Latest / Reformed Thinking / One Throne, One Master: Why You Cannot Serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24)

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One Throne, One Master: Why You Cannot Serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to the Deep dive. Today we are, we're wrestling
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  with a teaching from the king that is, I think you could
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  argue, one of his most challenging.
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  It's it's unsettling and it's just so absolute.
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  It cuts straight through all our modern habits, our assumptions
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  about how we organize our lives, especially when it comes to, you
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  know, possessions and ambition. It really does.
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  And all the material we're looking at for this deep dive
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  that all focuses on this one single powerful sentence from
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  the Sermon on the Mount, It's in Matthew 6.24.
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  And it isn't a suggestion. It's not, you know, some advice
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  for better living. It's a spiritual decree.
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  The decree is this no one can have two masters.
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  You cannot have God and Mammon. And our mission today with
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  material we've got is to understand why Jesus describes
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  this dual allegiance, not as you know, hard to do or a spiritual
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  risk, but it's structurally completely impossible.
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  We're looking at the fundamental incompatibility of these Sioux
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  authorities and what that means for our ultimate allegiance, the
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  situation in age like ours, which is so financially anxious.
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  Yeah, and the modern world is always trying to sell us this
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  myth of, you know, equilibrium, this idea that we can give a
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  little bit of affection to heaven and a little attention to
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  earth and just keep it all in a nice stable balance.
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  But our sources really insist that Jesus gave this verse
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  specifically to shatter that whole delusion.
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  He's dealing with ownership. He's not talking about
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  optimizing your finances. Money isn't just a tool.
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  The moment it starts promising you security or defining your
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  identity, it becomes Memon. It becomes a rival authority.
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  OK, let's uncak this. So to start, we really have to
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  place verse 24 in its immediate context.
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  That's Matthew 6, verses 19 to 34.
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  This statement, it doesn't come out of nowhere.
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  It's the logical, the unavoidable conclusion that
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  Jesus is building toward. That's right, you can't just
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  pluck it out by itself. No.
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  And we are so conditioned today to see money and our
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  possessions, as you know, just neutral mechanisms.
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  We acquire them, we store them, we spend them, but they don't
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  fundamentally change us. The culture gives us this cozy,
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  very simple story. Wealth is just a utility, a
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  resource. But Jesus comes in and offers a
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  moral and a spiritual diagnosis that just instantly shows how
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  inadequate that story is. And that kicks off right at
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  verse 19 where Jesus starts talking about treasure.
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  He says do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
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  where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and
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  steal. But lay up for yourselves
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  Treasures in seven. Right, where neither moth nor
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  rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
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  Yeah. This is such a critical starting
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  point. Jesus is diagnosing the hearts
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  inherent gravitational pull. Treasure is never just inert
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  stuff that sits in a vault. The moment you seek it, it
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  starts to seek you. So when he says where your
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  treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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  He's stating a fixed spiritual law.
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  It's. Like gravity?
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  It is. The heart follows what it prizes
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  most, and whatever the heart prizes, that thing becomes its
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  actual functional Lord. That concept alone should just
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  stop us in our tracks. If my heart follows my treasure,
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  then the direction of all my attention, my worry, my hope,
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  it's all determined by where I decide to put my long term
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  resources. And we have to sit with the
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  fragility of earthly treasure that he describes there.
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  Moths, rust, thieves. These aren't just, you know, old
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  timey metaphors. They speak to the complete
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  vulnerability of the whole system that Mammon builds.
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  Earthly treasure is subject to decay and theft, which means the
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  master that such treasure serves is by necessity a fragile
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  master, and therefore the servant of that fragile master
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  has to live in constant low grade fear.
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  Fear of vulnerability, fear of loss.
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  I wonder how often we actually calculate that vulnerability.
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  I mean, you're entrusting your whole sense of security, your
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  stability, your future to assets that are completely temporary.
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  They can be compromised so easily by things outside your
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  control, like. A sudden illness.
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  A sudden illness. A market correction.
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  A change in government policy. Precisely the moment your
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  well-being hinges on the permanence of things that
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  perish, you've just bound your soul to fear.
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  And this sets the stage perfectly for the discussion on
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  anxiety that comes at the end of Chapter 6.
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  But he doesn't jump straight to anxiety.
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  Yeah, first he shifts from the external stuff, a treasure, to
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  something internal, to our vision, the eye.
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  Right in verses 22 and 23 we get this image of the eye as the
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  lamp of the body. So why does he make that shift
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  from, you know, our bank account to our perception?
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  It's such an essential transition because it shows that
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  the issue isn't just about how much stuff we have.
