Four Radical Things Jesus Said About Money: A Look at Some of His Most Puzzling ParablesSample

As we wrap up our look at things Jesus said about money, let’s pivot from his parables to today’s passage, because it may have been his most puzzling statement on the topic.

Jesus begins with an assertion that seems to have nothing to do with money: “No one can serve two masters.” Some of us are familiar with the tension of having two different people telling us what to do because we’ve had a job with two supervisors. Or our parents were divorced, and we lived with the tug-of-war between mom’s rules and dad’s rules. So, we know—and agree with—what Jesus is saying, but what does it have to do with money? 

He concludes the contrast: “You cannot serve both God and money.”

Shouldn’t it be God and the devil? If this was fill-in-the-blank, none of us would say the choice is between serving God and serving money. Yet, serving money is exactly what has kept many of us from serving God. Because when you’re upside down financially, the credit card company, the mortgage lender, or the car dealership is your master. You feel called to move to a new city or leave your job, but you can’t. You hear about a need in your community and want to contribute, but you can’t. You dream about adopting or starting a nonprofit, but you don’t have the money. You’ve borrowed and spent your way into slavery to the wrong master. 

You have allowed mismanagement of your money to keep you from becoming a sincere, sold-out follower of Jesus.

Two thousand years after he said it, Jesus’s seemingly odd contrast doesn’t seem so odd. Being able to follow the New Testament command to “love one another” requires emotional and financial margin that you won’t have when you’re enslaved by a house, vacation, or wardrobe you’re still paying off. 

Do those stakes feel high to you? They should. Financial issues are spiritual issues, so let’s see our money the way God does—as a tool and a test—that we are accountable for managing well while it’s in our hands. 

If you want more from Andy Stanley on finances and faith, watch his four If Money Talked videos for free on YouTube.