“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.”
- Luke 16:13
This is a chapter where Jesus is graciously confronting the motives and methods of the Pharisees. He calls them lovers of money and essentially deaf to the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament. If we were to read that without knowing who it was about, we would most likely assume Jesus is speaking out against politicians, business owners, and other key leaders, we might not readily assume it was toward the religious leaders of the day. Part of the problem though is that Pharisees have become more than religious leaders, they have become politicians, business owners, and key leaders. While you can humbly do all that, the Pharisees have come to love the wealth and attention they get. They seemingly moved away from serving God to now serving fame and fortune.
Unfortunately, this is just as relevant a conviction for pastors and Christian leaders from the early church. Even Paul writes about false teachers who saw an opportunity to make some quick cash by sharing the gospel. There has always been a money-making minority in the church, of preachers and pastors who do the job to make some money.
Last week, Rachel and I had the opportunity to go to a friend’s family's lake house, it was rather modest and simple, yet right next to a much grander house. The house next door was one you would assume that a professional athlete or maybe a celebrity or CEO might be able to have. Instead, it was owned by a Megachurch Pastor whose family are also traveling prophets and speakers. While I fully admit I don’t get to be their judge, there are those in the church today who have moved away from serving God to now serving fame and fortune.
The Dishonest Manager:
Jesus illustrates this with a parable He shares with the disciples. A money manager is being let go for mishandling their master's money. A.K.A, the Pharisees are being replaced for ignoring their role to serve the community. The manager then does the worldly wise thing to do, make some temporary friends in high places who can help him through his hard times. The master can’t do anything about that but has now fully fired the manager.
Jesus explains that this is about faithfulness to the task. The manager should have been faithful to handle the master's money and thus have job security. However, with their unfaithfulness in managing the money they had to focus their sights more on what is temporary rather than what is eternal. When we are secure with the master, we are secure for eternity. Yet, when we are unfaithful in the temporary, our sights will be stuck on getting through what is temporary.
Jesus wraps up this teaching with the classic, “No one can serve two masters.” For in doing so one risks moving away from serving God and to now serving what is temporary.
The Law and the Prophets and Lazarus:
Now since Jesus has been highly critical of the Pharisees who teach based on the Old Testament Law and Prophets, some may have come to speculate that Jesus is doing away with the Old Testament. Jesus strongly refutes this though. That the Law and the Prophets led the way for John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Gospel of Jesus.
To help explain this Jesus goes into another parable about a rich man and a guy named Lazarus. The rich man has fame and fortune, a nice property, and so on and so forth. Lazarus on the other hand is a man living just outside the rich man’s property, who needs to beg for what little he has, and his only companions are the dogs who live on the streets. Eventually, both men pass away, and Lazarus is lifted by angels to join Abraham, meanwhile, the rich man descends to the place of torment.
The rich man is able to see Abraham and Lazarus far off and way in paradise, and so calls out to them. The man wants mercy and comfort from his anguish, yet the chasm between them prevents anyone from going down or coming up. He then begs that Lazarus be resurrected to warn the man’s brothers, that way they may turn from their ways and be saved. Surely, they would listen to a man raised from the dead. Yet, Jesus affirms that they won’t, for if they won’t fully listen to the Law and the Prophets, they will not listen to the Son of Man.
For God knows that their real master is not Him, so they don’t fully listen and obey the Law and the Prophets, but rather money has become their master, and we serve their temporary comforts.
While I do not believe Jesus is saying we can’t be rich in this life, I do believe this chapter and many passages serve as a warning. They warn us and challenge us to consider our motivations when it comes to money, then further test us in our managing of such resources. Jesus is beckoning us to ponder the question, who are you now serving?
Final Blessing:
So, who are you now serving? God or Money?
Why do you have the income sources that you have?
Could it be an area where you need to exercise trust in God?
Could it be an area you need to exercise faithfulness in?
How do you spend your money with faithfulness?
Who are you now serving?
We can’t serve God and Money; we can’t dream of His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and pursue our fame and fortune. We can’t ignore the timeless and eternal workings of God. So why do we get so caught up in serving something constrained and temporary? Don’t you know that God can cover your every need?
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey!
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