Luke 16 what does it mean

Of course, his commendation could be ironic. Some commentators have suggested that the manager has reduced his own commission in the debts owed and that this is what is being commended.

Yet others have suggested more generally that the employer is simply commending the manager for responding shrewdly to a difficult circumstance. Moreover, hospitality is often provided by those who are considered religious outsiders or lower down on social hierarchies e.

This reiterates a central theme in Luke. The kingdom of God entails giving up all other commitments, including the commitment to economic security ; As noted, Luke places great emphasis on how the reign of God reverses the status of the rich and the poor ; See 1 Tim. With what arguments he presses this exhortation to abound in works of piety and charity. Our Saviour here compares these, and shows that though our faithful use of the things of this world cannot be thought to merit any favour at the hand of God, yet our unfaithfulness in the use of them may be justly reckoned a forfeiture of that grace which is necessary to bring us to glory, and that is it which our Saviour here shows, v.

God withholds his grace from covetous worldly people more than we are aware of. They are ta allotria , not our own; for they are foreign to the soul and its nature and interest. But spiritual and eternal riches are our own they enter into the soul that becomes possessed of them and inseparably; they are a good part that will never be taken away from us. If we make Christ our own, and the promises our own, and heaven our own, we have that which we may truly call our own.

But how can we expect God should enrich us with these if we do not serve him with our worldly possessions, of which we are but stewards? We have no other way to prove ourselves the servants of God than by giving up ourselves so entirely to his service as to make mammon, that is, all our worldly gain, serviceable to us in his service v. If a man will love the world, and hold to that, it cannot be but he will hate God and despise him. He will make all his pretensions of religion truckle to his secular interests and designs, and the things of God shall be made to help him in serving and seeking the world.

But, on the other hand, if a man will love God, and adhere to him, he will comparatively hate the world whenever God and the world come in competition and will despise it, and make all his business and success in the world some way or other conducive to his furtherance in the business of religion; and the things of the world shall be made to help him in serving God and working out his salvation. The matter is here laid plainly before us: Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

So divided are their interests that their services can never be compounded. If therefore we be determined to serve God, we must disclaim and abjure the service of the world. We are here told what entertainment this doctrine of Christ met with among the Pharisees, and what rebuke he gave them. They wickedly ridiculed him, v. The Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things, and could not contradict him, but they derided him.

Let us consider this, [1. Note, Many that make a great profession of religion, have much knowledge, and abound in the exercise of devotion, are yet ruined by the love of the world; nor does any thing harden the heart more against the word of Christ. It is an expression of the utmost scorn and disdain imaginable; the word of the Lord was to them a reproach, Jer.

They laughed at him for going so contrary to the opinion and way of the world, for endeavouring to recover them from a sin which they were resolved to hold fast. Note, It is common for those to make a jest of the word of God who are resolved that they will not be ruled by it; but they will find at last that it cannot be turned off so. Our Lord Jesus endured not only the contradiction of sinners, but their contempt; they had him in derision all the day.

He that spoke as never man spoke was bantered and ridiculed, that his faithful ministers, whose preaching is unjustly derided, may not be disheartened at it. It is no disgrace to a man to be laughed at, but to deserve to be laughed at.

He justly reproved them; not for deriding him he knew how to despise the shame , but for deceiving themselves with the shows and colours of piety, when they were strangers to the power of it, v. Here is,[1. First, They justified themselves before men; they denied whatever ill was laid to their charge, even by Christ himself.

They claimed to be looked upon as men of singular sanctity and devotion, and justified themselves in that claim: "You are they that do that, so as none ever did, that make it your business to court the opinion of men, and, right or wrong, will justify yourselves before the world; you are notorious for this.

Men did not only acquit them from any blame they were under, but applauded them, and had them in veneration, not only as good men, but as the best of men. Their sentiments were esteemed as oracles, their directions as laws, and their practices as inviolable prescriptions.

This ought to check our value for ourselves, and our confidence in ourselves, that God knows our hearts, and how much deceit is there, for we have reason to abase and distrust ourselves. Secondly, It is folly to judge of persons and things by the opinion of men concerning them, and to go down with the stream of vulgar estimate; for that which is highly esteemed among men, who judge according to outward appearance, is perhaps an abomination in the sight of God, who sees things as they are, and whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth.

