Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts

Thursday, March 27, 2025

UNRIGHTEOUS MAMMON (LUKE 16:1-13)

 

UNRIGHTEOUS MAMMON

BIBLE PASSAGE: LUKE 16: 1-13

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: enduringword.com/bible-commentary

JULY 11, 2021


MEMORY VERSE

If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

LUKE 16:11

 

INTRODUCTION:

One of the most people think about is their future. This is the reason why parents try their best to have a good education for their children so that when they grow up, they can stand on their own and there’s possibility that they could be a great help in the family. But what if you are fired and become jobless. You can no longer get the job you wanted and sad to say you have no other skills to persuade employers. This is what happened to our lesson for today; the parable of an unjust steward. When I first read this parable, I skipped to understand this because I think it takes me more to think and study. Also, I don’t understand why God commended this dishonest steward in verse 8. But before we proceed to that and our lesson points, let’s look the first two verses:

1And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

When the unjust steward heard what his master had said, he thought of ways on how to live. Like what I’ve said earlier, he was now jobless and maybe he was thinking how he could provide now the needs of his family. He had a plan; let’s read verses 3-7. He was desperate and his plan was another dishonest way. But in verse 8 the master commended the dishonest steward.

 

And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Pinuri ng Panginoon ang mandarayang katiwala dahil sa katalinuhang ipinamalas nito. Sapagkat ang mga makasanlibutan ay mas mahusay gumawa ng paraan kaysa mga maka-Diyos.

 

Based from commentaries, the master was not commending his sins or dishonesty but his wittiness.  The unrighteous steward got it right and the sons of light tend to get it wrong. Jesus is saying that unbelievers are often wiser in figuring out how to secure temporal wealth than believers are in figuring out how to secure eternal riches.

 

In the parable, the steward was squandering his master’s possessions (16:1). We don’t know exactly how he squandered his master’s possessions but the steward was not acting in his master’s best interests, but in his own. What lesson we could get on these verses? One of the key concepts of being a steward is that the steward does not own what the master or owner has entrusted to him. He merely manages it for the owner’s purposes. If the steward begins to act as if he owns it, spending the owner’s resources for his personal betterment rather than for the owner’s benefit, he is an unrighteous, not a faithful, steward. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

 

This is a warning for all of us who are stewards. We need to be faithful stewards. Being a faithful steward is easy or there are challenges? Let me ask you, who knows here about Chinkee Tan? He is a top Filipino motivational speaker, wealth and life coach whose goal is to inform, educate, motivate, and financial educator His vision is to help people become financially-literate and debt-free. We can see him in any social media platform. He has many followers. We don’t see any bad thing about what he wants to educate but let me say the caption he posted in one of his videos, the caption is, how can you be rich? His caption is an attention getter because everybody wants to be rich, right? No one would say, I don’t want to be rich. If it’s not possible for our present situation to be rich, all we want is to have a financial stability. Am I right? Like for example: we could pay our bills, buy food and eat three times a day. And if these needs are supplied regularly, the desire to have a good house to live in, begins to sprout in us? Then another thing, you want to have a small business for preparation of your retirement. These are just some of the thoughts the unbelievers think for their future. How about Christians, do they think the same way? Yes, that’s why we study and work hard. The question is, how could we guard ourselves from the power of money or wealth? But what if we spend our lives pursuing success only to find out that we’re already heading in the wrong direction? What if we get rich only to discover that we’re really poor?

 

Let’s go back to the question, how could we guard ourselves from the power of unrighteous mammon, the riches of this world?

 

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  USING MONEY NOW WITH AN EYE TO ETERNITY (LUKE 16:9)

And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Tagalog: At nagpatuloy si Jesus sa pagsasalita, “Kaya’t sinasabi ko sa inyo: gamitin ninyo sa pakikipagkaibigan ang kayamanan ng sanlibutang ito. Maubos man ito’y may tatanggap naman sa inyo sa tahanang walang hanggan.

 

Here’s a question, if we hear of a good investment opportunity that is reasonably certain to earn a decent profit and we have the funds to invest, we will probably jump at the chance, right? This is the job of my brother-in-law; he looks for investors and make sure he would invest it in right company. He also needs to guard his rating as financial adviser because if he made a wrong choice, his rating got low, and he would have a hard time finding investors. Like the steward, he was banned being a manager. Let me ask you again, would you invest some of your funds to Apple Inc., an American multinational technology company? Yes, of course! How about in spiritual matters, if we hear of a window of opportunity for the gospel, should we do all we can to seize it while we can? In the same way, if we hear of an opportunity for the gospel and God has given us funds to invest, should we go for it?

