“WHO CONTROLS THE MASTER
KEY?”
MATTHEW 6:19-21, 24
Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves
break in and steal. But store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal, for where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
No one can serve two
masters, for either he would hate the one and love the other, or he would be
devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (NASB).
INTRODUCTION
A Church
Board decided that people in the congregation were embarrassed when the
offering plates were passed. So they thought they ought to have a new system
that would not embarrass anybody, especially those who could not give. They
asked the pastor to design a way of handling it so people could give as they
came in or went out. So he built several interesting boxes and put them at each
door. But these boxes were different. If you dropped in a dollar or more it
made no noise, it was silent. If you gave a half dollar, a little bell tingled.
If you gave a quarter, it blew a whistle. If you gave a dime a siren went off.
If you gave a nickel, a shot sounded. If you gave nothing, it took your picture.
Howard Dayton, financial author and Founder of
Crown Ministries, and Cofounder of Money Matters, a financial training
ministry, has counted about five hundred verses in the Bible on prayer, but
over 2,350 verses on how to handle money and possessions. I wanted to verify
whether his conclusion is accurate. Therefore, on Thursday as I was studying to
prepare this message, I pulled out my Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the
Bible and began to check for myself. I did not do exhaustive computation on
both topics, however I found out that Howard Dayton’s conclusion was biblically
accurate. I looked for the words Pray and Prayer, and I found
that both terms were used three hundred and twenty-eight times. I then checked
the words Money, Rich, Riches, and Wealth. To my amazement, I
found that the Bible uses those terms three hundred and thirty-five times. I
said that my calculation was not exhaustive because, I did not look for the
words talent, possessions, treasure, drachma, mite, and denarius,
or denarii. All these terms refer to money. Here is the explanation. The
Bible mentions money more than it does prayer not because money is more
important than prayer. The Bible and even Jesus Himself talked more about money
than prayer because there is something in money that can compete with God in a
believer’s life. Money can stand in your way of commitment to the Lordship of
Jesus Christ.
I
would like to speak on the topic, “Who Controls the Master Key?”
I. FAULTY ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY V. 19
If you recall, last year I
dealt with the Sermon on the Mount when I preached from Matthew
5-7. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was dealing with true discipleship. In
the passage that we are dealing with today, Jesus is talking about the common
distraction from discipleship. When you become a Christian, Jesus demands
undivided commitment—no divided loyalties, no part-time disciples. Here is the
truth: “Your attitude toward money is often the pulse of the heart of your
discipleship. That is why Jesus and both the Old and New Testaments speak more
on money even than prayer. In verse 19, Jesus gives a prohibition concerning
the accumulation of treasures on earth. Jesus’ reason for this prohibition is
that earthly treasurers are corruptible and therefore insecure. Some people
have taken what Jesus is teaching here to unbiblical extremes. First, there is
no ban on possessions in themselves; Scripture nowhere forbids private
property. Second, the Bible does not forbid Christians from “saving for a rainy
day.” Third, Christians are not to despise, but rather to enjoy the good
things, which our Creator has given us richly to enjoy (1 Tim. 4:3-4; 6:17).
Some of you may be asking, if the Bible does not ban possessions, saving for a
rainy day, and enjoying what God has given us then, what is Jesus talking
about? What Jesus forbids His followers is the selfish accumulation of
goods. He is talking about extravagant and luxurious living, the
hardheartedness, which does not feel the tremendous need of the world’s
underprivileged people. Jesus is dealing with the foolish fantasy that a
person’s life consists in the abundance of his possessions, and the
materialism, which imprisons our hearts to the earth.
Money is so important to some of you that you
value it above everything else. Money is intoxicating. It is an opiate that
addicts as easily and as completely as the iron grip of alcohol and narcotics.
The power of money to change you is closer to that of Jesus Christ. Money possesses
the power to rule your life, not for good and forever as Christ; but lure or
entice you, like a moth, too close to the flame until finally your wings are
set ablaze.
II. FAULTLESS ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY VV. 20-21
In verse 19, Jesus has
taught us that earthly treasures are corruptible and therefore insecure.
However, treasures in heaven are incorruptible and therefore secure. In one of
my messages last year, I said that every Christian is to have two banks, the
bank on earth and the bank in heaven. Nevertheless, we are to invest more of
our resources in the bank in heaven than the bank on earth. Treasures in heaven
are secure. Precautionary measures to protect them are unnecessary. They need
no insurance coverage. They do not give you sleepless nights. They are
indestructible. What Jesus is saying then, is that if it is safe investment you
are after, nothing could be safer than investing your treasures in heaven. Let
me ask you a question, “Why do some of you find it difficult to pay your
monthly tithe yet you work?” For instance, if you are paid $400.00 every two
weeks, why can you not give the Lord a tithe of $40.00 every two weeks?
A
young man was prompted by his father’s example of giving at church—an area in
which he had been negligent, to do the same. So, next Sunday he gave a dollar.
He told his father about it Sunday night and commented, “And would you believe
I found a dollar in the parking lot! Next Sunday, I plan to give twenty!”
In
verse 21, Jesus is saying that wherever your focus lies, whatever occupies your
thoughts and time that is your treasure. Jesus is warning that your heart tends
to be wrapped around your treasure, and only a few believers treasure God, as
they should. In this teaching of Jesus He reveals the tension between actions
and words in following Him. Words become cheap when you tell yourself you can
act one way and believe another. Jesus exposed those who claim to value
eternity while living as if there were nothing beyond this world. Your heart
will be your treasure. The heart is a reference to your mind,
emotions, and will. What you treasure most controls you, whether you admit it
or not.
