The Five Signs of Worshipping Mammon

(Part 2 of 2)

by James Ryle

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13)

One thing is certain - we show our love by our worship. Whoever or whatever we worship - we love.  If we love God, we will worship and serve Him. If we love money; we will worship and serve Money. Jesus said that we cannot do both.

David wrote, "One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple." (Psalm 27:4).

What is your Life's "ONE THING?" Some bow in God's Presence; others bow at the Altar of Mammon. Where might we find you worshipping today?

Anxiety, fear, and unbelief - these are three of the effects that come to the soul of those who worship at the Altar of Mammon.

Today We Conclude by Looking at the Remaining Two

#4 - Disobedience to God's Word

Inasmuch as we seek to be stewards in God's House, living in His world and having access to His things, then it behooves us to find out what it is He wants us to do with that which is rightfully His. And the only way we can discover His will is by reading His Word.

God wants us to be generous, and to give; Mammon wants us to be selfish, and to hoard. God wants to prosper us; Mammon want to possess us. God will bless us if we obey His Word; Mammon will curse us if it can lure us into disobedience.

A man complained to Will Rogers, "There's things in the Bible that I just don't understand; and that bothers me!" Rogers responded, "Maybe so. But there are things in the Bible that I DO understand - and that's what bothers me!" Few things in the Bible bother us more than when God goes and starts meddling with our money!

And why does He do this? Simple - He touches what matters most to us (i.e., money) to show us how much hold it has on our hearts. And He also wants to teach us to trust Him with that which matters to us. The reason is pointed -  if we cannot trust God with that which we treasure; then how can we expect Him to trust us with that which He values?

Listen - If we cannot place the riches of this world into His capable hands; then how we ever expect Him to entrust the true riches of the Kingdom into our grasping, clutching, squeezing selfish hands?  "C'mon, man!"

And (drum roll, please) the fifth and final sign that a person is bowing at the Altar of Mammon is…..

#5 - Cynicism Whenever You Hear or Read Something Like What I Just Wrote!

 The Bible tells us after Jesus finished a story about stewardship, that "the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him." (Luke 16:14). The word "derided" means they "turned up their noses and scoffed at Him with mockery; they laugh at Him with scorn."

A cynical sneer always appears on the face of those who worship Money anytime a preacher starts talking about it. It a self-defense mechanism built in by Mammon to keep its servants under its control.

It takes a real man and woman of faith to defy that mocking spirit and step forth in bold freedom to love and obey the Lord. How about becoming a man or woman like that today! You just might be used by God to start a resource revolution!

James Ryle