The world is filled with financial planners and advisers; and it is good for Christians to learn how to use their money wisely. But when most Christians talk about wise money management, they forget to practice the most important kind of long-term investing: investing with an eye to eternity, an everlasting home. The important thing is to invest your resources for the Lord now; most of us wait until the day when we think we will have enough and that’s wrong.

 

But we can use our money now to store up treasures in heaven by making eternal friends through the gospel. Can you imagine the joy someday of meeting someone in heaven who says, “Thank you for giving to the cause of world of missions or evangelization! Because you gave, missionaries came to my country, and I got saved.” What an investment!

 

2.  FAITHFULNESS IN THE LITTLE THINGS SHOWS HOW ONE WILL BE FAITHFUL IN THE LARGE THINGS (LUKE 16:10-12)

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

Is money a big deal to unbelievers? How about to believers, is it a big deal as well? Let me tell you a story in a church in USA.

In a church in California, a very wealthy man who was in his eighties had set up a fund to help young people who wanted to go into Christian work attend Christian colleges or seminaries. He had moved out of the area and the fund was depleted, so a person in charge wrote him a very tactful letter thanking him for his generosity, telling him of some of the young people who had been helped, and informing him that the fund had been depleted. He wrote back an angry letter accusing the church of being after his money and telling the church that if they ever asked him for money again, he wouldn’t give!

The church hadn’t even asked for money; they had just informed him that the fund was depleted. They were sure that he could have given $100,000 to the fund and he still would have had plenty left for all his years on this earth. Sadly, none of this man’s four grown children were Christians, and they were all financially successful. But rather than willing his large estate to the Lord’s work, he probably willed it all to his unbelieving children. His money was a big deal to him! (story taken from: https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-74-how-be-truly-rich-luke-161-13)

YES, it’s a big deal to everybody. Let’s go back to verse 1:

 

a)   He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much: Money is a big deal to people but we see in Jesus’ words, money is considered to be one of the least things. Therefore, if a person cannot be faithful in managing the things that are least, they should not be trusted to be faithful in handling the things that are much.

I remember what Pastor Rod mentioned, if you’re not faithful giving your tithes in 5,000 which is P500 how can you be trusted to P500,000 worth of money, the 10% of it is 50, 000.

 

b)   If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 

If there are true riches, it means there are false riches. The false riches are the riches of this world, that are measured in bank accounts and material possessions. There’s a story about a prospector who was searching for gold in the Panamint Range of the Mojave Desert. He was evidently trying to walk out in that desert heat carrying two heavy bags. The exertion of trying to carry the heavy load was too much and he was overcome with heat prostration and dehydration. Realizing that he was about to die, he scribbled his last words on a piece of paper that was found clutched in his hand. It read, "I died rich." They opened that bags that he had been carrying and found them filled with iron pyrite or fools' gold. Some of you may think that you are going to die rich, but you are deceiving yourself, you will be an eternal pauper. The riches you possess are false riches.

 

How about the Christian leaders who are entrusted with ministries? They must be good managers of their own money. If a person can’t be faithful before God with the money He gives, how can they be faithful with the care of people?

 

- 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.

 

The true riches are the eternal riches. Jesus told us not to lay up for ourselves treasure on earth, where moths and rust can decay and thieves can break in and steal, material riches are not true riches, but lay-up treasure in heaven. True riches are not measured by how much you have in your account in the local bank, but how much have you deposited in your heavenly bank account. God has an interesting way of accounting your deposits, it is not how much the deposit was, but how much did it cost you.

 

c)    If you have not been faithful in what is another man’s: Here, Jesus seems to refer to the fact that all our riches belong to God, and we must see that we are managing His resources. Faithfulness in this will result in blessing that is our own (who will give you what is your own).

-       So, God is testing men by giving them money, that He may know how far to trust them...” (Meyer)

-      God owns everything and we are stewards or managers of what He has entrusted to us. We are stewards of our time, our abilities, and our possessions and money.