On the contrary, there are those whom men despise and condemn who yet are accepted and approved of God, 2 Co. He turned from them to the publicans and sinners, as more likely to be wrought upon by his gospel than those covetous conceited Pharisees v.

It is not so much a political national constitution as the Jewish economy was, when salvation was of the Jews; but it is made a particular personal concern, and therefore every man that is convinced he has a soul to save, and an eternity to provide for, thrusts to get in, lest he should come short by trifling and complimenting. Yet still he protests against any design to invalidate the law v.

The moral law is confirmed and ratified, and not one tittle of that fails; the duties enjoined by it are duties still; the sins forbidden by it are sins still. Nay, the precepts of it are explained and enforced by the gospel, and made to appear more spiritual. The ceremonial law is perfected in the gospel colours; not one tittle of that fails, for it is found printed off in the gospel, where, though the force of it is as a law taken off, yet the figure of it as a type shines very brightly, witness the epistle to the Hebrews.

There were some things which were connived at by the law, for the preventing of greater mischiefs, the permission of which the gospel has indeed taken away, but without any detriment or disparagement to the law, for it has thereby reduced them to the primitive intention of the law, as in the case of divorce v.

Verses As the parable of the prodigal son set before us the grace of the gospel, which is encouraging to us all, so this sets before us the wrath to come, and is designed for our awakening; and very fast asleep those are in sin that will not be awakened by it. The tendency of the gospel of Christ is both to reconcile us to poverty and affliction and to arm us against temptations to worldliness and sensuality.

Now this parable, by drawing the curtain, and letting us see what will be the end of both in the other world, goes very far in prosecuting those two great intentions. But here the spiritual things themselves are represented in a narrative or description of the different state of good and bad in this world and the other.

Yet we need not call it a history of a particular occurrence, but it is matter of fact that is true every day, that poor godly people, whom men neglect and trample upon, die away out of their miseries, and go to heavenly bliss and joy, which is made the more pleasant to them by their preceding sorrows; and that rich epicures, who live in luxury, and are unmerciful to the poor, die, and go into a state of insupportable torment, which is the more grievous and terrible to them because of the sensual lives they lived: and that there is no gaining any relief from their torments.

Is this a parable? What similitude is there in this? The discourse indeed between Abraham and the rich man is only an illustration of the description, to make it the more affecting, like that between God and Satan in the story of Job. Our Saviour came to bring us acquainted with another world, and to show us the reference which this world has to that; and here is does it.

In this description for so I shall choose to call it we may observe,I. The different condition of a wicked rich man, and a godly poor man, in this world. We know that as some of late, so the Jews of old, were ready to make prosperity one of the marks of a true church, of a good man and a favourite of heaven, so that they could hardly have any favourable thoughts of a poor man.

This mistake Christ, upon all occasions, set himself to correct, and here very fully, where we have,1. A wicked man, and one that will be for ever miserable, in the height of prosperity v. But others observe that Christ would not do the rich man so much honour as to name him, though when perhaps he called his lands by his own name he thought it should long survive that of the beggar at his gate, which yet is here preserved, when that of the rich man is buried in oblivion. Now we are told concerning this rich man, 1.

That he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and that was his adorning. He had fine linen for pleasure, and clean, no doubt, every day; night-linen, and day-linen.

He had purple for state, for that was the wear of princes, which has made some conjecture that Christ had an eye to Herod in it. He never appeared abroad but in great magnificence. He fared deliciously and sumptuously every day. His table was furnished with all the varieties and dainties that nature and art could supply; his side-table richly adorned with plate; his servants, who waited at table, in rich liveries; and the guests at his table, no doubt, such as he thought graced it.

Well, and what harm was there in all this? Not are we told that he got his estate by fraud, oppression, or extortion, no, nor that he was drunk, or made others drunk; but, [1. This man might have been happy if he had not had great possessions and enjoyments. It is true, eating good meat and wearing good clothes are lawful; but it is true that they often become the food and fuel of pride and luxury, and so turn into sin to us. The sin of this rich man was not so much his dress or his diet, but his providing only for himself.

Here is a godly man, and one that will be for ever happy, in the depth of adversity and distress v. A beggar of that name, eminently devout, and in great distress, was probably well known among good people at that time: a beggar, suppose such a one as Eleazar, or Lazarus. Some think Eleazar a proper name for any poor man, for it signifies the help of God, which they must fly to that are destitute of other helps.

