JESUS SAID - No One Can Serve Two Masters... // One Church Podcast, 9th March 2026

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

His mission, and love His church.

Welcome to the One Church podcast.

It's amazing when we talk about historical figures.

Martin Luther King, I've had to teach about him many times.

Mahatma Gandhi, we have to teach about him many times.

But when it comes to Jesus, he's not just a historical figure.

When you talk about what Jesus said, he's here to make sure

he's overseeing what that is. He's a still alive.

He's alive to see his work and his words come alive in you as

well. So this morning as I speak and

talk about Jesus's words, what he said, he is alive to help us

with that. It's a wonderful today we focus

on some of the words of Jesus spoken and the famous Sermon on

the Mount, words spoken many years ago but still cut cleanly

through the fog of our modern materialistic life.

It's still for us. Our text is going to be Matthew

Matthew 6:24

6 verse 24 and 25. And to put the text in context a

few verses before this, Matthew 6 verse 21, This is what Jesus

Matthew 6:21

said, where your treasure is, your heart will be.

And so this is the context of Matthew 20, Matthew 624 onwards.

No one can serve 2 masters. Either you will hate 1 and love

the other, or you will be devoted to 1 and despise the

other. You cannot serve both God and

money. Therefore, I tell you, do not

worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your

body, what you will wear. Is life not more important than

food and the body more important than clothes?

Jesus speaks about mastery and money, about loyalty and

anxieties, about worship and worries.

He tells us something simple yet deep in trying to understand the

Kingdom of God. He says this.

You cannot serve 2 masters. Then he tells us something

freeing but yet can be difficult.

Do not worry about your life. These two teachings are not

separate, they are deeply connected.

Jesus moves from a divided loyalty to daily anxiety.

Because the Master we choose is choose determines the peace we

experience today. We'll explore some of the truths

in this passage, the realities of the rival masters, and the

root of our worry. No one can serve 2 masters.

You cannot serve God and money. Jesus doesn't say it's difficult

to serve 2 masters. He says it's impossible.

In our compromising world, our nature can be to go down the

middle. It often feels more comfortable

for us. I know for me, but the Kingdom

principles desires a whole heart.

Revelations 3 verse 15 says be either hot or cold, but not

Revelation 3:15

lukewarm. There's something that the

Kingdom does not like about being lukewarm.

Go this way or that way, but don't go down the middle.

It's tough and challenging statement and it needs constant

attention in our lives, otherwise we go down the middle.

Jesus is trying to explain To divide loyalty is to invite

conflict. So going down the middle has its

consequences as well. It's not as safe as you might

think. Jesus names the rival master

money. Some translations use the word

mammon, meaning wealth and possession, material securities,

which I believe is more helpful for us in understanding this

passage. Mammon isn't just money, it's

the deceitfulness of wealth. I want to suggest it's a type of

deceptive spirit, the world. It seeks worldly comfort above

spiritual blessings. It's tempting, tempting you to

believe it will give you great gain, but instead it will

control you. That's why Jesus is very firm

with his words. You cannot serve it because you

cannot trust it. Serve only what you can, trust

only what you can trust. We can become dependent on it.

It pushes you away from trusting God and honouring Him with all

He has given you. You start believing that it is

your wealth and begin to forget that everything belongs to God.

Psalm 24 verse one says the earth is the Lord's and

everything in it. We are not to forget that the

earth is the Lord's and everything in it.

So we can begin to set our minds on worldly things and not as

Paul says in Colossians 3, set your minds on things above, not

on earthly things. Though we live on earth, our

focus is always to be in heaven. Don't go down the middle.

The root of mammon is the Prince of the air, the evil. 1

Ephesians 22 When you followed the ways of this world and of

the ruler of the Kingdom of the air, the Spirit who is now at

work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the

cravings of our flesh, following His desires and thoughts.

Here are some other significant verses to help us grasp what

Jesus are saying. For the love of money is the

root of all kinds of evil. That's in Timothy.

Money isn't evil, but the love of money, the spirit behind it,

is evil. Keep your lives free from the

love of money and be content with what you have.

That's Hebrews 13. This is why Jesus is saying we

cannot serve 2 masters. God uses wealth as a tool to

bless us. The devil uses our wealth to

enslave us and to divert us from God.

