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Sermon | Matthew 6:24 | 2026 February 22
Title: Sermon | Matthew 6:24 | 2026 February 22
Scripture: Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
Date: 2026 February 22
Speaker: Rev. John Chen
Translated by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)
Theme: Christians must renounce Mammon and serve the true God.
Question: How can Christians avoid worshiping Mammon?
Transition: Christians must accomplish the following aspects.
Key Word: Aspects.
Introduction
Yesterday was the day when Chinese people welcome the God of Wealth. The faith of the Chinese people is a kind of pantheistic belief. Among the many gods of the Chinese people, the God of Wealth has, in recent years, risen higher and higher in status.
I. Clearly Recognizing the Powerful Influence of the God of Wealth (Mammon)
1. Money and wealth are what modern people dream of relying upon. They govern the lives of the vast majority of people today. What people think about day and night is money. Making money and finding money have become the meaning of work. Money has become the core of life.
Before the Reform and Opening period, people still felt some embarrassment when speaking about money. But over the past several decades, everything has been viewed through the lens of money. This reflects an extreme longing and passion for wealth.
Some people say, “If we do not talk about money, then what should we talk about? What in life does not require money?” Although money is not omnipotent, without money nothing can be done. This has become a kind of faith and iron rule among Chinese people.
2. Of course, some people seem to perceive the problems with money and say: Money can buy a house, but it cannot buy a home. Money can buy medical treatment, but it cannot buy health. Money can buy enjoyment, but it cannot buy happiness. Money can buy companionship, but it cannot buy true love. Money can buy knowledge, but it cannot buy wisdom.
3. But very quickly others respond that all of the above are lies. They argue that if people see the limits of money, it is only because they do not possess enough of it, not because money itself has defects. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, “With money, even ghosts can be made to push the millstone.” The power of money has even entered that false spiritual realm.
4. We must admit that in a materialized, desire-driven, and visible world, Mammon has demonstrated in the past, is demonstrating now, and will continue to demonstrate its “unparalleled” power.
Moreover, money is increasingly becoming people’s “refuge” or “safe harbor.” People begin to build their sense of security and belonging in money, and increasingly distance themselves from marriage, childbearing, and family.
5. The author of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew himself, was once a tax collector. He naturally had a penetrating understanding of the power of Mammon. However, I must remind you that this money-centered social culture is actually a national orientation that emerged after the Reform and Opening period. After the era in which national leaders were idolized passed away, the nation set up another idol for this people. We mention this simply to help you see how deeply culture has shaped you.
6. So how should people view wealth? Usually, people begin from the perspective of how to possess wealth and how wealth satisfies their desires. When we think about having money and how quickly it can satisfy our desires, our hearts generate longing for it.
In a certain sense, this seems correct. If a human being is reduced merely to a creature of desire, then money can indeed meet all needs: satisfaction of desires, self-exaltation, and possession of the world. All of these feel very real. This is why people are willing to kneel before Mammon.
II. Understanding the True God’s View of the God of Wealth (Mammon)
1. But how does God view wealth? Humanity begins from how to possess wealth and how to obtain satisfaction from it. God begins from another angle. First, God begins from the perishability of wealth.
In verse 19, the Lord Jesus mentioned three characteristics of earthly treasure: moth destroys, rust corrupts, and thieves break in and steal.
Most people focus on how to gain wealth and how wealth satisfies desire. But the Lord Jesus addresses wealth from an unexpected perspective. He raises a deeper and more realistic question—the issue of possessing wealth. He says that a person cannot continually retain wealth. Possession itself is the problem.
Wealth can be consumed—like being eaten by moths, corroded, or diminished, such as through inflation.
Wealth attracts thieves. Thieves devise ways to seize property until a person has nothing left. For example, housing prices in China are a naked form of robbery.
The Lord Jesus calls people to consider the transience and fragility of wealth.
2. More importantly, the Lord Jesus calls attention to the brevity of the life of the one who possesses wealth—the fragility of the subject. He teaches people to distinguish between object and subject.
Luke 12:16–21. In the face of eternity, wealth is worthless. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
Matthew 16:26. The Lord Jesus wants people to see which is truly important—the subject or the object.
