Jesus continues His healing ministry and teaches on finding the lost of this world.
Luke 16: The Parable of the Dishonest Manager
1 He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
2 And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'
3 And the manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.'
5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6 He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'
7 Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'
8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
9 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.
10 "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.
11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
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."
The Law and the Kingdom of God
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.
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.
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.
17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
Divorce and Remarriage
18 "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 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.'
25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'
27 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.'
29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'
30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
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.'"
Luke 17: Temptations to Sin
1 And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."
Increase Our Faith
5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
Unworthy Servants
7 "Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'?
8 Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'?
9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
13 and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."
14 When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed.
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;
16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
17 Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
19 And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."
The Coming of the Kingdom
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,
21 nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
22 And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23 And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them.
24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot---they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all---
30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
32 Remember Lot's wife.
33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.
35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left."
36
37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
Things to think about…
1. The dishonest manager in Luke 16:1-13 is reflective of what the world is like and how the world acts in getting its message out – Jesus calls it shrewd. Jesus says the world acts more wisely/shrewdly than the sons of light when it acts according to its worldly agenda. We are called to use this world’s wealth and systems to influence people to consider Christ and the message of salvation. Where is your money going? You can’t serve God and money. Giving our resources to serve Christ extends His kingdom so others can spend eternity in Christ’s presence. Begin by supporting the local church with your finances. If your church faithfully declares the gospel, tithes and offerings are always a joy to give and will never be a burden. Indeed the Lord blesses a cheerful giver. I have certainly found this to be the case over 34 years of serving the Lord Jesus.
2. The rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 continued to live after they died. We must be careful not to over allegorise this story. Abraham after all is a real person, not an allegory. The point being that the rich man and Lazarus lived in eternity at vastly different places and conditions as they had lived on earth. There is a poisonous doctrine called ‘conditional immortality’ that says that our souls will be annihilated, either straight after judgement or after a period of torment, depending on which version of this heresy is believed. Some say the major confessions leave the door open for an interpretation of this doctrine, but this opinion is greatly skewed to make way for a belief that the majority of church fathers and the dominant Christian understanding has been held for two millennia. The parable in Luke 16 must be contorted and twisted in such a way, similar to what theistic evolutionists do with Genesis 1, in order to deny the obvious meaning of what Jesus is saying. Hades, as described here in Luke 16 is the holding place for souls that do not display saving faith in our Lord. Hades will be cast into Hell (also called the Lake of Fire, Rev 20:10. 14, 15) at the end of the age which will be an eternal state of conscious horror and grief where we are told, “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”, vs 10. Conscious torment in hell is not just for the beast and the false prophet, who will be revealed during the tribulation, but the Apostle John tells us, “if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”. All those who are outside of Christ face a certain fearful expectation of eternal, conscious judgement. Is there a more horrific truth to be found in scripture. There is not. But neither can it be denied. Indeed it must be preached and declared by all those who are aligned with the heart of our Lord, who is patient, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”, 2 Pet 2:9.
3. Faith in Christ and obedience to His message of grace and salvation is the one thing needful. Christ’s message is profound in that someone did rise from the dead, the Lord Jesus Himself and yet people still didn’t believe. Observing miracles and the supernatural are a point of intrigue to most people. They don’t have the power to save through their observation. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, hallelujah!
4. Jesus says that even faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mulberry tree into the sea, Luke 17:4-6, and that we like unworthy servants have just done our duty when we serve the Lord faithfully, God does mighty works of grace, Luke 17:7-10. All servants of Christ have faith, but do they even have a mustard seed to use? I wonder if I have moved any mountains. Certainly not literally. May we be servants enough to at least hear the Master’s voice and then follow Him and watch Him mightily move in our midst.
5. Jesus then makes this illustration of faithfulness more pertinent with the healing of the 10 lepers. Only 1 returned, a Samaritan, to give praise to Jesus. The other 9 lepers were likely to be Jews, even though the text does not explicitly say so. We must beware of becoming too familiar with Christ, that we begin to presume upon His grace. We are after all only saved by grace and ultimately all ‘unworthy servants’. We should as Paul says to the Philippians, ‘rejoice always’. Is your heart full of thanks and praise for what He has done in your life? I.E the saving of your soul!
6. What will it be like when Jesus comes back to judge the earth? Apart from the prophetic things that we read about in books like Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, etc, there will also be a lot of normal stuff going on – I.E marrying, eating drinking, buying and selling – people doing life, Luke 17:28. Yet one will be taken and the other left. Some see this as being a rapture type phenomenon before the great tribulation period as described in Revelation. I believe this to be the case. In the Day of Christ there will be a separation that will ultimately endure for eternity, where a great chasm is fixed as we saw in Luke 15 with Rich man and Lazarus.
7. In Luke 17:19-31 Jesus is asked 2 questions; when will the kingdom come and where will the kingdom be? Jesus said the kingdom is in their midst – I.E Right now, in those who are saved and are being saved so that no-one would be able to point and say ‘now is the kingdom’ established. We could actually say it is with us corporately every Sunday when we gather in that context. The second question of ‘Where’: Jesus says it will be discerned just like you know that there is something dead because the vultures (or eagles) are flying above it. We will know this season is upon us when we see certain events happening and we will know that the earth’s redemption is near. What signs (I.E vultures) do you think will appear at this period of time in history? Jesus says wars and rumours of wars and an increase in earthquake activity. We are certainly seeing wars at the moment.
8. We remember our Saviour’s sacrifice on the cross every Good Friday. Jesus in Luke 17:33 says “whoever loses his life will keep it”. Praise the Lord that our Lord made the way for life eternal and verified it through His resurrection. As we live for Christ, Jesus had just told the disciples to take up our cross daily, Luke 9:23.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Prayer Points
1. ‘One for Israel’ have asked for our prayers. There is another court case this month against them for proclaiming Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. The message of Yeshua is seen as anti-Israel and could have profound consequences, potentially leading to the gagging of the gospel in Israel
2. New members course – 3 week course. First 2 weeks completed. See CBC’s Youtube page if you need to see them.
3. Pray for the seats still being counted after last weekend’s election.
4. Pray for peace over the Israel/Gaza, Ukraine/Russian wars.
5. New Life group starting soon in Fernvale/Lowood after membership course
6. Those that haven’t come to church for a while to return.
7. Revival over our city.
8. Finances to cover our needs
9. Pray for PlayPatch, Kids church, Creche and Kids Hope at Karalee State school.
10. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to increase.
Praise Points
1. Mothers Day celebrations both on Saturday and Sunday. Well done Graham and Suzanne
2. New equipment in and working. Thankyou Nathan and Jonathan
3. More visitors on Sunday
4. The Lord’s grace over our lives and country
5. Café, music, kids church, admin, sound and technical team every week
6. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. 3rd and final Membership Class course 18th May after church.
2. Quarterly Members Meeting 25th May after church.
3. Ministries this week. Life groups, Kids@Church, Kids Hope - Karalee.
4. PlayPatch 1-5yos, Fridays 9:30am at church.
5. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
6. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for May...
Q. 32. What is a change of heart called? A. Regeneration.
Bible References – Titus 3:5-7.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” Jer 33:3
