Earlier this year the author of God or Mammon – The Critical Issue Confronting World Christianity, David Smith, launched his new book in Dublin. Since then, I’ve been digesting this book, reflecting on its challenging title and implications for our discipleship.
So, when I was invited to contribute to Evangelical Alliances Ireland’s Take Five teaching series, God or mammon was on my mind. How we relate to money can be a tricky issue and doing it well takes more than skill and clear thinking.
David Smith defines the biblical term “mammon” as not just money or wealth or possessions but as: “a system, a total worldview which comes to dominate society and penetrates to the inner core of the lives of individuals, reshaping their values and desires”.
We see this quite vividly at Christmastime, in which consumerism and consumption can overshadow Advent and the Incarnation. It has the potential to hijack our lives and rob us of spiritual blessing and fulfilment.
There’s nothing wrong with times of celebrations and feasting, seeking daily needs like food nor is there anything wrong with money and wealth, per se. But when our affections are consumed by them, God seeks to warn us and protect us. He is concerned for our own wellbeing, as well as the injustice done to others.
In this five-part Take Five inspirational teaching series, I first seek to show how Jesus models our attitudes towards poverty and wealth. I then look at how “compartmentalised’ much of our thinking has become in the western world, towards faith and money. From the Bible and using David Smith’s new book, I look at more integrated faith-in-action, as well as the barriers to following Jesus in this way.
The first of these five-minute teachings from 15th December, is from the Gospel of Mark chapter 8, where Jesus feeds the four thousand people:
David Smith, the author of God Or mammon, prophetically confronts this issue and invites Christians to re-examine their allegiances (says Langham his publisher).
The second writer referenced in my Take Five teaching was Craig L. Blomberg, Neither Poverty nor Riches.