Luke 16

Memory Verses, Romans 10:9-10

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

I am sending this one day early since that tomorrow we will be too busy, and will have little time left over to get it to you in a timely manner.  So enjoy the study, Shelley and I are enjoying a second honeymoon of sorts, we have deserted the kids for a few days.  The vacation is going great, I ran this morning in the mountains again, put in quite a few miles and enjoyed the beauty of Southern California. 

As we look at this chapter, again the Pharisees catch to brunt of the message.  But it is not just aimed at them.  It is a message which points out how we should handle finances, points toward stewardship, and toward the Kingdom of God.

Luke 16:1-8  The Unrighteous Steward.  A steward handled the money for his master, taking the place of his master in making financial decisions and causing the money to grow.  Apparently this steward forgot his place and began using the money for his own gain.  Upon hearing that the master was calling for an audit, the steward quickly called in some debtors and dropped their price of the outstanding balance.  Jesus commended this man in being shrewd, not in the fact that he stole from his master.  His master commended him for acting shrewd, and probably was glad that the outstanding debtors had paid the major portion of their bills, thereby increasing his money supply.  I doubt of these debts were being paid, otherwise the debtors would not have cut the chances of using his former master as a supplier in the future.  The unrighteous steward had the idea that if he forgave the debt of his masters debtors that they would take care of him after losing his employment.  In this case, he probably was mistaken, no one trusts a thief.  They may have taken care of him for a while, but if they were to continue business with his former master, they probably were better off distancing themselves from him.  What is the purpose of this story?  I believe it is a spring-board for the rest of the chapter, the whole chapter talks about money, and Jesus introduced the concept with this little story.

Luke 16:9-13  Store up riches.  Jesus tells us to spend our money wisely, referring to money as being unrighteous riches.  If we invest our money into other peoples lives, then once we get to heaven, they will open their arms and welcome us to the kingdom.  If we are foolish in the use of our money, then once we get to heaven, what have we gained?  You see, we are all stewards of God's money.  Just to give a tithe of 10 percent is not the requirement.  It is an important exercise, and a financially wise decision to tithe, but doesn't fill the full requirement.  We are like the unrighteous steward, we are stewards of God's money that He has entrusted us with and we are responsible to invest it and make it grow, and to use it for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.   Therefore, we can either serve God and use money as a tool for forwarding the Kingdom of God, and we can serve money and use it to make more money for ourselves.  Let me re-phrase that again, we don't have any money if we are Christians, it all belongs to God.  We are stewards of God's money, all of it.

Luke 16:14-18  Be Warned.  The phrase in 14 that refers to scoffing means literally that they "turned their noses up" according to one of the commentaries that I have been reading.  He directly attacks the Pharisees here, apparently they measured themselves by wealth, and found ways of increasing their wealth.  He warns them that God knows their hearts.  He knows our hearts also.  The reference in v. 18 seems to be out of context with the flow of thought.  But take a second look, what is the major cause of most divorces?  Isn't it money?  If money were out of the picture, would the divorcees still be married?  In a lot of cases, money divides marriages simply because serving money requires all of our effort.  It effectively eliminates our relationship with God.  We cannot serve both.  Therefore, marriages which are not based upon and fed by God are doomed to fail.  They will fail either completely, or people will become married singles, living together with little or no real relationship between them. 

Isn't it great that the law and prophets ended with John?  Now we are under grace, and not the law.  Look at the warning, if a person wants to follow the law, they must follow it to the letter, because it is so complete that in order to be justified by the law you cannot ever make even one mistake.  The Pharisees thought that they were strict.  Jesus added a strictness that they were not even aware of.  This is what God requires, therefore, grace has opened heavens doors through Jesus Christ. 

Luke 16:19-31  Rich man and Lazarus.  Here is an example of what really happened to someone.  This is not given as a parable, and we are given three parts to the story.  First, on earth, Second, in death, and third, a request from the rich man. 

Lazarus was a poor man, who had some kind of disease, and may not have even been able to walk, someone laid him at the rich man's door.  On earth he begged for food and sustenance from the rich man.  He was ignored.  And he died.  When he died, he went to the Bosom of Abraham, the Old Covenant's form of heaven.  Incidentally, when Jesus died on the cross, and rose from the dead, many believe that He went to the Bosom of Abraham and took home all the righteous believers to heaven with Him.  Since His death and resurrection was the completion of the final sacrifice for their sins.  All the old testament sacrifices were geared to typify Christ. 

The Rich man ignored Lazarus, continued with his plush lifestyle, and he too eventually died.  Unfortunately for him, he went to Hades, which is the Old covenant's form of hell.  It is a waiting place until the final judgment, and not a pleasurable waiting place either. 

After both died, the roles switched, with one exception, what had happened was complete, and could not be undone.  Therefore, the rich man was wishing and praying first for comfort.  Abraham told him that no, that cannot take place, you have made your decision.

Then the rich man prays for his brothers, that Lazarus will be sent back to take care of them.  Abraham responds again that they will not listen even to one who rose from the dead. 

The point here, the Pharisees are the rich men, and so are we.  That makes us stewards of our riches.  How we use our riches will be judged eventually.  Thank God for grace, at least now if we screw up, our sin is covered.  But that is no excuse, we are to live our lives in complete submission to the Lordship of Christ Jesus.  Here He also points to the future for the Pharisees, he tells them that they are the rich men, and they will not listen to one who rose from the dead, referring to Himself.  The disciples are warned that just because He rises from the dead is not going to convince the world of who Jesus is. 

Here we have a chapter that is focused on money, what it is, and how it can affect our lives.  We are to be wise with the use of our money in all ways.  Once again, this study is abbreviated due to my being on vacation, so if you see something you wish to add, please feel free.

Lord, as we study Your Word today, I pray that each one of us will evaluate how our stewardship of Your money is going in our lives.  Show us how to surrender completely to Your will, not just in giving the tithe, but in the other 90 percent as well.

In Him,

Joe Turner