March
27th Luke
16
How to get a welcome in the kingdom
1:
And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man,
which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had
wasted his goods. 2: And he called him, and said unto him, How is it
that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for
thou mayest be no longer steward. 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. 4: I am resolved what
to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive
me into their houses. 5: So he called every one of his lord's debtors
unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
6: And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him,
Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7: Then said he
to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures
of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
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. 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. 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. 11: If therefore ye have
not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your
trust the true riches? 12: And if ye have not been faithful in that
which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
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. 14: And the Pharisees
also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided
him. 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.
Christ
gives the parable of the steward who realising that his time was
coming to an end used his position to make friends when he was on the
way down so that when he reached the bottom he would still have
people who would help him. Christ commends him. Not for his unjust
treatment but for his wisdom. Christ said that, ‘the children of
this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Christ then explains that it is possible to use money in such a way
that when the money runs out you will have friends who will receive
you into their homes forever. Then Christ goes on to say that god
will reward the righteous man with greater responsibility. Then
Christ says that no one can have two masters at the same time. His
obligation cannot be to two masters. Only one of them will have his
true loyalty. When the Pharisees heard this they thought that what he
say of really stupid. However Christ said that you justify yourselves
before men but it is God that you are really answerable to and that
what is considered to be great by men is an abomination before God.
- What had the Steward done wrong?
- What action did he take?
- Why are the children of this world wiser than the children of light?
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