Verses 1-8
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This parable speaks of a man that used unethical but intelligent means to win favor from his “coworkers” so that after he was removed from the stewardship—and thus homeless—his workers would let him live with them.
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Jesus finishes the parable by stating that it's common for unbelievers, although they might do so for the wrong reasons, to be smarter with their resources than believers. This should not be!
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Learn to be skilled with your resources, and especially your money. As a believer, you should want be smarter with your money than the unbelievers around you.
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Verse 9
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The ultimate reason why we should be smart with our money is so that we can use it to win friends out of unbelievers, and attract them to Christ! Then we will be in heaven with them!
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When a believer is good with their money, and is generous with it, it draws people in.
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Money is more attractive to the unbeliever. So, when they see that you are skilled with money, it makes you more attractive to them also. This creates an opportunity for a relationship that can turn someone to Christ!
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Don't seek to have and manage money well merely for yourself. Seek to be skilled with your money so that you can be a better attractant to unbelievers that you can bring to Christ!
Verses 10-13
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It's necessary that we use our money well if we want to be entrusted with more valuable things from God.
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If we cannot be faithful with money, we can't be faithful with anything else.
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Work on getting your finances in order, amongst the first things that you work on in your life, and you will have a great start for growth in other areas.
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We cannot serve God and money. If you're bad with your money, it consumes your life and causes worries and cares. This is serving money (Matthew 6:24-25).
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Be faithful and skilled with your finances, and you will be able to serve God faithfully!
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Verses 14-15
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The Pharisees loved money and therefore could not serve God, even though they tried to make the appearance that they served God.
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The Pharisees were esteemed by people for their wealth and outward piety. But God despised their greed and hypocrisy. You cannot hide a love of money from God! Don't pretend that you love God if in your actions you are serving money.
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People might respect you more for being wealthy, but does God does not. God respects the heart that is right.
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Don't let the respect that people might have for you, for having money, cause you to justify a love of money. God detests the love of money, as it “is the root of all of evil (1 Timothy 6:10)
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Keep your heart right! Seek God's respect, not people's respect.
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Verses 16-17
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John the Baptist's and Jesus' message meant the beginning of a new era—a new covenant allowing people to enter the kingdom of God through repentance and belief in the gospel of Christ.
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And since that time, many are pressing into the matter of God's kingdom, and how to enter it. So Jesus adds, to clarify, that the new covenant does not ignore the Old Testament law. No part of the Old Testament will become unimportant.
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Do focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the New Testament, but don't ignore the Old Testament. Read it too because it's important!
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More clarification on the purpose of the Old Testament can be found in teaching on Romans 3 and 4, and Galatians 3.
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Verse 18
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See teaching on Matthew 19, Mark 10, and 1 Corinthians 7 for more details.
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We know that the law of God still matters in God's kingdom, including laws about marriage and divorce.
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Divorce is adultery. However, Jesus taught that infidelity was acceptable grounds for divorce (Matthew 5:31-32, 19:7-9), and Paul taught that abandonment by an unbelieving spouse was also acceptable grounds for divorce (1 Corinthians 7:15).
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Therefore, divorcing one's spouse without biblical cause is adultery.
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Verses 19-31
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Jesus shows in this teaching that a place called Hades exists.
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When an unsaved/unbelieving person dies, their spirit descends to Hades, which is in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40), to a place of torment generated by an intense flame.
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Hades holds the spirits of the dead until the final day of judgment, when Hades itself and everyone in it will be cast into a different place called the lake of fire(Revelation 20:11-15).
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And in the time before Jesus died and rose again, the spirit of the righteous descended to a place of rest—a separate compartment in Hades.
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Now, all the righteous that die are brought directly to heaven to be with Christ(2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
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Jesus finishes the teaching by telling us that if a person does not listen to the Word—the law of God—they will not believe even if someone appears to them from the dead.
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People are deceived by many things. Visions, dreams, signs, wonders...all these things are unreliable. Only the Word stands unchangeable (“not one tittle of the law will pass away”)
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Even so, a person must respect and listen to the Word is they want press into and enter the kingdom of God. Always listen to the Word, and trust the Word over everything else! Do not believe what contradicts the Word.
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