The doctrine of "liberty" itself is of the spirit of mammon. If anyone wants to follow Christ, he must be completely sold out to Him
Human beings think they can do as they choose, with some conditions that they add, so as to justify themselves or feel righteous. That people think this itself is an indictment on the wicked, sinful, evil nature of humanity. All of us are created for God, by God to serve Him. The reason why people do not normally realise and think it normal to do as one chooses, is because no one seeks after God, no one is good, or righteous (Romans 3:10-12). This precisely why people can think they do as they choose, with conditions that they add, not because they are seeking to serve God wholeheartedly, but because they are seeking to satisfy their flesh, either knowingly, or unknowingly.
This can indeed include many true converts, who think that they can do as they choose, as long as they do not break a Moral Law of God as it is written in the Bile, and perhaps things deemed unacceptable by the Church but not expressly prohibited in the Bible, such as tattoos, and body piercings, on that basis that it is disapproved by the Church as a rule.
The key issue is whether one's heart is seeking to please God in absolutely all of what one does. That is the key issue, not whether one does or abstains from certain things, simply because it is part of the Moral Law of God, or because it is disapproved of within Christendom. Doing or abstaining from certain things on the basis of the Moral Law of God, or disapproval from others amounts to legalism, which manifests in carnality and is carnality itself.
Seeking to do as one chooses, that is, to serve, or to soothe the flesh, it the case of a true convert, manifested in many ways, such as person rebuking others to speak in a more "sensitive" way simply because he is personally offended, is its to serve mammon. For in serving or succumbing to the flesh, one is pursuing the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life which manifest in all kinds of ways, not just those seeking only material things in life, but those who are seeking to find compromise between themselves and God in serving Him and oneself. So many in the modern Church are trying to find compromise between serving God and seeking their own self. This is exactly what it means that many in the modern Church are seeking to serve both God and mammon, who is served by the very act of serving oneself.
Jesus said that: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). This is a literal statement, and not to be treated as an allegorical. He means what he says. Your heart will be either with God or with mammon. There is no other alternative. As long as you are not completely sold out for Christ, you are under the spirit of mammon.
You may say that you are a true convert and argue that because of that, you could never be under the spirit of mammon. That you are a true convert does not ever mean you cannot be under the spirit of mammon for as long as you are not wholeheartedly seeking to do the Will of God even slightest bit, you are under the spirit of mammon.
Only by completely abandoning oneself for Christ can one truly be said to be completely serving God, loving God, and free from the snares of the spirit of mammon, who seeks to feed on the flesh. There is no other way. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said:
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away (Luke 9:23-25)?
It is to be a slave for Christ, who has finds no liberty, and has no liberty, other than in Christ. It is to be a slave for Christ alone, which brings liberty and the only true liberty, liberty from the bondage of sin, which brings only bondage, slavery and debt.
This can indeed include many true converts, who think that they can do as they choose, as long as they do not break a Moral Law of God as it is written in the Bile, and perhaps things deemed unacceptable by the Church but not expressly prohibited in the Bible, such as tattoos, and body piercings, on that basis that it is disapproved by the Church as a rule.
The key issue is whether one's heart is seeking to please God in absolutely all of what one does. That is the key issue, not whether one does or abstains from certain things, simply because it is part of the Moral Law of God, or because it is disapproved of within Christendom. Doing or abstaining from certain things on the basis of the Moral Law of God, or disapproval from others amounts to legalism, which manifests in carnality and is carnality itself.
Seeking to do as one chooses, that is, to serve, or to soothe the flesh, it the case of a true convert, manifested in many ways, such as person rebuking others to speak in a more "sensitive" way simply because he is personally offended, is its to serve mammon. For in serving or succumbing to the flesh, one is pursuing the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life which manifest in all kinds of ways, not just those seeking only material things in life, but those who are seeking to find compromise between themselves and God in serving Him and oneself. So many in the modern Church are trying to find compromise between serving God and seeking their own self. This is exactly what it means that many in the modern Church are seeking to serve both God and mammon, who is served by the very act of serving oneself.
Jesus said that: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). This is a literal statement, and not to be treated as an allegorical. He means what he says. Your heart will be either with God or with mammon. There is no other alternative. As long as you are not completely sold out for Christ, you are under the spirit of mammon.
You may say that you are a true convert and argue that because of that, you could never be under the spirit of mammon. That you are a true convert does not ever mean you cannot be under the spirit of mammon for as long as you are not wholeheartedly seeking to do the Will of God even slightest bit, you are under the spirit of mammon.
Only by completely abandoning oneself for Christ can one truly be said to be completely serving God, loving God, and free from the snares of the spirit of mammon, who seeks to feed on the flesh. There is no other way. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said:
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away (Luke 9:23-25)?
It is to be a slave for Christ, who has finds no liberty, and has no liberty, other than in Christ. It is to be a slave for Christ alone, which brings liberty and the only true liberty, liberty from the bondage of sin, which brings only bondage, slavery and debt.
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