But God views our money as a very little thing. It is the litmus test by which God tests us to see if we can handle true riches, namely, souls. If we are faithful in managing the money God gives us for His purposes, He will entrust eternal souls into our care. We will have eternal rewards in heaven, even if we don’t have much in terms of earthly possessions. The ironic thing is you are 100 percent certain to lose all the money you accumulate on this earth—it will fail (16:9). You are 100 percent certain to keep all the rewards you lay up in heaven—they are your own (16:12), secure where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in to steal (Matt. 6:20).

3.  NO ONE CAN BE FAITHFUL TO MORE THAN ONE MASTER (LUKE 16:13)

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

a.   No servant can serve two masters: Having two masters is not like working two jobs. Jesus has the master and slave relationship in view. A slave can’t belong to two masters at the same time.

 

-      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. If you will sacrifice for the sake of money, but will not sacrifice for the sake of Jesus, don’t deceive yourself: money is your God.

-      On a Friday afternoon in 1990, 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. But he still had his $10,000 Rolex watch clutched in his hand. He was the victim of a rash of Rolex robberies – and was killed as a sacrifice to his god.

-      A 1992 story in the Los Angeles Times talked 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. “I make as much money as my husband… If I want a $500 suit from Ann Taylor, I deserve it and don’t want to be hassled about it. So, the easiest thing to do is lie,” she explains. 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. “I do live in fear. If he discovers this new VISA, he’ll kill me.”

-      A schoolteacher explained more: “Men just don’t understand that shopping is our drug of choice,” she joked, even while admitting that some months her salary goes exclusively to paying the minimum balance on her credit cards. “Walking through the door of South Coast Plaza is like walking through the gates of heaven. God made car trunks for women to hide shopping bags in.”

-      A young professional named Mary explained: “Shopping is my recreation. It’s my way of pampering myself. When you walk into [a mall] and you see all the stores, it’s like something takes over and you get caught up in it.”

 

b.   You cannot serve God and mammon: Some think that just because they are not rich, they are not a slave to money (mammon). But you don’t have to be rich to serve mammon; the poor have just as much potential for greed and covetousness as the rich have.

-      “When God is served, Mammon is used beneficently. When Mammon is served, the claims of God are ignored.” (Morgan)

 

-      “The worldling’s wisdom (as the ostrich’s wings) to make him outrun others upon earth, and in earthly things; but helps him never a wit toward heaven.” (Trapp)

 

-     “Money possessing a man is the direst curse, for it hardens his heart and paralyzes his noblest powers. The money of a God-possessed man is a blessing, for it becomes the means of his expressing his sympathy with his fellows.” (Morgan)

CONLUSION:

Every business manager knows that the owner will be checking the books to see how things are going. If the business has been earning a profit for the owner, then the manager may get a raise. But if the manager has been skimming off the profits to finance his new yacht and his Mercedes, he’s going to be in trouble when the books are examined. The idea of accountability is inherent in the concept of management or stewardship.

Crucial to being a good steward is understanding the owner’s purpose for his business. In the world, the purpose usually is to make all the money you can. But what is our Master’s purpose? Jesus tells us in verse 9: “Make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Mammon comes from an Aramaic word meaning riches. By “the mammon of unrighteousness,” Jesus means money, which the world uses for unrighteous purposes, but which believers can use for God’s purposes. Jesus means that just as the unrighteous steward used his master’s money to make friends for himself, so that when he got fired, they would welcome him into their homes, so we should use our Master’s money to make friends for ourselves in heaven. Like what I have said previously and based on some bible scholars this refers to the friends who have become Christians because of our faithful stewardship. When earthly riches fail, as they surely will when we die, we will have friends in heaven who are there because we gave to the cause of world evangelization.

Each of us must ask ourselves the sober question, “Am I managing the resources God has entrusted to me with a view to giving an account some day in light of His purpose of being glorified among all the nations through the spreading of the gospel?” God is a generous and gracious Father, who gives to us not only enough for our basic needs, but also for our enjoyment. So, it is not wrong to enjoy many things beyond the bare essentials. But, if we grasp the concept of faithful stewardship and accountability, our focus will not be on our own financial success, but rather on the financial “success” of God’s enterprise, namely, the gospel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




Saturday, March 15, 2025

WHEN RESOURCES ARE GONE (2 KINGS 4:1-7)

 

WHEN RESOURCES ARE GONE

BIBLE PASSAGE: 2 KINGS 4:1-7


Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://tonyEveansSermon/ http://www.sermonnotebook.org/