3. Therefore, the one who worships Mammon is blind and has no light within. If man were merely a being of desire, then money would indeed be omnipotent. But man is not merely a being of desire. Man is created by God and is accountable to Him. The idea that man is only a creature of desire is Satan’s lie. It is false.
Thus, the issue between worshiping Mammon and worshiping the true God is not a matter of whose power is greater. It is a matter of truth and falsehood.
Verses 22–23. Those who cannot see eternity, do not understand judgment, and lack spiritual discernment are blind.
The temporary belongs with the temporary; the eternal belongs with the eternal. Those who worship Mammon will become more and more like Mammon—more worldly and increasingly transactional.
4. Revelation 18:1–8. God will judge this world. The material world will be renewed and transformed.
III. Recognizing the Fatal Weakness of the God of Wealth (Mammon)
1. In this life of material and desire, money displays its power. But for Christians, where lies Mammon’s fatal weakness?</?
2. The key lies in the scope of Mammon’s applicability. Christians must be wise and discerning. To surpass Mammon, we must understand that Mammon functions only within certain domains. In other domains, it is nothing but worthless paper.
Luke 12:25–26. No one can add a single hour to his life by worrying.
This present life and material things lack eternity. Desire repeatedly resurfaces and can never achieve ultimate satisfaction.
3. In the realm of eternity, spirituality, and the deepest longings of the soul, Mammon is worthless. Mammon can only accompany this present life; it cannot lead a person into eternal life. Mammon can provide material things but cannot bring true spirituality—not mere psychological feeling, but the real spiritual realm. Mammon can satisfy desires but cannot fulfill the deepest hunger of the human heart.
4. This is Mammon’s fatal flaw.
IV. Renouncing the God of Wealth (Mammon) and Trusting the True God
1. At this point, some may misunderstand and assume that we must live a poor, miserable, and dying life. But Christianity is neither anti-material nor anti-desire. On the contrary, Christianity gives material things and desire their proper place. Christianity opposes asceticism and also opposes anti-materialism. When used properly, material things and desire can glorify God.
2. The Lord Jesus’ teaching in verses 25–34 is that we should not be anxious about what to eat, drink, or wear. These are what the Gentiles seek.
Our Father knows what we need.
Our task and mission are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Under the motivation of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to strive wholeheartedly to obey God’s law in daily life.
When we do this, all that we need will be added to us.
Christians possess a privilege—we do not need to worry about tomorrow. For worry will always be present.
The Lord Jesus exhorts us: let each day’s trouble be sufficient for that day.
3. In verse 20, the Lord Jesus calls us to lay up treasures in heaven and to labor for food that endures to eternal life.
4. In verse 21, the Lord Jesus instructs our eyes to focus on heavenly treasure and to place our hearts there also.
5. In verse 24, the Lord Jesus reminds us that worship is exclusive. No one can serve two masters. No one can serve both the true God and the God of Wealth. Our hearts can have only one object of worship.
This is a misunderstanding among many Christians. We can worship only the one true God and center our lives on Him. When we say that we worship both, we are in fact exclusively worshiping Mammon.
Christians may possess wealth and even authority. The key is that wealth must not become our ultimate satisfaction. We must not worship it. When God’s law conflicts with wealth, we must firmly follow God’s law. We must be God-centered and, within God, use wealth rightly.
We must also build our worldview upon God, so that we may live a life that glorifies Him.
Conclusion
During this New Year season, we must earnestly worship the true God.
Questions
1. Describe the powerful influence of money.
2. What do you think is money’s fatal weakness?
3. What does the Lord Jesus teach about money?
4. How can we renounce the worship of the God of Wealth and enter into the worship of the true God?
“Welcoming the God of Wealth” refers to a popular Chinese New Year folk practice in which families symbolically invite a deity associated with prosperity into their homes. It reflects elements of traditional Chinese folk religion rather than formal institutional religion.
The “Reform and Opening” period refers to economic reforms initiated in China beginning in 1978, which shifted the country toward market-oriented policies and significantly reshaped social values, including attitudes toward wealth and material success.
