#disciplemaking
#adventcalendarday16
#willyoujoinme

Go ahead and read Luke chapter 16. (2/3 of the way through – don’t worry if you’ve missed a couple of days – just jump back in here!)

Jesus is teaching to his general group of disciples here again and it appears some Pharisees are also listening in. The only way I can make sense of this first parable (vv1-8a) is that it’s better for the rich man to make some money than none at all so he applauds the shrewd manager’s quick thinking. But you see that’s not the point of the parable. It’s in vv8b-13 that Jesus applies the principles from the parable. And I think he makes the observation that we (believers) can learn from the ways of the world in the use of our money – it’s ok to be shrewd.

I remember one practical application of v9 from one ministry context: our church offered to pay for a shade-sail for a local primary school. This surprising (and somewhat controversial!) use of our hard-saved tithes opened relational doors at the school which are still bearing fruit many years later. It was very clear to me – in order to promote our desired mission we had to invest shrewdly in something that had no financial benefit to us but significant, long-term kingdom benefits.

• Does your money serve a mission or has its accumulation become a goal in itself? (Who could you talk to about that?)
• What Kingdom investment might God be calling you to make?

Turning now to the parable about the Rich Man and Lazarus, there seem to be two main points.

1. Jesus seems to be illustrating v13 “ . . .you cannot serve both God and Money”. The Rich Man appears to have gone about his life with no regard to the plight of Lazarus. Lazarus finds his comfort in heaven, whilst the Rich Man’s eternal reward is in Hades (the place of eternal fire).
2. Jesus seems to be saying there is a clear separation in eternity between those who find themselves in heaven and those who find themselves in hell. (NB: there is better teaching on this in other places in scripture but I think Jesus is using a generally held belief as part of his illustration). But he also points out that even coming back from the dead won’t be enough to convince some people.

• What signs are there that your eternal destination is secure? Using what we’ve learned from Luke so far, what might your life be marked by to suggest this?
• How does it make you feel to know that not everyone will be in heaven? What does the previous chapter suggest should be our attitude to those we are concerned about?