Luke 16 - You Can not Serve God and Money

Question: In Luke 16, what does God say about money?

1. All money is unrighteous, so being wealthy is a sin and makes it impossible to get into Heaven.

2. Money is an important tool for good and evil.

3. Money is a “little thing,” and we must be faithful with money to receive true riches from God.

Luke 16 begins with Jesus giving a parable to His disciples about a manager of an estate who was accused of wasting his master's resources. The manager goes to all those who owe his master money and tells them to write receipts so that it appears they owe less to the master. In this way, he carried favor with rich men so he could stay with them when his master fired him. The point of the parable can be seen in the Lord’s final remarks about it:

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:9 ESV)

If our goal is to have wealth by any means, even unrighteous ones, then wealth is our “god,” and we will not have an eternal dwelling. I love the sarcasm of Jesus as He tells His disciples that, if they handle life this way, they had better hope that those engaged in dishonest dealings will have a place for them after death in “eternal dwellings.” This means they will not be entering Heaven where God is! Jesus continues the discussion with one of the most important statements that should not be overlooked:

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 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 16:10-13 ESV)

ANSWER:

The correct answer is C: God does not consider money to be “true riches” so we know it is the “very little” spoken of in these verses. If we are not faithful with little things, like unrighteous money, we will not receive “true riches.”

The Greek word is often used in the much-quoted end of this statement: You cannot serve God and Mammon, because Mammon is the god of money. Since we know the topic is money, we can put it this way: If you are faithful to God when you only have a “little money,” you will be faithful to God when you are wealthy.

It is interesting to note that God considers monetary wealth to be “unrighteous.” Why? Because all money is based on what the world considers important. It is a worldly matter, not a spiritual one. True riches are what God brings into our lives when we are faithful with our money. What true riches does God bring to us?

Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments (gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in their souls by the Holy Spirit) and they vary, but the [Holy] Spirit remains the same. (1 Corinthians 12:4 AMPC)

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29 ESV)

There are gifts of the Spirit and callings from God. They are given and not taken back. These are true riches. Do you want to hear more from God? Do you want to receive a gift of healing or prophecy? If we want to be able to operate in the gifts of God and come into our calling, we need to be faithful in the smallest matter: Money.

How can we tell which god we are serving, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or Mammon? When we are faithful to God with our money, then we are serving God. How are we faithful to God with money? By handling it God’s way.

And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Genesis 14:19-20 ESV)

Abram became Abraham. He gave this priest, Melchizedek, a tenth of what he gained. The word tithe means a tenth. We are adopted into the family of Abraham through Jesus. As Abraham did, so should we. Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:17,) and His church, Christian Churches, are organized under the priesthood of Melchizedek. Whatever God brings into our lives, we should give a tenth to where we are being blessed with teachings about Him. This is how we remain faithful to God with the small matters, with our money.

The Pharisees heard what was said and began to mock Jesus, who replied with something we should apply today:

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him. 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.” (Luke 16:14-16 ESV)

Thanks to the Gospels, the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we know the end result, we know the Pharisees will crucify Jesus, and that their hearts are all wrong. We know that there was no shekinah glory in the Second Temple: the fog that would kill anyone who entered the Holy of Holies with a wrong heart. When Jesus came, the spiritual leaders of God’s people were misapplying His Law and intent on getting honor and riches for themselves. We need to apply this to Christian Churches.

How many churches and religious leaders are justifying themselves and what they do because “it is just the way it is done in the world today?” Big, famous pastors have said, “I know it says freely you receive, freely give, but we have a 10,000 electric bill to pay, so BUY this book.”

Do you remember the first pastor to become famous because his book, from God, made the New York Times best-seller list? He made millions and was “acclaimed by men” as doing something great. From that point on, all pastors began selling their books.

Why are worship songs under copyright? It is just the way it’s done in the world. What would Jesus say about having to pay someone to use a song to worship God? He threw those who sold doves used as offerings out of the Temple! Have you heard of the “Dove Awards” for the most popular, highest-grossing Christian songs? Can you see the similarity to how the Temple was when Jesus came the first time?

Jesus continues correcting the Pharisees by declaring that God’s Law will always remain. That is the Ten Commandments. He says that even though people now come into the Kingdom of Heaven violently, meaning with zeal and passion, the Law, God’s ways, still apply.

This chapter concludes with a parable from the Lord about a poor man, Lazarus, and the rich man who lived a lavish life of pleasure and feasting. Both died. Lazarus went to “Abraham’s Bosom,” where he received comfort. The rich man went to Hades, where he suffered. It isn’t wrong to have a good life or riches, but because it is in this chapter, we can assume it was unrighteous riches, and the rich man was not faithful to God with his money. This is confirmed as the parable continues.

And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 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.’” (Luke 16:27-31 ESV)

Since the rich man wanted to warn his brothers about doing what is right, we know that the rich man was not honoring God with his riches. That is also confirmed by Abraham declaring they should be paying attention to Moses, who gave the Law, and the prophets, who brought corrections to God’s people.

This parable is a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled. He rose from the dead, and those who refused to follow God’s ways still refused to repent. Are you ready to remove the spirit of mammon from your life? Are you willing to turn from what is wrong, or are you going to continue because “everyone else sells stuff,” and it is “just the way it is done in today’s world?” Are you willing to be faithful to God with your money?

The great news is that Jesus paid the price for going down the wrong path, as long as you are willing to repent, to turn from the sin. It can be challenging when most of the world is doing it the wrong way. It wasn’t easy for the disciples to stop following the Pharisees and the way it was being done, but they were determined to follow Jesus and God’s ways.

When you are ready to confess and repent from all actions in agreement with the spirit of mammon, then you can apply the blood of Jesus as a payment for your past sins. It is as easy as that to get back on the right path!

There are free online classes at the Online Christian Church about what a true confession looks like and how to apply the blood of Jesus if you need help understanding these principles. I hope to see you there, in the Removing Attacks course, where there is free tutoring if you need more assistance!