Sunday April 3, 2022 | Greg Boyd
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
How do we find freedom from the allure of mammon? In this sermon, Greg offers three practical steps for discovering contentment in God so that we are free from the discontentment that drives the Mammon Game.
Historically, “mammon” is the name of a powerful deity who uses wealth to destroy people. It has the power to create hunger and discontentment in us, to get us to perpetually want more. Ultimately mammon competes with God for our heart’s devotion.
Because we are called to love God with all of our devotion, we must find practical ways to opt out of the Mammon Game. In this sermon, Greg offers a three-step process for doing just this.
Step 1: Wake up to and acknowledge the extent to which you are steeped in the mammon game and confess this to God. Ask how much of your mental and emotional space, as well as your time, energy, money is spent invested in the Mammon Game. If you find your devotion to mammon outweighs your devotion to God, confess this to God and ask God for help in becoming more devoted to him and less entangled in mammon
Step 2: Find our contentment in God. Since discontentment drives the Mammon Game, we must root our lives in God in order to be set free. This discontentment goes back to the beginning, when the serpent told Eve that there was more to experience outside of the parameters that God set. Instead of being content with what she had, she determined that she was missing out. When she pursued this “more” she experienced discontentment. Her natural inner hunger for God transferred to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
We must seek ways to find our contentment in God. Paul wrote, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:6-7
Paul learned “the secret” of how to be content in all situations whether plenty or hunger, abundance or want. He had inner peace that passes all understanding because he learned how to be content in God. The key here is to learn to pray with thanksgiving. As we are thankful in whatever situation we face, we develop the ability to trust God in the midst of our struggles. When you’re filled with gratitude and contentment, there is no need to chase after the ever-elusive “more” that we can never actually find. Then we are free to invest more mental and emotional space in ways that bless people, advance God’s kingdom and store up treasures in heaven by moving our character in a Christ-like direction.
Step 3: Lighten your load. The less you have of mammon, the less of you mammon has. There is freedom in downsizing. There is a movement called minimalism that challenges people to donate possessions that have not been used in the last year.
These three steps can help us move toward finding contentment in God.