Category: LUKE

Re:Verse passage – Luke 18:9-14 (day three)

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”

Is God interested in comeuppance? Aren’t you? You know that feeling you get when you see some insufferable people get theirs? The German-language word for that feeling is schadenfreude, and that vibe is strong with this parable. I mean, look at this guy. He thought he was so great, and then the cosmic rug gets pulled out from under him. He leaves unforgiven and he doesn’t even know it. It’s such poetic justice. Isn’t it great to know you’re the kind of person that can see how flawed this Pharisee is? Hey, wait a minute. Who exactly is the real Pharisee here?

Re:Verse passage – Luke 18:9-14 (day two)

But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ vs. 13

Re-read that verse again with a 2020 pandemic gaze. Did you see it? First century social distancing, who knew?! With all the political ramification of what I just wrote aside, let’s focus for a minute on the heart of this tax collector. The shame of sin is an incredible burden to bear; particularly for those who know they were made for more. If you are walking in a season of disobedience you likely don’t have to be told. You wear it around your shoulders like a harness. Marley’s ghost would say to Scrooge “it is a ponderous chain”. But believers must not let the shame of sin be the end of the story. Jesus clearly states that the man that laid that burden down went home justified. Isn’t it time to release that burden? If the yoke of sin is heavy, Jesus offers one that is easy.

But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ Matthew 11:28-30

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day seven)

You cannot serve God and ___________________.

You fill in the blank. This passage tells us that we cannot serve God and money, but we know it is not just money that becomes our master. What has become your master? Is it money, a hobby, your job/school, a person, your phone, or your schedule as a whole? What is it that competes with God for your time?

It is usually not an intentional choice to put something above God. Rather, it happens over time. It starts as a small sacrifice of God’s time in order to put something “urgent” into the top priority for that day. As we allow these “urgent” requests to pile on, God’s time seems to fall down the list of priorities. Eventually, the “urgent” becomes the master while God becomes secondary. If you do not protect your time with the Master, a new master will manifest itself in His place.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day five)

¹⁵ Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God. Luke 16:15

God hates the world’s preoccupation with the accumulation of wealth for personal gain. The reason is because the human heart can’t bend both ways; it can’t give itself to both God and money. More simply, the love of money robs the human heart of a superior treasure.

How’s your heart doing? Does it detest what God detests?

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day five)

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  These were familiar words to the disciples. Jesus spoke them in the sermon on the mount (see Matthew 6:24).

When the gospel begins to reshape our hearts and minds, priorities and values change and shift.  Our perspective becomes more eternal than temporal. Paul describes this work of the Spirit as “becoming a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  We see possessions, money, accomplishments, and wealth in a whole new way.  “Stuff” that would compete for our attention and affection for the Kingdom of God.

Here’s one of the things I love about the scriptures- its continuity and consistency. Paul shows us from his own experience and testimony, the implication and application of Jesus’ words in Luke 15. Look at Paul’s declaration in Philippians 3:7-14. (just a thumbnail- But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.)

Wanna live like that?  Want that perspective?  Use the scriptures and listen to Jesus and learn from Paul.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day four)

“Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? (V.11)

We may not have great wealth and riches…the disciples certainly did not.  They probably figured Jesus was not talking to them with this parable.  He was talking to all of us though.  If we are not faithful with little, Jesus says we will not be faithful if our circumstances change and we have a lot.  Our basic character will not change just because our circumstances are different.

Extend this parable beyond money.  How have we stewarded the gospel message?  Have we invested it into the lives of others?  Or, have we held the gospel to ourselves and not been faithful to share with others?  God will hold believers accountable for the true riches they possess.  The gospel should be shared and invested .  We are stewards of God’s message of forgiveness and salvation.  Be faithful to share the good news!

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Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day three)

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.”

Establishment types thought Jesus played fast and loose with the law of Moses, as in this story whose sympathetic central character was an ethics-challenged accountant emerging not chastened but rewarded. Missing the point entirely – that believers must become as expert in the ways of the light as worldly people are expert in the ways of the dark – the Pharisees could hardly contain their disdain: Do we really want our people hearing morally questionable content from one who has such little regard for the law? Knowing the Pharisees’ own attempts to reimagine the law, Jesus responds, “Who’s the real lawbreaker, the one telling stories about wily scoundrels, or the ones trying to make marriage the domain of actual scoundrels?”

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day two)

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” vs. 10

If you’ve ever spent time in a choir rehearsal that wasn’t going particularly well, you have probably heard someone say; “this is just rehearsal, we’re saving it for the performance.” These words irritate every director I’ve ever known. That kind of “we’ll do better in performance” mentality didn’t work well in a public school classroom, and it especially doesn’t work in the classroom of faith. When we practice our praise, we worship. There is no time when we are out of audience with the Lord, and therefore never a time when he is not the object of our praise. It is the same with any resource. We must steward as God would have us to steward: money, time, people, worship.