You cannot serve two methods

“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!” Acts 8:20

You cannot serve two methods

Obtain – Simon was a magician.  He was important, respected, honored, perhaps even feared.  But when he heard the good news of Jesus, he believed and was baptized.  He attached himself to Peter’s group and observed many amazing miracles.  Then something happened that rocked his world.  He tried to use the world’s methods to control the Kingdom of Heaven.

Most likely we would have endorsed his bold suggestion.  After all, we know the enormous power of money.  We love the influence of advertising.  We are quick to jump on a business opportunity.  Modern Christianity has done a fantastic job of squeezing secular strategy into spiritual molds.  Perhaps we need to print Acts 8:20 on every pledge envelope and every finance committee form.  We are a lot more like this Simon than we are like the other Simon; the one with a new identity.

How many times have you heard someone say, “If you tithe diligently, God will give you even more”?  How often have you negotiated with God?  “If you just do this for me, God, then I will be sure to fulfill my promise to You.”  Maybe you aren’t so blatant.  Maybe you have convinced yourself that you really need that bigger building, that better sound system, that enhanced budget.  You’ve prayed about it.  It seems like the obvious thing to do.  That should raise a big red flag, but it usually doesn’t.  You see, we still think that God operates within the confines of human planning.  We go right on acting as though God is about bigger, better and more conspicuous.  We advertise.  We entertain.  After all, how else can we get the crowds?  It works for rock stars, doesn’t it?

“Obtain”, in Greek, ktaomai, “to acquire for yourself”.  It’s a question of motive, isn’t it?  Behind all the spiritual pretense, it’s always a question of motive.  Of course we can make it work.  It just takes money, effort and the right image.  But Peter calls us up short.

“What makes you think that you have any leverage whatsoever over God?”  “Why do you act as though anything God does can be subject to any pattern of this world?”

The real question about spiritual progress is not “how much” but “how little”.  How little are you depending on your own efforts, your own plans, your own vision, your own control?  Wherever the results can be explained in purely human terms, it is unlikely that God had much to do with it.  He does not share His glory with those who serve up spiritual dishes cooked from human recipes.

Do an inventory.  How much of your production is really just spiritualized capitalism?