Luke 16:10 He who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in the least is unrighteous also in much. (11) If therefore you have not become faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you what is true? (12) And if you have not become faithful in that which belongs to another, who will give to you that which is your own? (13) No household servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
[Part 2 of 3] "Least" [vs. 10] refers to mammon, the possessions of this age. "Much" refers to the rich possessions in the next age. The "true" [vs. 11] refers to the true possessions in the coming kingdom age. It is not God's intent in His New Testament economy for the New Testament believers to care for material possessions. Though the material things in this world were created by God and belong to Him, they have been corrupted by man's fall (Rom. 8:20-21) and usurped by Satan the evil one (1 John 5:19). Hence, they belong to fallen man and are unrighteous (Luke 16:9). While God does supply the believers with their daily necessities from the material things of this age (Matt. 6:31-33) and commits to them as His stewards a portion of these material goods for their exercise and learning that He may prove them in this age, none of these goods should be considered theirs until the restitution of all things in the next age (Acts 3:21). Not till then will the believers inherit the world (Rom. 4:13) and have an abiding possession (Heb. 10:34) for themselves. In this age they should exercise to be faithful in the temporary material things God has given them so that they may learn faithfulness toward their eternal possession in the coming age. Here [vs. 13] the Lord indicates that to serve Him requires us to love Him, giving our hearts to Him, and cleave to Him, giving our entire being to Him. Thus we are released from the occupation and usurpation of mammon so that we may serve the Lord wholly and fully. The Lord emphasizes here that to serve Him we must overcome the enticing deceitful mammon of unrighteousness. In verse 13 we see that mammon is in rivalry with God, competing with Him. On our part, we cannot serve two lords. We serve either God or mammon. This matter is very serious. [Continued tomorrow] (c) 2007 Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 308-309. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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