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  It's about how we see the world, how we see our life and our
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  needs within it. If the eye, which is the organ
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  of our spiritual perception, is faulty, then the whole body,
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  your entire life, is dark. So a healthy eye, and I think
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  the Greek there is hapless, single visioned, simple.
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  That kind of eye sees reality with clarity.
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  Yes, the single vision person sees God as the absolute giver,
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  the ultimate owner. They see the Kingdom of God as
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  the true lasting wealth. So they operate from a position
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  of security because their view of reality is lined up with the
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  truth. God is on His throne.
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  But the bad eye, ponderosa, that's the divided eye.
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  It gets translated as evil or diseased.
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  This person sees life through a constant lens of scarcity, even
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  if they have plenty. That's it.
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  The divided eye is always grasping.
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  It's inherently restless, and it's prone to envy because it
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  assumes that security has to be generated from the inside
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  through self preservation. It's a state of spiritual
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  blindness, where the light, which should be illumination, is
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  functionally darkness. That person is blind to God's
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  care because they're too busy trying to be their own source of
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  care. The link between the treasure
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  and the vision is, well, it's chilling, really.
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  It means that if my heart is chasing Mammon, my entire
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  worldview, my ability to interpret daily events, my
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  needs, my future, it's all going to be skewed and darkened.
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  I won't just mismanage my money. I'll misunderstand life itself.
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  Jesus is confronting worship here at the deepest possible
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  level. He's showing that the heart's
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  allegiance actually shapes our perception.
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  If your eye is divided trying to look at God's generosity and
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  Mammon's requirements at the same time, your whole frame of
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  reference just gets distorted and.
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  This of course leads directly to the pivot point in verse 24.
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  It finally puts a name to what's been implied since verse 19.
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  Money is not some neutral object we hold, it's a competitor that
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  is trying to possess us. And in this context, money is
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  personified as Mammon, a rival Lord demanding total allegiance.
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  The key role of verse 24 is that it stops talking about the
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  symptoms and it just diagnosis the disease.
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  The disease is you are not managing neutral priorities.
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  You are choosing between two authorities that have absolutely
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  contradictory claims. And then we hit that crucial
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  connector where the therefore at the start of verse 25.
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  Yes. That, therefore, is the logical
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  consequence. It connects the choice of master
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  directly to the lived experience of anxiety.
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  Suddenly, anxiety isn't just a psychological struggle you have
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  to manage. It's treated as a theological
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  fruit of serving mammon. It's a signal of misplaced
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  trust. And if Mammon is your master,
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  anxiety is a completely reasonable response.
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  I mean, why wouldn't you be anxious?
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  Because Mammon is a fragile Lord, as we just established,
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  right? The person serving Mammon has to
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  constantly guard and calculate and compare and fear loss.
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  Because if Mammon fails, everything fails.
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  The bad eye is never at peace because it's God is always under
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  threat. O when we see that kind of
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  crippling, relentless worry in the life of a Christian, maybe
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  we should start with, you know, breathing exercises.
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  We should start with the question, who do you
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  functionally believe is in charge of your future?
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  Recisely, and in stark contrast to the anxiety factory of
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  Mammon, Jesus offers God centered reasoning to those who
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  choose the Father as master. His remedy isn't self-reliance,
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  it's a declaration of sovereignty in Providence.
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  He points to the birds who the Father feeds, and the lilies,
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  which the Father clothes with the splendor that surpasses
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  anything Solomon could muster. It's a total reversal of the
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  world's priorities. The servant of Mammon seeks
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  security by accumulating and calculating, which only
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  generates more fear. The servant of God seeks first
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  the Kingdom and his righteousness, as it says in
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  verse 33, and they rest in the truth that the Father knows what
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  they need. And that confidence makes
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  anxiety completely inconsistent with the Father's care to worry
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  about food and clothing. When you claim to trust the
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  Creator of the universe is a well, it's a cognitive and
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  spiritual dissonance. It reveals A deeper problem of
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  allegiance when you treat the things of the world as your
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  savior. Your heart trembles when those
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  saviors prove they can't save. It really is the keystone of the
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  whole section. It clarifies that the battle
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  over our money is fundamentally a battle over worship, and the
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  battle over our worry is the battle over our trust.
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  The world equates security with accumulation.
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  Jesus equates security with submission to God and confidence
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  in the Father's sovereign care. If you miss this definitive
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  pivot at verse 24, you just reduce Jesus's teaching to, I
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  don't know, some nice advice about not being extravagant, and
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  you miss the radical call to a single undivided life.
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  OK, so let's move from the context to the precise language
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  of the statement itself, because the sources we have really
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  stressed the need for a careful dissection here.
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  This is where the non negotiable nature of the command really
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  hits home. This is where we see the
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  absolute spiritual law Jesus is laying out.
