One life, One Heart, One God to Serve Alone – God and You All the Way, part 4
Is your commitment to the Lord strong? Are you heavenly focused or too earthly minded? This message explores these questions and poses one of the most important questions you can ask yourself as a believer.
Your eternal future is in Christ. Do not lose focus on who you serve. Live conscious of the future, of eternity and do all you can to ensure your future is with Christ in glory. Will you serve the Lord wholeheartedly and share the blessings of God you have with others so that others may also know Jesus as Lord and Savior?
This five-week study focuses on you and God. We’ll learn about purpose, how much you matter to God, how precious you are to God, and how to live in the present but focus on eternity.
Purpose, Value, & Focus
The past three weeks we have looked at Luke 14 and 15. We have considered what your purpose is, that you matter to God and you are precious in God’s eyes. Today we will see that we each have only one life, there is only one God, and we are to serve him alone. I hope, as believers, we will catch the heart and vision of God. We will see, hear, and experience the love, compassion, and grace of God personally when we allow him to speak to our situation. We should accept his correction when necessary and not make excuses for our wrongdoing and sin.
I shared over the last few weeks that we are to invite all to join us at the banquet table with Christ in heaven. And, like the disciples, let us make it our purpose to put Jesus first and invite people to faith in Christ. We have seen that every person is important to the Lord, rich and poor alike, and that one lost soul is one too many lost souls for us to sit back and do nothing.
Each person is important to the Lord and each one has a purpose. That being true, every believer is called to serve the Lord and serve one another. The blessings and gifts God has given us (both spiritual and worldly possessions) are to be shared and used for the glory of God.
Serving the Lord is serving the lost in order that they will see the grace, mercy, and love of God towards them in the good times and the difficult times, but also in times of correction.
In serving the Lord, may we never lose focus of Jesus being our Lord and savior. We have only one life, and one true God who we are called to serve faithfully with all our hearts. Refuse to get caught up in the things of the world. Do not get caught up in living for yourself and become a spiritual distraction to other believers or falsely represent God to the spiritually lost. Remember, God loves you. He loves the sinner, but hates the sin.
Know beyond any doubt that you are precious to God so much so that he sent his one and only son to the world so that whosoever will call on the name of the Lord is saved. The sinner and you are loved by God and he desires that each one turn from sin and turn to Christ.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17, NIV).
The first nine verses of Luke 16 involve a landowner and his manager. Here we can clearly see a picture of the heart of God as seen in the landowner’s response to the deceiving/cheating manager and how the dishonest manager acts when confronted with his sin as he considers his future.
We all need to live conscious of the future, of eternity and do all we can to ensure our future is with Christ in glory. This is true for sinners and saints alike. We are to serve the Lord wholeheartedly and share the blessings of God we have with others so that others may also know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Sadly, not every believer lives this way. We must never hoard or keep for ourselves the blessing of God as others might, who—having a worldly heart—store up possessions for themselves here on earth rather than in heaven.
‘Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 7 Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light”’ (Luke 16:1-8).
The master or landowner in this parable is commending the manager whom he fired with regards to his future.
In the hopes the dishonest manager crafts a plan to better his future knowing what it might be if he had done nothing. Jesus is noting here that people of this world (the unrighteous) act shrewdly with each other in regards to the future where the believer, the people of the light do not. May we the church take note that we need to do better with one another and the lost with regards to the future and all eternity.
In verses 9-13 Jesus confronts his disciples’ teaching, saying that no one can serve two masters and to use what you have today to secure your eternal future. Your eternal future is in Christ. We all know this so do not lose focus on who you serve.
All you have is from the Lord. All you have is his. Use what he has given you to do his will and see many come to Christ and be saved. The things of this earth will all pass away one day. All that truly matters is in the future, in eternity.
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:9-13).
Church, we will all one day need to give an account of our lives. We will need to give an account weather we act honestly and respectfully in representing Jesus to the world. We may need to give an account for what we did for Jesus. Were we loving, compassionate and gracious? Did we represent Jesus accurately or did we act selfishly and promote our own agenda? Know that, in promoting our own agenda while representing Jesus, we sin and misrepresent Jesus to the world. This is what the dishonest manager did. This should never be. Instead, remain focused on being the person of God he desires you to be and honestly represent Jesus to the world.
