Two Masters
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. (Mat_6:24, Luk_16:13)
I worked for a security firm in California for a short time. One manger hired me. Another manger certified me. One manager trained me. A different manager scheduled me (without telling me) and thus, still another manager fired me. No wonder most of the world will not pick up the American Management Model.
In the American management system it is very common to have two, or more, bosses that give an employee different conflicting orders to be carried out. This is frustrating to the worker. He probably will have to line up with one supervisor and ignore the other one. He may develop a preference for one manager and despise, at least silently, the other one. This is a situation that is forced upon millions of employees. It would be another thing entirely to choose two different directions to give your allegiance to.
I had a now-deceased relative that I joked about. I said she was the only person I knew who was a registered Republic and a registered Democrat at the same time (opposing political parties in the US). That way her candidate always won and she could always complain about the other one.
Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and Mammon”. Very roughly speaking, Mammon is wealth. More precise, I think, is that it seems to be the artificial confidence and feeling of security that comes from loving the money system. You will love one or the other. Millions of people try to prove Jesus wrong about this. Jesus said that it is impossible to have two allegiances. Eventually a person will either love God or he will love the concept of money.
One of the two masters will win out over the other. This is an absolute and it is the example that Jesus used.
There are some other examples that may not be quite so clear cut. Nonetheless, the principle applies that we cannot have two masters or two affections.
You Cannot Serve Jesus and Religion
Religion can mean a devotion to something or someone; possibly a disciplined manner of one's life. We should serve and seek God in a devoted and disciplined manner. However,
Jesus in not another way to God. He claimed exclusivity. Jesus said He was the only Way to God (John 14:6). A person either believes that or he does not.
You Cannot Serve Jesus and Moses
God used Moses to give the Law to His ancient covenant people, Israel. However,
Jesus said, “He (Moses) wrote about Me” (John 5:46). The Old Covenant Law that Moses gave pointed to the coming Reality, Jesus. One cannot have devotion to the sign post and to the Reality it points to.
And by him (Jesus) all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)
You Cannot Serve Jesus and The Bible
The Scriptures are the written record of the Living Word. Enough honor cannot be given to the Bible. However,
We do not worship letters. We do not kiss the binding or bow down toward Thomas Nelson Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee five times a day to pray. We worship the Reality, Jesus. We worship the Word, not the record of the Word.
You Cannot Serve Jesus and Christianity
This one can be a disturbing one. If Christianity is defined as the body of teachings that Jesus of Nazareth passed on to His disciples to bring to the farthest parts of the earth, that would be a good thing. However,
If Christianity is the biblely-sounding jargon that surrounds a school of thought that a large amount of philosophers have subscribed to and promote, then it is wicked. You cannot serve this machine and be loyal to Jesus and His teaching. One of them has to go. You must decide.
In every case, it is man's philosophy that is the problem. Nothing can destroy God's Word but something can harm its intended effect.
... Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. (Matt 15:6)
Dec. 1, 2025