Whom Do You Serve?

Todays Reading: Genesis 39-41, Luke 16

Luke 16:13
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.”

Personalize it method (Rick Warren's 40 Days in the Word):

Jeff, the two parables I give you in Luke 16 are given to you today to wake you up.  Jeff, I caught your heart yesterday in one moment causing you to find and save the commandment from Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  In what you thought was an unrelated moment only a few minutes later I caught your heart as you listened about a ministry feeding hungry children and your spirit felt me calling...

Know that these two things were in fact one and recall that you were led to consider whether you needed to downsize your life to free up resources to better serve me.  This morning I confirm this for you Jeff with Luke 16.

See that Jesus knew the hearts of the pharisees that scoffed at the first parable of the dishonest manager because they loved riches and understood justification to come by riches since they believed in meant they had my favor...

Luke 16:15
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.

See that the arrival of my Son and the new covenant allows for all to enter the kingdom of God if they surrender.  Jesus tells the pharisees that the law and the prophets are now past and that everyone can have a place in the kingdom by force.

Luke 16:16
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

This force Jeff, is the surrender of their hearts and the sacrifice of self-glory.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

John 5:44
How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

From a sermon by John Piper on December 12, 1986-

To recognize and receive Jesus for who he really is, we have to will to do the will of God, namely, pursue the glory of God above all other pleasures in our life.

The first parable Jeff leaves you with this truth that if you cannot be faithful with the resources God gives you (that is- use them for His cause rather than your own) then why would He entrust you with the riches of His kingdom?  Would He desire that you also use these resources for yourself?

Luke 16:11
If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

More from Piper's sermon-

In other words, the possession of money in this world is a test run for eternity. Can you pass the test of faithfulness with your money? Do you you use it as a means of proving the worth of God and the joy you have in supporting his cause? Or does the way you use it prove that what you really enjoy is things, not God?

And so the preparation we need in order to receive Christ for who he really is, is something that frees us from the love of money.

The second parable Jeff, is about a rich man who used his resources to provide the best of everything for himself.  This man dies and the parable contrasts his eternal state with that of lazarus, a poor man...

Luke 16:22-24
The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. ’

Luke 16:27-28
And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. ’

Luke 16:31
He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. ’”

See Jeff that the rich man appeals to Abraham as his father.  This man is a jew who expected his salvation for the sake of his heritage  and his thought that salvation came apart from surrendering himself.  Recall what I said earlier in Luke...

Luke 3:8
Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. ’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

More from Piper's sermon-

What it means is that the way you use your money shows whether your heart has been changed so that love for others and not luxury for yourselves is what you long for and delight in.

As long as Jesus Christ embodies a radical freedom from the love of things and a deep delight in the service of others, then those who get their joy in life from luxury rather than love will not be able to receive Jesus for who he really is. "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" (18:24).

Jeff, Abraham tells this rich man that his family will need to listen to moses and the prophets.  He tells him that a miracle will not relieve them of their love of money.  Jeff, see that you too have suffered of this blindness.

So Jeff, like Abraham told the rich man- look to moses and the prophets...

Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Today Jeff I tell you that you are to surrender you love of money.  Today Jeff I tell you that you are to take account of how you are using the resources I give you and you need to offer the entire thing up to me and I will show you in what manner to use it.  Know that there truly is no reason Jeff that you should have excess when my children starve.  Know Jeff that there is no reason that you should have excess when my children perish for lack or repentance.  Know Jeff that there is no reason that you should have excess when my work is not complete.  Know Jeff that there is no reason for you to have excess when you must strive to support it instead of serving me.  Whom do you serve Jeff?

Trust me Jeff for nothing is impossible to me.  I can provide.  My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, my ways higher than your ways.  Drop it in the dirt where you stand and follow me.  Remember the vine.

Application:
Today I will discuss our finances with Nicole and we shall commit together to surrender our resources to you
Today I will consider what this would look like
Today I will pray for resolve and that I would not begin to deceive myself
Today I will give thanks for your amazing provision that comes in so many forms

Prayer:
Thank you Lord for your Word.  I am again humbled before you and partly discouraged that I did not study it like this for so many years.  Thank you for speaking so clearly to me in your Word and for empowering me by your Spirit to hear and to do.  Lord, please let me not deceive myself with vain attempts to rationalize or justify myself but rather let me fully surrender and take great joy in abiding as the branch on the vine.  Please bear your fruit in me Lord and be glorified.  May I not seek my own glory but Soli Deo Gloria Lord.  Lord, let me not shelter myself so much that I do not see the harvest outside the walls.  Please take away my fleshly limitations that I put on you Lord.  Please empty this vessel and accomplish your work in me.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!
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