Which Will You Serve: God or Money?

​

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES Better Together

Which Will You Serve: God or Money? By Rick Warren — Jun 4, 2015 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24 NIV) Would you agree that we live in a culture of materialism? It’s like the goal is to get more and more and more. And just about the time you catch up with the Joneses, they refinance or file bankruptcy. And just about the time you think you’ve got it all, the Christmas advertisements come out, and they tell you about all kinds of things you didn’t know you couldn’t live without. It’s tough keeping your priorities right when you live in a society that’s all about “getting.” The one with the most toys wins, right? No! The one with the most toys still dies, whether or not you’ve got toys. There is only one antidote to materialism: generosity. Every time you’re generous, you have a spiritual victory in your heart. Every time you’re generous, your heart grows. Every time you’re generous, you break the grip of materialism in your life. Why? Because materialism is all about getting — get, get, get, get! It is your nature to get and to hold on. God says every time you’re generous, you are breaking that grip and defeating materialism in your life. By the way, that’s why if you’re a parent you need to have your kids watch you giving. They need to see you being generous, because they’re not going to learn it anywhere else. Make sure they see you model generosity so that they can learn it, too. The Bible says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (NIV). Notice it doesn’t say you “should not.” It says you “cannot.” It’s impossible. You can’t have two number ones in your life. You have to choose what’s going to be number one. Choose generosity. It will transform your relationships with other people and your relationship with God. It will change you from the inside out as you learn to be generous like God is generous with you. Talk It Over To what part of your finances have you become a slave? How can you model generosity and humility at the same time to your kids? In what ways has God been generous with you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6EUUVzVLl0   Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.                                              --Proverbs 21:20     Making good choices regarding the legacy and future of your family is vitally important. And as it says in the verse above, it’s foolish just to spend everything you have! We are to save money, as well as spend money. But the problem is that many families today haven’t built the financial firewall of spending money wisely. Their expenses exceed their income…and as a result, they’re bridging the gap with more and more debt! But accumulating excessive debt isn’t wise. And in the limited space I have here, I want to advise you to deal aggressively with paying your creditors. If you have debt that’s grinding you down, if you have debt that creates pressure in your family, if you have debt that keeps you from giving as God would have you give, it’s time you began to take a hard look at your spending habits. So I’d like to ask you today, do your spending habits glorify God? Friend, I challenge you to begin making God a partner in your finances today! Your family must build a financial firewall of wise spending habits.