The Sermon on the Mount contains some disturbing messages for people who want to identify as Christian but do not want to change their lives. Jesus makes it very clear that one must choose between following Him or pursuing the material things of this world.
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
According to the LDS Bible Dictionary, “mammon” is an Aramaic word meaning “riches.” LDS scholar Dr. Hugh Nibley taught that “mammon” is a reference to “business.”
Mammon is simply the standard Hebrew word for any kind of financial dealing.
Hugh Nibley
The Doctrine of the Two Ways
The teaching that one cannot serve two masters is an example an ancient idea that is also taught in the Old Testament. This idea is known as “The Doctrine of the Two Ways.”
According to this oldest and best established of teachings (though quite unpopular with the conventional Christianity and Judaism of our time), there are Two Ways lying before every person in this life, the Way of Light and the Way of Darkness, the Way of Life and the Way of Death; and every mortal every day of his life is required to make a choice between them. Unfortunately for our peace of mind, any compromise between the Two Ways is out of the question, since they lead in opposite directions.
Hugh Nibley
Dr. Nibley points out that the two roads are actually one and the same. The road you are on “depends entirely upon the way you are facing.” Repentance is the act of turning away from the darkness of sin and moving (once again) toward the light.
Treasures in Heaven
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Matthew 6:19-21
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Jesus taught that, since this life is temporary, we should not focus on obtaining the material things of this world. Rather, we should focus on becoming worthy of heaven. He pointed out that it is easy to see where a person’s heart is. One just has to look at what that person values.
The Saints have always struggled with Mammon
The Latter-day Saints are not immune to the temptations of mammon. Brigham Young often warned church members in his day about this danger.
My experience is that this people have too a great tenacity for the goods of this world, and the Enemy thinks he can get the advantage over them in this respect, and he is improving all the time.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:343-44
Elders are agreed on the way and manner necessary to obtain celestial glory, but they quarrel about a dollar. When principles of eternal life are brought before them – God and the things pertaining to God and godliness – they apparently care not half so much about them as they do about five cents.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 9:249
Even Joseph Smith taught that the progress of the church was often slowed by the selfish materialism of church members.
God has often sealed up the heavens because of covetousness in the church.
Joseph Smith, TPJS p.9
We must do better
I am not confident that we, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are any less selfish or materialistic today. Yet, the implications of this teaching are very clear. If we want to claim our promised blessings, we must give up our relentless selfish pursuit of material things and prioritize the building up of the Kingdom of God.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
Sources:
Hugh Nibley, “What is Zion? A Distant View,” Approaching Zion, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Volume 9, p. 37.
Noel B. Reynolds, “The Ancient Doctrine of the Two Ways and the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies Quarterly 56:3 (2017), p. 49, pp. 30-31.
Brigham Young, “Duties of the Saints, etc.,” Salt Lake Tabernacle, January 20, 1861, Journal of Discourses 8:343-44.
Brigham Young, “Salvation the Result of Individual Exertion,” Salt Lake Tabernacle, March 23, 1862, Journal of Discourses, 9:249.
Joseph Smith, “Perfect Love a Safeguard Against Falling from Grace,” October 25,1831, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.9.