A Good Lesson About A Bad Example
Luke 16:1-18– March 20, 2022
Luke 15:1-2. 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered / complained / grumbled, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke 15:28-31 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Having finished addressing the Pharisees on mercy Jesus now turns to His disciples/followers
Luke 16:1-2 Jesus is now directly addressing His disciples/followers but well within the hearing of the Pharisees and others.
Luke 16:3-4. The manager comes up with a scheme to protect his future.
Luke 16:5-7. We are only given a look at the first two he talked to, but there were more. He involved them all in his scheme.
Luke 16:8-9. Two points, the master in this case was responding as one who appreciated the creativity of the manager and getting paid where before he was not getting paid.
What did Augustine have to say about this?
Luke 16:10-12. Jesus gives us a basic truth that we all know and understand. If you can be trusted with little things, you can be trusted with greater things. Also, if you cannot be trusted with little things you cannot be trusted with greater things.
Luke 16:13. Are you going to use what God has entrusted to you to further His kingdom or for the pleasures of this short life we have here on earth? How you use the money tells whether you are serving the money or serving God.
Proverbs 14:31. Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
Proverbs 19:17.17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.
Isaiah 58:10. if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Thank You For Giving– 3 minutes
Speaking to the Pharisees
Luke 16:14-15. Look at what Jesus said to the Pharisees. Different ways different versions dealt with, What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. Other ways this might read: Detestable, Abomination, Revolting, Deeply Offensive, Worthless, Worth Nothing, Disgusting, Monstrous, Hated
Luke 16:16-18. The Pharisees used thelegalities of divorce as a cover for lust is adultery; Using the legalities of marriage as a cover for lust is adultery.
Josephus wrote, “He that desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause whatsoever (and many such causes happen among men), let him in writing give assurance he will never use her as his wife any more, for by this means she may be at liberty to marry another husband.”
Now for all of us Christians, what are we doing to ensure rewards in heaven?