As believers in Christ, we have been turned from idols to serve a living and true God; mammon is an idol, demanding worship, and we need to be saved from mammon in our experience. Amen!
This week we come to a new Holy Word for Morning Revival on the matter of, Material Offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, and this week’s title is, Principles of Material Offering (1).
A Christian needs to deal with mammon in an absolute way and be delivered from mammon in order to begin his pathway of revival.
It must be clear to us that we cannot serve both God and mammon; we either love one and hate the order, or we cling to one and reject the other.
Mammon is an Aramaic word signifying wealth, riches; it stands in opposition to God, and it indicates that wealth, or riches, is the opponent of God, robbing God’s people of their service to Him.
In the world we see that people run after fame, money, and riches; more and more people want to get rich quickly and then even become richer and richer.
The love of money is promoted and appreciated in the world, and even in our workplace, climbing up the corporate ladder and having a better salary is what is recommended.
This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want His people to be rich; rather, He wants us, His people, to be saved from mammon.
May the Lord have mercy on us and show us what should our attitude as Christians be toward money, toward mammon, as seen in the New Testament.
May we not think that we serve God but actually we serve mammon, for we can either serve God or mammon, not both.
We are the Lord’s “household servants”, and we can’t serve two lords; we either love the Lord and hate mammon, or we will cleave to mammon and despise the Lord (Matt. 6:24).
To serve here means to serve as a slave; we either serve God as a slave, giving Him the love and service that He desires, or we serve mammon as an idol.
Mammon, therefore, is in direct opposition to God, replacing God, and being an alternative to God; we either serve God or mammon.
The Lord indicates that, for us to serve Him requires that we love Him, give our hearts to Him, and cleave to Him, giving our entire being to Him; it also means that we hate mammon and are saved from mammon.
When we love God in such a way, we are released from the occupation and usurpation of mammon so that we may serve the Lord wholly and fully.
May the Lord be merciful to us and shine on us concerning whom do we serve so that we may choose to serve the Lord and be saved from mammon!
Mammon is an Idol – we need to be Saved from Mammon and Serve the Living and True God
The Bible describes mammon as an idol, placing it in opposition to God.
The world may promote riches, fame, and being wealthy, but the Bible has a different view concerning this.
As believers in Christ, we need to take God’s view in His word as being our worldview; according to the Bible, we either serve God or we serve mammon.
In other words, in God’s eyes, there are no true atheists; the Bible doesn’t recognize the non-Christians as “adherents of other religions” and thus atheists.
Men either serve God or serve mammon.
People may identify themselves as being Buddhist, Muslim, or Agnostics, but in God’s eyes, there are only two objects of worship: mammon and God.
They may say that they don’t believe in God, but they still serve another god, the alternative to God, which is the mammon of riches.
It’s not about being poor or rich, that is, it’s not that the rich people serve mammon while the poor don’t; rather, it is what we worship inwardly, do we worship God or do we worship mammon?
As Christians, it is unthinkable for us to read the Bible and pray to the Lord on one hand, and then spend time in an idol worshipping temple; these two are not compatible.
Similarly, we cannot say that we worship God and yet pursue mammon, desire to get wealthy and seek to get richer apart from God.
1 Thes. 1:9 shows us the minimum requirement of being a Christian, which is to turn from idols to serve the living and true God.
Hallelujah, we have been saved from idols, from worshipping anything apart from God, and we have been brought into the worship of the living God and true God, the only God!
In our Christian experience, however, we need to continue to be saved from worshipping idols, and the top idol is mammon.
We all agree that we need to repudiate and cast down all idols, but we may not consider mammon to be an evil thing; we may think that mammon is harmless and that we’re not worshipping mammon but God.
But the Bible clearly says that mammon is an idol, and we need to be saved from mammon and serve the living and true God!
We cannot worship idols, for they are demonic alternatives to the living and true God; we as believers in Christ cannot serve God and mammon.
This truly requires the Lord’s light, for we may be convinced that, since we don’t earn a lot of money or we don’t have a lot of things outwardly, we do not serve mammon.
Mammon is in rivalry with God, competing with Him; therefore, mammon is evil.
We may be like the Pharisees in the Lord’s time who served God and followed the law to its letter, but inwardly they loved money and worshipped mammon.
We shouldn’t look at the rich and famous people around us and say that they love mammon; rather, we need to allow the Lord to shine and expose our love for mammon and be saved from mammon in our daily experience so that we can serve a living and true God!