We can have money and serve God, but we cannot serve money and

serve God. There is a difference between

possessing wealth and being possessed by wealth.

Jesus is exposing a divided heart.

He's saying be aware there is a war for your obedience in the

spiritual realms. In Matthew 19 verse 16, there's

Matthew 19:16

a very challenging story of a rich young ruler who asked Jesus

how could he enter the Kingdom of God?

And Jesus said to him, if you want the Kingdom of God, sell

everything. You sell everything and you will

have treasures in heaven. Stop looking down on earth,

focus in heaven. You will have treasures in

heaven, and then follow me. The Bible says he went away

sorrowful because he had great wealth.

He could not serve Jesus because he already had a master, the

spirit of Mammon. He couldn't let it go.

Jesus was offering him something much better than he actually

had. Our digital world can thrust us

in much of worldly values all the time.

Honours our phones. Pick up the things we're saying

and turn them into adverts the next time we look at our phone,

constantly convincing us we need more, we need better, we need

upgrades. It can be tough to resist all

that, especially young ones, especially you young ones.

It's difficult. We know of course there's times

when we need things and the Lord is there for us.

And so I'm not good at Facebook. I've always avoided social

media. I finally got onto Facebook and

then got bombarded with all these adverts, like, whoa,

what's that? And then one particular advert

came on was about a shower head. Loved it.

It promised everything. High pressure, easy

installation, embedded minerals that kept you healthier and

stronger. And I'm sure that it said your

hair would grow back. So I bought 1.

Stop laughing, Annette, it didn't work.

I'm so pleased that I wasn't tempted to buy more because it

offered discounts if I bought more, two or more.

Take care. It can be a deceitful spirit

trying to master over you. It creeps in.

Be discerning when something is trying to master over you.

Be discerning of that you have gifts of discernment that can

be. When Hannah and I was buying our

first home together, we felt to move to Evington.

We felt the Lord speak to us to plant something in Evington,

like our sort of sites with the church we were with then.

So I went to a bank, I went to a bank when there used to be banks

that you could go in, and I spoke to the bank manager for a

mortgage. I remember the bank manager

said, Mr Padam, you can afford a bigger house, why don't you get

a bigger house? So I went home to think about

that and pray about it. Who doesn't want a bigger house?

It was tempting, but I felt God speak to me in his wisdom and

he's and said you don't need a bigger house.

I will bless you in the one you're looking at right now, the

one you're going to buy. So to the shock of my bank

manager, I turned her offer down.

She couldn't understand it. There was a financial crash and

if I'd gone with the bigger house, it would have enslaved us

to the house, never affording anything else.

Our children were about to be born.

We would have not been able to visit our families abroad.

Hannah would probably have had to work instead of looking after

the children as we agreed and wanted.

Looking back, that one decision, that one decision could have,

could have changed the life we're leading right now.

It would have changed it. You cannot serve 2 masters.

Serve God, obey God. Hannah, what a beautiful house

and blessing that was. Do you remember all our children

was born there. We were involved in the church

plant in Evington. It was the beginning of our

ministry and the blessings went on and on and on.

We did not need a bigger house, we just needed the one God

wanted for us. There came a time when God did

want us to have a bigger house, but He so wonderfully

orchestrated it Himself to bless us.

And when we moved in, I made a little altar to him.

I'm a bit strange like that. I do that type of thing.

I made a little altar to him with these words.

I've even brought my little altar with me.

Look at that. Hey, this is my little altar.

If you've ever come to my house, you will see this.

It's on my dining table. And it says simply, He blesses.

He blesses. Do it His way and He blesses.

I have it there so we can see it every day we can remember every

day He blesses. Let's say it together.

Are you ready? 123 He blesses.

Of course, this is not about the size of a house.

It's about trusting and obeying the Master as He wants to bless

our lives. It was been constant scripture

after scripture. Today we've not coordinated

these scriptures. They keep talking about how God

wants to bless our lives. If I told you all the stories of

how God blessed us financially, I just wouldn't have time to

tell you anything else this morning.

He is such a blessing, amazing blessing, and we are so grateful

for Him. Immediately after speaking about

masters, Jesus says, therefore I tell you, do not worry about

your life, what you eat or drink, or about your body, what

you will wear. Notice the word.

Therefore, it connects worry to who we worship.

Worry is based on fear, fear that we will not be cared for.

