{"id":269,"date":"2023-08-16T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=269&2023"},"modified":"2023-08-14T18:00:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T00:00:01","slug":"riches-or-relationships-luke-16-1-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/riches-or-relationships-luke-16-1-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Riches or Relationships: Luke 16:1-18"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Luke 16:1-18 (NCV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\"><p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">1<\/sup> Jesus also said to his followers, \u201cOnce there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. <sup class=\"versenum\">2<\/sup> So he called the manager in and said to him, \u2018What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can\u2019t be my manager any longer.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">3<\/sup> The manager thought to himself, \u2018What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. <sup class=\"versenum\">4<\/sup> I know what I\u2019ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.\u2019<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">5<\/sup> \u201cSo the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, \u2018How much do you owe?\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">6<\/sup> He answered, \u2018Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.\u2019 The manager said to him, \u2018Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">7<\/sup> Then the manager asked another one, \u2018How much do you owe?\u2019 He answered, \u2018One thousand bushels of wheat.\u2019 Then the manager said to him, \u2018Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">8<\/sup> So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are. <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">9<\/sup> \u201cI tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. <sup class=\"versenum\">10<\/sup> Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot.\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">11<\/sup> If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? <sup class=\"versenum\">12<\/sup> And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own? <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">13<\/sup> \u201cNo servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">14<\/sup> The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. <sup class=\"versenum\">15<\/sup> He said to them, \u201cYou make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God\u2019s sight. <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">16<\/sup> \u201cThe law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until John came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force.  <sup class=\"versenum\">17<\/sup> It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  <sup class=\"versenum\">18<\/sup> \u201cIf a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Luke 16:1-18&amp;version=ncv\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Luke 16:1-18<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p><em>Which comes first: God or money?<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>Is this a trick question? Not according to Jesus. He clearly states in verse 13: <strong>\u201cYou cannot serve both God and worldly riches.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>This passage also states that the Pharisee\u2019s loved money <em>(v. 14)<\/em> and because of this, we can conclude that for many of them, money, stuff, and status were more important than God.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, while money and God can be placed on opposite ends of the spectrum in our lives <em>(either you are poor and with God or rich and far away from Him)<\/em>, Jesus does not actually make this conclusion. Instead, He pushes them <em>(and us)<\/em> to examine the motives and primary focus for what we do.<\/p>\r\n<p>There are two baseline motives we can choose from: Serving God by serving others, or serving ourselves. When we place ourselves first, we shift into accumulation mode and we save and collect everything we can \u2013 both stuff and status. When we place serving God and others first, any accumulating we do is aimed at how this can be used to help someone else.<\/p>\r\n<p>God loves blessing the people who view the world through the lens of how to help others. He knows that giving extra to those people is a good investment.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>However, can serving God through serving others be taken too far?<\/em> Yes.<\/p>\r\n<p>If in our diligence to serve, we begin neglecting our basic needs, then yes it has been taken too far. We can illustrate this challenge with the warnings giving to those who have flown on an airplane: \u201cIn the event that there is a change in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will be released. Be sure to place your mask on first before assisting others around you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Is this self-centered behavior?<\/em> Yes and no. It is true that you focus on yourself first, but we must ask the question of why.<\/p>\r\n<p>If you place your mask on first only out of the self-preservation mindset \u2013 excluding the well-being of those around you \u2013 then yes, your actions are self-focused.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, if you place your mask on first knowing that you can only help others effectively when your mask is on, the entire focus has shifted. You help yourself have the foundation necessary to help others effectively. This is helping from a position of strength, and it still retains the \u201cother-focused\u201d mentality.<\/p>\r\n<p>The passage states that having money is not the issue, but the focus of the money is. We clearly read in verse 9, \u201cMake friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Riches don\u2019t last forever \u2013 but relationships do. Are your friendships made to support your wealth, or is your wealth used to expand your relationships?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--269\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '269');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Which comes first: God or money? Is this a trick question? Not according to Jesus. He clearly states in verse 13: \u201cYou cannot serve both God and worldly riches.\u201d This passage also states that the Pharisee\u2019s loved money (v. 14) and because of this, we can conclude that for many of them, money, stuff, and [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Riches or Relationships: Luke 16:1-18 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/riches-or-relationships-luke-16-1-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Riches or Relationships: Luke 16:1-18 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Which comes first: God or money? 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