Money, The Law, and Heaven — Anton Bosch

Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16 and I'm going to read 10 through 18. Luke chapter 16 reading 10 through 18. And this is the application following the parable of the unjust steward and we sort of connecting to that again this morning and moving on as the Lord Jesus moves on in his teaching.

So Luke 16 verse 10. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to you.

If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to you your trust the true riches. And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's who will give to you what is your own.

No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve god and mammon. Now the pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided him and he said to them you are those who justify yourselves before men but god knows your hearts.

For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of god. The law and the prophets were until john. Since that time the kingdom of god has been preached and everyone is pressing into it.

And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

And so jesus is giving the application. Remember we said that this parable is very difficult. It's also very difficult to understand which of these verses that we're dealing with this morning are attached to the parable and which are just separate teachings.

But it seems that most of them are either directly connected or indirectly connected. And so remember the last week we ended help we turn things on indirectly connect. So last week we ended with verse 11.

Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit you your trust the true riches. And so the application of course is that if we are not able to handle money then how will god give to us the true riches which are spiritual things.

And and in verse 12 the application is similar to verse 11 but slightly different. If you have not been faithful in what is another's who will give to you your own. So you can see the connection between those two verses.

The verse 11 says if you've not been faithful in money who will give you true riches. Now he says if you're not faithful in what is someone else's how will someone give you your own. And i i think that he is uh i'm not sure that there is a spiritual application to this verse.

Remember that that that everything that jesus teaches is not necessarily spiritual. Some of the things have a very real practical application. And remember the context is the parable of the steward the steward who was unfaithful and then he gets fired and he then makes a plan to secure his future.

That's the background of the story. And then he says that the children of the world are wiser than the children of light or of the kingdom. So what does this verse mean. Well i think it's just exactly what it says.

Um many many people uh aspire to have their own business. Um they they don't like their job. Or they don't like their boss. They don't like the idea of working for a boss. And they say well you know i i need to be in my own business.

Um and and we're i'm not discouraging anyone from being in your own business. I i had my own business for many many years. But if you have not been able to be faithful working for a boss you won't make it working for yourself.

That's what jesus is saying. If you have not been able to be faithful in another man's affairs another man's business working under a boss then who will give you your own. And the answer is no one's going to give it to you.

And you're not going to get it for yourself because you couldn't get it for him. How you're going to get it for yourself. So if you failed at a being a servant or a employee you will fail at being a your own employee.

If you can't work for a boss who is outside of yourself you won't work for yourself as the boss. That's just the reality. Remember the background. If you if you're faithful in little things you'll be faithful in much.

If you're unfaithful in little you'll be unfaithful in much. If you're unfaithful in working for a boss in another man's business then you will be unfaithful in your own business. That's just the practical reality.

And i i think that preachers or put a spiritual spin on this and say well you know if you've not been a good member then who's going to give you your own church. If you want to have a church i'm not sure that we can go there.

I think that that's true. Um you know if if you're not able to be a good deacon then you know how are you going to be an elder. If you're not able to be a good member how will you ever lead another church.

Obviously those things are true but i'm not sure that that that you can extract that from uh from this verse all right. Now we get to a another angle on this whole issue. And that is no man can serve two masters either he will hate one or love the other else he will be loyal to one despise the other.

And here's the application. You cannot serve god and mammon or money. You can't serve both of these things. Well i'm not so sure because 95 percent of american christians seem to be doing this. And they seem to be doing it pretty successfully.

But there's a catch because a little bit further jesus says what men think is great. God doesn't think is so great. So when we think that we're being successful at doing these two things at the same time god says no.

I'm not pleased you're not doing so well at it. But but here's the problem. It's a it's a it's a plain straightforward statement you can't serve two masters. You cannot serve money and god at the same time.

And yet as i've said the vast majority of american christians not just american but western christians think they can do this. African christians south american christian they all think that they can juggle these two things.

I can chase money or worship money or serve money. And i can serve god at the same time. You cannot do it. Yes we can serve god with our money. That's part of what jesus is saying in his parable. In this parable remember he's saying what.

What are you building for eternity. That's the question. What are you building for eternity. What are you using your money for. Are you using it to make an investment in eternity. Or are you using it to build yourself a kingdom here and now.

Now i i know immediately we excuse ourselves and we say well i'm not rich. So i'm not serving money. But folks the problem is that rich and poor serve money. The rich have it and the poor want it. But they both love it.

