BOOK – Luke 16:1-13
Jesus gives us a challenging parable to understand.
1.
Have times changed since Jesus gave this
parable - does His message still hold
true today?
2.
Does this parable make you nervous in any way? Why?
3.
What are your thoughts on “You cannot serve God and
wealth”?
Luke 16:1-13
Jesus said to the disciples,
"There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him
that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him,
`What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management,
because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself,
`What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am
not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so
that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.'
So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, `How much do
you owe my master?' He answered, `A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him,
`Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, `And
how much do you owe?' He replied, `A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to
him, `Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the
dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age
are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of
light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth
so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
"Whoever is faithful in
a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very
little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the
dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not
been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love
the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and wealth."
1. Oh my how things have changed over the generations . . . and yet there are parts of our human condition that are very much the same. Some things are relatively instinctual - some urges are best resisted, others should be embraced and it's a messy path to determine what's what.
ReplyDelete2. Yes. Being shrewd usually has consequences. The "killer instinct" is more natural to some, but can be learned by others. That resistance can save us pain, physical and emotional - but pushing through, and risking can also yield great rewards. Sometimes we won't risk until the circumstances aren't favorable either way.
3. This is tough. It's not just about money, right? It's about desire. Finding ways to desire God more than the things that money can buy us. Sometimes God feels like a long-term investment.