Luke 16:1-17

e e e e hey hey welcome to coffee and devotions this Saturday afternoon this is where every weekday morning at 9:00 a.m. and on the weekends when I'm able to grab a spare moment from my kids you and I we get together we have a cup of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together and this year 2020 we'll make it through all the gospels well this morning I uh well it's not this morning it's this afternoon so I'm going to have a little bit of tea instead of coffee why don't we go ahead and have a drink and we'll pray and we'll get into God's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for the rich blessing it is that we get to be in your word this morning we pray Lord that you would bless us now as we read that you would bring glory to yourself that we would follow you with all of our hearts and be in awe of your grace in Jesus's name amen well why don't we go ahead and jump into God's word Luke chapter 16 the first 17 verses let's go there now he also said to his disciples there was a certain rich man who had a steward and an accusation was brought against him that this man was wasting his Goods so he called him and said to him what is this I hear about you give an account for your stewardship for you can no longer be my Steward then the steward said within himself what shall I do for my master is taking the stewardship away from me I cannot dig I am too ashamed to beg I have resolved to what to do that when I am put out of stewardship they may receive me into their houses so he called every one of his master's debtors to him and to the first how much do you owe my master and he said 100 measures of oil so he said to him take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50 then he said to another and how much do you owe so he said 100 measures of Wheat and he said to him take your bill and write 80 so the master commended the unjust Steward because he had doubt shrewdly for the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of Light and I say to you make friends for yourselves by unrighteous Mamon that when you fail they may receive you into an everlasting home he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much and he who is unjust in what is least is also unjust in much therefore if you have not been faithful in unrighteous Mamon who will you commit to your trust sorry who will commit to your trust the true riches and if you have not been faithful in what is another man's who will give you what is your own no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other other you cannot serve both God and Mammon now the Pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided him and he said to them you who you are those who justify yourselves before men but God knows your hearts for what is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God the law and the prophets were until John since that time the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one title or tit of the law to fail well we have a interesting story before us don't we this is a negative parable what happens here and what what we see is Jesus comparing these people who were what were they doing they're they're they're they're taking the things that God had given them the grace that God had shown them that that he was going to bring about a righteous Salvation And when they find out about what's going on instead of doing the righteous thing what instead are they doing well they're being like this this Unfaithful Steward they're going and they're settling accounts in wrong ways instead of being faithful to what the master is supposed to be doing to benefit the master they're benefiting themselves and Jesus is saying you can't serve two masters you cannot serve both man and money and God you only you can only serve one master right this is exactly what the shama tells us here oh Israel the Lord your God the Lord is one you shall love who the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength you cannot serve two masters for either you will love the one and hate the other or you will hate one and love the other so what are you chasing after in this world what does it say here now the Pharisees who were lovers of money right they they liked getting rich off their teaching they liked getting rich off of the things of God what is Jesus telling them how about we be like tax collectors and sinners how about we be like the poor ones how about we be those who instead of going after riches go after the kingdom a what is this about this is about Grace and priorities isn't it this is about are we see seeking God's kingdom are we seeking the loss or are we seeking our financial well-being are we seeking to increase our own estate rather than increasing God's kingdom how would you summarize this in your Bible I'm going to let I'm going to leave that one up to you a what is this about feel free to let me know down in the comments what what would you summarize this how would you summarize this in the margin of your Bible what what do we think would be the best verse to summarize this well I think that I'm going to underline verse 13 in my Bible is what I Think Jesus is getting at and I might even say I would underline 14 and 15 I know I know it's more than one verse but I think this is this is important here right it's it's the things that are highly esteemed among men are an Abomination to God I think these there are so many applications flowing from this for for C calling what are we called to do in response to this what are you chasing after in this life are you chasing after a larger retirement account are you you might not even want to be rich but is your is your heart's desire just to be satisfied or to have that luxury to go on that trip to buy that thing what are you living for what are you putting your time and energy and devotion into are you seeking after the kingdom of God and his righteousness first or as Jesus is going to warn us that there's different types of soils and there's a soil which which the seed is spread upon but as that seed spr Sprouts up the weeds choke it out and it has no more life and those weeds are the riches of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth did you know did you know that that there will be Millions on that last great day who heard the gospel who knew the grace of Jesus Christ here but with their heart we're chasing after their own desires after money instead after their own Comfort instead are we willing to pick up our cross daily and follow Jesus are we willing to be fired from that job because we love Jesus more are we willing to lose our family members and lose maybe even an inheritance because we love Jesus more will you love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength you're not going to do it perfectly but will you chase after him will you go for him will you serve God and him alone let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this day we thank you for what a good reminder this is to us father we pray that you would care for us this today if our hearts have been chasing after the wrong things Lord we pray that you would reorient us that you would put us back on the true north of Jesus Christ we pray father that we would seek after you and your kingdom we pray that we would be faithful with what you have given us and that we might find your pleasure to shine down upon us as your children Lord we do not desire to become your children by good works but Lord we pray that as your children we would follow after your desires in Jesus name amen well I pray that God blesses you the rest of this day and that your afternoon is filled with the grace and peace of Jesus Christ bye