ALLEGIANCE TO ONE by Pastor Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson
Introduction: This morning we are in part 4 of our series on Anxiety called “PUTTING ANXIETY TO WORK” and today’s message is titled “ALLEGIANCE TO ONE.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Overall Background: As I was preparing for this sermon, I’ll be honest with you, I was tempted to skip over it or just lump it with the next passage and move on. Usually, I even check to see what great preachers have said on a passage but very few actually preached on it. But, the more I studied it and the more I prayed over it, the more I realized that the Holy Spirit was calling me to preach on it. There’s something in this sermon not just for those struggling with worry and anxiety but also for every believer in Jesus Christ.
Here’s the gist of the message: No one is totally free. Everyone has a master. We were designed by God to serve Him. But, if we don’t serve Him, we will serve someone or something in our lives. Furthermore, we cannot serve Him and also serve someone or something else. “No one can serve two masters.” But, if we do serve Christ (the image of the invisible God) and Christ alone, He promises to exchange our chains and shackles for a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. He promises to upgrade our status from servants to friends and He will do something for us that no religion or movement will ever do – He will actually come down to serve us!
All that we will see in a moment but here’s the question – Is Christ the Master of your life? If not, who is? Is it a person? Is it money? Is it a habit? Is it a bad experience? Come to Christ and He will set you free. Are you sharing your allegiance to Christ with someone else? What does this have to do with worry and anxiety? They are simply the symptoms of a divided life. Again, we’re not talking about anxiety attacks and panic attacks but common worry. Are you saved? If not, then today is the day.
3 things are critical to understand this message:
I. A MASTERLESS LIFE IS A DELUSION.
“No one can serve two masters…”
Background: If you read that statement carefully, there’s something that Jesus is taking for granted – “Everyone has a master. You just can’t have two.” You often hear people say – “No ones gonna tell me how to live my life. I am a free person. I can do whatever I want.” Not true. God never designed us to be masterless. He designed us to serve Him. The word for “Master” is the Greek word “kurios” which we find over 8000 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX). Over 6120 of those are for “Yahweh,” the name for God and over 425 are for “Adonia,” another name for God. The idea of God as our Master is throughout the Old Testament. It goes all the way back to Genesis 2:8 “The LORD God (Master) planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.” What was his job? It was not to loaf around the garden, lie down, and eat grapes but “tend and keep” the garden. Both Adam and Eve failed in their assignment and stole from their Master. The point is that right from the start, God’s relationship with us was a Master-Servant relationship. I don’t have time to go through every reference of God as our Master in the Old Testament. Let me just give a couple:
- When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, what did He tell him to say? Exodus 4 22 “…Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve” The word for “serve” in both Hebrew and the Greek translation is more than just worship. “Latreo” has the idea of a hired servant. God did not say – “Pharaoh, set the people free so they can do whatever they want to do” but “set them free so they can go back to working for me.”
- Then God warned them that if they didn’t serve Him, they would serve their enemies. Deuteronomy 28:48 “therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.”
- For time’s sake, let’s jump over to Malachi 1:6 where God says to His people – “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts.”
Here’s the point: Human beings were never designed to be unaccountably free. God designed us to serve Him and He warned us – if we didn’t serve Him, we would serve someone or something. What’s happening in America today? People want freedom for freedom’s sake. The cry of the hour is “I can do whatever I want. You can’t tell me how to live.” What’s the result? Just the way God told His people Israel – “If you won’t serve me, you will serve your enemies.” People all around us are in bondage to sin, to addiction, to immorality, to fears, to doubts, and to the Devil himself.
