"No Servant Can Serve Two Masters" sermon: Church of the Virgin Mary, October 19, 2025 скачать в хорошем качестве

"No Servant Can Serve Two Masters" sermon: Church of the Virgin Mary, October 19, 2025

The primary spiritual lesson delivered by Abouna Joseph Shammas in this week's sermon is the critical need to prioritize God above all earthly concerns and material possessions, as encapsulated by the teaching, as it says in Luke 16:13: "No Servant Can Serve Two Masters," for they will "either he will hate one and love the other or he will honor one and despise the other." The core warning is, "You cannot serve God and money," which Jesus directed at the Pharisees who "loved money" and "ridiculed him." The spiritual challenge is not just whether one loves money, but whether individuals love God, their creator and master, more than they love the "gifts, the blessings that come from God," such as clothing, cars, houses, or status. Abouna emphasizes that true worship requires believers to ascend the "mountaintop" to hear God's word and partake in the "divine offering," rather than becoming distracted by social events, hobbies, or material pursuits — for "what is highly regarded among people is disgusting before God." The ultimate calling is to be "sons and daughters of God not sons or daughters of the world," walking after God instead of "the darkness of this world."