This poor man was reduced to the last extremity, as miserable, as to outward things, as you can lightly suppose a man to be in this world.

His body was full of sores, like Job. To be sick and weak in body is a great affliction; but sores are more painful to the patient, and more loathsome to those about him. Note, Those that are not able to help the poor with their purses should help them with their pains; those that cannot lend them a penny should lend them a hand; those that have not themselves wherewithal to give to them should either bring them, or go for them, to those that have.

Lazarus, in his distress, had nothing of his own to subsist on, no relation to go to, nor did the parish take care of him. It is an instance of the degeneracy of the Jewish church at this time that such a godly man as Lazarus was should be suffered to perish for want of necessary food.

Now observe,[1. The poor use entreaties, and must be content with such as they can get. Now this is taken notice of to show, First, What was the distress, and what the disposition, of the poor man.

He was poor, but he was poor in spirit, contentedly poor. If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? This certainly does not mean that leaders in the church have to be wealthy or make a lot of money.

It is an issue of how they manage the resources God has given to them, not how great their resources are. Faithfulness in this will result in blessing that is our own who will give you what is your own. You cannot serve God and mammon. No servant can serve two masters : Having two masters is not like working two jobs. Jesus has the master and slave relationship in view.

Jesus states that serving two masters is a simple impossibility. If you think that you are successfully serving two masters, you are deceived. One can have both money and God; but one cannot serve both money and God. Certainly, Jesus spoke about the heart here. Many people would say they love God, but their service of money shows that in fact they do not. How can we tell Who or what we serve? One way is by this principle: You will sacrifice for your God.

On a Friday afternoon in , a businessman staggered to the steps of his Los Angeles office. Before he died of the gunshot wound to his chest, he called out the names of his three children. He was the victim of a rash of Rolex robberies — and was killed as a sacrifice to his god. A story in the Los Angeles Times told about Michelle, a successful writer and editor, who fears the day her husband might discover her secret stash of credit cards, her secret post office box or the other tricks she uses to hide how much money she spends shopping for herself.

Last year, when her husband forced her to destroy one of her credit cards, Michelle went out and got a new one without telling him. God made car trunks for women to hide shopping bags in. You cannot serve God and mammon : Some think that just because they are not rich, they are not a slave to money mammon. When Mammon is served, the claims of God are ignored. The money of a God-possessed man is a blessing, for it becomes the means of his expressing his sympathy with his fellows.

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

And they derided Him : The derision of the Pharisees was based on their own self-interest. They were lovers of money. Often we reject the message of Jesus because it hits too close to home. But God knows your hearts — when you serve another master, it is impossible to be justified before God, no matter what men think.

For some people the idea God knows your hearts is comfort ; for others it is a curse. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God : God judges our hearts with a different set of values.

Men may honor someone because of their wealth or their public display of spirituality; but God sees who they really are. 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 tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. While we do not imitate their violence, we do imitate their dedication, their willingness to sacrifice, and their passion to see the Messiah reign.

In a sense, we are also at war. Pate suggested that pressing into it does not describe the appropriate effort and zeal necessary to pursue the kingdom of God. Certainly in a sense, both are true. But the new order that we must press into is not an order of rebellion; it is a new order of submission and obedience to God; His new order fulfills the law.

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery : For example, the law concerning marriage is still binding — no matter how some Rabbis tried to explain it away.

Some Rabbis taught that if a woman burned her husbands breakfast, it was grounds for divorce. Others considered finding a prettier woman was an acceptable reason to divorce.

Jesus here taught the ideal regarding marriage and divorce, and it is dangerous for us to establish doctrine on isolated statements of Jesus without taking into account the whole counsel of His teaching.

Since Jesus also taught that sexual immorality was acceptable grounds for divorce Matthew , and later the Apostle Paul added that desertion by an unbelieving spouse was also an acceptable reason 1 Corinthians Again, Jesus emphasized the point: Under the new covenant since the ministry of John the Baptist , God still cares about His law and our obedience. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. There was a certain rich man : Jesus did not present this story as a parable , and in no other parable did Jesus actually name an individual as the poor man is here named.