III.
FAITHFUL ADHERENCE TO GOD. V. 24
There is no doubt that money
has an alluring power, tempting us with all that it can purchase or accomplish.
Someone said, “I do not necessarily like money, but it quiets my nerves.” That
is true; it is a fact. However, if you are not careful the magnetic power of
money can pull you away from Christ.
The
word “serve” in verse 24 translates “to be a slave to, literally or
figuratively, voluntarily or involuntarily.” It is not a question of
advisability, “You should not serve both God and money.” That would be a
priority choice. It is not a question of accountability, “You must not serve
both God and money.” That would be a moral choice. Rather, it is a matter of
impossibility, “You cannot serve both God and money.” There is no choice; we
each serve one, and only one, master. You are either a slave to God or a slave
to money. There is an African in the Metroplex, who cannot become a member of
any church because of giving of money. That person chooses to watch Christian
TV, but when the message is completed and the TV evangelist is asking for money
to support the TV ministry that person would switch to another TV channel. Due
to this African’s love for money that person cannot serve God. The fact is that
despite the unwillingness to give to the Lord that person is not rich
financially.
Money
enslaves people; it will work you till you die. After it has conquered your
poor soul, its haunting laughter could be heard howling through the chambers of
hell. Then money seeks another unsuspecting victim, an ambitious person who
wants just a little bigger slice of the good life.
Jesus
said much about money because it is the most insidious, beguiling, and
pervasive temptation. Money is not just a temptation for a moment of carnal
pleasure; it is a temptation for us to be conquered by an inert, mindless
master, and one incapable of saving us from sin or satisfying the deep hunger
of our soul for true peace, meaning, and purpose.
In
one of His parables in Matthew 13, Jesus said that the Word of God sown among
the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the
deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful” (Matt. 13:22).
No
test of our true character is more conclusive than how we spend our time and
money. If you want to know what is important to a person, you can ask him/her,
and he will give you his best guess. That person may think himself generous
because he always drops change in the slot to help Jerry’s children. But what
is happening with the rest of his checkbook?
If
you really want to know what is important to you, get out you calendars and
your checkbooks. Look at how you spend your time and money, then, you will know
what is really important to you. For no test of your true character is more
conclusive than how you use your time and money.
One
of the most important principles of Christian stewardship is the Law of
Single-minded service. Single-minded means having a single focus, a single
interest, and a single purpose. It implies exclusivity of devotion, a
wholehearted commitment to God transcending all other commitments. Due to God’s
grace and mercy, this kind of commitment is “our reasonable service,” as Paul
told the Christians at Rome. We are to give ourselves as living sacrifices,
yielding unreservedly to the will of God.
Many
people in the United States have become a society of pretenders, bent on
portraying an image of financial success whether or not there is any substance
to it. There is a little marginal difference between the way Christians and
non-Christians handle money in our secularized culture. Ivan Boesky, the Wall
Street financial guru who was convicted of insider trading scheme, underscores
the risk of serving money. Caught up in a high-pressure, and fast paced world
where corruption was rampant. Boesky was part of a nationwide cancer of greed
and avarice that eats away at our financial markets.
Penitent,
he cooperated with officials to blow the lid off insider trading. However, he
is a broken man, humiliated and dishonored. Boesky became a symbol of the
extent to which a person can spin out of control when money is his god.
However, the Bible commends that money is not the measure of prosperity. Nor is
it necessary to fret over whether or not God will provide for our needs. God
who owns everything has obligated Himself to meet all the needs of the
faithful. “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious
riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
Since
God has promised to meet all of our needs if we are faithful and obedient to
Him, then we can conclude that feeling out of control is self-inflicted pain.
It results from serving money instead of God.
What
is money? Money is morally neutral, just like a handgun or morphine. Put a
pistol in the hand of a policeman and it is a tool of justice, but in the hand
of a criminal it is an instrument of evil. Morphine in the wound of a soldier
saves him, but it is death in the arm of a drug addict.
Money
is simply a commodity, a medium of exchange, an inert means to other ends. We
get money four ways.
1. We exchange our labor for
it.
2. We rent it to others.
3. We hire others and earn a
profit on their labor.
4. We take risks calculated to
earn money.
Money
by itself is uncomplicated. The problem then, must be with us. Jesus spoke so
much about money because He knew how much we would struggle with it—that it
would be His main competitor for our affection and loyalty.
Jesus
requires single-minded service of His disciples. And single-minded service
requires several things of us as believers. It requires self-denial, setting
aside of personal wants (Mark 8:34). Single-minded service requires
perseverance as well. The faithful steward sticks to the priorities and does
not give up (Luke 9:62). Single-mindedness demands constant spiritual
discipline. Living by this precept is not easy, but it is rewarding.
Therefore,
be single-minded about God’s Word. Do what Joshua did in meditating on the Word
day and night, being careful to do everything written in it. The result of that
was a succession of victories and influence that touched the entire nation
(Joshua 24:1).
Be
single-minded about God’s will. By yielding to the Lord and refusing to be
conformed to the pattern of this world, you are transformed spiritually.
Be
single-minded about God’s work. The wise steward keeps a single-minded view of
what is truly important: the work of God and the fulfillment of His purposes in
us. In this sense, all work is sacred if it is done with a heart focused on
eternity.
*If
the messages from this blog have been a blessing to you and you want to
give to support this ministry, you can write your check to:
KENADARKWA LLC
Kennedy A. Adarkwa, PhD
6402 Redding Court
Arlington, TX 76001
KENADARKWA LLC
Kennedy A. Adarkwa, PhD
6402 Redding Court
Arlington, TX 76001