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  The first clause is no one can have two masters.
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  In the Greek it's odista, Thais, dukurios, diliskis, and every
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  single word there is just packed with theological weight.
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  OK, let's start with no enough. That term is universal.
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  It allows for 0 exceptions. Not the person with great
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  willpower, Not the financially independent person.
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  Not the person who thinks they've, you know, skillfully
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  compartmentalize their life. Jesus is stating a universal
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  spiritual reality that binds every human heart.
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  Then there's is Abel Duttai. This is so important.
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  It's not you shouldn't or it's a real struggle.
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  Right. It's a statement about
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  capability, or really incapability.
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  You cannot. Jesus is revealing a fixed fact
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  about the structure of allegiance and the inherent
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  limited capacity of the human heart for ultimate loyalty.
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  The heart has one throne. It can't be partitioned.
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  And the term for have a master or be subject to Dutan.
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  This is where our modern idea of being an employee or a
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  contractor just completely breaks down.
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  It absolutely does. The distinction is critical.
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  There are other Greek verbs for, you know, assisting someone or
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  performing tasks. But Duton is decisive.
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  It means bond, service, total belonging, full obligation.
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  The person is a doula, a slave. And a slave doesn't negotiate A
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  balanced work schedule. Exactly.
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  A slave doesn't get to say, OK, I'll give 50% to this master and
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  50% to that one. Their time, their strength,
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  their obedience, it's all claimed entirely by a single.
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  And those authorities are called Masters or Lords.
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  Kudus demands full possession and command.
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  So when Jesus talks about two curioi, he doesn't mean two
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  different responsibilities like your family and your job.
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  He means 2 competing supreme authorities, and both of them
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  are making comprehensive total claims on the very same life.
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  Lordship demands totality. It sets your ultimate
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  priorities, it defines what has value, It directs every hour of
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  your labor, and it requires your ultimate sacrifice.
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  Wow. So if we just accept that
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  language of bon service, the whole modern illusion of
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  compartmentalizing our lives just evaporates instantly.
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  We try to set aside God for Sunday morning and then let
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  Mammon handle the practical Monday through Saturday
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  decisions. But the very nature of Dula
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  slavery is holistic. If God is truly Lord, he is Lord
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  over your wallet, your calendar, your ambitions, your anxieties,
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  the time you spend with your family, the time you spend
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  alone, everything. And if Mammon is functionally
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  your Lord, it will creep in and demand the exact same territory.
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  So to attempt bond service under 2 masters creates immediate,
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  unavoidable conflict. The directives will compete.
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  Can you give us a tangible example of that collision, you
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  know, in the life of a typical professional today?
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  Sure, think about time management.
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  If God is Lord, then the Lord's Day, the Sabbath principle, is
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  prioritized. It's a non negotiable
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  declaration of trust and rest. But if Mammon is Lord, the
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  Lord's day becomes a profit maximizing opportunity.
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  It's an extra shift, a chance to catch up on emails or a time to
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  aggressively chase the next deal.
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  Mammon says you must use every minute to secure yourself.
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  God says rest and watch me secure you.
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  The conflict is total. It's inescapable.
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  In our reformed context, thank you of the first commandment.
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  This is Jesus just applying covenant law with surgical
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  precision. God requires exclusive
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  allegiance. He will not be treated as a Co
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  Regent alongside some created thing.
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  And that first clause exposes the subtle deceitfulness of sin,
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  which is always whispering you can do it.
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  You can keep both in perfect equilibrium.
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  And Jesus says the equilibrium is a lie.
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  When ultimate loyalty is at stake.
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  There is one throne in the heart, and only one master can
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  sit on it. So since a stable Co Regency is
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  impossible, divided mastery has to lead to a divided affection.
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  And that's the focus of the second clause.
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  For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will
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  be devoted to the one and despise the other.
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  The. Binary nature of those outcomes
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  is just so stark. There's no neutral option, no
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  mild preference. He gives us 2 paired outcomes
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  that are describing the same spiritual reality, just from
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  different, you know, effective angles.
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  OK, let's start with that. Relational pair music say versus
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  AKA say hate versus love we have to.
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  Understand hate here through the lens of of covenant loyalty.
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  In biblical language it often means a comparative preference
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  to love 1 so decisively that the other is treated as if it were
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  despised or actively rejected. Jesus uses similar strong
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  language when he talks about following him over your family
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  members. Right.
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  Your loyalty to 1 master has to be so determined that the rival
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  master is instantly seen as secondary, and when it issues a
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  conflicting command it's just refused it names.
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  The reality that when 2 Lords give you rival commands, say God
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  commands generosity but Mammon commands you to hoard, 1 is
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  obeyed as the true master and the other gets treated like an
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  adversary or at least an irritant, then you get the.
