Whom Do We Serve?

We must put aside divided loyalties

“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). As you begin a new year, be mindful of where you place your priorities. Are you of Christ, or are you of the world? Do you serve God, or do you submit to this temporal world which shall one day come to an end?

Do you think you can divide your loyalties in this life, serving your spouse or boss during the week, while serving God only on weekends, or perhaps even just major holy days? Do you think of God only when in church or with religious people? When working at your job, do you think of God, or are you disconnected from your spiritual life because you’ve compartmentalized it? Jesus says this is impossible, because “No one can serve two masters”.

The Apostle Paul taught in I Timothy 3:15, the Church is the pillar and ground of Truth, and it is to this Church that the Apostles entrusted the Faith, once and for all delivered to the saint as its guardian and protector (Jude v. 3). Thus, the Church’s services, Liturgies, prayers and sacraments are all essential if we are to be authentic as people of faith.

“In accordance with the Apostolic faith delivered to us by tradition from the Fathers, I have delivered the tradition, without inventing anything extraneous to it. What I have learned, that I inscribed, comfortably with the Holy Scriptures (Saint Athanasios the Great).”

It is through this Tradition that we bind ourselves to Christ, serving only Him. All else must be secondary. When the Lord says “You cannot serve God and mammon,” He is referring to things of a materialistic nature (mammon is the Aramaic word for “god of wealth”). He asks us all to declare whom we serve, God or mammon? And the way to determine who or what you love the most is to see where your loyalties lie.

When you are faced with choices between God, and anything else, what will be your choice? Do you choose to attend church on Sunday or do you chose to sleep in? Do you prioritize your life around your relationship with God, or do sporting events, vacations, family outings, entertainment, or friends take center stage? Does prayer, reading the bible, serving others, financially supporting the church and its mission, and giving alms serve as your central theme, or do you chose personal gain and pleasure as central to your life?

Are you more concerned about money, your popularity, or the home you own, or do these things take back seat to Jesus Christ? If God be your master, you will be able to honestly say that none of these worldly things are anywhere near as important to you as your relationship with Christ.

Christ said, “Be not therefore like them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him (Matthew 6:8).” If we serve only God as our master, all else that we need will be provided.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Sunday December 20, 2015 / December 7, 2015
29th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone four.
Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed

St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan (397).
Venerable Nilus, monk, of Stolben Island (1554).
Venerable Anthony, abbot of Siya Monastery (Novgorod) (1556).
New Hieromartyr Sergius (1917).
New Hieromartyr Antonius priest, Hieromartyr Andronic (1918).
St. Ambrosius confessor, bishop of Kamenets-Podolsk (1932).
New Hieromartyrs Sergius, Michael and Sergius priests, Nicephore deacon and Hieromartyr Galaction, Martyr John (1937).
New Hieromartyrs Peter and Basil priests (1941).
Venerable John, faster of St. Sabbas’ monastery.
Martyr Athenodorus of Mesopotamia (304).
Venerable Paul the Obedient.
“Seligersk” (Vladimirsk) Icon of the Mother of God.
Venerable Gregory the Silent of Serbia, founder of Grigoriou Monastery, Mt. Athos (1405) (Greek).
Venerable John, faster of the Kiev Caves (12th c.).
Venerable Ignatius, monk, near Blachernae (Greek).
St. Bassa of Jerusalem, abbess (5th c.).
St. Philothea of Turnovo (1060), whose relics are in Arges, Romania.
St. Diuma, bishop of the Mercians and Middle Anglians.
Martyr Neophytus (Greek).
Martyr Dometius (Greek).
Martyrs Isidore, Acepsimas and Leo (Greek).

Scripture Readings

Colossians 3:12-16

Character of the New Man

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Luke 17:12-19

12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”