The Problem with Two Masters

October 13, 2018 Matthew 6:24 Year B The Problem with two masters (based on the Treasure stewardship program) Children’s Sermon: PREPARATION: This lesson can be given with no preparation OR you can cut a heart out of "fun foam" and attach a magnet to the back. (At a craft store you can buy strips of magnet with sticky back that you can cut into strips.) With a sharpie, write, "Jesus wants my heart" on the heart. LESSON: There is a story in the Bible about a rich young man. He came to Jesus and wondered what he needed to do to get into heaven. Jesus told him he needed to follow the 10 commandments. The young man assured Jesus that he had always done that, even since he was a child about the same age as some of you. Jesus loved this man very much. He could tell what was in his heart--what he treasured most. Jesus told the young man there was only one thing left. He should sell everything that he owned and give the money to the poor and then he would have treasures in heaven. The young man went away very sad because he had many possessions and he wanted to keep them. Now, Jesus wasn't telling the man that his possessions were bad. Jesus was telling the man that he wanted him to love him, Jesus, above everything else and then he would give the young man the free gift of heaven. Jesus wanted his heart. Jesus wants our hearts too. He wants each of us to love Him more than anything else because that is how much he loves us. If we love him most of all, we will get to go to heaven with Him. [If you have hearts for the children, pass them out now and say, "This is a reminder for you that Jesus wants you to love him most of all."] PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Help each of us here to give you all of our heart - to put you first in our lives so we can go to heaven. Thank you for loving us so much. AMEN Sermon #2 “The Problem with Two Masters” OUTLINE Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Outline I. A House Divided Perhaps you have seen the license plates that show the phrase A House Divided accompanied by the logos of two rival college football teams. This phrase often reminds people of Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech in 1858. Lincoln was speaking about a nation divided on the issue of slavery. What many people don’t know is that the line was not unique to Lincoln but that instead Lincoln was quoting Jesus. Jesus said, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:24-25 NRSV). Jesus is telling us, in other words, that competing allegiances in a kingdom, a house, or a heart will lead to destruction. Division leads to war in which either there is constant strife or one side wins out. II. A Reminder about Heart Investment Last week we were challenged to consider where we are investing our hearts. If we look at where we spend our time, money, and energy, we will see where our hearts are invested. One easy way to check this investment is to look at our budget or our calendar. In doing so, most of us would find that our hearts indeed are divided. We have said yes to too many commitments, signed too many contracts, and swiped too many credit cards. Now we must work to pay off a bunch of stuff that doesn’t make us happy. I want us to look at this short video on serving a master…. Who is the master of your life? is it God or is it the cares of the world. Today I thought rather than dwelling on the problem of living a life divided, that I would talk about the solution. The solution is to put God first, front and center of everything that we are and that we do. As we talk about stewardship this week, all of us can’t help but to ask the question of why. Why should I give. What is the point of spending 4, 5 weeks talking about such an uncomfortable topic. We talk about it because the bible talks about it. We talk about it because the jews learned that tithing was one of the best kept spiritual secrets in the universe. Money is never really about the green stuff that we have in our pockets. Money, and spending money is always a matter of where our spirits are. When we are able to make a plan to give God the first 10% of everything that we earn – we learn to have a sense of purpose and intention for our lives, we learn how to have discipline, we are able to clearly see the gifts that God gives us in return for putting God first. We learn that not only can we put God first in our bank accounts, but we can put God first in everything in our lives. If the Jewish society was anything – it was full of purpose, and order. They organized their whole society around the concept of purpose and order. We have all heard of the word Shalom. We have heard that shalom is the jewish word for peace. But shalom means much more than that. Shalom means that in a community where there is justice, there will be peace, and where there is peace, there will be wellbeing and wholeness. And where there is peace, justice, and wellbeing for the community. There will be justice, peace, and wellbeing for the entire society. But the only way to have a shalom – a whole society is for the society to be centered around the presence of God. Shalom means to put God into the center of everything that you do. (show the shalom center). The funny thing about a community centered around God – is that it looks like a circle. In a circle- you will notice that there are no sides. And there is only one center. God is the glue that holds everything together. When you are in the shalom circle – then it is harder to attack, define and separate yourself from others – because if we are focused on God. we are all facing the same direction – the center. When we are standing in a circle, and God is in the center of that circle, not only do we have a focusing point, but we also have a purpose and a uniting point. The one thing that I remember that Adam Hamilton said at the Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection, was that the church had a mission statement. And that mission statement was read every Sunday in church, it was said at the beginning of every church council meeting, at every event. It was read together for everyone to remember their center. And their purpose for coming together in community. Not just in any community – but in Christian community. When Englewood and Rust Methodist churches merged they too developed a mission statement. I would have them read that mission statement every Sunday as a way of centering us together for one purpose. Now I had a program where if a child could remember and recite the Lord’s Prayer in front of the congregation they would get a $10 gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice. All of my kids – even the two year olds know the Lord’s Prayer. For the adults – if they could remember and recite the mission statement in front of the congregation they too got a $15 gift certificate. The adults were not as successful. But the point is that I wanted to keep that mission statement in existence – by saying it all of the time. It was a centering point. Why is it that we deal with people that we really can’t stand in any other setting? Why is it that we come to meetings and take trainings when there is so many other things that we could be doing, why is it that we sins corny songs every Sunday, why is it that we give our money to church- when there are so many other things to spend it on. In order to support our common mission. Our reason for being a church. First United Methodist Church does have a mission. This week it is printed in the bulletin, to inform some and to remind others of why we are here in the first place. I want us to read it together now. Our mission is based on putting God in the center of our community, which means putting God in the center of our lives. Our mission challenges to follow the mission of Jesus Christ to witness to grace, to love others and to life as followers of Christ. It is our purpose for living in a shalom circle, where there is only one center and no sides. If we choose to stand in the shalom circle it is impossible to serve two master, because there is only one center. Where are you in the circle? What is your place in the mission? Who is your master? Let us pray….. Amen. The rest of the sermon that I did not use…… III. Serving One Master A. Two Is Too Many Jesus says in Matthew 6 that no one can serve two masters. A person trying to do so will inevitably like one master and hate the other, be to devoted to one master and despise the other. Jesus says that we can’t serve both God and money. As we examine our lives, we may see that we have many more than two masters calling for hearts! B. Our Hearts Are Hurting When we are serving two, three, or ten masters and are dividing our hearts among them, we are not living as God intends us to. I think this may explain why we resent or even hate the things that pull us away from our intended treasure. We end up hating our job or our boss, because they have become an unintended master in our lives. Does this mean you can’t make money? No! Does this mean you can’t have a healthy relationship with money? No! It does mean that you can’t serve God and money. They can’t both be your master. You can’t live under the lordship of God and the lordship of money; you must choose. C. Jesus Has to Be Lord God doesn’t want shared allegiance. God doesn’t want a piece of your life. God wants to be everything to you. If you make Jesus Lord and Master, the other allegiances will find their proper place. You still will have to work and be committed to other people. But you will not have a heart or house or life that’s divided. You will be standing on firm ground. For additional commentary and articles on this theme, please go to MinistryMatters.com/Treasure.