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  Practical pair which describes attachment and contempt.
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  EXAT he will hold to or be devoted to versus Cocker frazee
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  he will despise or regard as nothing that word for.
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  Devoted or cling to and takes day.
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  That sounds powerful. It speaks of gripping something
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  tightly, like cleaning to an anchor when a storm hits it.
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  Pictures. The souls instinctive emotional
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  reflex. What do you run to when the news
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  reports a recession? Where does your attention and
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  energy go? Are you clinging to the
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  certainty of God's promise to provide, or are you gripping the
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  size of your portfolio and frantically to mitigate the
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  loss? That gripping action that
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  reveals your refuge? It reveals your true Lord and
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  the opposite. Katarana is to despise.
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  This is rarely some dramatic declaration of atheism, is it?
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  No, not at. All It's often a quiet,
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  functional dismissal of the Lord God.
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  It's treating God's commands like they're just inconveniently
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  timed suggestions, or his promises as less solid than a
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  business contract, or his worship as optional.
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  When a lucrative trip or a networking event comes up, it's
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  muted. Resistance.
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  Exactly, you don't. Overtly hate God, you just
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  refuse to take him seriously when his will conflicts with
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  your financial comfort. So the two.
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  Pairs. Together they show Jesus's
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  profound sports realism. If the heart doesn't just split
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  itself evenly under pressure, it reorders itself.
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  One master is preferred, cherished and obeyed.
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  The other is resisted, neglected, and just dismissed.
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  That's why. Neutrality is a spiritual myth.
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  If you allow money to promise you status, identity and
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  security, it will inevitably demand and reshape your deepest
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  affections. When that conflict arises, when
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  tithing costs you something, when integrity threatens your
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  profit margin, when rest threatens your ambition, your
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  emotional and practical response just exposes which master you're
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  clinging to. And this.
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  Brings us right back to that stark conclusion.
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  You cannot have God and mammon and the you is plural.
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  This is a law for the whole community of disciples.
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  It is Blunt who tested old Saint Datum and by.
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  Naming the two contenders, Jesus defines the battle lines.
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  On one side, God, the living Lord who commands and saves, on
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  the other, Mammon. And we have to be clear about
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  what Mehman is. It's not just money, the object.
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  It has shifted into a personal spiritual authority, a
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  functional deity that demands what only the Creator is do your
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  total confidence, your ultimate fear, the source of your
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  ultimate hope, and your unreserved obedience.
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  So Mammon becomes a God the moment it transitions from being
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  a neutral means to being an absolute end and.
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  Once it claims that throne, it behaves just like a cruel deity.
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  It makes all these alluring promises, security, status,
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  freedom, but then it extracts enormous sacrifices, more hours,
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  more ethical compromises, more anxious calculations, and a
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  complete neglect of your conscience that cycle.
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  Perfectly explains the constant worry, doesn't it?
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  Mammon Service is just a nonstop factory for anxiety because the
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  savior you've chosen is inherently volatile.
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  Companies lay people off, markets crash, your health
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  fails. If wealth is your Lord, every
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  single tomorrow is terrifying. But if God.
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  Is your Lord tomorrow is secured by the Father's unchanging
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  character. Jesus's statement functions as
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  both an exposure and a gracious invitation.
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  It exposes the lie of financial neutrality, and it invites
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  immediate repentance by naming the real battle.
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  The battle is not about how much money you acquire, but who has
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  acquired you. We.
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  Absolutely have to elevate this discussion now beyond just you
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  know behavior modification the source is making clear that
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  Jesus statement forces us to confront the theological stakes
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  for those of us who hold to reformed theology.
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  This isn't a life hack. This is about the nature of
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  sovereignty and sin. Well, the.
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  Core issue is spiritual allegiance that makes this a
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  first commandment stake. You shall have no other gods
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  before me. The living God claims an
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  exclusive right over the totality of the human heart, and
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  when wealth is treated as mammon, it's receiving the
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  ultimate trust and adoration that belongs only to God and
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  the. Sources define idolatry not just
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  as you know, bowing before some carved piece of wood, but as
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  leaning the entire weight of your soul on a creature.
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  When we treat money as our savior, our ultimate insurance
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  policy, our most trusted guide, we have functionally crowned it
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  as a deity and the idol. Of Mammon is particularly
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  insidious because covetousness is well, it's the most
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  respectable of sins. It rarely looks vulgar or
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  sensational. It often cloaks itself in the
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  language of prudence or responsible planning or ambition
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  or providing for my family's future.
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  That's a great. Point it uses.
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  Sound intentions as a brilliant disguise for a deep spiritual
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  leaning we need to. Dissect that line.
