“You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24
In Matthew 6:24, we encounter the word “mammon”. It is used once in Matthew 6 and three times in Luke 16. The word “mammon” comes from an Arabic work which means “wealth, riches or property.” It can also refer to material possessions. In Jewish literature at the time of Christ, mammon referred to wealth. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus treats it as a proper noun, a spiritual competitor to God.
Wealth is not inherently evil. Christ never condemns wealth. The problem with wealth is when it becomes the ultimate object of trust, worship or devotion. There is a spiritual danger in wealth and that is when it controls someone’s priorities, decisions and identity, it can lead to idolatry and a life centered on temporal values rather than eternal ones. Jesus warns that there cannot be co-masters in a person’s life. There is one supreme master for one’s life. And the warning is that if one serves money, that becomes his master more than God. The danger is not money itself, but the misplaced trust and devotion that money inspires. The love of money can lead to spiritual ruin because it is a “spiritual force” that competes for our allegiance. What does that mean?
What occupies our brain space, our thoughts, our emotions, our joys, our confidence? What do we think about first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, or off and on during the day? What space does the Lord have in our brain as we go about our days?
The Orthodox Church does not preach a “prosperity gospel.” There are churches that preach a prosperity Gospel, citing a few verses of Scripture out of context to establish that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy and successful. Here are a couple of examples:
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back. Luke 6:38
The intended meaning of verses like these is that God is emphasizing spiritual blessings, obedience and faithfulness, rather than guaranteed material wealth.
The Orthodox Church also does not condemn wealth. In our services, we pray for “deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger and want (necessity)”. We don’t desire to find ourselves in want or in need but pray that our wants and necessities are always met. The marriage service takes this even further. One of the prayers offered over the couple asks God to Keep their homes well supplied with grain, wine, oil and every good thing, so that they may also give to those who are in need. While we don’t necessarily need these commodities today the way that they were needed in past centuries, the intention of the prayer was that a couple had all of their material needs met and then some, and that they also had a generous spirit which would motivate them to give to those who are in need.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, we read:
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people.
There are two challenges we face when it comes to how much money we are to keep for ourselves and how much we should share with others. The first problem is that many people don’t have a concept of a ceiling when it comes to wealth. We buy a car or a house and then we want a better car and a bigger house. We put some security in the bank but then we want more security. There ends up being no ceiling, we just want more and more. The second problem is exactly how much we should keep and how much should we share—is it a percentage? The Bible, especially in the Old Testament, establishes the “tithe” as the standard for giving back and keeping. The tithe means that ten percent of what we have is offered back to God and ninety percent is kept for ourselves. That is the Biblical standard. We don’t preach tithing in Orthodoxy, and most of us certainly don’t practice it. Many of us see money as “our money” or “money we earned” rather than money that was earned with a talent that was provided by God. We don’t see God as foundational to our material success—we see our own hard work as our foundation.
I suppose an important question would be how much of our money goes to serve our own needs versus how much goes to serve God by serving the needs of others? The Church has also been complicit in tainting our view of giving. Many churches struggle to just survive, and so giving goes to maintaining churches. Churches that are thriving want bigger and better facilities and giving goes to supporting more grandiose facilities. It is not often that we hear of a church encouraging more giving so that there can be more charitable outreach. (The parish where I serve is not perfect, no parish is. We are in a building program because our church sanctuary does not fit enough people. However, charitable giving is a percentage of our budget, a percentage that we are committed to throughout the building project. It is important that our charitable giving to organizations outside of our church, and even outside of Orthodoxy, continues without interruption during our building project.)
Again, let’s example the word “devotion.” How much of our time and efforts are devoted towards serving God versus serving money (meaning our acquisition of money)? And how much of our money is devoted to enlarging ourselves versus giving towards others? I suppose a third question should be asked of our churches—how much of the money that is taken in is used in support of our own community and interests versus how much is sent outside of the community to support the needs and interests of others outside of the church?
Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments! His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house; and his righteousness endures forever. Light rises in the darkness for the upright; the Lord is gracious, merciful and righteous. It is well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of evil tiding; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire on his adversaries. He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor. The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked man comes to naught. Psalm 112
Point to ponder: Where is charitable giving on our priority list? How much of what God has blessed us with is kept for ourselves and how much is given back in the form of charitable giving?
