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Text to read: Luke 16:1 Speaking to the talmidim, Yeshua said: “There was a wealthy man who employed a general manager. Charges were brought to him that his manager was squandering his resources. 2 So he summoned him and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in your accounts, for you can no longer be manager.’
3 “‘What am I to do?’ said the manager to himself. ‘My boss is firing me, I’m not strong enough to dig ditches, and I’m ashamed to go begging. 4 Aha! I know what I’ll do — something that will make people welcome me into their homes after I’ve lost my job here!’
5 “So, after making appointments with each of his employer’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my boss?’ 6 ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. ‘Take your note back,’ he told him. ‘Now, quickly! Sit down and write one for four hundred!’ 7 To the next he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your note back and write one for eight hundred.’
8 “And the employer of this dishonest manager applauded him for acting so shrewdly! For the worldly have more sekhel than those who have received the light — in dealing with their own kind of people!
9 “Now what I say to you is this: use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it gives out, you may be welcomed into the eternal home. 10 Someone who is trustworthy in a small matter is also trustworthy in large ones, and someone who is dishonest in a small matter is also dishonest in large ones. 11 So if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who is going to trust you with the real thing? 12 And if you haven’t been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what ought to belong to you? 13 No servant can be slave to two masters, for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money.”
14 The P’rushim heard all this, and since they were money-lovers, they ridiculed him. 15 He said to them, “You people make yourselves look righteous to others, but God knows your hearts; what people regard highly is an abomination before God!
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John Wesley's Notes Commentary for Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
Verse 3
[3] Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
To beg I am ashamed — But not ashamed to cheat! This was likewise a sense of honour! "By men called honour, but by angels pride."
Verse 4
[4] I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
I know — That is, I am resolved, what to do.
Verse 8
[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.
And the lord commended the unjust steward — Namely, in this respect, because he had used timely precaution: so that though the dishonesty of such a servant be detestable, yet his foresight, care, and contrivance, about the interests of this life, deserve our imitation, with regard to the more important affairs of another.
The children of this world — Those who seek no other portion than this world: Are wiser - Not absolutely, for they are, one and all, egregious fools; but they are more consistent with themselves; they are truer to their principles; they more steadily pursue their end; they are wiser in their generation - That is, in their own way, than the children of light - The children of God, whose light shines on their hearts.
Verse 9
[9] And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
And I say to you — Be good stewards even of the lowest talents wherewith God hath intrusted you. Mammon means riches or money. It is termed the mammon of unrighteousness, because of the manner wherein it is commonly either procured or employed. Make yourselves friends of this, by doing all possible good, particularly to the children of God: that when ye fail, when your flesh and your heart faileth, when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, those of them who have gone before may receive, may welcome you into the everlasting habitations.
Verse 10
[10] He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
And whether ye have more or less, see that ye be faithful as well as wise stewards. He that is faithful in what is meanest of all, worldly substance, is also faithful in things of a higher nature; and he that uses these lowest gifts unfaithfully, is likewise unfaithful in spiritual things.
Verse 11
[11] If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
Who will intrust you with the true riches? — How should God intrust you with spiritual and eternal, which alone are true riches?
Verse 12
[12] And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
If ye have not been faithful in that which was another's — None of these temporal things are yours: you are only stewards of them, not proprietors: God is the proprietor of all; he lodges them in your hands for a season: but still they are his property. Rich men, understand and consider this. If your steward uses any part of your estate (so called in the language of men) any farther or any otherwise than you direct, he is a knave: he has neither conscience nor honour. Neither have you either one or the other, if you use any part of that estate, which is in truth God's, not yours, any otherwise than he directs.
That which is your own — Heaven, which when you have it, will be your own for ever.
Verse 13
[13] No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
And you cannot be faithful to God, if you trim between God and the world, if you do not serve him alone. Matthew 6:24.
Verse 15
[15] And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
And he said to them, Ye are they who justify yourselves before men — The sense of the whole passage is, that pride, wherewith you justify yourselves, feeds covetousness, derides the Gospel, Luke 16:14, and destroys the law, Luke 16:18. All which is illustrated by a terrible example.
Ye justify yourselves before men — Ye think yourselves righteous, and persuade others to think you so.
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Daily Devotional:
Monday, April 11, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- Read this entire text.
- What is the moral of the story?
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- How are heaven and hell described here?
- What purpose do they serve in this story?
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- What meaning is there for our life beyond the ethical imperative of charity?
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- What is Jesus really challenging here?
- What does it have to do with Luke 16:1-15?
Friday, April 15, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- How are your finances structured to do what Jesus seems to be teaching?
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- How are your investments eternally structured?
- What step do you need to take to improve that?
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Text to read: Luke 16:1-15
- Pray for those who NEED to receive charity and generosity from someone.
The First United Methodist Church
2111 Camino Del Rio South
San Diego, California, 92108, United States
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