Breaking the Spirit of Mammon

The Blessed Life   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Intro:
As we begin this morning I want to take a few moments to share from my own story. There is a passage of scripture in Luke 16 that we are going to look at today. This message is near to my heart today, because I have had to directly confront what I am going to share with you today.
Today the title of this message is “Breaking the spirit of mammon”. Before I share my story lets read the scripture. Luke 16:9-13.
Luke 16:9-13 ““And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? “No servant 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.””
The last verse of this passage is important. Jesus says, no servant, not one can serve two masters. Jesus directly reveals that there is something else tied to this area of our life that wants control over you.
Before we begin lets pray. Emphasis: that this message would cut off the head of the enemy today. That satan and his devices would be exposed. That the Holy Spirit would empower us to live out the truth in our lives in every area.
My Testimony: As I have said before I had a desire to teach this series 2 years ago. I felt a resistance from the Holy Spirit and this is what He told me.
“I do not want you teach what you do not live. Because you haven’t lived the revelation personally you won’t understand the spiritual context of it. A lack of spiritual context will lead many into deception. False spirits will attach themselves to a lack of revelation and bring destruction. Making even seemingly good things look like God, but they will be void of power to bring transformation. “
As I have shared before, my wife and I chose to be tither’s from the beginning of our marriage. I had already began the process before we were married to step out and trust God, but I wanted us to be in it together when we got married. We developed a consistency of tithing, giving offerings over and above when God would prompt us
Yet there still seemed to be a drawing to our bank account for personal security. Even after tithing and giving offerings there was a shift from trusting God to trusting what the amount was in our bank account.
As I was initially planning to preach this series the Lord convicted me. I had recently made some purchases that stretched us further that what we should have allowed.
The reality of the situation was this: I was impatient and ungrateful. A lack of gratitude with what I had allowed me to become discontent. Throughout this season God was still faithful to bless us because we were tither’s, but I knew something was still missing. It still felt like there was a measure of the devour every payday.
This brings me to our journey to freedom. As I read the blessed life and studied I realized that the power of the story was rooted in His testimony. Conviction set in because I knew it was not my story. My story was bound, discontent, and ungrateful. I knew one thing was necessary. Repentance.
Repentance however isn’t just saying I’m sorry to God. Repentance requires me to turn away from the things I was doing and make a change. As I repented I asked the Lord to help my wife and I get out of debt for good. He asked me how long do you want it to take? My first thought was no more than 2 years.
Right after I repented and prayed the Lord gave me instruction. He said, take the money that you have in your savings and pay off your credit card. Can I tell you that this took a huge leap of faith. This direction would wipe out 85% of what we had in our account.
You might be wondering how did we respond. Well, like most people my initial response internally was not faith, but doubt. God was using this moment to show me where my trust was. My bank account. I wrestled with the thought of draining almost everything out of our account to pay a debt. Especially when I had proved time and time again that our personal financial discipline was poor.
As we took the step of faith and pushed through the negative emotions, fear turned to peace and anticipation. My wife and I could not help but think of what was to come.
The question that arose in my heart was this: Why had it been so difficult to make a change in our lives concerning the area of finances? Why wasn’t it just as simple as create a budget and stick to it?
This is what I learned. The reason was because it was a spiritual issue more than a natural one. I have learned that the natural man goes where the spirit leads. The spiritual power of mammon needed to be broken in my life before I could experience transformation.
This brings me back to the scripture in Luke 16.
Jesus makes a clear statement to us. He says, you can not serve God and Mammon. Since He said that we need to know what mammon is.
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Submit:
1. What is mammon?
Mammon is more than money.
Mammon is an Aramaic word which means riches, but it comes from the Syrian god of riches. I don’t believe Jesus was simply referring to riches. I think He was referring to a false god that they knew.
The Syrians had a god called mammon, and it was a god of riches. Now let me tell you where it came from. It actually came from Babylon.
Babylon came from the tower of Babel. Babel means confusion. The word Babel means confusion and when you add the suffix “on”, it means sown or planted. So the word Babylon means sown in confusion.
The tower of Babel was a system they believed. One in which they didn’t need God. Through their own energy, their own work they would get high enough to get to heaven. That is what the spirit of mammon is.