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  Then where does genuine prudence end and fatal unbelief begin?
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  This is the. Vital tension.
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  Prudence is a virtue. It says be wise with the
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  resources God has given you. Unbelief, on the other hand,
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  while it masquerades as prudence, says God is ultimately
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  unreliable, so you must save yourself.
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  Prudence becomes unbelief when it cannot find rest, when it
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  refuses generosity, when it sets no limits on accumulation, and
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  when it cannot say with sincerity enough, let's ground.
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  This in a modern scenario having a well funded 4O1K is prudence,
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  but where is the line crossed into Mammon service?
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  I think it's crossed when. Checking that balance becomes a
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  spiritual litmus test for your mood and your security for the
• 19:28
  day. It's crossed when you refuse
• 19:29
  consistent sacrificial tithing because you don't trust God to
• 19:32
  cover your basic needs tomorrow. It's crossed when you choose a
• 19:35
  job or maintain relationships based solely on maximizing your
• 19:39
  income, even if it requires A consistent compromise of your
• 19:41
  integrity, your rest, or your spiritual growth.
• 19:44
  So Mammon. Service makes the heart
• 19:46
  perpetually calculative. It's always trying to purchase
• 19:48
  sovereignty over tomorrow and. If money is your master, your
• 19:53
  soul lives in this perpetual low grade panic because that God is
• 19:57
  exposed to constant threats, recessions, inflation, political
• 20:02
  upheaval. And this brings us back to
• 20:04
  Providence as the theological antidote, the doctrine of
• 20:08
  Providence, that God actively governs and sustains all things.
• 20:11
  It's not some fluffy reassurance for the spiritually lazy.
• 20:16
  It is a declaration of God's exclusive sovereignty that
• 20:19
  violently displays. Places the bank account as the
• 20:21
  actual source of security the world.
• 20:22
  Dictates. If you don't frantically secure
• 20:25
  yourself, no one else is going to do it for you.
• 20:27
  Christ answers that worldview directly.
• 20:29
  Your Father feeds birds and clothes lilies.
• 20:32
  Seek first His Kingdom, and all these other things will be added
• 20:35
  to you when God is. Master affirming Providence
• 20:37
  breaks the tyranny of Mammon. The Father knows our needs, He
• 20:40
  rules the future that we fear, and He refuses to be displaced
• 20:43
  by any fluctuating created source.
• 20:46
  The swords material frames worry and anxiety as a kind of liturgy
• 20:49
  of unbelief, a daily rehearsal of the belief that I must save
• 20:51
  myself through calculation and hoarding or I have to control
• 20:54
  tomorrow. Providence disrupts that.
• 20:56
  Self worship this. Radical statement from Jesus
• 20:59
  immediately confronts some specific religious distortions
• 21:02
  that have crept into the church. The 1st and most obvious is the
• 21:06
  prosperity gospel. It just.
• 21:08
  Exposes that teaching as a fundamental misunderstanding of
• 21:11
  mastery. The prosperity gospel treats God
• 21:14
  as a means to acquire mammon. You use your faith to generate
• 21:18
  material wealth, but Jesus insists in 6.24 that they are
• 21:22
  mutually exclusive masters. You cannot claim to follow
• 21:25
  Christ while you're manipulating him for the purpose of serving
• 21:27
  wealth. It also.
• 21:28
  Critiques the pragmatic approaches we see even in
• 21:31
  otherwise orthodox communities you know, measuring
• 21:34
  organizational success by budget, growth, platform size,
• 21:37
  revenue streams. This is a.
• 21:38
  Subtle but effective smuggling of mammon into the metrics of
• 21:42
  ministry. Christ measures faithfulness by
• 21:44
  obedience, holiness, the clarity of truth, and spiritual fruit,
• 21:49
  not by financial outcomes. If we start assuming that bigger
• 21:52
  is always better and that success is proven by
• 21:55
  accumulating resources, we've allowed the world's master to
• 21:58
  define our ministry goals and the statement.
• 22:00
  Also corrects a pure moralism too.
• 22:02
  The remedy for covetousness isn't just try harder to be less
• 22:06
  materialistic, no the. Remedy has to be a radical
• 22:08
  transfer of trust and affection. The heart must be remastered,
• 22:13
  and in our form structure, the sanctification is the Spirit's
• 22:16
  work. He's actively dethroning false
• 22:18
  authorities by establishing Christ on the seat of the soul.
• 22:21
  He mortifies covetous desires and vivifies new affections for
• 22:25
  heavenly things. So Christian.
• 22:27
  Acts of generosity, financial integrity, or chosen simplicity.
• 22:31
  They aren't tools to gain merit. They are acts of open worship.
