"And 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. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 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. 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. 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? 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. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."
In today's lesson, Jesus uses another parable to define the Jewish leadership. The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and lawyers became, what we would refer to today, as organized crime preying on the devotion of God's chosen people.
The true commitment of those Pharisees was to the betterment of each other far more than it was to the obedience of God's commandments.
This lesson also relates to today's Christianity in that far more importance is placed on the outward appearance of the "Church" than it is on actually spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to every lost soul who wishes to hear it.
Spreading word of the saving grace of God is not, and never was, about putting on our Sunday best, every time the "church" doors swing, just to go and sit down in the same comfortably padded seat in an air conditioned building while doing the exact same things we did the last time we met a few days before.
As was stated in yesterday's lesson, real service to the purpose of Jesus Christ requires much more than that. We are to get up off our collective rear ends and actually DO something.
The "Church" has now also become, I'm sure just as the temple was in Jesus' day, a political forum where political candidates are judged according to the number of times a week they show up. It doesn't seem to really matter what the candidate actually believes, just as long as he/she don't miss a meeting.
Its beyond time that the good old gospel spirit is allowed to reenter those of us who claim to be on God's side.
Its time for us, as Jesus demanded in yesterday's quote, to put ALL worldly concerns aside and let it be widely known that we are in it to win it and that every one of us, individually, are active in the service of our Lord and devoted to the expansion and purpose of His one true Church.~
No comments:
Post a Comment