That we don’t need God if we have riches and money. It is an arrogant prideful spirit that contrasts itself with the Spirit of God. This spirit wants to be a replacement for God.
Jesus said you can’t serve God and mammon. In other words mammon is looking for servants. Mammon wants to rule in your life, looking to it instead of God. Jesus said if your loyal to mammon you will despise God.
Mammon wants to take God’s place. Mammon promises us everything that only God can give us. It promises us identity, security, significance, happiness, and joy. All these things only God can give.
Just like many other tactics of the enemy through sin it will never deliver on what is promised. Jesus is saying NO! God is the only one who can provide everything you need. God is the only one who can provide identity, and security, peace, significance, happiness, joy and love.
The lie mammon speaks is if you had more money, the right credit cards, the right clothes, the right car, the right house, then people would listen to you (significance). If you had more money you would have a better marriage, if you had more money you could help more people. This is not a message against money, but money can’t be a replacement in our lives for trust in God.
Simply let us understand: Mammon is a spirit that desires for us to serve it.
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Apply:
2. Is Money evil?
Jesus says, in Luke 16:11 “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” What is He talking about?
Again, mammon is a spirit. Specifically a spirit that rest on money. Can I tell you this. All money has a spirit on it. It either has the Spirit of God on it, or it has the spirit of mammon on it.
If you don’t believe that’s true let me make this statement. I bet you hear voices when you try to give an offering. (*when the Lord directed us to pay off debt I can tell you right now the doubt that showed up was a result of the spirit of mammon.)
The question however is this. Is money evil? The answer is what Spirit rest on it. The way you get God’s Spirit on it according to scripture is you give the first 10% to the house of God, and God redeems the rest out from under the spirit of this world. Which is the Spirit of mammon.
Money itself is a tool, that can be used for good or evil. 1 Timothy 6:10.
1 Timothy 6:10 tells us, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Money itself is never the issue. Loving and serving mammon is. Serving mammon is the root of all kinds of evil. Jesus says, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
What are the true riches? People
When you bring the first to God he redeems the rest. Your portion is blessed and out from under the spirit of this world, but what God does with the rest is He uses it to advance His kingdom. What is amazing is that God has the ability to take money and turn it into souls.
For instance the week before last a group of 12 men from our church went to Fort Davis, TX on a missions trip to renovate a youth facility. 100% of the expenses related to the trip and renovations were paid for through the generosity of people giving to this Church. What I know is that God will take what we have sown into the community of Ft. Davis financially and use it to bring in a harvest of souls.
There will come a day when those who gave to make the project possible along with those who served. Will hear of someone who has accepted Christ through the ministry taking place in the facility. There will be people in heaven who will come back and say thank you for giving and going. Its because of your generosity I am here. This friends is why we desire to see the spirit of mammon broken. So that souls will be impacted for eternity.
So in simplicity, money is not evil.
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Closing:
3) What should i do with money?
Let me give you an answer. Be a good steward with what you have.
If you can be trusted by God with little, He will later trust you with more. The opposite is also true if you are untrustworthy with little, you will not be entrusted with more. Luke 16:10.
Luke 16:10 says, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”
If you have little in this season be faithful with it. The amount you have is irrelevant. Be a good steward. Honor God with what you have. Remember, tithing is a test. God desires to bless you, but Luke 16: 12 tells us, “And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?”
The question is why would the heavenly father who has power to bless you do it, if you don’t steward what you already have? I have found personally that the only way to break the spirit of mammon off my life is through obedience and generosity.
The last part of my testimony that I want to share with you is this. Obedience to God in life is not based off of your circumstances. Through the past 2 years we have had ups and downs. We had set ups and set backs. Last fall we experienced a life altering week with the death of my father, grandpa, and grandma within 5 days during thanksgiving.
I learned that the mammon doesn’t sustain you in the tough times, God does. I saw firsthand that money is fleeting. You here today and gone tomorrow, but I also saw that God is faithful. Money and mammon couldn’t restore my soul when I was in the valley of the shadow of death, but God could and He did.
Let’s Pray!
Father helps us to break free from the spirit of mammon. You are our source and sustainer. You are the lifter of our heads. You are our help. Help us to know our identity in you. To trust you in every season.
Salvation
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