I do not believe the manager started out being dishonest or acting deceitful at first. What occurred is that the manager allowed his commitment to the landowner to be compromised. He lost focus of who he was to serve. He stopped representing the landowner as an honest manager and gave in to the pull of the world and his selfish desire became stronger than his commitment to do right for the landowner.
How is your commitment to the Lord? Is it strong? Are you representing Jesus accurately to others or are you like the manager in this story misrepresenting Jesus by acting deceitfully and for yourself?
This may be one of the most important questions any believer can ask of themselves: Do I represent Jesus honestly to the world? Am I heavenly focused or am I too earthly minded?
We see the manager in this story acted deceitfully for himself. Here we find the manager, who was to represent the landowner honestly, acted improperly and he was caught. He was promoting his own interest in contrast to the interest of the landowner. The manager lost sight of his original purpose of being an honest manager for the landowner. He was to honestly represent the landowner and the landowners’ desires. He was to be the person who acted solely in the best interest of the landowner. He was to act responsibly and fairly with those working the land and charge them a fair price. He was to display the true character of the landowner to others. The manager was to ensure the owner received all that was due to him. However, the manager became deceitful and promoted his own self-seeking interest. In doing so, the manager misrepresented the landowner before those who worked the land. He made the landowner appear harsh by charging them more than he should. The manager overburdened all those who worked the land.
Jesus is not addressing the Pharisees even if they happened to hear what Jesus was saying. Instead, Jesus is addressing his disciples. In this parable, Jesus is addressing the disciples and all those who will represent him to the world. He is addressing those of us who are believers and everyone who is called to represent and present Jesus to the world. I am in the camp that every believer can be seen like a manager, a person who represents Jesus to the world.
A mild or halfhearted committed lifestyle for Jesus will not represent Jesus accurately. The person who represents Jesus’ true character is a person who is 100% committed to Jesus; they are to represent Jesus accurately.
In this portion of scripture Jesus is addressing the believer who is not fully committed to God in their heart. We will make mistakes and sin at times. Do not get caught up in the things of this world. Repent and serve Jesus with all your heart. Understand if a person knows the truth and does the opposite, that is sin. This is what Jesus is confronting in the manager’s heart.
The manager in this story is caught being deceitful and is fired. He does not try to defend or excuse his actions with the owner of the land. Instead, he listens to the owner and then considers what his next step will be to ensure his future.
Friends, when we stand before God, I do not believe we will be able to give any excuse when confronted with our sin. When God confronted you with the sinful lifestyle you lived before placing your faith in Christ, I don’t think any of us tried to make an excuse. Instead, we knew we had sinned, and we made a choice to no longer be that person. We sought Jesus with all our hearts. We chose to turn from a deceitful lifestyle to a life that represented the one who extended grace and forgiveness to us.
The manager in this story does not respond in the manner we might have expected he would respond. He knew he was wrong. He did not try to get people on his side or to side against the landowner. No, instead his actions speak to something different. The landowner fired the manager and wanted to see the manager’s records he kept. The manager’s dishonesty caught up with him.
Sin will always catch up with you. Either on this side of glory or in eternity.
The landowner must have heard the workers’ complaint and confronted his manager’s actions. After the manager is confronted by the landowner the manager quickly considers his future. He gave no thought to his future before.
Many never consider their future until they are forced to face the facts of an awful reality. Most people live with the present in mind. They give no thought of something awful happening, and they have nothing in savings when trouble comes. Many young people do not think of saving for retirement years. Many think they can wait to save for retirement until later in life.
Many people put Jesus and serving him off until later. But what if later never comes? What if the day comes when there is no more tomorrow?
Some believers do not see the importance of remaining faithful to God. The manager did not see the importance of remaining true and faithful either. Having been found to be deceitful by the owner, the manager faces a future he was not expecting. So, the manager decides to reduce the debt that the workers owed the landowner in hopes that the workers would see the manager as being kind and gracious. In the future he hoped that they would be kind to him. The workers have no idea that the manager is fired. The workers believe the manager is representing the owner and they see the landowner as being the gracious landowner he is, rather than how the manager portrayed him earlier of being a harsh owner when he was acting deceitfully to both the owner and workers. They had no idea that he had been accused of being deceitful by the owner. They have no idea that the manager had cooked the books and cheated both the landowner and the workers at the same time, for his own gain. The job of the manager was to be the go between for the landowner and those who worked the land.