• 22:35
  When you build a budget where sacrificial generosity is the
• 22:38
  first line item, you are making a public, visible declaration.
• 22:42
  God is my sufficient provider, not my balance sheet.
• 22:44
  And when you refuse? A business deal that involves
• 22:46
  dishonest gain, even if it hurts your quarterly numbers.
• 22:49
  You are declaring men and may not command my conscience or
• 22:52
  compromise my obedience. This verse demands sincerity.
• 22:55
  It asks not how much do you possess, but who possesses you?
• 22:59
  The heart is always worshipping. It's always clinging to
• 23:02
  something that promises at lasting life, this movement.
• 23:05
  From theological truth to personal conviction, it brings
• 23:08
  us to the distinction between law and Gospel.
• 23:11
  In this context, the text functions as law first, right?
• 23:14
  It exposes the spiritual bondage that we're often unwilling to
• 23:17
  confess. Yes.
• 23:19
  This passage is a severe mercy. It's a blade that cuts precisely
• 23:22
  in order to heal. The declaration you cannot have
• 23:25
  God and Mammon is a non negotiable verdict on our
• 23:28
  divided idolatrous hearts. It refuses to entertain the
• 23:31
  illusion that we can keep both. And the law in its function, it
• 23:35
  presses these deep convicting questions.
• 23:38
  You know, why does the threat of financial loss trigger a much
• 23:40
  faster and deeper panic reflex in me than the conscious act of
• 23:44
  grieving the Holy Spirit? Why does sacrificial generosity
• 23:47
  feel like a deep injury and indulgence feel like a temporary
• 23:50
  relief? The Law.
• 23:51
  Expertly uncovers the anatomy of our idolatry, a heart that
• 23:55
  instinctively clings to created security and treats the living
• 23:58
  God as an optional extra. The Law refuses to let us hide
• 24:01
  behind comfortable, respectable labels.
• 24:03
  If we are anxious or stingy or calculative, the Law calls that
• 24:06
  what it is. Servitude to Mammon it just.
• 24:09
  Strips away the false piece of the divided life, that common
• 24:13
  arrangement. God on Sunday, Mammon on Monday.
• 24:15
  That's not balance. It's a structural betrayal of
• 24:18
  the first commandment and the law.
• 24:19
  Shows that the core problem is not a deficit of budgeting
• 24:22
  technique, it's a catastrophic failure of holiness and a
• 24:26
  misplaced worship. It diagnosis the impossibility
• 24:30
  dual service, but this is its limit.
• 24:33
  The law can tell you that you're hopelessly enslaved, but it
• 24:36
  cannot create the love or provide the power to escape.
• 24:38
  It can only condemn, and that is.
• 24:40
  Precisely where the Gospel steps in.
• 24:42
  It doesn't deny the law's crushing accusation.
• 24:45
  It answers it with a Redeemer who lived the single hearted
• 24:48
  life that we have failed to live.
• 24:50
  Yes. Where we were driven by anxiety,
• 24:52
  Christ served the Father without any rival.
• 24:55
  Just remember the wilderness temptation.
• 24:56
  Mammon offered him all the kingdoms of the world in
• 24:59
  exchange for one act of worship, and Christ refused.
• 25:02
  He chose obedience and dependence on the Father's word
• 25:05
  over personal gain and self securing.
• 25:07
  He lived the perfect life of exclusive allegiance.
• 25:10
  And then He. Died the death that idolaters
• 25:12
  deserve, bearing the consequence for those of us who served
• 25:15
  Mammon, who clung to our wealth, our security, and our worldly
• 25:19
  status, rather than to the Lord the.
• 25:21
  Gospels comfort is that Christ meets the standard of the single
• 25:24
  hearted life and then pays the penalty for our divided hearts.
• 25:27
  The strongest to most definitive argument against Mammon's claim
• 25:31
  is that Christ has definitively defeated it through his
• 25:34
  resurrection. Mammon promises life and
• 25:37
  security, but it only delivers fear and death.
• 25:40
  Christ gives a life and a security that cannot be
• 25:42
  threatened by a recession or by any loss.
• 25:45
  Mammon threatens you with the terrifying nature of tomorrow.
• 25:48
  Christ holds tomorrow, including your life and death in his nail
• 25:52
  scarred hands. The Gospel.
• 25:53
  Is not that Christ advises idle slaves to behave better, It is
• 25:57
  that he frees them from the slave market by purchasing them
• 25:59
  with his own blood. This transition from one master
• 26:02
  to another is the definition of liberation.
• 26:04
  So the demand. For exclusive allegiance.
• 26:07
  When you see it through the gospel, it's not oppression,
• 26:10
  it's freedom from a cruel, unrelenting tyrant.