 

JULY 24, 2022


MEMORY VERSE

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

MATTHEW 6:33

 

INTRODUCTION:

Long time ago, during devotions, I asked a young people what's her greatest fear and she was replied that losing their family’s resources is one of her greatest fears. Honestly that’s true, right? What if your business collapse? What if you’re fired from work? What if your properties are gone? What if your health declines and you can’t work anymore? What if the breadwinner in the family is gone? There are many “ifs” and these make us worry. I remember the year when our father died, he was the breadwinner in the family. I couldn’t imagine the life we’re going to face – financial dilemma but God made a way we didn’t expect.

In our passage, there was despair in the family. In verse 1 the word “cried” means “to moan; to weep uncontrollably; to shriek out of grief.” This word identifies the sound of a broken heart. This woman comes to the man of God at the lowest moment of her life. She is in desperate state. There was death in the family – She was married to one of the “sons of the prophets”. These were the men who were in training under Elisha to be the prophets and preachers in Israel. Her husband, her friend, her provider, her protector, had been taken away from here in death. She is broken because a loved one has been taken away. Do you have the same situation as hers? There was debt in the family – Since her husband is dead she cannot pay her bills. As a result, her creditors are coming to take her sons away as slaves so they can work off the debt. This was allowed under the Jewish Law, Lev. 25:39.

And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:”

Losing her husband and now she is about to lose her sons as well. She is over her head in debt and she doesn’t see how she can make it. Have you experienced the same way?

We may not have the same and exact situation as the widow woman but like her, we also have financial dilemma. In this kind of situation, we easily get irritated and angry. WHEN RESOURCES ARE GONE, LET’S…

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  RECOGNIZE IT’S NOT JUST A FINANCIAL ISSUE; IT’S A SPIRITUAL ISSUE.

Have we been in debt? The Bible says in Proverbs 22:7, “… the borrower is servant to the lender. Imagine a single parent who cannot pay her bills especially today the consumed per kilowatt is higher nowadays. I know every one of us can relate to this. Now her sons needed to work for the debt. They would live in debt. I don’t know if you’ll agree but living in debt is outside God’s will.

The widow woman in great desperation went to prophet Elisha for help. Why she didn’t go to a bank or any establishment that caters money?  There are some issues in our lives that we need to look at and most of the times there are spiritual problems God wants us to consider. During your spiritual meditation, ask God for wisdom to open your minds.  When will we consider a problem a trial or discipline by God? If you are faithful in every aspect of your spiritual life and then problem comes, then that’s a trial. But what if that’s not the case? What if there’s aspect of our spiritual life that we miss?

I know most of us here in Sunday School already knew about the debt that we have. Why we reached to that point? Aside from wrong decisions, I had not been faithful in my giving. Because of too much debt, it’s hard to give your tithes faithfully and also offerings. Then I had failed to pay the house rental in full then after months, it accumulated to 20k or more. Imagine that and a lot more problems came; it all piled up. We moved to a small house to lessen the expenses. To the worst, not just thousands and at the end it’s almost a million because of the business we entered to. That’s the end of the rope; we cannot hold this anymore. We prayed so hard and asked God for wisdom and thank God for the wisdom. I promised to give what I owed to the Lord and gave us the wisdom for the right decisions. Some told me to continue and fight but I said “No, I’ll stop at this point.” Some said, “That’s not good, you don’t have the resources to pay, and they will sue us.” But I said, “Let it be” but at the back of my mind God would be at our side just follow even it is hard. To make it short, we are still paying the debt but thank God for the deliverance from slavery of debt; God continues providing the payment. So you see with our experience, some problems come in connection with our spiritual condition.

 

In Luke 16:10 – 11 says,

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

10 Ang mapagkakatiwalaan sa maliit na bagay ay mapagkakatiwalaan din sa malaking bagay; ang mandaraya sa maliit na bagay ay mandaraya rin sa malaking bagay. 11 Kaya kung hindi kayo mapagkakatiwalaan sa mga kayamanan ng mundong ito, sino ang magtitiwala sa inyo ng tunay na kayamanan?

 

May these verses remind us of our spiritual condition and let us desire to be faithful in least things so that we can be trusted in many things.

