Tag Archives: money

Knowing Christ

Repent

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Luke 19:1-10 (NIV)

In Luke’s gospel there are many warnings about the spiritual danger of money, riches and wealth.* In three of those instances there were positive outcomes with the son who comes home after spending his wealth until it was gone (Luke 15:11-32), the tax collector who was justified before God as he acknowledged his brokenness and his need for God’s mercy (Luke 18:9-14) and in our present story about a little man who wanted to see Jesus (Luke 19:1-10).

COMMON THEME

In each of these positive examples there is a common theme of repentance that is absent in the others. This is in contrast to, for example, the Pharisees who, Luke tells us, “who loved money” (Luke 16:14) and the rich young ruler who was saddened by Jesus’ instruction to sell everything he had to give to the poor. This would be necessary for him to be able to follow Jesus (Luke 18:18-30).

TAX COLLECTORS IN LUKE

In first century Judea tax collectors were among the lowest of the low in the Jewish social stratus, in spite of their wealth. This was because of the nature of their task to represent the Jew’s Roman oppressors and collect taxes while adding a little extra for themselves. In their neighbor’s eyes, this was the equivalent of robbery and a reminder that they lived under the thumb of a merciless, repressive, foreign, Gentile government.

Jewish hatred for their fellow citizens who served as tax collectors had dramatic implications for their place in society. Because of the nature of their income, for example, they were forbidden to give alms in the temple or to pay the temple tax (“Tax Collectors” in JewishEncyclopedia.com).

COMMON IDENTITY

When we compare ourselves to the tax collector, however, there are ways in which we are not much different. Everyone wrestles with the blessings of God and how to use them. In the story of Zacchaeus, we find that even the lowest of the low in society have a place in the kingdom of God.

So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Revelation 3:19-20
Repent – The Common Thread of the Kingdom

*For Example, see Luke 1:52-53, 6:24-25, 8:14, 12:13-21, 14:12-14, 15:11-32, 16:1-15, 19-31, 18:18-25, 21:1-3.

Knowing Christ

Money – Part 2

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Luke 16:9-31 (NIV)

God’s love is a truly amazing thing! In response to His love He expects His children to love others. Of all of the ways we can demonstrate His love to others there is, perhaps, no stronger testimony to His power than the way that we use our money for others: for the kingdom.

GOD LOVES THE LOST

Seeing the ‘sinners and tax collectors’ gathering around Jesus, the religious rulers believed that Jesus had to compromise The Law. “Righteous people do not hang out with those people,” they may have exclaimed (Luke 15:1-2).

It is at this point that Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7), the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10) and the lost son (Luke 15:11-24) to show that attending to the lost and keeping the Law are in perfect harmony. Jesus, then, challenges the Pharisees to look at their own hearts as He tells them the story of the older brother. In the story, his father ‘pleaded’ with him to join the celebration (Luke 15:25-32).

THE USE OF MONEY

At the beginning of Luke 16 Jesus tells the parable of the shrewd manager who uses his former employer’s money to secure his own future. Jesus seems to be encouraging us to use the money that God gives us to make friends to encourage them to secure their eternal future as well as our own (Luke 16:1-9).

Managing God’s wealth well means that we will be entrusted with more responsibility. Conversely, there are negative consequences when we use His wealth selfishly for ourselves (Luke 16:10-12). To try to straddle the fence between worshiping God or money is futile because it is an either/or proposition (Luke 16:13).

FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY

At this point the religious rulers begin to ‘sneer’ at Jesus, prompting his convicting accusation:  “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight” (Luke 16:15).

Their disdain for Jesus’ love for the lost is now coupled with their love of money. They, themselves, are the ones compromising the Law when they use the wealth that God had given them for their own selfish purposes. Jesus says to them:

“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.”

Luke 16:16 (NIV)

If Jesus was quoting the religious rulers then He could be mocking them as if to say, ‘Everything was just fine until John the Baptist and Jesus showed up! Now everyone thinks they can enter the kingdom of God!” Or it could be that Jesus is simply observing that the Law and the Prophets have now been realized with the good news of the kingdom of God.

NO COMPROMISE

Either way, Jesus’ point is clear, love for the lost and our use of money in response to God’s love for us is consistent with the Law and the Prophets. In fact, Jesus affirms, ” It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law” (Luke 16:17).

To illustrate this point, Jesus boldly wades right into the hotly debated controversy of marriage and divorce. This was an issue with which the religious elite were embroiled in first-century Israel (see Matthew 19:1-9). “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Luke 16:18). It is as if to say, “There is no controversy here except where you religious rulers have chosen to compromise The Law to your own advantage.”

MENTAL GYMNASTICS

For those who practice this kind of mental gymnastics, Jesus warns them of their fate in the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

“The Rich Man And Lazarus”, volume 5 of
“God Provides” boxed set from Crown Financial Ministries.

The final words of Moses in the story point to a prophetic truth that will be realized in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Himself: ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead’ (Luke 16:31, NIV).

This observation was as true then as it is now, today. Believe in the Law and the Prophets! Believe in the one who has risen from the dead! Listen to the story, know Christ, and use the money God has given you for His purposes!

Money – Part 2 – Luke 16:9-31