And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. The law and the prophets were until John : Now, since that time the time ending with John the Baptist's ministry the good news of a new covenant is presented, with an order that is different than the law, yet it fulfills the law.

The kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it : In Jesus' day, there were hundreds of revolutionaries willing to use great violence to bring in the kingdom of God. While we do not imitate their violence, we do imitate their dedication, their willingness to sacrifice, and their passion to see the Messiah reign. We are at war! But the new order that we must press into is not an order of rebellion; it is a new order of submission and obedience to God; His new order fulfills the law.

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery : For example, the law concerning marriage is still binding -no matter how some Rabbis may try to explain it away. Some Rabbis taught that if a woman burned her husbands breakfast, it was grounds for divorce. Others considered finding a prettier woman to be acceptable grounds for divorce.

Jesus here teaches the ideal regarding marriage and divorce, and it is dangerous for us to for doctrine on isolated statements of Jesus without taking into account the whole counsel of His teaching.

But if you won't respond to what God has clearly shown you such as what the Bible teaches about divorce , how can you hope to receive His Word on other things? We must be careful that we never do what the Pharisees did: show an outward agreement with the word of God, but inwardly resisting it and thus denying it.

Luk Lazarus and the rich man on earth. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. There was a certain rich man : Significantly, Jesus does not present this story as a parable , and in no other parable does Jesus actually name an individual as the poor man is named here. We have every reason to believe that Jesus is giving us an actual "case history," that He would know because He is the man from heaven.

Clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day : The rich man's wealth is shown by his clothing luxurious, expensive clothes , and by his excess with food most people in that culture fared sumptuously only a few times a year.

The rich man is unnamed, but is traditionally give the name Dives , which is simply Latin for "rich. The dogs came and licked his sores : The destitute poverty of Lazarus is shown by the fact that he must resort to begging with the dogs.

Luk Lazarus and the rich man in Hades. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. So it was that the beggar died : Lazarus was so destitute that he did not even get a burial. But because of his devotion to God, he ends up with Abraham and all the righteous in the afterlife. We must never think that Lazarus was saved by his poverty, any more than we would think that the rich man was damned by his wealth.

Lazarus must have had a true relationship of faith with the true God. Lazarus doesn't seem to ask God, "Why was it so unfair on earth? And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom : The rich man is also not far from Lazarus; yet he is a world apart. His place full of torment and pain; now, the rich man is the beggar, pleading with Lazarus for a drop of water. Again, the rich man was not in torment because he was rich. If it were so, then it would be a contradiction for Abraham to be shown as righteous, because he was far richer than "Dives" could ever have been.

The only sin charged to the rich man was selfishness-all he lived for was himself. This was enough. He could say, "I never hurt anybody," but living purely for yourself is enough to condemn you. Also, this story is the contrast to the parable of the unjust steward; the rich man was one who didn't use any of his resources to prepare for the world to come. Hades : Jesus describes Hades called Sheol in the Old Testament , which was the common abode of the dead.

Some who are in Hades rest in comfort the bosom of Abraham , but others are in fires of torment. Hades is not the Lake of Fire - what we usually think of as Hell , referred to in Revelation , and called Gehenna in the Old Testament.

Instead, Hades is a "waiting place" until the day of final judgment Revelation Jesus went to Hades , but did not stay there Acts , Acts Jesus preached in Hades 1 Peter Jesus set the captives in Hades free Ephesians , Isaiah Jesus' work and preaching offered salvation for those who in faith awaited it Hebrews , and sealed the condemnation of the wicked and unbelieving. Since Jesus' work on the cross the believer's day of judgment , there is no "waiting" for believers who die.

They go directly to the presence of the Lord 2 Corinthians Luk The rich man's request. Send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them : Now the rich man is concerned for his brothers on earth.

The first indication we have that the rich man thought of anyone else comes after it is too late. If one goes to them from the dead, they will repent : The rich man thought that if someone came from the dead, it would be more convincing than the word of God.

But it wouldn't be more convincing, because if they won't believe because of God's Word, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. Of course, One did rise from the dead- Jesus , yet they did not believe then.

Jesus exposes the fallacy of trusting in signs to bring people to Jesus. We often think that if people would see a spectacular enough sign, they would be compelled to believe. But what creates faith unto salvation is hearing the word of God Romans God, working through His word, has power unto salvation. The rich man wasn't lost because he was rich.