Title: The praised steward (Luke 16:1-13)
Content The other day, I was listening to a Far East broadcast in the car, and when a goddess asked a question with the text, he said, How did you praise the man who took his master's wealth and indemnified him arbitrarily? So I had the heart to preach again with the text.
The parable in the Bible should not be based on the morality of the parable itself, but rather what the core of the parable is to be emphasized. For example, when it is said that Jesus will come like a thief when He returns, is it that Jesus is a thief or not? This is to emphasize that when Jesus comes again, no one is expected to come suddenly.
Therefore, the most important lesson in the text is to teach that the steward knew in advance that the day would come when his office would be taken away and wrote it down for the future after it was taken away. That is, the day will come when our wealth, our lives, our children, and our honor will all be destroyed, and when an opportunity is given to me before that day comes, he who writes wisely for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is also a wise man. Jesus emphasized that those who lay up treasures in this misty world are fools. However, in a world where people do not know when they will die, it is a wealth that cannot be carried or taken away when they die. They do not know how to use it for good for the future, and they hold onto it until they die.
It is said that non-believers can do that, but it is pathetic that most Christians who believe in Jesus live like this.
1. All humans are stewards.
Steward means a person who takes charge of the owner's property.
It is a Greek word created by combining the words house and manage, and the word economy is derived from this.
The first attitude of heart that a steward should have is the consciousness that wealth is not mine, but has a separate owner, and I only take charge of his own and manage it. God is the Creator and Lord of all things. Therefore, it is not mine that I earned, but God entrusted it to me, so I should use it to please the owner and benefit the owner, not my own as if I was the owner.
One thing to note is that if I use it correctly for the good pleasure of the Master while I am in charge as a steward, it is mine forever. But as long as I have it, it's not mine. I do not know when the master will take it away, and I do not know when my life will be taken away.
They misuse things because they think they will be mine forever, and they fail to invest when they invest in good works. If you see that you use it right and good, the owner will entrust you with a bigger one, but God doesn't entrust you with a bigger one because you can't use it right away and just grab hold of it.
2. It is the fact that the day will come when it will be taken away.
It means that there will always be a day when God will take away all of our wealth, health, and life. Just as the master gave the command in the text 16:2 that you should count the things you have seen, that you cannot do it because of the stewardship, when God calls us, we too will leave everything and stand before the Lord, count the things we have done throughout our lives, and be judged .
However, people live as if they will never leave the world and possess wealth forever.
Alexander the Great had a strange servant for his father, Philip II, and every morning he greeted him, saying, "O great king, remember that you must die."
There are many people who forget that they have to give up everything in the world and die before God. Romans 14:10 says, "Why do you judge your brother? Why do you despise your brother? We will all stand before the judgment seat of God." 2 Corinthians 5:10 says that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive according to what we have done in the body, according to the view of good and evil. Therefore, we believers should not cling to the worldly material, which disappears after a short period of time like mist, and should live as a right being before God every day.
It means having a deeper interest in being, or being, than having.
That is why he commanded Abraham, the father of faith, to leave the homeland, his relatives, and his father's house. In other words, he was to be free from the bondage of material things.
The command to cast out Hagar and Ishmael and the command to offer up only Isaac as a burnt offering were training to rely on only Hana, the Creator and Lord of all things.
When the people of Israel who lived in Egypt can live comfortably, when they fall into idolatry and become slaves of Egypt, harden the heart of Pharaoh and give them pain to set them free from the things of the world that left Egypt and took me into the wilderness. it was for
The wilderness was a symbol of liberation. For 40 years in the wilderness, there is no house, no land, no city, no bank to save money.
It is only looking to God and living. There is nothing to own and no interest in owning.
A awning is a tent that can be easily erected and easily demolished. It is not a fixed life. Sarah of Israel is a nomadic herder who runs from one place to another, and this is also a life that does not cling to one place. It is a life worthy of living by relying only on God.
The hearts of our members should be such a life of freedom. Instead of clinging to materials that will disappear someday, we should live by investing courageously according to the will of the owner.
3. Wisdom to prepare for the future
This steward, who heard the command from his master to resign his stewardship, said what I should do. Digging is not strong enough, and asking for it is shameful. He knew what I was going to do. After resigning saying that he would welcome him, he decided to write a letter of kindness for his future while he was still a steward.
He indemnified the person who owed 100 pieces of oil at 50 pieces, and the person who owed 100 pieces of wheat indemnified them at 80 pieces. Because he thought that he would receive him after being deprived of his position.
It explains that the owner praised the wrong steward for doing things wisely, and that it is really wise before God to invest money for the eternal world after death, and it is a thing to be praised by God.
This steward could not fix the past, but he knew how to prepare for the future.
As the saying goes, we cannot take our wealth with us when we die, but we can send it away in advance.
Conversely, the Bible says that it is foolish to accumulate wealth only in the world. In Luke 12, a rich man said to my soul, ?쏶oul, you have many goods laid up for many years; Let's rest, eat and have fun.
Then God rebuked the rich man who was hoarding things in the world and did not know how to prepare for death, saying he was a fool, and God said to him, ?쏽ou fool, this night your soul will be taken back, and whose will you have prepared???It is said that this is the case with those who store up and are not rich toward God.
God said that he who lays up wealth only for himself in the world is a foolish Pharaoh, and he said that a person like this steward who knows in advance the day it will be taken away and invests for the eternal future is a wise man. Matthew 6:19 et seq. Lay up not for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust He said, "No thief can break through nor steal."
The material written for the kingdom of heaven will never be stolen nor will it ever go bankrupt.
However, because people love money so much, they do not know how to invest it wisely, and do not know how many people die just because they accumulate it in the world for their own body. However, you must know how to use the material the Lord has given you for the glory of the Lord and for the good of the Lord. Such a person is a person of true faith.
If God is our master, money will be a good servant, and we will use our resources according to God's will. But unless God is our joiner, we will be slaves of money, and money will be a terrible master.
Henry Fielding said, Make money your god and it will haunt you like the devil.
The following article was published in the Wall Street Journal: Money is like a passport that can go anywhere in the world Except for heaven, he said that money is something you can prepare for anything except happiness.
4. Make friends with unjust wealth
Jesus cares a lot about how money is used. The reason is that money is evil, not neutral. Only God can consecrate money and use it for good. Both Paul and Peter said that money is the root of evil (1 Timothy 3:3,8, Titus 1:7-11, 1 Peter 5:2).
In the text, Jesus referred to wealth as the mammon of unrighteousness. The Lord is to use these unrighteous wealth to make friends. If we lead humans who became enemies of the Lord to Christ and make them friends of the Lord, then they will welcome us when we enter the kingdom of heaven.
In Luke 16:9 I tell you, make friends with the riches of unrighteousness, and when they perish, they will receive you into their eternal dwelling place. Also in 16:4, I know what I will do. He said they would welcome me into their house after they were taken away.
If people are led by Christ and invested in the salvation of souls, one day they will welcome us in heaven and receive eternal rewards.
-Hallelujah !-