Who Are You Serving?

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in).”   Matt. 6:24  AMP

Now we come to a very powerful and pivotal point in the passage of Matthew 6:19-24.  The last verse of this passage, in fact, is the climax of the Sermon on the Mount. 

This passage asks the all-important question, “Who are you serving?”  People often think they can have the best of both worlds – here on earth serving themselves and later down the road in the future, consider heaven.

 In this passage, Jesus states: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24 NKJV).

Jesus tells us here that we cannot serve two masters.  We cannot serve money and God; we cannot serve popularity and God; we cannot serve ourselves and God; we cannot serve our families and God.  We can have only one master.  Jesus is once again challenging us to look at the whole Sermon on the Mount, challenging us to repent, to change our minds about earthly treasures, about the things that we formerly served, and to serve Him only. You cannot serve both no matter how hard you try.  One or the other will lose out, and in most cases, it will be God

God is calling us to a radical life of service to Him as our Master.  As I said at the beginning of this series, there is such huge importance in realizing that God is our Father, and we are His children.  God will take care of us and provide for all of our needs.  But the temptation to hold onto earthly things weighs heavy on us and tempts us to trust our riches instead of our heavenly Father.

This call is radical in that we are called to give up ourselves completely and to place our complete trust in our Father and to follow Him. We are called to deny ourselves, which means that self no longer has any rights. 

We are called to take up our cross, which means that we are to take the same path Jesus took, being willing to lay down our lives for His sake and His gospel.   We are called to follow Him.  We are called to imitate Jesus in all that He did and to follow His example.

 Jesus wants all of our heart. He desires that we have an intimate relationship with the Father as He does.  We cannot serve God and the riches on this earth; it just does not work. One is either despised or hated, while the other one is loved and followed.

Whichever one you serve is the one that is your master. If it is riches, those riches are your master, and they have control over you.  If it is the Father, He is your Master, and He has control over you.

So who or what are the potential masters in your life?

Who is potentially in charge of your life?

In other words what is motivating you?
Someone else’s ideas,
Money,
Your own desires,
Pride

The big question to ask is where does Jesus fit into this picture?

For our lives to make sense Jesus needs to have priority in all aspects of our lives.

Who are you serving?