The Chinese proverb “With money, even ghosts can be made to push the millstone” is a traditional expression emphasizing the perceived overwhelming power of money to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks.
References to “housing prices in China” reflect a widely discussed social issue in contemporary China, where rapid real estate inflation has significantly affected economic life and public perception of financial security.
Early on the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, I was awakened by the sound of firecrackers, because in China there is a custom of welcoming the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the first lunar month. In my hometown, this is especially so. People believe that the God of Wealth is extre… Read more
Early on the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, I was awakened by the sound of firecrackers, because in China there is a custom of welcoming the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the first lunar month. In my hometown, this is especially so. People believe that the God of Wealth is extremely important.
I. Removing the Overwhelming Power of the God of Wealth (Mammon).
Money is the support the Chinese people long for day and night. Making money is even called “grabbing money” or “grinding out money.” From 1978 until now—nearly half a century—Chinese life has revolved around money. People are always thinking about how to make more of it. Money has become a life goal and the meaning of life itself. The previous generation was not so blunt when talking about money, but now everything is seen through the lens of money. There is an intense longing and passion for wealth among the Chinese.
Is money important to us? Without it, the world seems as if it would stop turning. Yet some people argue that money is not everything. “Money can buy a house, but not a home.” “Money can buy medical treatment, but not health.” “It can buy pleasure, but not happiness.” “It can buy a marriage, but not love.” However, such statements are quickly refuted.
Some believe that those examples only prove that there is not enough money. In marriage, everything now revolves around money. Without a house or a car, a woman may simply walk away. There is a Chinese proverb: “Money can make even the devil turn the mill.” Some women believe money itself is affection. In this visible world of materialism and desire, Mammon inevitably displays its unparalleled power. All those in the world who claim that money is not powerful cannot stand firm. A celebrity once said, “Anyone who says money is useless is a hypocrite.”
Matthew was a tax collector. A tax collector understands very well the power of money. Yet he said, “No one can serve two masters.”
If a person has no heavenly perspective, it is perfectly normal for him to pursue money. Without money, you seem to have nothing. With money, you can live an entirely different life. During the New Year, without money you can only wear poor clothes. With money, even your walk carries confidence.
Before I say that “Mammon is not powerful,” I must first say that “Mammon is very powerful.” Otherwise, you will not know how to overcome it.
II. Understanding the True God’s View of the God of Wealth.
People believe that money can bring them happiness and satisfy their desires, and so their hearts rejoice.
Jesus tells us:
Money easily slips away. It diminishes. It is easily spent.
Money invites the jealousy of others. We are not so afraid of thieves stealing as we are of thieves setting their eyes on us. Scammers make their calls to the wealthy. A drop in housing prices can also be a kind of robbery—plundering the wealth of ordinary people.
The Lord Jesus reminds us of the brevity of wealth, and also of the brevity of those who possess it. He reminds us that we who hold wealth are fragile; our lives themselves are fragile.
Luke 12:16–21 (KJV)
“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
The Lord Jesus did not say that Mammon cannot satisfy our desires. Rather, He shows that our understanding of the soul is flawed. The rich man believed that the joy of the soul comes from the pleasure of the body. That may sound reasonable. But Jesus says the soul is not satisfied by bodily pleasure, and that He will judge your soul. Jesus reminds us that human life is short. He says: you must face the ultimate judgment.
Matthew 16:26 (KJV)
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The Lord Jesus says that those who worship Mammon are ignorant and blind. They cannot see that life must face judgment. If a person were merely a being of passions and desires, then money would indeed be almighty. All the desires of the flesh could be satisfied. Money can buy the finest house, send your children to New York, and make you famous. But sadly, God did not create man as merely a creature of desires. God created man with a purpose: to give an account to Him and to obey His law.
People misunderstand what a human being is. They think man is merely a creature of desires. In those debates, the opposing side cannot tell the other: man is not merely a creature of desires. When a person sees himself as only a being of passions, he has been deceived by lies. God created man to keep His statutes and ordinances. The purpose for which God created man is fixed, and it cannot be escaped simply because you do not know or acknowledge Him. In the end, God will demand an account from you.