If money is your master, you will constantly worry about not

having enough and the truth is you will never have enough.

When I watch millionaires they want to be billionaires and when

I hear billionaires they want even more money.

When will it stop? The probably the richest man

ever that lived was Solomon. And in Ecclesiastes 5 he writes

whoever loves money never has enough.

That's from one of the richest men, probably the richest man

ever lived, and he's saying whoever loves money never has

enough. Money says I will give you

control, but the control is an illusion.

Wealth fluctuates, economies shift, jobs disappear, health

changes. Don't we know that in our world

today how things change overnight so quickly?

Worry can reveal who we trust. If if Jesus says do not worry

about your life, then it is possible to not worry or be

anxious. It is possible, however, this is

only possible if you have faith and learn to trust in the Lord

your God, your Creator. He knows everything.

Faith is how you overcome fear. Always learning to surrender

your fears, worries and anxieties to God and trusting He

will care for you, for you is vital for every one of us.

We have to learn that believing always that He has the provision

you need, always following your Lord as your Master is your

protection. It's our protection.

You can learn to overcome worries for tomorrow, even in

the difficult times. We can learn that.

Why carry that load? You are not meant to.

Jesus carried it on the cross. He took that.

I've learned personally it's better to praise and pray to God

than worry. It's actually just a useless bit

of time. Whatever you do, it's useless.

Instead just pray and praise. Even in the middle of the night,

stop and pray and praise rather than worry.

Turn it into pray and praise. Sometimes I felt the devil at

night come to me to try and bring worry to me and I've

noticed every time I instead turn it into prayer and praise.

He wants me asleep very quickly and I fall asleep very quickly.

It works, try it. I love Psalm 23.

I need to read it to you. This is our God.

This is our God. The Lord is my shepherd.

I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green

pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters

and refreshes my soul. That's the master we trust.

When God is secondary, worry becomes primary.

When God is primary, worry loses its grip.

So if we're not to serve money, what does serving God look like?

It means seeking obedience over profit, choosing integrity over

advantage, practising generosity instead of hoarding, trusting

provision instead of obsessing over accumulation.

Serving God reorders our priorities.

It does not mean we can be irresponsible.

I'll just buy this and God will. Don't worry, God will look after

me. It means surrender.

It does not mean we stop working.

I don't need to work. It says God will don't need to

worry. We need to stop worshipping what

we earn. It's his.

It's a it's a difficult concept sometimes for the world to

understand that. But what we earn is his.

It's not wrong to have money. God blesses us with it.

I am so grateful for Him for that.

However, our money is to be used to serve God in our obedience to

Him. It means always be prepared to

surrender to Him in how He guides you to use it.

Do it in line with scripture. I remember blessings wonderful

word a few months ago. It says give to God.

What is God's? That's embedded in me.

Give to God, what is God's. Give him your tithes, your

offerings. Offer your offerings.

That's what the word offering means.

Offer it to him. As well as blessing others, look

to bless others. There'll be provision always

asking God for wisdom in being responsible with finance.

That should be a daily prayer. It's in the Lord's Prayer.

A heart anchored in God can handle abundance of money

without pride and boasting. You can be given loads, but then

you don't need to have pride and boasting.

It can also handle a lack of money without despair.

Hard times hit us sometimes, but we don't need to despair.

When we refuse to serve money, we declare that our treasure is

held elsewhere. At its core, this passage is not

about money at all. It's about Lordship who sits on

the throne of your heart. Jesus does not negotiate a

shared rule. It's not part of his language at

all. He does not share his lordship.

He invites us to surrendered trust.

When he says do not worry, he is saying you are held, you are

known, you are valued. Anxiety shrinks in the presence

of divine love. So let me conclude the choice

remains. 2 Masters stand before US1 promises control but

produces anxiety. The other invites surrender and

gives peace. One says earn your security.

The other one says trust your Father.

Jesus does not shame us for worrying it's it's not easy.

It happens to us all. However, he does call us to a

higher level. He's taking us higher.

He calls us to a life where God is first.

Money is a servant and trust replaces fear.

May we grasp that the that today.

So Father, Lord, I just pray, Father, that amongst us all we

may leave today with undivided hearts of who our Master is,

that we will be determined that You are our Lord, that we serve

only one Master, and we serve only You in the name of Jesus,

Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.