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| Unjust Steward - Luke 16:13 |
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Lesson # Unjust Steward - Luke 16:13 Study Material - Unjust Steward - Luke 16:13 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Unjust Steward Luke 16:13 13 No [oudeis] servant [oiketes] can [dunamai] serve [douleuo] two [duo] masters [kurios] : for [gar] either [e] he will hate [miseo] the one [heis] , and [kai] love [agapao] the other [heteros] ; or else [e] he will hold [antechomai] to the one [heis] , and [kai] despise [kataphroneo] the other [heteros] . Ye cannot [ou] [dunamai] serve [douleuo] God [theos] and [kai] mammon [mammonas] . KJV-Interlinear 13 'No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.' NASB Master, 'kurios,' means supreme in authority. That is the highest authority that can be recognized. Beyond it there is no other master in existence. That is the concept given here. In your life, there are two potential masters. Since each of these potential masters, when looked to, are the highest that you would recognize in your life, then they are mutually exclusive. They do not rule jointly. They do not rule one first for a time and then the other and then alternate back and forth in their rule. There is a commitment to one or the other, not both. So the obvious question is, just who are these two potential masters of ones life? And, if you have been following this study for any length of time, you should already know that answer. Even in this current parable both masters have been referred to. The first master to which we are exposed to in life, has been referred to as 'mammon.' But more than mammon is in view here. Mammon is just representative of the details of life or everything in life that affects you - your environment, IQ, education, ability, possessions, friends, social life, family, beliefs (apart from God) and so forth. Mammon is a reference to the target or the things of life, the things of this world, but the source is from your thoughts or from your soul. You are what you think and that is the determining factor as to whom you will look to for your master. One more concept is needed here. Your soul is not yours to rule. You are influenced by the content of your soul. If you take in evil thoughts then that will be your guide. If you take in good thoughts, then you will be influenced differently. That should seem obvious. In this world there is one ruler of the human realm and that is the sin nature. Everyone is born spiritually dead, therefore the need for salvation. You are under the control of the sin nature. But when you hear the gospel, then you have access to another potential master, which is God. And more specifically God the Holy Spirit. When saved, you become indwelled with the Holy Spirit. Actually you become indwelled by all three members of the Trinity, but the Spirit is all that need be in view here. Your master (potentially) is the Holy Spirit. The policy of His rulership is Bible doctrine. And it was all designed by the Father. So in effect God in whole is or can become your master. In order for that mastership of God to function you must give or surrender yourself to His will and that is done by means of confession of your personal sins to God the Father which places you into fellowship and thus under His control. When you sin, then you fall out of fellowship and you live under the control of the sin nature. The sin nature is the master of the carnal life, the master of the mammon if you will. God is the master of the spiritual life. These then are your two masters. They each function either out of fellowship (sin nature), or in fellowship (Holy Spirit). These two environments do not coexist together, but are mutually exclusive. They are separate and distinct and never simultaneous. You are either under the control of one or the other, never both. So you cannot have the world and God at the same time. You cannot live a double life. That is a fools dream. One or the others influence will eventually take over your life and if you continually flirt with life outside of fellowship with God, then that pattern of life will eventually rule you. In this summary the conclusion is clear. If you pursue life under the rulership of the sin nature, then you will eventually hate life under Gods rule and your passion will gravitate to the things of the sin nature. If, on the other hand, you pursue a pattern of life under Gods rule, then you will come to love Gods rule - holding fast to it, and in so doing you will be able to recognize the duplicitous, hypocritical, shallow, inconsistent nature of the functions of the sin nature and those who live by it. This will drive you to disgust, and disappointment, exasperation, frustration and so forth when you witness it in yourself and even and especially in others. Not that you judge others but you cannot help but recognize the functions of the sin nature when you see them. In this political season, you probably wonder why people cannot seem to recognize the inconsistencies, shallowness and down right lack of qualifications of a candidate running for office, and there are two answers to that. First, there are those who hope to benefit from the candidacy or the victory of the candidate. They either receive compensation, or publicity from activities related to the candidate. And second there are those who are simply naive as to the facts of life. They lack Bible doctrine and therefore they lack discernment. They are not functioning in fellowship therefore they are functioning outside of fellowship and under the influence of the sin nature. They then become susceptible to the influences of the sin nature which inevitably drop to the lowest common denominator of human behavior and that is simply emotion. The more ingrained one is in the sin nature, the more hate one will feel for truth. The less ingrained one is in the sin nature the more influenced one is by knee jerk emotion (they believe the last thing they hear). This is why the opinion polls seem to change from day to day. Some folks are hard core in their beliefs, and others are 'blonde' in their decisions. So you are the only one who is important in your life. Your thoughts and the one to whom you will volunteer the subordination of your life, are what matters in your life and that will determine the details of your ultimate destiny in eternity. Live your life under the sin nature exclusively and you lose in life completely. Live your life partially under the Holy Spirit (being in fellowship), and mostly under the sin nature, and you will only compromise your life into loss of blessings. Live your life partially under the sin nature but mostly under the control of the Holy Spirit (being in fellowship), and you have a chance of gravitating totally toward the better of the two and greater blessing. But you still run the risk of falling away from God and losing even more blessings in life and in eternity. Live your life under the power of the Holy Spirit mostly and you assure yourself victory and a phenomenal life both in this life and in the next. There is only One God - the Father. There is only one plan - the divine decrees. There is only one means of access to God - through the Son, Jesus Christ, who though God, subordinated Himself to the plan of the Father so as to discredit any possible conclusions that there is more than one means of access and more than one plan to get into heaven. There is only one means of truly growing up - to spiritual maturity through the daily intake of Gods Word. There is only one good environment in which one should live their life - in fellowship. There is only one life for you, and that is your life here and now. Don't make the wrong decisions and ultimately screw up your entire eternal existence. Don't take short cuts in life. Don't compromise important aspects of your life. Don't ignore the counsel of God in your life. Study the Bible daily as commanded, live in fellowship as commanded, apply what you learn to your daily life as commanded, and grow up to spiritual maturity as God desires for you to do. Gen. 17:1-2 'I am God Almighty [the ultimate authority and power] ; Walk before Me [your daily study and application of doctrine to your life] , and be blameless [reside in fellowship] . 2 'And I will establish My covenant between Me and you [spiritual maturity] , And I will multiply you exceedingly [phenomenal blessings] .' NASB Though these words were spoken to Abraham, the Bible was written to teach each one of us, for the purpose of benefiting each one of us. We have but only to believe it and obey. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
