Worldlings are often more consistent with themselves and more enthusiastically pursue their ends than Christians. Though they aim low they aim better, improving their opportunities and doing that first which is most needed. Let us be thus wise in spiritual affairs.
Prosperity is not a mark of being a favorite of heaven, nor poverty a mark of God’s rejection of a man. Salvation is appropriated by those only who accept the evidence of God’s Word during their lifetime, and, having died outside of Christ, there is no ray of hope eternally.
Luke 16
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.
16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
19 ¶ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Luke 16 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:1-6 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:7-10 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:11-18 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:19 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:20-22 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:23-24 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:25-31 – J. Vernon McGee
Luke 16:1-13 – The Right Use of Money
We are all stewards, but how much we waste! Well might our Master deprive us of our post and trust! The unjust steward used his opportunity of ingratiating himself with the tenants at the landowner’s cost. He thus secured for himself a welcome to their homes, when his defalcations came to light and he was dismissed. Our Master did not commend his fraud, but pointed out that the children of this world are singularly alive to their future and prepare for its contingencies. If they make a wrong use of money to provide for the future, how much more should Christians make a right use of it, so that when they die they may be welcomed to the eternal home by those whom they have benefited!
Money is described as unrighteous Mammon, the name of the heathen god of wealth. It is so often associated with cheating that the adjective is most appropriate. Note also that money is “the least” and not “that which is your own,” but God’s, to be used by us as His servants and at His direction. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Luke 16:10 – The least action of life can be as surely done from the loftiest motive as the highest and the noblest. Faithfulness measures acts as God measures them. True conscientiousness deals with our duties as God deals with them. Duty is duty, conscience is conscience, right is right, and wrong is wrong, whatever sized type they be printed in. “Large” or “small” are not words for the vocabulary of conscience. It only knows two words, – right, and wrong. (McLaren)
Luke 16:12—That which is another man’s.
Our Lord is speaking of money and its use.
He describes money.—It is so associated with unrighteousness that He speaks of it as the unrighteous mammon. It was as though the inveterate moneymaker, who will get money at all costs, was an idolater, prostrating himself daily in the temple of the heathen deity who bore that name. In his judgment, also, it is a very little thing (Luke 16:10). We only know how little when we compare it with the immortal qualities of a lowly character. At least, it is not the true riches (Luke 16:11). Moreover, it is not our own—it is clearly another’s—God’s (Luke 16:12). We have nothing that we have not received.
He indicates the main use of money.—It is God’s; but He puts it into our hands to watch the use we will make of it, before He entrusts to us the true riches of eternity—just as you will test a child with a toy watch before you dare place in his hands a real one. If he is destructive of the one, you hesitate to hand him the other; if he is careful, you feel able to consign to his care some family heirloom. So God is testing men by giving them money, that He may know how far to trust them in the mart of the New Jerusalem.
He arouses us to fidelity—care for God’s interests as much as the wasteful and unfaithful steward cared for his own. He used his master’s money to secure a welcome to the debtor’s houses when he lost his situation. But God has so arranged it, that if you use his money aright, you shall not only win his approbation, but his interests will be so coincident with yours, that when the world fades from view, those whom you have helped for God’s sake shall welcome you to heaven. —Our Daily Homily
Luke 16:14-31 – A Look into the Future
Here was a flagrant case of heartless indifference, amid luxuries of every kind, to the daily spectacle of abject need. Most of us have at least one Lazarus at the gates of our life. The charge against the rich man was, not that he had injured Lazarus, but that he had not helped him. Man condemns us for doing wrong, God for failing to do right.
Lazarus was translated to the realm of blessedness—the bosom of Abraham bespeaking nearness to him at the great feast—not because he had been so poor and miserable, but because, beggar though he was, he possessed the faith of heart and the purity of motive that characterized his great ancestor.
Notice that memory plays a conspicuous part in the sorrow of Gehenna; that Christ gives no hope of changing the soul’s habitation; and that we have in the Scripture a more certain agent of spiritual renewal than would be provided by even the apparition of the dead. —Through the Bible Day by Day