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.
Matthew 6:24
1. You cannot serve two masters: You cannot serve
idols and God.
God has warned that we should not make images of stone
or wood. We are not to bow down or pray to any type of idol.
I once visited a town in which I found a space in the centre
of the city filled with images of antelopes, leopards, fish and
birds. The people in the town worshipped these idols. Yet
the Word of God warns us not to make images of anything
on earth (such as antelopes) or anything in the heaven above
(such as birds) or anything in the water below (such as fish).
I know a town in which a solitary crab stands high in
the city centre. So precious is this image that the road was
diverted around it. No one dares touch that holy crab. Is it
any wonder when the blessing of God is absent from such
places?
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear
you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image
of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the
LORD your God.
Leviticus 26:1
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exodus 20:4
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:
for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exodus 20:5
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose
name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exodus 34:14
2. You cannot serve two masters: There is no need to
fear an idol or an image because they have no power
to harm you or to bless you.
Only the living God has power to save you from evil.
The god who was urinated upon
One day, a friend of mine went to a village and needed to
urinate. There was no toilet around so he had to find a place in
the nearby bushes to do so. As he began passing urine, people in
the village began to scream and shout pointing to his feet. He did
not understand what they were saying so he continued urinating
until he finished. Then he spat on the stone which he had just
urinated on, zipped up his trousers and turned around to meet the
frenzied locals.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
The people exclaimed, “You just urinated on our god. You
just spat on our god.”
“What?” He asked. “Who is your god? Where is he? I didn’t
see any god” he explained.
The people pointed to the stone he had urinated on and said,
“That is our god you just urinated on.”
My bewildered friend offered his apologies to the people and
hurriedly left the town.
When I heard this story, I marvelled. I thought to myself,
“even a child would have complained if he was being urinated
upon. Even an animal would have moved away if it was being
urinated upon. If that stone was a real god, why did it not say
anything at all when the warm urine of my friend was pouring
upon it?” The answer is found in Jeremiah 10:3-5.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree
out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman,
with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it move not.
THEY ARE UPRIGHT AS THE PALM TREE, BUT
SPEAK NOT: THEY MUST NEEDS BE BORNE,
because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they
cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
Jeremiah 10:3-5
3. You cannot serve two masters: You cannot practice
witchcraft and serve God. Witchcraft is a sin.
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Exodus 22:18
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the
word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being
king.
1 Samuel 15:23
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou
shalt have no more soothsayers:
Micah 5:12
4. You cannot serve two masters: You cannot practice
sorcery, occultism and necromancy and serve God.
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh
his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that
useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter,
or a witch,
Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a
wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are
an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these
abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from
before thee.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters,
and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Revelation 21:8
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have
seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in
vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were
troubled, because there was no shepherd.
Zechariah 10:2
But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in
one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall
come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude
of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine
enchantments.
Isaiah 47:9
5. You cannot serve two masters: You cannot serve
money and serve God.
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.
Matthew 6:24
6. You cannot serve two masters: You cannot serve other
gods because there is none comparable to God.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all
gods.
Psalm 95:3
Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art
very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Psalm 104:1
7. You cannot serve two masters: You can only serve the
one God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for
all, to be testified in due time.
1 Timothy 2:5-6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved.
Acts 4:12
