{"id":11933,"date":"2024-03-12T07:13:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T23:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=11933"},"modified":"2024-03-12T07:13:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T23:13:19","slug":"a-call-to-total-commitment-in-all-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2024\/03\/12\/a-call-to-total-commitment-in-all-things\/","title":{"rendered":"A Call to Total Commitment in All Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 16:10-13 10<\/sup>One who is faithful in a trivial matter is also faithful in much, and one who is unrighteous in a very little is also unrighteous in much. 11<\/sup>Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous money, who will entrust to you with the true? 12<\/sup>And if you have not been faithful in that which is another\u2019s, who will give you that which is your own? 13<\/sup>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.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus continued speaking to his disciples about the theme of possessions and stewardship. He uses antithetic parallel phrases to move his thought forward and explain the key ideas to his disciples. He compares words that have significant meaning. The comparisons are not always equal. In verse 10, faithful\u00a0<\/em>(pistos<\/em>) is compared to unrighteous<\/em> (adikos<\/em>). These words come directly in reflection of the previous parable about the shrewd manager. Those who are faithful to what the Master expects will also be righteous. Being unfaithful leads to unrighteousness. The comparison is in degrees as\u00a0little<\/em> is compared to\u00a0much<\/em>. In the first proverb, faithful stewards will be rewarded with more to care for. They have proven their worth with small matters. Their character shines through no matter how much they are given to care for. The opposite is true in the second proverb. It does not matter how much is given to unrighteous people because they will not do well no matter what. Their bad character is also evident no matter what.<\/p>\n

Verse 11 connects to the previous parable and the one that follows in verse 19. The topic is about the proper use of money. The word for\u00a0money<\/em> is the Aramaic word\u00a0mamon\u00a0<\/em>which can mean wealth, sustenance, or even food. It is found only in verses 9, 11, and 13 and the similar passage in Matthew 6:24. In verse 11, the word has a negative sense for how it is gained through unrighteousness. The word is assumed in the second phrase where it is called\u00a0true<\/em>. Wealth, possessions, money, and various essentials can come through various means, either through self-serving motives and actions or in ways that glorify God and are consistent with kingdom values. Another possible meaning of the true\u00a0mamon<\/em> is spiritual and about following Christ wherever he calls.<\/p>\n

Verse 12 reverses the idea of verse 11 and is a warning of not be faithful to what God has given us to steward. God blesses people differently and brings different responsibilities into our lives. How do we handle those blessings and responsibilities? These verses transition from the call to accept and forgive from the older son in 15:25-32 to the call to be faithful in finances and goods. There is a strong connection to practical living, but this call is based on spiritual choices. What person does with possessions indicates his or her spiritual condition.<\/p>\n

Verse 13 gives the challenge. We cannot serve two masters because service requires commitment. The verse is structured with chiastic parallelism with hate<\/em> (A) compared to love <\/em>(B), and\u00a0devoted<\/em>\u00a0(B) compared with\u00a0despising<\/em> (A). To hate means to look down on someone with contempt . Love involves commitment. Jesus leaves no middle ground. A servant’s devotion and commitment cannot be split. As a proverb, we must understand its intent and extent. It is not a timeless truth for all servants or people working two jobs. The specific application is given in the last statement and is refers specially to what captures our heart and motives: either God or\u00a0mamon<\/em>, representing things of this world. Jesus calls for exclusive loyalty, and that will involve everything of our lives, not just an ascent of our minds. We must show our devotion by being living sacrifices in all aspects (Romans 12:1-2).<\/p>\n

For older posts, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 16:10-13 10One who is faithful in a trivial matter is also faithful in much, and one who is unrighteous in a very little is also unrighteous in much. 11Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous money, who will entrust to you with the true? 12And if you have not been faithful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11933"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11948,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11933\/revisions\/11948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}