Who’s Boss?

 March 18, 2021

It didn’t take long for this young pastor to come to a sobering truth—it is easier and safer to talk about the sins your congregation doesn’t commit than the ones they do. Back when I started out, it would have been unthinkable for the people in our little country church to have been involved in drugs; there were certainly no murderers amongst them, and no theft of which I was aware. I could preach freely on the vices of alcoholism, drug abuse, and the like, but there were other areas where I had to be a bit more careful. 

Except for the specific sins, things haven’t changed much in the intervening years. It’s not uncommon to have in our congregations people struggling with addictions, whether it be alcohol, drugs, pornography, tobacco. These are generally frowned upon in society at large, so we can tackle them without even a moment’s thought of consequences. Start talking about gluttony, inhospitality, or greed however, and the mood swiftly shifts to a darker hue. We’re no longer preaching; we’re meddling.

In Luke 17:13, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters...you cannot serve God and Mammon (an archaic term for money).” Money can be a great servant, accomplishing much good. It is however, never a good master. The problem is, it can slip unnoticed from the former position to the latter. We are seldom aware of when it begins calling the shots. Only after it is firmly in control does it reveal itself.

Tithing and generous giving are the only antidotes to this malady. As long as I say to myself that I can’t afford to tithe or give, I am admitting that money is the master, and I am the slave. Monitoring my money attitudes then, is a critical component of living faithfully. 

By the same token, we who are so susceptible to bowing before money are too prone to treating God as servant instead of Lord. We invert the entire scenario. Money becomes Lord, and god is our servant. So when God doesn’t do exactly as we want, when we want, we fire him. How often over the course of years I’ve seen people walk away from Christ because he didn’t dance to their tune, desperate though they may have been. God is God, not me, not money. The proper order is, God controls me, I control money, not vice versa. If money is servant, I tell it what to do; it does not dictate to me. Again, “I can’t afford it” is never a reason. God can afford anything, so the only valid question is, “What does God want,” with a single caveat: It is never his intention that we should simply accumulate wealth and leisure for ourselves. To God, money is like seed, meant to be sown in the soil of life for the blessing of others (2 Corinthians 9:6-11). 

Once again, the Bible challenges me to look at myself and ask, “Who (or what) is Master in my life, and who (or what) is the servant?”