The job of the disciples is to be honest representatives of the Lord. The manager is to set a fair price for the owner and for the people working the land. A reasonable honest price that the worker needed to pay for the use of the land. The disciples and every believer are to represent Jesus honestly to the world.
Most likely the manager told the farmer one price (a higher price) and the landowner a lower price and the manager took his share from the difference. But now that the manager has been found out by the owner and is fired, he devises a scheme where he will appear gracious to the working farmers who have had an inflated debt set by the manager for them to pay. By lowering the debt that the farmer was to repay the owner, the manager was hoping to gain the favor of the workers when he needed it. Doing this the manager does two things: 1) he makes the landowner appear benevolent and gracious; and 2) it makes the manager look good to the working farmer who is indebted to the owner.
Understand, the workers do not know the manager is reducing the price they were to pay the landowner for his own benefit. All they know is their debt to the owner is reduced by the words of the manager. They may no longer see the manager as being deceitful. They no longer see the owner as a hard taskmaster.
Having worked in the corporate world, I have witnessed some managers or bosses that take advantage of employees below them. Some will twist the truth for their own purpose and do wrong by the company or the employees under them. This is what the manager in this story is doing.
Having been found out, the manager in this story chooses to do what is right. The manager’s reputation was well known as being dishonest. But in considering his future the manager chooses to act differently. Knowing the landowner, and what his boss is truly like, the manager displays a measure of grace and mercy to those he cheated. It would have been easy for the manager to come down hard on those who he thought had turned him in to the owner. Knowing this, the landowner commends the manager’s actions. The manager acts in such a way as to secure his future by reducing the debts the farm workers were to pay the owner and gains their favor. The manager does the opposite of what he might have done and extends mercy and grace to the workers in hopes that he would receive the same from them when the time came.
In verse 8 the landowner/master commends the actions of the manager:
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:8-9).
Allow me to suggest that when a person chooses to do what is right and turn from evil, they will be blessed for all eternity. However, if they continue to do what is wrong, they too will receive what they are due.
The shrewdness of the manager is commended by the owner and Jesus uses this opportunity to speak to both the disciples and to us today. Doing what is right in the sight of God is better than living according to one’s selfish desires. The manager, by reducing the debt that the workers owed, was hoping his actions would reduce or lessen the penalty due him for his sinful actions.
Church, when we turn from our past and begin to live a Christ-centered life, we will not experience the penalty for our sin that we deserve. Yes, there are consequences to our sinful actions; and we will often live with those memories and situations, the remainder of our lives, but Jesus took upon himself the pain and penalty of sin and death for our sin and the sins of the whole world.
When people see that you have a change of heart, they may wonder what has happened. They may not know that you have had an encounter with the Savior. That your sins have been found out and that Jesus by the Holy Spirit has confronted you with your sin. They may not realize your actions are inspired by the grace and mercy of God that you received, and that you are no longer acting as you once did.
The manager in the story was each of us at one time. He placed all his hope on the reputation of the landowner. The landowner was never the harsh owner that the manager had made him out to be. The same is true of God.
Place all your hope and future on Jesus’ reputation. As believers we place our hope and faith in Christ the Lord. We place our hope in the truth of the gospel message passed down by the disciples and those who translated the scriptures.
The bottom line is no one can serve two masters (Luke 16:9-13). Choose today who you will serve.
Many believers do not see that worldly wealth is not something to hold on to or keep to themselves. It is a tool and a blessing of God to bring people to Christ. When we invest in other people and point them to Jesus, we are displaying the grace and mercy of God to the world.
The manager in this parable blessed the workers by reducing their debt; he displayed the fairness of the owner to the workers.
We share the love and grace of God to the lost when we tell others of the love and grace of God that we were shown when we confessed our sin and asked Jesus into our hearts.
Remember, you cannot serve two masters. Remember, you are precious in Gods eyes. You are the Lord’s representative to the world. One day you will need to give a full accounting of your life. Be fully committed to the Lord. Be future and heavenly minded.
Who will you serve? You have one life. There is only one God. Choose to serve him alone.
Now I have not listed other scriptures on purpose because I want you to search the scriptures and see the character of God yourself; to see how much the Lord loves you and the sinner; to understand that focusing on the Lord and eternity will help you represent Jesus to the world and be that person of God that he desires you to be.
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