YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY

Preacher: Revd Mrs Grace Sintim Adisa

Bible Readings:  AMOS 8:4-7    1TIM2:1-7        LK16:1-13

Date: 19TH September 2010              17th Sunday after Pentecost

To serve means to perform a duty or provide a service for some one. There is always an authority that is being served. The parties involved are a master and a servant and the normal thing is that the servant obeys the master.

The Theme for our reflection indicates that we have God and Money in this world; but we cannot serve both of them at the same time else we will be bias.

In the first Bible reading, we hear the prophet Amos warning the Merchants of his time. These merchants were enticed by money and they pretended to be worshiping God. They were not serious with the religious festivals. They always wanted the Holy days and Sabbaths to be over quickly so they could go back to work to make money. They loved market days more than Sabbath days.

They were cheating the poor to make money. They were selling inferior products for the same price as the finest – e.g. they mixed grain with wheat that was meant for animals, they inflated prices, knocked the bottoms of their measures upward, adjusted their scales among others. They sold the poor debtors into slavery for a pair of scandals.

Beloved in Christ, the Lord was not pleased with the behaviour of the Merchants. But my problem is – how different was their time from our time?

When you visit our market centres in Ghana (Asesewa, Techiman, Mankesim, Agomeya, Makola, Kasoa, etc) you will not see a different picture, there is cheating all over. Our traders love money more than anything else. Traders are giving false measurement for materials and cloths, deceiving people with Copper Jewellery as Gold. Come to think of the way they arrange their vegetables in the pans, sacks and ‘olonkas’ – they put fresh ones on top but the bottom ones are rotten. Groundnut paste and Ground pepper are mixed with flour etc. There are countless cases of rapist, armed robbers and thieves bribing their way through.

So what do we do as Christians because the Word of God says, we are the light of the world. There is so much moral decadence even at the offices. People would have to pay in cash or in kind before they could get jobs. Elderly men are abusing young girls and their house helps, their steps daughters etc.

Beloved, we have to walk with God. We should let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream. God has something Good for us, so He is the only one that we should serve. The Word of God says that if I gain all the wealth of the world and I lose my life then what will I get?

Mt 16:26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?

Scripture warns as in 1 Tim 6:10 that the root of all evil is the love of money. Money per se is not the problem, but the way we acquire and use it brings problems.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In our times, we see people especially the youth rushing for money through ‘sakawa’, juju, armed robbery, 419 among others. The Bible warns us in Gen. 3:19 that “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…” so why do we want to relax and get money?

Gen. 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The Apostle Paul in our 2nd Reading (1 Tim 2:1-7) preached Christ and his crucifixion that we may believe in God only.

Beloved in the Lord, what are you also doing? God is the ultimate that we need to serve. There is nothing to be compared.

Our 3rd Reading, (Lk 16:1-13) tells us that one day we shall be called upon to give an account of our stewardship. The servant in the parable did not know Christ but he thought of the future. He helped his master’s debtors so that they would also help him in his time of need. The steward helped the people in order to get their help in the future when he loses his job.

The Lord is saying that we cannot serve two masters. Either we will hate the one and despise the other.

Lu 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for 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 God and mammon."

Money has the power to take Gods place in your life. It can become your master. How can you tell if you are a slave to money? Money is a hard master and a deceptive one at that. Wealth promises power and control, but often if cannot deliver.

Great fortune can be made – and – lost overnight and no amount of money can provide health, happiness or eternal life. How much better it is to let God be your Master; His servants have Peace of Mind and Security both now and forever- Amen.