I am someone who watches television only once a year, mainly to help my child understand the world. On television, there are scenes of harvest, and people rejoice at the sight. People assume that a good harvest means wealth, and therefore happiness. But they are still that rich man. They cannot move beyond that point.
God does not say that money cannot satisfy your desires. But He does say that you do not exist for your desires—you exist for Him. If a person does not obey God’s law, then at the moment his breath is taken away, he will face judgment. This is the most piercing truth. At that moment, money will not help you at all.
III. Understanding the Fatal Flaw of the God of Wealth.
If you do not serve God, you violate the very purpose for which God created you, and He will surely judge you. The fatal flaw of Mammon is this: when a person dies, God will certainly judge him.
Revelation 18:1–8 (KJV)
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
In this world, man becomes a slave—less valuable than gold and silver. Man exists for material things and is controlled and bound by them. Deji Plaza in Nanjing is prosperous and dazzling; some people love to go there and love the world. But God will cause people to stop gazing at this world. Revelation is not teaching us to hate money, nor is it promoting asceticism. God will destroy this present material world because it has been corrupted. He will create a new material world for us to dwell in. God does not despise the material world. The future material world will be beautiful. We will dwell with the Lord forever in the renewed creation.
A person who worships Mammon will increasingly become like money. Your character and your way of relating to others become transactional. If someone has no utility value, you will not associate with him. But if we are daily with what is eternal, we will become eternal in our orientation. A person who has become “money” cannot enjoy being with the Lord forever.
Mammon has no eternity. And desire will never reach ultimate satisfaction. Human desires are fulfilled in the wrong way, and thus they never feel enough. Mammon, by its very nature, cannot satisfy man. Only through Christ can a person be truly satisfied. A creature who fears God and gathers with the church can receive real satisfaction. False gods are not “more useful than Jesus”—they are completely useless. Only the true God is truly effectual.
“No man can serve two masters… Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” It is impossible to worship Mammon in this life and serve God in eternity. When a person attempts to worship both, he does not even understand what he is doing. Man’s greatest problem is the problem of sin, not the satisfaction of bodily desires. Only through dealing with sin can we enter that eternal world. If we cannot now see through the limitations of money, Jesus will say, “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”
To live is to please God. What you lack, God will not ignore.
IV. Rejecting the God of Wealth and Trusting in the True God.
Matthew 6:25–34 (KJV)
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
People are prone to anxiety. The Lord Jesus asks us: which is more important—food and drink, or life itself? People care too much about the object and neglect the subject. Jesus tells us that the things we need will be provided, but we must first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The one essential task of this life is to seek God’s kingdom. The things you need, God will give to you.
This does not mean you do not need to work. God provides in many ways, including through work. But you must seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus repeatedly speaks about money, because He knows how much we love wealth. Jesus tells us that the greatest treasure is God Himself. God does not intend to give us a bitter life, but He commands us to seek first His kingdom. When life circumstances and God’s law come into conflict, we must obey the law. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
The real issue is your attitude toward material things and how you use them. If you love God and are willing to do what pleases Him, God is willing to entrust wealth to you. But you must not worship Mammon. The key is this: obey God’s law and glorify Him. When you are asked to work overtime on the Lord’s Day, should you work or worship? You should worship God. We are not afraid of losing our jobs. God will add food and drink to us. Material abundance is not “the more the better.” True joy comes from fellowship with God.
People want their desires satisfied immediately; they are unwilling to wait. If you begin to abandon this kind of life and learn to love the Lord Jesus, you will obtain true joy.
People buy firecrackers and burn the first incense of the year to welcome the God of Wealth, yet that god cannot even provide the money for those firecrackers. God cannot be bribed, for this world was created by Him.
If there is something you want but cannot afford, it must be something you do not truly need. God is not a stingy God, but a God who blesses. In the new year, what we seek is not fortune in general, but God’s blessing. And the true blessing God gives is Jesus Christ.
During the Spring Festival, I preached a sermon about Mammon. If money and God’s law come into conflict, you must obey the law. Everything you truly need, God will surely add to you. We must have faith.