Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one… d: — I. WHAT IS IT TO SERVE GOD? 1. A visible profession, a steady belief, and awful sentiments of a Supreme Being. 2. To ascribe that worship that is strictly due to Him, as an acknowledgment of His almighty power, and a testimony of our submission. 3. Regard to His sacred laws. 4. A ready and cheerful obedience to His will, and a resignation under afflictions. II. WHAT IS IT TO SERVE MAMMON? 1. It implies a persuasion of mind that riches and grandeur are the true seat of human happiness. 2. It is to attribute that worship to the creature which is only due to the Creator. 3. It is to be so much devoted to the world, as to fret at every disappointment, and repine at the least obstruction to our growing rich. III. To SHOW WHEREIN THE SERVICE OF GOD AND MAMMON IS INCONSISTENT. Their commands are contrary and irreconcilable. God commands us to seek Him first; mammon tempts us with kingdoms. God asks for our time; mammon takes it. 2. Annex a consideration to enforce what has been said. (1) The folly to saunter away this span of life in the fruitless pursuit of riches, since we cannot tell who shall gather them. (2) Can all the kingdoms of the world give us any inducement to their pursuit: they are gilded toys. (3) Riches make to themselves wings and fly away. (4) From the impossibility of finding happiness in the love of the world, and its inconsistency with the love of God, we meet with an indispensable obligation of fixing our attention on greater objects. (W. Adey.) Parallel Verses KJV: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. |
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