But they that will be
rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows
(1 Timothy 6:9-10).
Fulfilling the Great
Commission involves reproving evil
The role of the Church, of which the true
abolitionists are a part of, is to preach the Gospel, and teach people to obey
the commandments of Christ. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus did not only tell the
disciples to preach the Gospel and baptise people. He made to clear that this
involves teaching people whatever He commanded His disciples:
Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew
28:19-20).
Throughout the Old and the New Testaments, the people
of God were commanded by God to fight evil, and expose works of darkness.
Ephesians 5:11 is a command to the Church to take no part in works of darkness,
but rather expose them (Ephesians 5:11). It is not a choice or suggestion, but
a command that the Christian must obey to be counted worthy.
Reproving evil need not necessarily mean that one must
take to the streets to protest, hand out posters exposing evil, or writing
articles. It can be absolutely any act that resists evil, and shines the light
of Christ on the evil. As long as one acts in a way that challenges evil in the
Name of Jesus Christ, one is obeying the Ephesians 5:11 mandate. Proverbs 28:4
explains that “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as
keep the law contend with them”. This is the spirit of the mandate of Ephesians 5:11 which
commands the Church to contest with evil, by seeking first the righteousness of
God: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).
Jesus’ command to “seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness” in Matthew 6:33 needs to be
understood by the Church if it is to reprove works of darkness, a part of the
Great Commission. Jesus was explaining
to His followers that no one can serve both
God and mammon in Matthew 6:24-34.
Exposition of Matthew
6:24-34
In Matthew 6:24, He states 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.” He means what
He says literally: no one, absolutely no one can serve God and mammon. It is
impossible to serve both God and mammon.
Jesus then explains what it means to try to serve God and
mammon as indicated by the word ‘therefore’ in Matthew 6:25, in which He says:
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your
life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” That
Jesus commands people to ‘take no thought’ of the temporal earthly things he
has listed implies that to be anxious about such obtaining things is to be
serving mammon.
It must be noted, however, that simply because a person is
anxious about obtaining earthly needs does not mean the person is unsaved. It
is that such a person is acting as though he was an unsaved person as Matthew
6:32 explains: “(For after all these things [what to eat, drink and wear as
listed Matthew 6:31] do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things”. Crucially, it must be noted that the
things Jesus is telling His followers not to take thought of in Matthew 6:25
are not sinful, wicked or evil things in themselves. They are legitimate human
needs such as food, drink and clothing; basic human needs. What Jesus is saying is that it is wrong to be
anxious about one’s needs, regardless of what they are.
Jesus rebuked His followers who were anxious about obtaining
their basic needs, legitimate human needs for their anxiety in seeking such
needs in Matthew 6:26-30. In Matthew 6:26, Jesus tells the people that God
feeds even the birds. He follows this with the question “are ye not much better
than they?” which is to imply that if God feeds even the birds, how much more
will He feed even His followers. In Matthew 6:28-30, He rebukes the people
about their anxiety for clothing, by asking a question in Matthew 6:30
analogous to that in Matthew 6:26: “if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more
clothe you, O ye of little faith?”
Critically in Matthew 6:30, He rebukes the people as “people
of little faith”. This was because they were anxious about temporal, earthly
needs. They had “little faith” by failing to fully trust that God will provide.
Jesus then instructs the people on how to not
be people of “little faith” as indicated by the use of the word ‘therefore’ in
Matthew 6:31: “Therefore take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? Jesus explained in Matthew 6:32 that to seek after such earthly
things is to act like the unsaved who are earthly and faithless: “(For after
all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that
ye have need of all these things”.
Jesus so far
had given two commands in the passage we have considered, Matthew 6:24-34. The
first, is that no one can serve both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). The second
is to not be anxious about earthly needs (Matthew 6:25,31). Jesus then gives a
third command in Matthew 6:33 which says “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you.”
It must be noted that the important word ‘but’ is used as a
connector from Matthew 6:24-32, to Matthew 6:33-34. That the word ‘but’ is used as the first word
of Matthew 6:33 indicates that the two ideas being connected together are
inconsistent, incongruent, contradictory or opposed. The two ideas concerned in
Matthew 6:24-34 are being anxious for earthly needs, and seeking first the
righteousness of God. The word ‘but’ in Matthew 6:33 indicates that being
anxious for earthly needs is inconsistent, contradictory or the opposite of
seeking first the righteousness of God. This is where the point of contention
often occurs, in which it is asked whether the contradiction between the two
are absolute, partial or situational.
From Matthew 6:24 which says “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”, it can be inferred that ‘but’ in Matthew 6:33 means that being anxious about
earthly needs and seeking first the righteousness of God are diametrically opposed to each other –
absolutely opposed to each other with no middle ground or third way.
The
spirit of mammon has crept into the Church
Just as many Israelites in the Old Testaments attempted to
serve both God and Baal, many in the 21st century Church (or modern
Church), are attempting to serve both God and mammon. Many true Christians find
this truth about the modern Church hard to accept, confusing, or an
impossibility. There are several
commonly made objections to this claim which the author shall address.
1. There is
no such thing an evil spirit called the spirit of mammon.