• 26:13
  We are transferred from slavery under mammon to service under a
• 26:17
  gracious king who is also our loving Father.
• 26:19
  And this. Transition leads directly into
• 26:21
  sanctification, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, which is the
• 26:24
  third use of the law. The law returns not as a
• 26:28
  demanding ladder to acceptance, but as a guiding lamp for those
• 26:32
  who are already accepted in Christ, the Gospel.
• 26:35
  Says because you are fully forgiven and owned by Christ,
• 26:38
  you are now free to fight the idols of greed and anxiety with
• 26:41
  hope and joy rather than with fearful panic.
• 26:44
  The single hearted service Christ demands, He also empowers
• 26:46
  through His Spirit that distinction.
• 26:48
  Is vital. Moralism says stop loving money
• 26:51
  so much, try harder, and then God will accept you.
• 26:54
  The gospel says God has accepted you completely in Christ, and
• 26:57
  therefore you are now free to start pretending that money can
• 26:59
  save you. The goal is repentance with
• 27:02
  genuine conviction and obedience with joy, because we are
• 27:05
  replacing a relentless, cruel master with the most benevolent
• 27:09
  and generous king. So now we take.
• 27:10
  All this dense theological material and we translate it
• 27:14
  into actionable reality. We can structure it around the
• 27:17
  head, the heart, and the hands. The goal is a life lived
• 27:20
  visibly, undeniably under Christ's Lordship.
• 27:24
  And we can begin with the mind. What must we believe You have
• 27:28
  to? Intellectually consent to and
• 27:30
  emotionally rely upon the full truth of Christ's Providence.
• 27:34
  You have to believe that money is nothing more than a temporary
• 27:36
  tool for stewardship, not a source of ultimate salvation.
• 27:40
  You have to ground your security in the unchanging strength of
• 27:43
  God, not the volatile size of your reserves.
• 27:45
  And this. Requires challenging those
• 27:47
  mental habits that Mammon has instilled in US when you sit
• 27:50
  down to plan your next five years or when you budget or and
• 27:53
  this is critical when you experience a financial set back.
• 27:56
  Do you interpret that event like an orphan, abandoned and
• 27:59
  required to fend for yourself? Or do you interpret it like a
• 28:02
  son or a daughter whose father is wise, near and governs all
• 28:05
  things that? Internal habit is everything.
• 28:08
  The future is not held by the capricious market or by your own
• 28:11
  shrewdness. It is held by the Lord who
• 28:13
  created the sun and numbers the hairs on your head.
• 28:16
  And for those listening who do not yet follow Christ, this text
• 28:19
  is an urgent warning. Mammon is a master that cannot
• 28:22
  forgive your guilt, it can't cleanse your conscience, and it
• 28:25
  cannot die for you. Renouncing Mammon means coming
• 28:28
  to Christ to find salvation and freedom from that cruel bondage
• 28:33
  moving. From the head we have to turn to
• 28:34
  the heart, the core of our affections, our fears, our
• 28:37
  internal reflexes. We have to actively cultivate
• 28:39
  holy affections that systematically dismantle
• 28:42
  Mammon's glamour and its lore. And we have to.
• 28:45
  Ask brutally honest questions of ourselves.
• 28:47
  What triggers your deepest sense of peace and calm?
• 28:50
  Is it resting in God's unfailing promises, or is it seeing your
• 28:54
  financial padding hit a certain number?
• 28:56
  What produces the sharpest, most visceral panic reflex?
• 29:00
  Is it the realization of serious sin against God, or is it the
• 29:03
  fear of financial loss? The heart reveals its functional
• 29:06
  master by its instinctive emotional reflexes.
• 29:09
  Our Sources. Suggest practical spiritual
• 29:11
  disciplines here, specifically cultivating and aggressive
• 29:14
  gratitude until discontent is exposed for what it is, a
• 29:18
  liturgy of unbelief. We have to learn contentment as
• 29:22
  an act of worship. Declaring the Lord is enough for
• 29:25
  me, and when that? Anxiety whispers if you give
• 29:28
  that much, you'll lose control over your future.
• 29:30
  The only gospel centered responses.
• 29:32
  I'm not in control anyway. God is and He has promised to
• 29:35
  meet my need. We also have to sound a clear
• 29:38
  warning to those of us in positions of financial comfort.
• 29:41
  Abundance is a powerful anesthetic for the soul.
• 29:44
  You can. Mistake calm, stable
• 29:45
  circumstances for true, deep contentment.
• 29:49
  The test of the heart is what you would not surrender for
• 29:51
  Christ's sake. Is there a certain level of
• 29:53
  income, a specific type of housing, a professional status
• 29:57
  or perceived standard of living that, if it was threatened by
• 30:00
  obedience, would cause you to choose Mammon's comfort over
• 30:02
  Christ's command? That anxious.
