The path of Mammon vs. the path of God

Sermon for Trinity 15

Galatians 5:25-6:10  +  Matthew 6:24-34

Picture a fork in the road, where the road divides in two directions. You can either take the road on the left or the road on the right. You have to take one. You can’t take them both. Which one do you choose? Well, it helps to know what you’ll encounter in each direction, what each road looks like, where each road leads. Jesus describes two roads, two paths for us in today’s Gospel from the Sermon on the Mount. The road on the left is the service of Mammon. The road on the right is the service of God. The roads are very different, and they end in very different places. And you can only take one of them. Obviously, it’s the service of God that Jesus urges His disciples to follow, and He gives us many good reasons for it in our text.

First, let’s look at the context. This is from the Sermon on Mount, early in Jesus’ ministry, where He’s teaching His early disciples, with multitudes of people listening in. He’s talking to Jews who already believed in the true God and who wanted to be instructed by Jesus. That’s important to remember. He’s not talking to pagans or atheists, but to “church members.” He’s not trying to convert unbelievers to the true faith by asking them to choose to believe or not. He’s teaching believers what it means to believe and encouraging them to live a life that’s consistent with what they believe.

No one can serve two lords, He tells them. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Mammon is the Aramaic word for wealth, the abundance of material possessions. Jesus personifies it here, as if material things were a god that people served. And in a very real sense, it is! It is like a lord or a master demanding to be worshiped, honored, and served.

What does such service look like? Let’s try for a moment to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus’ disciples, if we can. Jesus’ hearers were average Jewish citizens at that time. They weren’t rich, In fact, we would consider them poor, by our modern American standards, although “poor” back then meant something far different. These people weren’t homeless, or jobless, or beggars. But neither did they have mansions or pensions or health insurance. There was no welfare, no social safety net. Their jobs were largely dependent on how well the farms produced in a given season, or how many fish they could catch. And many of them were simply day workers, who lived off of what they earned each day, without much potential for climbing the economic ladder.

For such people, to serve Mammon was to live their lives with the goal of getting wealth, acquiring an abundance of things, even basic things like food and drink and clothing. Every day, Mammon cried out, “You need me! I will provide for you! I will give you safety and security and peace of mind! So seek me! Work to get me! Trust in me!”

What about for the average modern American?  When was the last time you worried about having enough to eat today? Or having anything to wear today? The average American has already acquired more Mammon, more abundance of possessions, than anyone before in world history. And yet, Mammon still cries out, “Not enough! Not enough! You need more to feel secure. You need more to be happy. And if your level of abundance, if your standard of living should ever drop below what it is right now, it would be the end of the world! So, you still need me! I will provide for you! I will give you safety and security and peace of mind! So seek me! Work to get me! Trust in me!” So, to serve Mammon is to live one’s life with the goal of getting more wealth, acquiring more abundance, and, just as importantly, holding onto the abundance you currently have!

Except that, if that’s your goal, then you cannot be a servant of God. No one can serve two lords. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Because each one demands your devotion. Each one demands your trust, even as each one promises to provide for you and claims to be worthy of your trust. But it’s one or the other, Jesus says. You can be devoted to and trust in God, or you can be devoted to and trust in Mammon. But you can’t serve both. As the First Commandment says, You shall have no other gods.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He goes on to illustrate the foolishness of serving Mammon and the wisdom of serving God! Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? If Mammon is your god, if you’re living your life to gain material things, even basic things like food, drink, and clothing, then your road looks like constant worry, constantly being anxious over getting those things (or keeping those things). Wealth says, “I’ll give you peace of mind if you get enough of me!” But it’s an empty promise, because there’s never enough. You get enough for today, then you worry about tomorrow. You get enough for tomorrow, then you worry about the next day, and week, and month, and year, and into old age. And what if something happens to your finances? What if something goes wrong? You need more to feel safe. You need more to feel secure.

Isn’t life more than that?, Jesus asks. More than running around after your next meal, after your next set of clothes? And, no, by “more than that,” He doesn’t mean running around after bigger things, either, like the next house, the next car, the next luxury item, the next material thing. Life is more than that, too. The word translated here as “life” is actually the same as the word for “soul.” Human beings were created to live with God forever, to contemplate and to engage in what is good and right and beautiful, and to do good with our body and soul. We’ve sinned against God and ruined much of His original design, but even in a fallen, sinful world, life is more than food and clothing and acquiring material possessions. It’s, above all, learning to know and to believe in God, who offers a far better path than service to Mammon.

Look at the birds of the air! They do not sow, nor do they reap, nor do they gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? On the road of service to Mammon, you’re on your own. Everything depends on you, how hard you work, how cunning and clever you are, and how lucky you are. Even then, so many things are out your control that you can never have peace of mind. Contentment is forever out of reach. But on the road of service to God, there is a heavenly Father, the one who created all things and cares for His creation, the one who has adopted you through Holy Baptism and through faith in Jesus, who has taken it upon Himself to see to it that you have the things you need for this life, so that you can spend your time concentrating on more important things, like His kingdom and His righteousness—things that last beyond this life.

As proof of this, Jesus offers the example of the way our heavenly Father provides for the birds of the air, without any worry or care on their part. Not that they just sit in their nests and wait for food to drop down out of heaven. They go and get it from the ground or from the air. But God our heavenly Father sees to it that the food is there for them to get, and that they know how to get it. They’re His creatures, just as we are, except that, according to Jesus, we’re much more valuable than they. Human beings were created in God’s image, created to be like Him in true righteousness and holiness, created to live forever with Him in His kingdom. But more than that, Jesus shed His blood for us and redeemed us from sin, death, and the devil. And we should conclude from that exactly what St. Paul tells us to conclude: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Jesus also points out another reason why it’s foolish to walk the path of worry in service to Mammon: Which of you by worrying can add one foot to his stature? Or one hour to his life? Worrying won’t get you anywhere. But on the path of service to God, you have a heavenly Father who is capable of providing help for every need.

Then, as another proof that the road of serving God is better than the road of serving Mammon, Jesus offers the example of the flowers. And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil, nor do they spin. And yet I tell you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today stands and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? God cares enough about the soul-less vegetation of the earth to make it look beautiful. Learn from that, Jesus says. Learn to understand that He cares much more about you who are His children and will see to it that you have what you need to clothe your body.

You of little faith, He says. He says it, not as an angry outburst, but as a gentle rebuke of those who should know better, and yet still sometimes stray over into the path of worry in service to Mammon. Knowing that, He gives us this instruction: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles (that is, the unbelievers of the world who don’t know God) chase after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. It is enough for each day to have its own trouble.

And isn’t that the truth? The path of Mammon has you gazing off into the future, wondering how you will ever get what you need down the road. The path of God has you focused on today, on your daily bread, because tomorrow doesn’t depend on your worry to figure it out. You have a heavenly Father who holds yesterday, today, and tomorrow in His hand, who is watching out for your tomorrow, just as He’s taking care of your today.

As Christians, you’ve already put your faith in the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You’ve already committed to serving Him alone. So repent for the times you’ve strayed over into the path of service to Mammon, worrying about tomorrow, as if God your heavenly Father didn’t exist, or as if He didn’t care. And recommit to God’s service. Trust in Him. Cast all your worry on Him, because He cares for you. And then, instead of worrying about your next meal, spend your thoughts and your efforts seeking His kingdom, pursuing His righteousness. Because down that road, there is true safety, and security, and peace of mind. There is the loving care of a heavenly Father. And at the end of that road is eternal life in your Father’s heavenly home. Amen.