You can’t serve both…

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

MATTHEW 16:24 (NASB)

Me, myself, and I. This whole self-seeking thing is not good. Jesus said to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Him. You can’t pick up your cross and truly follow Him until “self” is out of the way. So Jesus is talking about the self, and He’s talking about treasure in Matthew 6 (“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”). The Rich Young Ruler comes along in Matthew 19 and says to Jesus that he has kept the listed commandments since his youth. But it’s not true because James tells us in chapter 2 verse 10, that if you transgress just one law, you’ve missed them all. So he hadn’t kept the Law (only Jesus was capable of that), but in his arrogance — in his self-righteousness — he said he did. Jesus replies, Oh, well, here’s an easy one: go and sell all you have, give to the poor, and then come follow Me. And it says the Rich Young Ruler walked away. He was like, Oh, man. Later, dude. Why? Because he had great wealth. What happened? He was self-seeking. His treasures were on Earth.

This is a huge, huge thing. If we don’t get it, we’ll never be able to step up to be like our Father and just be generous. But we’ve got to change our perspective. We’ve got to change the way we see.

In Matthew 3:2 Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” First thing out of the gate, Jesus says is: “Repent.” What was He saying? Relook at things from the top floor — I can’t look from an earthly perspective. I have to look from Heaven’s perspective; relook at things from God’s point of view.

Watch this: At the end of Matthew 6:19 and 24 (NASB), Jesus says: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal … No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

So Jesus gives two huge examples — He says “You cannot serve God and wealth.” You can’t serve money and serve God. When I got saved, I had to understand that money is God’s. Before God saved me, I had ripped my family off and stolen everything. I spent it all. But when I got saved, I saw that the Bible says in Ephesians 4:28 (NKJV): “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”

So the reason why everybody usually works is to pay their bills, but God doesn’t say that’s why we’re to work. He doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to pay your bills either, because that’s not being a good steward, but God says to work with our hands so we have something to give to those in need. When you get a job, having something to give is almost the last thing that you want to do because oftentimes you’ll have nothing left over. This is painful to many. There are so many people in bondage to where money is still their god and their master. This is not okay. But if that’s you, I want to help you, because these Scriptures set me free. Money being your master will kill you. It’ll drive you crazy—you’ll work your whole life away; you’ll miss time with your family. How many families have come to nothing when somebody works too much and there’s no attention to give because God is not the master of their household?

I’m telling you that when you work as unto the Lord, you’re not working for yourself anymore. Jesus is saying in this passage that I am not working just so that I can have this “stuff” on Earth; I am working so that I can have something eternally. Do you understand that every dollar bill has the ability to change a life? Do you understand that souls in Heaven and discipling people to see their lives transformed and to be able to see Heaven populated and Hell empty is the reason why we’re saved?

Do you know that this is the goal? At Lifestyle Christianity, we get so many testimonies of our trainees going somewhere like Chipotle, and people are getting saved, healed, and set free! Instead of us thinking, Somebody at Chipotle is going to get fed, what if our expectation became, Somebody at Chipotle is going to get saved! Like going to work and working out, it’s just amazing because there are people there that need the gospel. I love it so much. Going out and and playing golf — which I’m not very good at — but there are people out there that need the gospel and I’m kind of a pain on the course because I want to pray for everyone! I’m constantly one hole behind because I’ll be praying for people on the other hole when we’re supposed to be teeing off on the next. I’m not trying to be a pain though. I’m just concerned with the Kingdom.

Guys, I’m going to end with this: We’ve got to start banking on souls, not stuff. I want to challenge you today to re-evaluate your priorities. How tightly are you holding onto your finances? Are you more concerned about the stuff you can get, or where souls will be spending eternity? Are you serving money or are you serving God? Money isn’t a bad thing — it’s necessary, but you’ve got to make sure it’s serving the purposes of God, and that you’re not serving it.

Todd White