The Berean Table

Series: Get Right Bible Study Series · Companion: Full Study

A summary handout for Q1.09 Mammon (F3 QSource).

What QSource says: Q1.09 Mammon is a man’s relationship with his work — “the sustaining relationship.” Work is a Virtue: a man earns his daily bread by the sweat of his labor, sustains his family and Community, and falls out of alignment when he is idle, because “we are hard-wired to produce.” But Mammon is a relationship, not just a task, and a seductive one — it drifts toward the center of the Concentrica and swallows the others. It is the easiest relationship to maintain, it pays the most direct affirmation (raises and promotions, against the murky feedback of husband and father), and it is the only one a man can quit. Yet the chapter calls it his least important — if work costs him his family and Community, there is nothing left for it to sustain. Unchecked, it becomes workaholism, a Jester to be kept at the outer ring.

How we’re using it: QSource raises the topic; God’s Word is the authority we sit under. Nothing is written down — each man speaks his commitment out loud, and we open next time by saying how last week went. The goal is to draw near to God, obey Him, and give Him the glory (James 1:22).

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1. Work Is a Virtue, Given by God

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15, ESV)

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10, ESV)

In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. (Proverbs 14:23, ESV)

Bottom line: Work isn’t your punishment. God gave it to you before there was anything to punish.

Discuss:

• Do you treat your work as a gift to steward or a burden to escape — and how does knowing God built you to produce change that?
• Where has idleness — not just laziness, but aimless drift or endless “play” — pulled you out of alignment?

2. Work Heartily, as for the Lord

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23–24, ESV)

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17, ESV)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV)

Bottom line: Quit working to prove you’re worth something. In Christ you already are.

Discuss:

• Where do you go looking for affirmation — the workplace, or the Lord who says “you are serving the Lord Christ”?
• How would “working as for the Lord” change the way you show up at a job that feels thankless or unseen?

3. You Cannot Serve God and Money

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24, ESV)

You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3, ESV)

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15, ESV)

Bottom line: Money makes a fine servant and a ruthless master. There is only one throne.

Discuss:

• Is your work currently a servant or a master? What evidence would your wife and children point to?
• What would it cost you to keep Mammon a servant — and are you willing to pay it?

4. The Love of Money Is a Root of Evil

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:9–10, ESV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. (1 Timothy 6:6–7, ESV)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5, ESV)

Bottom line: The problem was never the money. It’s the craving. And nothing but God has ever filled it.

Discuss:

• Where is craving — for more income, status, or achievement — quietly shaping your decisions?
• What would genuine contentment look like for you — and where is discontent driving you to overwork?

5. Seek First the Kingdom

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33, ESV)

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (Matthew 6:31–32, ESV)

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:1–2, ESV)

Bottom line: Seek Him first and the rest gets added. Strive without Him and you labor in vain.

Discuss:

• What would it look like this week to “seek first the kingdom” in how you spend your time and energy?
• Where is anxiety about provision driving you to strive as if it all depends on you?

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Living It Out

Pick your Brick — one concrete, observable action from today, specific enough that a brother can ask “did you do it?” and get a yes or no.

Say it aloud: “Because God is my Master and my Provider, this week I will ___. [Name], will you check me?”

Report back next time: “Last week I committed to ___. Did I do it: yes or no.”