But there’s something very important that we need to understand – When Jesus came, the title of God as Master (kurios) was applied to Him. Here are a couple of examples:
- When Satan tried to tempt Jesus, He quoted the Old Testament and said in Matthew 4:7 “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’”
- When people gave Him false devotion, He warned them in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
- I can go on and on but Paul sums up the belief of the early church in Philippians 2 10 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Application: The question is not “Is God your Master?” but “Is Jesus your Master?” Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
II. A DIVIDED LIFE IS A DISASTER.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.”
Background: Let me clarify – This verse is not against working two part time jobs or doing a double major in college. What Jesus is saying is – Don’t straddle the fence. Don’t vacillate between serving God one day and serving the world the next. Don’t be wishy washy with one day all “Jesus Jesus” and the next day “full of the Devil.” Make up your mind. If you don’t, then you’ll either hate Christ and love the world or you will long for the world and grudgingly follow Christ. I know some Christians like that and they’re guilt ridden, conflicted, and a poor testimony for Christ. In essence, their life is a disaster.
Jesus goes on to add – “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is an Aramaic word for money and property. By the way, there was no god named Mammon back then. Jesus was simply personifying money to point out that money is like a living breathing master who constantly demands our time and devotion. Isn’t that true? For just a little more, people will do anything. Please don’t misunderstand – Making money is not evil. God is not against you being successful. He is not anti-rich. In fact, I know many godly people who are very successful. Having said that, I don’t know why but money has always been and will always try to compete for your time and devotion to God.
Here’s a question: Right this moment, is Christ first in your life or is Money first in your life? Do you seek after Him just as much as you seek after the Almighty Dollar? Again, please don’t misunderstand – I know there are times we have to work extended hours and our spiritual life seems to be on the fly. All of us go through those busy seasons in life but if your season has turned into our status quo, you’re serving two Masters.
How does all this connect with anxiety and worry? They are simply symptoms of a divided life. Again, I’m not talking about anxiety attacks and panic attacks. But stress in a Christian’s life is a by-product of divided loyalty, when we’re trying to please God and also someone or something else. Paul says in Romans 14:8 “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” We may have earthly masters but ultimately only Christ is our Master.
Application: How is your life? Are you sharing your allegiance to Christ with someone else? Is it the Almighty Dollar? How is your walk with God right this moment?
III. A SERVANT’S LIFE IS THE DESTINATION.
Background: For this last point, I want us to step back from the immediate context of Matthew 6:24 and look at the bigger picture, the fuller meaning. What happens when we come to Jesus and give Him our sole allegiance? Listen to Matthew 11 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Meaning: When Christ becomes your Master, He exchanges your life of chains and shackles for a life of true freedom and joyful service. But there’s more – only Christ is that master that once you give Him your total allegiance, He renegotiates your contract and upgrades your status. John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. Meaning: When you serve Jesus as your Master, He doesn’t leave you outside slaving in the cold or the heat for Him but invites you in to be His friend. A Master may keep some things secret from his servant but there are no secrets between friends. But there’s even more – He also changes His status from the Master to the servant.
Jesus demonstrated this on the night when He was betrayed. If you remember, there was an argument among the disciples as to who was the greatest among them. Jesus being God in flesh knew about their discussion and their thoughts. So before the Feast of the Passover, He stood up from the table, took a towel and a basin full of water, and began to wash the feet of His disciples. Imagine the stunned look on their faces. No one spoke a word but Peter in John 13 6 “Lord, are You washing my feet?…8 …You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Peter’s typical response – “Wash me all over.” Jesus told him that wasn’t the point and when He was done He sat down and listen to what he said – 12 “…Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example…16 …I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master…17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. And Luke adds in 22:27 “For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”
This is true biblical Christianity. What is being propagated and disseminated in many churches is a Christianity that says, “I am the best and I deserve the best. God better bless me.” Is it any wonder that the world remains unimpressed and unmoved by us? To the contrary, I believe that we have something that no religion or movement can ever replicate – We have a God who comes down to serve us and then tells us to go do the same. What will happen if we do that in our homes, our marriages, our churches, and our communities?
Is Jesus your Savior? Is He your Master? I Corinthians 12:3 “…no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”
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