This is an extremely foolish objection. There are a such
thing as evil spirits, demons who do seek to blind people, both the saved and
unsaved into thinking a sin they are committing, is a not a sin, but rather, a
legitimate act. Why would a demon not want to seduce Christians into sin? If a
demon was not seeking to blind and seduce Christians into sin, it would not be
a demon. Sacrificing to idols, which the
human heart is naturally inclined to worship, is itself to sacrifice to demons:
But I
say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to
devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with
devils (1 Corinthians 10:20). Thus, worshipping
idols is to worship demons, and being seduced by idols, is to be seduced by a
demon or demons behind it.
2. What is being
called the ‘spirit of mammon’ are really the sins of the human heart which are
greed, pride, envy, hate, jealousy, and covetousness.
While it is absolutely true that the sins of the human heart
such as greed and envy lead to certain manifestations, the role that a demon,
whom it is appropriate to call the spirit of mammon, plays a role in blind and
seducing both the unsaved and saved into such sins. It is because of the sins of the human heart that the spirit of mammon is
able to dominate people, or, in the case of the true Christian, influence
people, and hence to make them ‘under the spirit of mammon’. The true Christian
can be under the spirit of mammon if he or fails to fully trust in God to
provide all his needs, and as a result, become anxious and seek earthly needs.
3. Those
who are seeking to serve mammon are not true Christians.
Such a statement is a loaded one which must be considered
very carefully. It is a “bait” used by Christians who cannot accept the
statement that many in the modern Church are under the spirit of mammon. It is
a trap used by satan to stir up Christians to fight each other for it has much
potential to confuse people. Where there is confusion, there is satan.
The phrase to ‘serve mammon’ must be considered with extreme
caution. One meaning of ‘serving mammon’ can mean to live and devote oneself to
serving him, through serving oneself. Those
who are seeking to serve themselves, and not God are definitely carnal people
for “He [Jesus] died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died
for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). This is very clear.
The other meaning of ‘serving mammon’ can mean to attempt to compromise with God. This is an
extremely dangerous thing both for the true convert seeking to make this
compromise with God, and the followers of Christ around this. Such compromise
is a snare, not only for the true convert who seeks to do this, but also the
Christians around him. This compromise with God is done by rightly seeking to
worship Him, knowing that He is to be worshipped, but yet still seeking one’s earthly
needs, and therefore, not seek first the righteousness of God. Seeking one’s
earthly needs is to be anxious about such needs, a violation of Jesus’ command,
not opinion, advice or suggestion, but command in Matthew 6:25.
A person is either of two positions in relation to God;
either to serve God or to serve mammon. However, many in the modern Church, the
true 21st century Christendom, think that there can be a middle
ground, or a compromise, and would like a middle ground to be available. As
such, they cling to the deception, that such a compromise can be made. No! Such
a compromise is worse, far worse, than seeking to serve mammon outright, boldly
defying God and serving mammon like those who profess to hate and reject God.
No! Do not be deceived, there is no middle ground: you either
serve God or mammon. Jesus made it very clear that He is especially angered by
the lukewarm church in Laodicea. The
lukewarm church is the one full of compromises, being neither hot or cold
(Revelation 3:16). It the one which Jesus describes to think itself rich and in
need of nothing: “thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).
The name ‘Laocidea’ comes from the words ‘lao’ which means ‘laity’ and ‘dice’
which means ‘rule’. Thus, Laocidea means a church ruled by people. It is a
church independent of God, thinking it need not rely on God for earthly needs,
trusting only in its own strength, wealth and power.
You may argue that this is exactly what it means that such
people are not true Christians. A true Christian can fall into gross sin and
carnality, as was the case of the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians; 2
Corinthians). The true Christian can
fall into any sin. The question here is not what sins a person commits that
determines whether he is a true convert, but whether it is habitual sin or not
habitual. If he is habitually sinning and cares not that he offends God, he is
a lost person, and if he claims to follow Christ, he is a liar. The true
convert who is seeking to compromise with God in terms of serving God and
mammon, is different. He cares about whether he has sinned or not, and his sin
is not habitual, but rather besetting. As he is seeking to kill his besetting
sins, is it not surprise a demon, such as spirit of mammon seeks to stop him
from doing so?
Many in the modern Church are like the church of Laodicea. Thus,
Revelation 3 provides a key to answering whether people making compromises with
serving God and mammon are true Christians or not. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus
says “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” That Jesus uses
the word ‘chasten’ is very significant. It is the word used in Hebrews 12:5-8
which explains the difference between a true convert and lost person with
respect to God’s chastening:
And
ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him: For whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But
if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards, and not sons.
It
explains that if one is not chastened by God, one is not his child, but an
unsaved person. This means that if one is chasten by God, one is his child. That
Jesus chastens the church of Laodicea indicates that they are not lost people,
but saved people, despite being lukewarm, and independent of God.
Fulfilling the Great Commission
as Christ commanded
Understanding
who the spirit of mammon is, and how he seeks to seduce the true Christian is
crucial for the Church is obey Jesus’ command to fulfil the Great Commission.
As long as one is anxious to the slightest for one’s earthly needs, one cannot
seek first the righteousness of God. Thus, one cannot be effective for God in
fulfilling the Great Commission
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