 

The widow woman is in the right decision to ask prophet’s help and didn’t go to someone else. Most of the times, Christians go to their friends, lender or anyone before going directly to God in prayer. Also, God uses pastors to remind and guide us. Whether we accept it or not sometimes we think that talking and asking pastor’s counsel is not the best way. We ignore that there are spiritual implications we need to think about. We always say “these are only trials” but unknowingly, God wants to correct something in us or warn us. 

 

2.  ESTABLISH AS GOD AS YOUR SOURCE

Sometimes God takes the source we trusted so that we can realize that God is the ultimate source we need. Like the widow woman, the source was her husband. In their culture, women on that time stayed in houses to take care of everything. I don’t know how you can relate to this but honestly that is a great desperation. Imagine your resources are gone. You can no longer pay your bills. Thank God if we have members of the family who supported us but remember GOD is the ultimate source. He can reverse everything you have right now.

When the widow woman was asked by Elisha in verse 2, “What hast thou in the house?” She replied she had not anything in the house. Sometimes we see what we don’t have or focusing on the things we don’t have. And also, sometimes we have blessings but it doesn’t reflect on our countenance and words. We always say, “This is only what we have” and in food “Ito lang ulam namin eh.” This happens right? That’s why I correct myself too.

At the end of verse 2 she said she had a “pot of oil.” Elisha is not the “Genie” who gave your wish to be granted on that moment. She was given instructions what to do and she responded and followed. When the pots were all filled up the oil stopped. Then she needed to sell those pots of oil. It means she needed to work. What personal lesson we can learn from this? If all the family members have no work and you pray for blessings to come on your doorstep, what do you think is the problem? God wants us to work and He’ll guide and give us energy to work (Deu. 8:18)

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

As a proof that we are seriously believing that God is our source, let’s give our tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:10). The tenth of what we receive is not ours it’s for God. Malachi firmly states that we rob God every time we take what is supposed to Him. Let’s think, who will bless a thief? If we rob God, how can He bless us? Psalms 50 says,

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: 15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

This verse reminds us to pay our vow and then call upon Him. He won’t hear us if we keep on robbing Him. In 2 Corinthians 8:3 and 5, like we always hear about Macedonians, they gave beyond their power. How can they do that? First, they gave their own selves to the Lord. Giving is an expression on what you feel about God. We also hear from our pastors and preachers that money is the indicator of our spiritual condition.

CONCLUSION:

The woman and her sons filled one vessel after another until every vessel they had borrowed was full. She began that day with nothing, she ended it with everything! That is what our God can do.

Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest” (Leviticus 4:7)

One of the lessons we can learn from this story is that God will do exactly what He has promised to do. Elisha promised that the Lord would fill the vessels, v. 4, and He did! It’s the Lesson of God’s provisions. He will keep all of His promises to you too! Not a single word in a single promise will fall to the ground unfulfilled! God will do everything He had promised to do. He meant everything He said! He will do everything He has promised.

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Tagalog:  Hindi nagbabago at hindi nagsisinungaling ang Diyos tungkol sa dalawang bagay na ito: ang kanyang pangako at sumpa. Kaya't tayong nakatagpo ng kanyang kalinga ay panatag ang loob na umaasa sa mga pangako niya.

 

 Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

 

The oil flowed until the vessels ran out. When the day was done, every vessel was filled to the full. There was no limit on the amount of oil. The only limit was on the number of vessels. God’s provision knew no limits in the widow’s case, and it knows no limits in your case! God is able to meet every need, move every mountain, and solve every problem. His provision is limited by nothing but our faith. God stands ready to give all that you make room for in your life, no more and no less! We need to be faithful because He is faithful. I remember the chorus of the song of the choir “WHAT A FATIHFUL GOD HAVE I!” Amen! Let’s also remember the verse in Matthew 6:33.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Sometimes or most of the times, Christians only see the last part of this verse “…and all these things shall be added unto you.” We always quote without realizing the first part which is seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness… We quote even we evidently see with our eyes how unfaithful we are in small things like going to church, like giving your P10 as your tithes. So, you see, the Bible already indicates how to be blessed and how things would be added unto us. IT’S NOW OUR DECISION.

 




REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE (HEBREWS 2:13-15)

  REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE Bible Passage: Hebrews 2: 13-15 Lesson Prepared by: krisha of Solomon Wisdom FB page Lesson ideas taken: LESSON KE...