns, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Colossians 3:5 teaches that “greed, … amounts to idolatry.”

Verse 23 advances the thought, “if then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.” The principle is this: the way we use our money indicates whether we are spiritually blind or seeing. The phrase, “The light that is in you,” shows that Jesus is not focusing on the eye itself but on desire.

What do you focus on in your life? What controls your thinking and your vision for your future? Is it getting nicer things and making a more comfortable life for yourself, or is it advancing in discipleship and reaping fruit for eternity? If you want your whole body full of light, it is crucial to evaluate what you are looking at what you are concentrating on?

3. Whom Do you Serve? v. 24

Just like we cannot have treasure both in heaven and on earth, nor can we have our body clear and dark at the same time, so neither can we serve two masters.

The word master is kurios, and is usually translated “Lord.” Yet it has the clear idea of “master” — the one you obey. By definition a master has total say about what a slave does. You can have two or more employers, but not two or more masters. Some might try to serve two masters, but he could not be fully devoted to either.

Jesus’ point is that he would do justice to neither. Notice the reason Jesus gives, “either hate the one and love the other.” That use of hate and love is a Jewish idiom. It means to disregard one and show loyalty to the other. Notice the opposite is “… be devoted to one and despise the other.” “Despise” does not mean hatred the way we think of it, but a disregard for the master’s will. There can be no absolute loyalty with divided masters.

Do not be fooled, you cannot serve God and money. False religion always is preoccupied with money. Second Peter 2:1-3; 14, 15 points out that greed and monetary gain are always the concern of false teachers. Hophni and Phinehas in 1 Samuel 2:12-22 dishonored the Lord by feasting off the best of the offerings. Annas and Caiaphas made rich off the temple sacrifices. Never is pursuit of riches the mark of a man of God.

The conclusion Jesus gives is pointed: You cannot serve both God and money (wealth). The word wealth is mamōnas which means wealth in a broad sense. Wherever your belongings are incompatible with your discipleship, you need to part with them. Wherever your belongings can be given to help another brother or a church ministry, you need to allocate them away from yourself to serve the kingdom.

The very confession of Jesus as Lord is necessary for someone to be saved. If you cannot sincerely say Jesus is master of your life and that you are willing to follow His will, how true is your profession of faith?

The commands and orders of those two masters, God and wealth, are diametrically opposed to each other. Money commands “work for me!” God commands “serve me!” Money beckons, “Set your mind on your investments below!” God urges, “Set your mind on your treasures above!” Money tells us, “Get things now.” God commands, “Hope for things then.” Money demands, “Bow down to me, and I will bless you!” God’s word says Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.” In other words, put God first, and He will take care of everything else.

You cannot serve them both. It can’t be done. To serve money you will have to join with the world. To serve money you will have to leave your church out of the picture. To serve money you will have to compromise your business practices. “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith …”

Dr. Craig Bloomberg of Denver Seminary writes in his commentary, “Many perceptive observers have sensed that the greatest danger to Western Christianity is not, as is sometimes alleged, prevailing ideologies such as Marxism, Islam, the New Age movement or humanism, but rather the all-pervasive materialism of our affluent culture. We try so hard to create heaven on earth and to throw in Christianity when convenient as another small addition to the so-called good life. Jesus proclaims that unless we are willing to serve him wholeheartedly in every area of life, but particularly with our material resources, we cannot claim to be serving him at all.”

Are you living for God, or are you loving your earthly lifestyle?