Luke 16
COMMENTARY:
: 1 And he said also to HIS disciples, there was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused to him that he had wasted his goods. (1287 “wasted” [diaskorpizo] means scatter, disperse, to throw the grain a considerable distance, squander, to dissipate, or divide.)
DEVOTION: Once we are involved in taking care of our family with the money that comes in through our paycheck we have to be wise in the management of our money. Either the husband or wife has to take over the checkbook and make sure the bills are paid on time. Someone in each marriage has to take charge. Both need to be involved in making major decisions regarding spending.
If one person is in control of the money of the house and the bills are not being paid there needs to be a change. Here we find a man who was rich had hired someone to take care of the finances of the household.
He was called a steward. He made all the finances decisions for a farm. It was a wealthy farm. It had many people who owed it money. The problem was that the steward was wasting the money.
The farm owner found out that he was losing money with this steward in control and told him that he had to audit the books and turn them over to the rich man. The steward was nervous because he didn’t know how to earn money any other way so he came up with a plan to make himself look good in the eyes of those that owed the rich man money.
We need to understand that any employment that we take makes us a steward for the person we are working for. We are there to help them make money. Yes, we want to make a paycheck but we need to be good stewards of our own money but also the money of those we work for on a daily basis. We need to be wise both for ourselves and others.
Jesus states that there is a difference between the children of the world and the children of light.
CHALLENGE: We are the children of light. We answer to God for our actions. They seem to answer to themselves.
: 8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. (5429 “wiser” [phronimos] means intelligent, prudent, mindful of one’s interests, or shrewd.)
DEVOTION: This parable of the LORD told of an unjust or dishonest steward. A steward is in control of a household for a master. He can make daily decisions that the master doesn’t want to know about or care about.
However, this master found out what the steward was doing and was going to fire him. The steward did something that only a shrewd person could figure out. He reduced the debt of the debtor so that they would welcome him into their homes. Jesus tells us that those who are unjust or children of this world are shrewder than those who are just and honest and children of light.
There is a very different lifestyle for those who are followers of Christ. Those who chose to follow Christ want to be honest and just in their dealing with others. The children of the world are only concerned with the bottom line. They are looking out for number one and number one is them.
Our number one should be Christ. Is Jesus saying that his followers are not smart? NO!! Is Jesus saying that his followers are not prudent in their dealings with others? NO!! He is saying that when we look at the majority of those in the world who prosper in worldly goods they are working with a different standard.
Many of the prophets of the Old Testament struggled when they looked at those who were not followers of God and saw them seem to have no problems and wondered what the LORD was doing. He answered and told them that they have a different end to their eternity. That time frame is more important to him than this present time period. Where we spend eternity is very important, not what we can accumulate here on this earth. Our treasure should be in heaven. What are we storing up there right now?
CHALLENGE: Remember to seek FIRST the kingdom of God. Be faithful with the little that HE gives you and HE will bless you in many ways.
: 11 If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to you trust the true riches? (4104 “faithful” [pistos] means believing, trusty, the discharge of official duties, one who trusts in God’s promises, or trustworthy.)
DEVOTION: What are the “true riches” that Jesus is talking about in this passage? There are riches associated with our employment. There are riches that are associated with our family if they have money. There are riches associated with the way we invest our money.
Our treasure needs to be laid up in heaven. Jesus informs HIS disciples that earthly riches will be robbed or rust or mold or something else will happen to them. The riches that we store up in heaven will never have these problems.
What are some of the riches we can store up in heaven? There are the souls of those we witness to on a regular basis. They are precious in the sight of the LORD. We are to share the gospel with those we meet and realize that one soul can add to our reward in heaven. We can give our money to the church or missions and the results of our giving can cause many to come to a saving knowledge of the LORD or growth in the LORD. We share in the results of the ministries we support. If we train our children to use their money to serve the LORD we are raising the next generation with a proper understanding of the use of money. If people know that we are honest with our money it helps the testimony we have for the LORD.
Our use of money can either represent the LORD well or not. If we are miserly with our money it will show. If we waste our money it will show. If we honor the LORD with our money it will show.
CHALLENGE: What are you and I showing people with the use of our money?
: 15 And he said unto them, You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (1344 “justify” [dikaioo] means be freed, be righteous, to put right with, acquit, set free, obey righteous commands, vindicate, declare righteous, remove guilt, or show justice.)
DEVOTION: The Pharisees had listened to the parable of unjust steward who was not taking care of his master’s money.
This particular group of Pharisees was said to be covetous. They were faithful in loving unrighteous mammon. They committed their life to making money. Nothing and no one was going to get in their way. They didn’t care about what Jesus was teaching about the proper relationship to money. Money was their god.
Jesus said to them that if they couldn’t control their desire for unrighteous mammon they couldn’t be trusted with true riches that come from the LORD. They were supposed to serve the LORD first and then look at their need for money.
They were justifying their actions before men. We find that there are many television programs today on how to get rich quick. Some of these programs might be taught by those who think they are serving the LORD. The problem is that they don’t mention the priority of serving the LORD first in their advertising. This was true of the Pharisees as well.
They only wanted the praise of men rather than God. Their hearts were not right with God. It is because they wanted the esteem of men that they were found out of favor with God. They were considered an detestable in the sight of the LORD. God didn’t even want to look at them.
Our relationship to money matters to the LORD. All of us would like to be blessed of the LORD in the area of money. The LORD knows who can handle money and who needs to not have too much money. We are to pray for our daily bread and be satisfied with that amount of provision.
Those who are comfortable without praying for the LORD to provide are acting like the Pharisees that scoffed at Jesus. They didn’t think they needed anything HE had to offer.
CHALLENGE: We need to make sure we don’t develop an attitude of not thinking we need the LORD to provide our daily bread. We don’t want to ever vindicate ourselves to ourselves and the rest of the world. Let the LORD vindicate us.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Prayer of rich manverses 27-31
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Law and prophetsverses 16, 17
Abraham’s bosomverse 22
Father Abrahamverse 24
Abrahamverse 25
Moses and the prophetsverses 29, 31
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Godverses 13, 15
God knows heartsverse 15
Sight of Godverse 15
Kingdom of Godverse 16
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)
Parable of stewardverses 1-18
Rich man and Lazarusverse 19
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Angels carry Lazarus to Abraham’s bosomverse 22
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Rich man (lord)verses 1, 8
Stewardverses 1, 3, 8
Stewardshipverses 2, 4
Debtorsverse 5
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Unjustverses 8, 10
Children of the worldverse 8
Mammon of unrighteousnessverses 9, 11, 13
Hateverse 13
Covetousverse 14
Derided Jesusverse 14
Justify yourselvesverse 15
Abominationverse 15
Put away wifeverse 18
Adultery verse 18
Evilverse 25
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Children of lightverse 8
Faithfulverses 10-12
Trust with true richesverse 11
Serve Godverse 13
Preachverse 16
Mercy verse 24
Comfortverse 25
Repentverse 30
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Phariseesverse 14
Prophetsverses 16, 31
John (the Baptist)verse 16
Abrahamverses 22-30
Lazarusverses 20-30
Mosesverses 29, 31
Church (New Testament people of God)
Disciplesverse 1
Last Things (Future Events)
Everlasting habitationsverse 9
Abraham’s bosomverse 22
Comfortverse 25
Great gulf fixedverse 26
Hellverse 23
Tormentverse 23
Tormented in this flameverse 24
Place of tormentverse 28
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