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and expose our love for mammon. Make it clear to us, Lord, that we can serve either God or mammon. Save us from mammon. Save us from thinking that mammon has no grip on us. Save us from loving wealth, riches, or money; save us from loving mammon and deliver us from mammon. Dear Lord Jesus, we love You and we give our whole being to You. We cleave to You, dear Lord, and we give our heart to You; expose in us any love for mammon and save us from mammon! We want to serve a living and true God and be truly delivered from any idol!
Mammon Usurps Man’s Worship and Christians must Deal with Mammon in a Thorough Way
In Christianity, we may often hear how the leaders or preachers ask the members of their church to give them their mammon, their money because they need to build a church or for this or that need in their ministry.
This has become so often that we don’t even think it is wrong.
Even in the church life, we may ask the saints to offer their mammon because of the need to build a meeting hall or because we need to take care of an aspect of the work or the poor.
This is wrong, for it is a lowering of the meaning of consecration to the level of satisfying needs.
Yes, there is a need, and yes, there is a need for money to build a meeting hall or care for the work and the poor, but this is not why we need to offer our mammon.
We need to deal with mammon and be saved from mammon because it is an idol.
Some may say that they don’t want to offer money for the building of meeting halls or for taking care of the poor, but is this one saved from worshipping idols?
Dealing with mammon is not a matter of being rich or poor; it’s a matter of idolatry. Mammon usurps man’s worship.
To buy anything, to have anything physically, you need mammon. In this way, mammon becomes the center of man’s worship, and it replaces God.
Mammon is diametrically opposed to God, and mammon is the most common object of worship.
Just as it is terribly wrong for a Christian to remain in an idol worship temple, so it is terribly wrong for the idol of mammon to remain in our homes.
Mammon is not something that we have to use to get food, drink, and shelter; mammon is something that demands worship.
The Bible says that those who are poor in spirit are blessed (Matt. 5:3); it doesn’t say that those who are poor are blessed, but that those who are voluntarily poor in spirit are blessed.
Those who don’t have money may still worship mammon because it is an idol in their heart.
The beggars are not necessarily delivered from mammon; they may still worship mammon in their hearts.
We believers in Christ need to deal with mammon in a thorough way, realizing that it demands our worship.
We need to be saved from mammon, deal with mammon, and serve a living and true God.
This matter must be settled in our heart: mammon is an idol, and we Christians must deal with mammon in a thorough way.
Mammon is out there in the world to gain souls by usurping man’s worship; man was made to worship God, but mammon usurps man’s worship.
When we grow up, as children, we are not aware of mammon, but as we grow older, we are more and more aware of it, and man’s aspiration is to gain more riches, more wealth.
Out of a hundred people, eighty may serve mammon, and the remaining eighteen or nineteen may serve God and mammon, even without knowing it.
May the Lord shine on this matter in our being and deliver us from worshipping mammon.
May we open our being to Him again and again and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we love You, we cling to You, and we choose to worship You. Save us from worshipping anything or anyone other than You. Cause us to see that mammon is an idol, and cause us to deal with mammon in a thorough way. Amen, Lord, we just love You. We give our heart to You. Shine in every part of our heart and being and remove any idol from our heart. We choose to be poor in spirit so that we will receive Your blessing and be in the kingdom of the heavens. Save us from worshipping idols and bring us into the worship of Yourself as a living and true God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, (Set 3) Vol. 59: Miscellaneous Records of the Kuling Training (1), Chapter 9, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 1, entitled, Principles of Material Offerings (1).
- Hymns on this topic:
– Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him? / Is not thine a captured heart? / Chief among ten thousand own Him; / Joyful choose the better part. / Captivated by His beauty, / Worthy tribute haste to bring; / Let His peerless worth constrain thee, / Crown Him now unrivaled King. (Hymns #436)
– 1 Thessalonians 1:9: / For they themselves report / Concerning us / What kind of entrance we had, / For they themselves report / Concerning us / What kind of entrance we had / Toward you / And how you turned to God from the idols / To serve a living and true God, / How you turned to God from the idols / To serve a living, true God. (Scripture song)
– O Lord our God, we worship Thee, / In Thee we have our all; / Thyself we treasure in our heart, / Thy Name we love to call. (Hymns #56)
Amen,,, praise the Lord