God and Mammon

The New Testament uses the name Mammon in two different ways, in Matthew 6:24, our Lord 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.” Again, in Luke 16:9, our Lord says, “And I say unto you, make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fall, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.”

The word mammon is a Hebrew word meaning money or wealth; it is not in itself evil, it is man’s use or abuse of it that is evil, and this is the key to understanding our Lord’s use of this word, in Luke 16:9, our Lord speaks of the wise use of money, very much in terms of God’s law. The dishonest steward of the parable of Luke 16:1-8 buys friends, knowing he will soon be discharged from his position. Should not Christians so use their money to be charitable to needy believers so that they will be welcomed by them in heaven? The implication is that money demonstrates the works of faith. Money thus can and must be used here to further Kingdom work, in particular, in this context, charities.

In Matthew 6:24, the meaning is that a man cannot make a god of money or property. The opening clause is echoed in many Near Eastern proverbs, such as, “No man can carry two melons in one hand.” Man’s service to God must be exclusive: he cannot serve both God and mammon, i.e., money or property. Men, however, are prone to serving very immediate and profitable masters or goals.

But why would a man dedicate himself to anything less than God? California State Senator W. L. “Bill” Richardson, about 25 years ago, told me that voters have short memories; most of the time a scandal of more than 90 days past was forgotten, and men voted, not in terms of a politician’s character but their own advantage. Faith did not govern their voting, we can say, but mammon did.

In other words, our Lord’s comments tell us much about ourselves, what we worship and serve. Our Lord in Luke 16:9 says, if you love God, help your needy fellow believer. Put your money where your faith is.

God defines Himself in terms of His revelation to the patriarchs, in Himself, He is I AM THAT I AM, or He Who is (Ex. 3:14ff.), as beyond definition or limitation, I was told recently of a growing tendency on the part of some to say, “Money is.” This is an amazing parallel to what God says about Himself!

It is remarkable that our present worship of money should come when money is so untrustworthy. Our money is no longer gold nor silver, but increasingly inflated paper, in the early 1900s, a workingman in California was paid for gold; to buy a house cost $300 in the cities. Now money is worth less and less from year to year, and the worst inflation is perhaps just ahead of us.

Too many people define “the good life” in terms of material things, not in terms of God and His grace and care, I recall, when I was young, how a young couple would work, save money, and buy a farm with 25% down. The house would be mostly bare, a bed, a kitchen table and three chairs (the third chair was for the mother-in-law when she visited), and a stove. Many a later rich farmer started this way (wooden boxes were used to seat friends when they visited.)

I remembered this in the 1960s on visiting a newlywed couple, in a home better than owned by either set of parents, and furnished expensively at a great debt.

Now the time of reckoning has begun, I was startled to learn how very many checks are returned dally marked “insufficient funds.” “Money is” is giving way to “Money is not.”

“The good life” should be our goal, not as our age defines it, but as God declares it. The delusion of our time equates “the good life” with things and money, which, however important, cannot be equated with life in Christ.

Money is not in itself evil. Rather, as St. Paul tells us, it is the love of money which is the root of all evil and which leads to disaster (1 Tim. 6:10). This misplaced love leads to a falsified calling, one not from God but from the appeal of monetary wealth.

Our Lord, in Luke 16:9, and in the law, tells us that our money should be used in terms of God’s Kingdom, not our own little domain. We are stewards under God, with a duty towards one another and towards Him.

The Bible condemns neither money nor property, and it sees wealth as one form of blessing God gives us. What it does see as evil is the love of money, and the quest for money as an end in itself. In the modern era, the view is that man is an economic animal. (Others follow Aristotle to see man as a political animal. Both views are false). Man is a religious creature, made in the image of God, called to serve God in righteousness or justice, holiness, knowledge, and with dominion. Man demeans himself when he sees himself as anything less than God ordains he should be. We live in an era of too many diminished men.