Challenging Believers to Think and Thinkers to Believe

You Can't Serve Two Masters

Written by Jerry Robinson
Originally Posted on 10/2/2007

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"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate the one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
(Jesus Christ - Matt. 6:24)

The Facts

  • 3 billion people (nearly half of the world's population) lives on less than $2 a day.
  • 1.3 billion people live on less than $1 a day.
  • 1.2 billion people have no access to clean water.
  • 2.6 billion people have no access to sanitation.
  • Nearly 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation.
  • Today, millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water.
  • 852 million men, women, and children go to bed hungry every night.
  • 18,000 children die everyday due to extreme hunger and malnutrition.
  • The number of children in the world: 2.2 billion. The number of children living in poverty: 1 billion (every second child.)
  • 2 billion people have no access to electricity.
  • The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
  • Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
  • 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.
  • A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world’s poorest 2.5 billion people.
  • The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people.
  • The average U.S. citizen uses 600 liters of water each day.

An Analysis

The statistics that have been presented above are admittedly astounding. They are hard to swallow for those who live in developed nations, undoubtedly the global bastions of ease and comfort. However, what makes these statistics even more unbearable is that they are occurring in the most prosperous time in history - and at a time when Christianity has fully saturated the wealthiest among us. America, the richest nation ever to grace the face of the planet, also contains within it the largest majority of professing "Christians" in history.

Given the hard and clear sayings of Jesus about money, one would expect to see Christian actions congruent with self-sacrifice and altruism. Unfortunately, American Christians can hardly be distinguished from American non-Christians in their attitudes towards money and self-sacrifice.

Today, Christian pulpits in America are filled with instruction on how to live "the good life," and "how to get more of God's best" and "how to have greater self-esteem." America's Christian bookstores are filled with pages tackling the "tough" questions American Christians must face like: "Are we living as fully as we can?" or "How can we live a more calm and stress-free life?" and "What's my special mission in life?"

Certainly these are not wrong questions to ask oneself. In fact, these are arguably legitimate and proper questions for Christians to ask. However, given the staggering state of our world today, and the lateness of the prophetic hour, I would point to greater and more pressing questions that Christians could be asking themselves, such as:

  • "Am I actively engaged in doing the will of God, or am I more interested in my own will?
  • "Will Jesus look at the 18,000 children who die daily from hunger and blame it on a lack of economic training in the third world, or will he ask me why I was more in love with the "good" life than the poor, and the hungry, the naked, and the sick?"
  • "What is my role, in a world of unprecedented wealth, to prevent the deaths of nearly 2 million children who die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation?"
  • "Am I comparing my spiritual walk to those around me or am I comparing my spiritual walk to what the Bible says?"

Today, American Christianity seems to have lost its way. This disorientation is displayed in the appetites of the American church. It is somewhat difficult to find admonition and fire in American pulpits advocating love and compassion for the poor. It can not be stated enough that God wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves? Who are our neighbors? Jesus clearly tells us that our neighbor is the poor person, the sick person, the naked person, and the hungry person.

Interestingly, the Bible contains over 2,350 verses about money and possessions. That’s twice the amount of verses that the Bible spends on talking about faith and prayer combined! Additionally, Jesus spent more time talking about money than he did about Heaven and Hell combined? This would nearly provoke us to wonder whether Jesus really knew what was truly important. In fact, as we investigate the things that Jesus said while he was on the earth, we find that 15% of what He said was on this one topic of money and possessions. This means that Jesus spent more time talking about money and possessions than any other topic. Why would Jesus spend so much time talking about something so meaningless as money? Maybe because money is not so meaningless after all. What did Jesus know about money and possessions that we don’t?

What Jesus knew was that money is one of God's greatest competitors to the throne of man's heart. The truth that Jesus was trying to tell mankind was that there exists a very strong relationship between our real spiritual condition and our attitude and actions towards money and possessions.

Many Christians focus on the tithe of 10% and assume that once they give that to their church that they are "off the hook." False. The truth is: God cares as much about the 90% that you keep as He does about the 10% that you give away.

Being a Christian is not just simply about believing the "right" stuff. You can believe all of the "right" stuff and be lost. This is the plague of the modern American Church. "Believe once, sign a card, call yourself a Christian, and then live how you want. Pay God His 10% and spend the 90% however you want. After all, it's yours. You worked hard for it." How foolish and yet how common! (Compare this to Matt. 19:21, Mark 12:42, Luke 6:24, and Luke 16:19.) The Bible says that Satan believes the "right" stuff and is there any doubt where he is going to spend eternity? A belief in Christ that saves a person is always preceded by, and coupled with, an attitude of repentance. And this repentance, and ensuing salvation, leads to a desire to live like a Christian in actions and deeds, not in word only.

Besides, Jesus assesses people's lives less by what they say ("Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?"), and more by how they respond to him and to how they handle their money and possessions. Jesus nailed it on the head when He said: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Where is your treasure? For a moment, ignore the sea of Christians around you. Ignore the Christian books being marketed to you. Ignore the feel-good philosophy being shouted at you from the pulpit and ask yourself: "How does my Christianity compare to the words of Jesus in the Bible?" Herein lies the beginning of wisdom for a culture of self-absorption.

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