Blessed Life  |  Week 2

Turn to: Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13

 Last Sunday, we saw Zacchaeus go from a broken life to a blessed life when he encountered Jesus.  He immediately begin to reflect Jesus.  He obeyed out of the tenderness of his heart!

We keep on Talking about the BLESSED LIFE this week with:

“Breaking the Spirit of Mammon”

Matthew 6:24 NO ONE… (not 1 person) 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.

Luke 16:13 No servant 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.

Mammon is the only thing that God says you can not serve alongside of Him.

What is mammon?

(not English or Greek)  – Mammon is an Aramaic word meaning riches.

It might be “money” in your translation of the Bible. Which is not a far off word.

But, Jesus frames the word to mean something much deeper than simply money.  He makes it sound like something more of a god or a spirit of riches.

Many believe mammon came from the Syrian God of Riches which can be traced to Babylon and the tower of Babel. Mammon represents a prideful, self-made, arrogant spirit of man that says we don’t need God.  We can do it on our own.

The spirit of Mammon came from here. Mammon is a spirit.  Jesus was referencing this Syrian False God of riches.

Mammon is a spirit that rests on money.  All money has a spirit on it.  It either has the spirit of Mammon on it. Or the Spirit of God.  Jesus said that you can not serve God and mammon.

Let me say it another way:

All your possessions are identifying with the God of all sufficiency or the god of self sufficiency.

The BROKEN LIFE is one where you are constantly in charge and stressed about whether you are going to make it or not

The BLESSED LIFE is one where you are confident that God is in control.

Trying to serve God and Mammon is like putting one foot a boat and keeping one foot on the dock and trying to go somewhere on the boat.  The dock (self sufficiency) won’t take you any where, and the only way the boat can is for your to get all the way in!

The BLESSED LIFE requires you to get in the boat all the way and completely rely on God, meaning that you will not rely on your own self-sufficiency!

So…How Do you Break the Spirit of Mammon?

How do make sure that you are not self sufficient but instead relying on the sovereignty of God?

The way to make sure your possessions are submitted to the Spirit of God is to first mentally give them all to God and then Secondly, actually GIVE (transfer the possession of) to God.

Bible clearly outlines giving to God first:

the first tenth (tithe) of your possessions is transferred to the house of God.

Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The spirit of Mammon is whispering to you right now.  ‘that’s not true. That’s a fairy tale.’

Mammon looks for servants. It promises us everything that only God can fulfill.

“If you have more money you would be more significant: people will listen to you.”

“If you have more money you would be secure.”

“If you have more money you would be free.

“If you have more money you would be more happy.”

The Truth is that:

ONLY GOD can give you significance

ONLY GOD can give you security

ONLY GOD can give you freedom

ONLY GOD  can give you love, peace and joy!

You don’t realize how much this affects you until you got into a tight spot financially.  It stresses all the other parts of life.

I have found myself being tempted by the spirit of mammon in my life even though I am a strong tither (have been all my life).

Mammon always tries to get me to believe in myself and my ability to get money. Acquire/earn

Remember what we learned last week?  When you encounter the Gospel of Jesus you go from being a taker/receiver to one who freely transfers your possessions.  That is the beginning of the BLESSED LIFE!

Let me show you one of the ways the spirit of Mammon speaks to you and reinforces it’s dirty objectives.

PIC of billboard of lottery jackpot

Every time I drive by those lottery signs on IH35,  the devil tempts me by saying, ‘if you won that, you wouldn’t have any worries.  If you won that you wouldn’t need help from anyone. You could do whatever you want.  You could retire…” (from doing the work of God?)

You would be self-sufficient.

So slowly and sneaky, the devil plants the seeds of doubt about God’s all sufficiency and my potential power to keep things in my control.

So, I have determined not to even look at the sign any more!

I do two things:

“Devil, you’re an idiot.” And continue to tithe to put God first.

The lies ALWAYS sound convincing!

“If you had more money, you could help more people.” LIE

The only thing that helps people is GOD.  God helps people.

Jesus never ever ever…never ever ever told anyone that your problems would go away if you had more money. The answer to our problems was never money.  The crippled, lame, destitute would run up to Jesus and say, “have mercy on me, son of David…”  Jesus never said, “All you need is more money!”

At some point in our lives (if we were honest) we have said:

“I either need God to come through or I need someone to give me some money, and if I had some money, then I don’t need you God.  Thanks, but my problem is solved.”

No where is this spirit more prevalent than in America. Look at the unrest there is in America today due to the financial uncertainty of our government! There is turmoil not because money is gone, but because we have put our faith in money and therefore when it is gone, our hope disappears.

Is Money Evil?

Many people think and misquote scripture when they say “Money is the root of all evil”

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Serving the spirit of mammon is the root of all evil!

That is the BROKEN LIFE. The Broken Life means is you have erred from faith in Jesus and been pierced!

The BLESSED LIFE is freedom from the bondage and fear of mammon.

Money is not good or bad.  In fact, it is USED to build the kingdom of God!

Luke 16:9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

Take unrighteous mammon, the money that is dedicated to the spirit of the world and redeem it.

Give the first part to God. Put it under God’s control and start building the kingdom.

You will bring folks into the kingdom. They will welcome you into an everlasting home. They will be thanking you in the kingdom of heaven thanking you.

Think about the people you will meet in heaven that walk up to you and say thank you for financially giving to drill a well in Nigeria. Because you gave, I went to the church to drink water, but found the water of eternal life!

You can take your money and use it for the kingdom!

God is the only one that can turn money into souls.

Money is not evil. It is good or bad.  What is the purpose of your money? what is the spirit on your money?

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What should I do with my money?

Be a good steward. Give God the first of it. Then be a good steward over the rest.

“Pastor, this is a great sounding message, but if I had more money, I would really be able to apply it to my life. I have too little of this unrighteous mammon to be concerned with this message. If I had more, I would be taking notes and really applying it.  I shouldn’t be concerned with this message, because it doesn’t really apply to me.”

If you think that and you feel as though you don’t have enough to make a difference, then you will never have enough.  Never. Never.  If you can’t steward what you have, then you will not be given more.

Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

Our culture says: “The rich gets richer and the poor get poorer.”

The kingdom of God says, “The good stewards get more.”

In Matthew 25, he takes from the poor and gives to the rich. Not because it was based on the amount, but it was based on their ability to steward.

Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

What is true riches?  People.  Nothing on earth lasts forever.  The only thing that lasts forever is PEOPLE. If you can’t handle money, then why would God give us people.

We should be mentoring, serving, helping.  If we can’t manage temporary assets, then why would He give us people?

I am pleading with you.  I am not sure how else to tell you this.  You can not serve God and mammon.  There is a spirit that is lying to you.  It has lied to you for years. It is saying that your way is better than His way.

I tell you like God says in his word. Try it.  Try His way and see if it is not better.