Sunday, 28 January 2007
Welcome back for more of Christ's teaching. This week its about the parable of shrewd manager in Luke 16:1-15. Alright. This time i'm posting the verse that i'm talking about too for the benefits of those who don't have bible.Luke 16...
Jesus told his disciples:
"There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'
"The manager said to himself, 'What shall i do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg - I Know what I'll do so that, when i lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'
"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
"'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied.
"The manager told him,'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'
"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?'
"'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied.
"He told him,'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'
"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.""The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them,
"You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.
In this verse, the main idea is that we should value long term relationship with people rather than short term possessions. we should value people rather than prosperity. For the pharisees, they value money rather than people. They look at things from the outside and not inside. Its the same values that we are having now. Most people are going after money, status and not relationship. But as we looked at the manager, he look at long term. He made use of the debtors to be their benefactor so that he won't have to suffer much.
In verse 9, He said that for those you have helped and went up to heaven will be welcoming you in heaven. Bible says that for every soul saved there will be party in heaven. Rejoicing. In verse 10, the word riches doesn't just mean wealth. It also mean people, the good things God will give us. And also, when you use money and all the current resources correctly, God will trust you with more and true riches.
Another issue in this chapter, is that God wants us(believers) to reach out to pre-believers. share with them regardless of how much money we have. Do not use money to buy them rather, use true heart to draw them closer to the Kingdom. What is this true heart? A heart to hope they can be saved and not to see them to be in eternal hell.
Lastly, I would wanna add on is that God detests Money. And do not serve Money, serve God.
{/22:27:00}
Signed Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
