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Luke 16:10-15 ESV
Before I get into the meat of this subject I first of all want to say that this word, translated as “money,” in the Greek is “mammonas” or mammon, and it means “the treasure a person trusts in” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). So this isn’t just about money or wealth or physical possessions, but it has to do with what one treasures in his own heart, which can be many different things. And we know that what is stored up in our hearts comes out in our attitudes, thinking, words, and behaviors (Luke 6:45; Matthew 15:17-20).
So this is also about what one worships as his own god. It is about who is truly master of his life. Is God truly owner-master of his life, or is he his own lord and master, making his own decisions for how he wants to live his life? What is the treasure that he trusts in? It may not be material wealth at all. It could be pride, selfishness, the lusts of the flesh, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, sexual idolatry, lying, cheating, and the like. Or it could be God and moral purity, honesty, faithfulness and obedience to the Lord.
Now this goes to a person’s character, doesn’t it? For that is what is in this first sentence: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” So the person is either a faithful person in practice or he is a dishonest person in practice, because this is his character and it comes from the treasure which is stored up in his heart in which he trusts. For we aren’t what we say we are. We are who we are in practice (habit, routine).
Now a lot of people, at least here in America, are professing faith in Jesus Christ and they are verbally professing Christ as Lord and as Savior of their lives. But it seems not many of them are living, in practice, what they profess with their lips. Not many are faithful to the calling of God over their lives, but it seems the majority have bought into a very diluted and altered gospel message which promises them heaven when they die regardless of how they live their lives on this earth. And that is just wrong!
So, they have been entrusted with the gospel of our salvation to live the life they profess, but it seems not many are being faithful to the Lord and to his will and purpose for their lives. So many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are not putting their trust in the Lord and in his word, but the treasure they trust in are all the trappings of this world. So they are living worldly and not godly lives, and they are living for the flesh, and not for God, and they are doing what they want to do even if it opposes God and his word.
And this is because they don’t take God and his word seriously. They don’t really believe God and what he says or they wouldn’t live like many of them do, still for the lusts of the flesh and for the pride of life. For if they really believed God and his word it would put within them the fear of God and they would prostrate themselves before the Lord in true humility and they would surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and they would walk with integrity in living holy and righteous lives in obedience to the Lord, and not in sin.
But the Scriptures make it quite clear that we can’t serve God with our lives and serve the desires of the flesh, too. We must now walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and no longer in sin, but in walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for the flesh, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die to our old lives of living in sin and for the flesh, and we now live for him, we have eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.’”
Before I get into the meat of this subject I first of all want to say that this word, translated as “money,” in the Greek is “mammonas” or mammon, and it means “the treasure a person trusts in” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). So this isn’t just about money or wealth or physical possessions, but it has to do with what one treasures in his own heart, which can be many different things. And we know that what is stored up in our hearts comes out in our attitudes, thinking, words, and behaviors (Luke 6:45; Matthew 15:17-20).
So this is also about what one worships as his own god. It is about who is truly master of his life. Is God truly owner-master of his life, or is he his own lord and master, making his own decisions for how he wants to live his life? What is the treasure that he trusts in? It may not be material wealth at all. It could be pride, selfishness, the lusts of the flesh, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, sexual idolatry, lying, cheating, and the like. Or it could be God and moral purity, honesty, faithfulness and obedience to the Lord.
Now this goes to a person’s character, doesn’t it? For that is what is in this first sentence: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” So the person is either a faithful person in practice or he is a dishonest person in practice, because this is his character and it comes from the treasure which is stored up in his heart in which he trusts. For we aren’t what we say we are. We are who we are in practice (habit, routine).
Now a lot of people, at least here in America, are professing faith in Jesus Christ and they are verbally professing Christ as Lord and as Savior of their lives. But it seems not many of them are living, in practice, what they profess with their lips. Not many are faithful to the calling of God over their lives, but it seems the majority have bought into a very diluted and altered gospel message which promises them heaven when they die regardless of how they live their lives on this earth. And that is just wrong!
So, they have been entrusted with the gospel of our salvation to live the life they profess, but it seems not many are being faithful to the Lord and to his will and purpose for their lives. So many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are not putting their trust in the Lord and in his word, but the treasure they trust in are all the trappings of this world. So they are living worldly and not godly lives, and they are living for the flesh, and not for God, and they are doing what they want to do even if it opposes God and his word.
And this is because they don’t take God and his word seriously. They don’t really believe God and what he says or they wouldn’t live like many of them do, still for the lusts of the flesh and for the pride of life. For if they really believed God and his word it would put within them the fear of God and they would prostrate themselves before the Lord in true humility and they would surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and they would walk with integrity in living holy and righteous lives in obedience to the Lord, and not in sin.
But the Scriptures make it quite clear that we can’t serve God with our lives and serve the desires of the flesh, too. We must now walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and no longer in sin, but in walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for the flesh, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die to our old lives of living in sin and for the flesh, and we now live for him, we have eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