• 30:04
  Grip on security is a misplaced refuge, but Christ is gracious.
• 30:08
  He doesn't crush us, but calls us back to repentance, where
• 30:11
  money has assumed the role of ultimate master.
• 30:13
  And finally. We apply this with our hands,
• 30:16
  with concrete, visible acts of obedience that serve as a public
• 30:20
  confession of Christ's lordship. First and foremost, generosity
• 30:24
  as worship generosity. Has to be intentionally planned,
• 30:27
  calculated first in the budget, not treated as the leftovers of
• 30:30
  impulse. This deliberate action is a
• 30:33
  weekly, monthly and yearly declaration.
• 30:36
  God is my sufficient provider and I do not need to hoard what
• 30:39
  He has given. It should be consistent, not
• 30:42
  sporadic. So the heart develops a new God
• 30:45
  centered reflex of open handedness.
• 30:47
  This has. To be paired with simplicity and
• 30:49
  limits, we have to choose to embrace realistic limits to make
• 30:53
  room for mercy and ministry, refusing the constant
• 30:56
  consumeristic chase for status or the constant lifestyle
• 30:59
  upgrades that only fuel the engine of covetousness and
• 31:02
  absolute. Integrity must always triumph
• 31:04
  over profit. This means no dishonest gain, no
• 31:07
  stretching of the truth and business dealings, and no
• 31:10
  exploitation of workers or resources for a better margin.
• 31:13
  This is a confession. Mammon may not command my
• 31:15
  conscience even if my bottom line is threatened.
• 31:17
  We also. Have to address the sanctity of
• 31:19
  time and rest. If our professional schedule
• 31:22
  consistently crowds out Lords Day worship or spiritual
• 31:25
  disciplines or quality rest, and there's no repentance, we are
• 31:29
  being mastered by productivity and financial striving.
• 31:32
  We have to. Practice a Sabbath like
• 31:34
  restraint even in our consumption and production
• 31:36
  throughout the week as a declaration of non ownership by
• 31:39
  market forces. The market says produce or
• 31:42
  perish. The master says rest and trust
• 31:44
  me. And finally accountability is
• 31:46
  essential. Confess the specific sins of
• 31:49
  financial fear or greed or stinginess to a trusted
• 31:52
  Christian brother or sister. Secrecy is Mammon's most
• 31:55
  reliable ally. These tangible.
• 31:57
  Acts, they are not designed to purchase God's acceptance or his
• 32:00
  love. They are the undeniable proof
• 32:02
  points that reveal which love has decisively seized control of
• 32:05
  your life. The world teaches protect
• 32:08
  yourself and accrue security at all costs.
• 32:10
  Christ commands seek first the Kingdom.
• 32:13
  The single hearted life is the only path to genuine lasting
• 32:16
  freedom. So this deep dive lands us right
• 32:18
  back at the initial question of allegiance.
• 32:21
  Mammon presents itself as a kindly servant offering
• 32:23
  security, but it swiftly proves itself to be a cruel tyrant.
• 32:28
  It promises comfort, but it taxes you with perpetual
• 32:31
  anxiety. It demands endless sacrifice,
• 32:33
  yet it has zero ability to actually save you.
• 32:35
  The contrast. Is absolute Christ, the true and
• 32:38
  gracious Lord, is the only Master worthy of your whole
• 32:40
  heart and life. He did not come to take your
• 32:43
  life to gain resources for Himself.
• 32:45
  He gave His life, His blood, to redeem you from bondage.
• 32:48
  He rules His subjects not by the fear of loss, but by the
• 32:51
  certainty of a blood bot assurance that nothing, not even
• 32:54
  death, can take away. So what does this?
• 32:55
  All mean for us today the world. Tells you cling to what you can
• 32:59
  see and measure. Christ commands lay up treasure
• 33:02
  where the true unchanging security is found.
• 33:05
  When your financial plans are threatened, when generosity
• 33:08
  truly pinches your comfort, when integrity demands personal
• 33:11
  sacrifice. Which master gets the final
• 33:13
  deciding word? The only sane and free choice is
• 33:16
  to renounce the cruel master and bow fully to the good King.
• 33:20
  Since the. Single hearted life is the only
• 33:22
  option Jesus gives us. Consider this.
• 33:24
  What specific choice are you currently making in your
• 33:26
  calendar, your charitable giving, or your long term goal
• 33:29
  setting that quietly acts as a confession that God is your
• 33:32
  ultimate security rather than Mammon?
• 33:35
  This is something for you to consider as you reflect on this
• 33:37
  deep dive.