Matthew 6:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 6:24

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The unstated assumption behind this illustration is that the two masters have different instructions and different interests, and desire to be served in different ways, and therefore no servant can serve both of them at the same time. As soon as he thinks about what one of them would like him to do, he realises that this is going to upset the other; but if he switches to the interests of the second, he will displease the first. What is he to do? Should he secretly serve each of them, so that the other does not know what he is doing? Should he divide himself into two and give each of them fifty percent of his time? But he is a full-time, not a part time servant – they are presumably both paying him a full wage. They are not willing to share the servant, much less with another master who is an enemy. Why should their own servant give a benefit to someone they hate? Sooner or later the servant must realise that he is facing an impossible task, and has to make a choice. It is time to come out into the open and choose who he will serve. It is time to evaluate, which master is kinder, which is fairer, which is more likely to keep him in employment and give him a stable future? Therefore Christ says, he will openly hate the one and love the other. Both masters will know what he has chosen. He will express his love to one by service and his hatred of the other by denial of service. Christ applies this illustration to the issue of seeking treasure on earth or in heaven. The subject has not changed since verse 19. His method of teaching is always so interesting. Looked at another way, seeking treasure either on earth or in heaven is like being in service to one of two masters. Who do we seek to serve, God or mammon? The word ‘mammon’ is used by Christ as a personification of riches, wealth, property, or earthly goods, from the name of a Syrian god of riches. It stands for the idol that men and women make out of this world and all it has to give them. God will not share our service with the world but demands exclusive loyalty. If we give him any less, our hearts will be divided. The only way we can truly love him is to love him to the exclusion of all others. Such is the nature of love. Certainly God will not share our hearts with the mammon, for he would then have to enter into some form of compact with Satan. If we belong to the Lord, we are bought with a price and we owe the Lord our eternal souls. The true Christian has seen this clearly: he cannot serve God adequately unless he is prepared to terminate his service to the devil. He has therefore handed in his notice to his old master and he must no longer draw that old pay cheque. How could he do so in good conscience when he intends to offer no further service? He is not afraid to anger his old master because he believes his new master can protect him from any threat of revenge from the old. He has calculated that his old master’s service ended in death and abandonment to the terrors of hell, but his new master has an eternal reward to give that can never fade. How can the two things compare? Moreover he likes the service of his new master better for it is honest work and profitable work that pleases a master who is himself true and pure and righteous. How much better to serve this new master!Calvin encourages Christians with these words, ‘It is, no doubt, true, that believers themselves are never so perfectly devoted to obedience to God, as not to be withdrawn from it by the sinful desires of the flesh. But as they groan under this wretched bondage, and are dissatisfied with themselves, and give nothing more than an unwilling and reluctant service to the flesh, they are not said to “serve two masters”: for their desires and exertions are approved by the Lord, as if they rendered to him a perfect obedience.’

Application

The divided man attempts to gain the world and to have salvation at the same time. He can never truly bring himself to resign from his service to the world, for he has not seen the reality of the reward that God gives. He thinks that he can have both heaven and earth at once and therefore gathers treasure on earth at the same time.

Even a believer can be in in danger of this, can be that unfortunate slave. But can a believer hate God and love the world? Yes, it can happen in this way: We preach the standards of the Bible. You open the Bible yourself and you see them. My church teaches that I am not supposed to go into night clubs or discos. In these days that is so offensive to the Lord with the sexual connotation of modern dance – it is hard to think of anything more decadent than that. They will not let me go to just any movie. They do not like me dressing however I like, however provocative and suggestive it is. They want me to serve the Lord and volunteer. I do not like that. That is the way a believer ends up hating the Lord. He goes and finds a worldly church that claims to be Bible believing, but allows you to do what you like. That is like ancient idolatry. That church has dropped all the spiritual standards and the standard of service and godliness. You cannot balance your commitment to the Lord and your love for trivia and the covetous type of things in this world. So if the believer has means and has wealth, and a high position, he need not necessarily give those things up, but he must not be seduced by them. He must steward his means, he must practise self-denial, and not immerse himself in unnecessary luxuries. If it begins to seduce you, you had better give it up because it will ruin your spiritual life.

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Matthew 6:24 Commentary and Bible Study