Sermon on the Mount No One Can Serve Two Masters

Matthew 6:22-24

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you
is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve both God and Money.
(6:22-24)
We are responsible for what our eyes dwell upon and for our own personal filtering system
Of course we cannot control the constant bombardment of this fallen worlds messages, but
we can determine our response and prevent the penetrating impact of the obscene cultures
lies upon us (Above all else, guard your heart, the wellspring of life Proverbs 4:23)
Our eyes are good if the mind behind them and a decisive will guards the heart
Other versions translate if the eye is single referring to singleness in purpose and pure in
heart (5:8), rather than the one of divided loyalty who is the double minded man (Jas 1:8)
Our eyes are bad if we have no internal filters if so, the whole body will be full of
darkness; if then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness
As Martin Luther said of temptation: I cannot prevent a bird from flying over my head, but
I can hinder it from building a nest in my hair or from biting off my nose
The key is our response trials and temptations happen, but we can choose to obey God in
how we respond and are accountable to Him (Submit yourselves to God; resist the devil and
he will flee from you; draw near to God, and He will draw near to you James 4:7-8)
Jesus makes a case for decisiveness no one can serve two masters
As the Israelites were to enter the Promised Land, Joshua challenged them to be faithful by
making a decision to serve God only: Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve .
. . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15)
Not only does Jesus call for decisiveness, but He teaches that the choice between loving God
and loving this world is mutually exclusive love for one means hatred for the other
The object our choice will eventually win out and dominate our lives
Our choice will become our love as Paul writes: the love of money is the root of all
evil (I Timothy 6:10); the choice of loving money is evil for there is no love for God
Do not love the world or anything in the world; if anyone loves the world, love for the
Father is not in them; for everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the boastful pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world (I John 2:15-
16)
Some versions translate the phrase God and Money and others God and Mammon
mammon is the Aramaic word for possessions or money which Jesus uses to personify greed
Paul writes to Timothy about his disappointment in the departure of one of his fellow
workers in the Gospel: Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me (II Timothy
4:10)
Martin Lloyd Jones: What we do is the result of what we think . . . that in turn is determined
by where our treasure is our heart . . . earthly treasures are so powerful that they grip the
entire personality, a mans heart, his mind and his will (Studies in the Sermon, 365)