Uncovering the Spirit of Mammon Part 2

Summary

Mammon is a sneaky, hateful, evil spirit whose main goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. It readily attaches itself to money and does its best to get us to trust wealth more than God. It always contradicts the word of God and attempts to persuade us to develop a wrong relationship with money. One of the most notable manifestations of the spirit of mammon was in the behaviour of Judas, who betrayed Jesus for money. Entire nations have fallen under the influence of this spirit, which aims to seduce us with lies, use us, destroy our lives, and then leave us broken. As Christians, we must be careful not to allow ourselves to be lured away from the Spirit of God and fall under the rule of the spirit of mammon. Studying what the Bible says about money will open our eyes to the work of this spirit so we can recognize it for what it is.

1. The spirit of mammon wants to fool us into serving it instead of God.

1. Jesus told his disciples the parable of the steward who was dismissed from his position because he had squandered all of his master’s money. He concluded the parable by telling them that no servant can serve two masters. They will either hate the one and love the other or else hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:1-13).
   1. The context of this parable focuses solely on a steward who was unfaithful with money, which Jesus called the least.
   2. If we can be trusted with money, we can be trusted with much more important things.
   3. Some people believe Jesus did not have anything to do with money, but he did. He cared deeply about people’s relationship with it (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4).
   4. God is a Spirit (John 4:24), but so is mammon. We cannot serve both spirits at once.
2. Honour the Lord with your substance, and with the first fruits of your increase. So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses will burst out with new wine (Proverbs 3:9, 10).
   1. To honour is to carry weight, to weigh in. This denotes value and a place of priority.
   2. Paying bills and other expenses first instead of honouring God first in our finances removes him from first place in our lives. This makes him an afterthought.
3. The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10).
   1. The spirit of mammon tells us to drop some keywords from this Scripture so that it incorrectly says, “Money is the root of all evil.” Money is neither good nor bad.
   2. Mammon’s main objective is to kill, steal, and destroy. This spirit never has a good ending for those who succumb to it. Judas was seduced by it, and the end result was that he killed himself (Matthew 27:3-5).
   3. The love of money is revealed when we trust it more than God. This indicates a wrong relationship with it.

1. Mammon’s plans for us are always the opposite of God’s will for us.

1. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).
   1. The test to determine where our hearts are is found when we examine how and where we spend it.
   2. Through demonic influence, the spirit of mammon will try to control us and keep us in bondage.
2. From that time forth, Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from you, Lord. This shall not be unto you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan, you are an offense to me. You do not savor the things that are of God, but those that are of men (Matthew 16:21-23).
   1. Jesus announced God’s plan to the disciples, but Peter was under demonic influence when he rebuked Jesus. The spirit of mammon always stands in opposition to God’s plan.
   2. We must be able to recognize this spirit, so we can resist it (Ephesians 6:12).
3. There are three characteristics we need to understand about mammon to avoid falling into bondage to this spirit.
   1. Mammon tells us it can protect us from our problems, and that money is the solution.
   2. It appears to provide things only God can give. Some of those things include security, significance, identity, power, freedom, and self-esteem.
   3. Mammon causes fear. It tells us we do not have enough money, no matter how much we have. It is a spirit of lies.

Scripture References