And it's not about how much you've got it's about your heart and your attitude. Remember jesus has a lot to say about rich people and how hard it is for them to get in the kingdom. But it's not impossible for a rich man to get in the kingdom.

The riches is not what holds him back. It's his attitude to those things. It's the love of money that is the root of evil not money itself. And unfortunately poor people love money just as much as rich people love money.

And the question simply is who am i serving. In other words what you think about most. I think it's hard for us to to do a self-examination and say well how much of my time do i spend thinking about god and the things of god and god's word.

And how much time do i spend about thinking about money and stuff and what i'm going to buy next and should i buy a red one or a blue one. And folk the reality is that at the end of the day we tend to spend more time on stuff whether it's buying it or using it or dreaming about the next one.

Then we spend about the things of god and jesus says you can't do both at the same time. You see the pharisees were very good at this thing that we've spoken about many times about compartmentalizing.

They had their compartment in which they served god. And they had their compartment in which they did business. And and they were most of these pharisees were businessmen. They were not full-time priests or some of them were rabbis but most of them were businessmen in some shape or form.

Remember paul was a pharisee and he was a tent maker that was his that was his trade. And so they they would do a trade but they were also very involved in the things of of the things of god as they understood it.

But when it came to business we have a saying in south africa business is business. And what we mean by that is that there's no ethics in business. It's business. I'm a christian but when it comes to business business is business.

It's got nothing to do with my christian ethics. And remember that we don't have these compartments. And that's the that was the point that jesus was making. They had one compartment in which they served money and they said well that's got nothing to do with my relationship with god.

And i have another compartment in which i serve god. And so when i'm doing god things when i'm going to the synagogue when i'm reading the scriptures when i'm debating with my fellow pharisees well that is my god part of my life.

And and when i'm doing business that's my business part. And the two have nothing to do with each other. So i can chase money and i can be unethical even in my pursuit of money here because that doesn't infringe on the rest of my of my of my faith.

And and this is just not true as far as jesus is concerned because there is no compartment for your money and a compartment for your faith. The two are one and the same thing. And the way that i exercise my faith is revealed in my attitude towards money and other areas.

Remember paul speaks about the way that you do your job your faith is expressed in those things. And so you can't separate these things and say well it's okay for me to to have this problem in my life.

And it's not just money. There are all sorts of other problems. Our immorality sex anger hatred the list goes on and on and we separate that out and we say well that's you know that's that's my political life.

Well that's my my moral life. And it has nothing to do with my faith. No your faith extends to every area of your life. And your faith is expressed in every area of your life. There is no corner in your life where you can say my faith does not extend to it.

There are no dark corners there are no closed rooms where god has no access. God needs to have access to every area. And my love for him must permeate every detail every aspect of my life. The way i do my job the way i treat money my attitude towards money.

Now while we're on this there are there are really two there are really two things i want to highlight. And there there are many many we can spend hours speaking about the the problems of money the problems in how christians deal with money.

But but there are there are two things that seem to be the the the main issues today. The the one is the pursuit of money the chasing after money. And i don't know that it is revealed any clearer than in the lotto.

The millions of dollars that are poured into the scratch cards and the lotto and the numbers games whatever you call them. You say well that's that. You know it's great. There's i don't remember the numbers 200 million 300 million to be won.

But if there's 200 million to be won there's 200 fools that have put their their two bucks or five bucks or whatever it costs to buy a card they've thrown it into. Now for gambling is one thing of course it's wrong.

Playing the lotto is wrong. Why. Because it shows a greed and the whole thing runs on greed. And the problem with that is my attitude towards god. Christians say well it's no problem for me to buy a scratch card here and there.

Well here's the problem. How much does the card cost. Five bucks. Let's say five bucks. So you so you give the 7-eleven guy five bucks for a card. What are you doing when you do that. Who gave you the five bucks.

God gave you the five dollars. And what are you saying. You're saying no thanks god. I don't want the five dollars you gave me. I want the hundred dollars the devil may give me. It's serious folk when we gamble with our money we're saying the money that we're putting on the table.

Whether you're playing the slot machine or whether you're playing the lotto you're saying i'm not grateful for what god has given me. I'm discontent. I want a million. But god gave you five. And if you're not faithful with the five remember the context.

If you're not faithful with the five how will god give you a million. Because easy come as easy go. And if you can't look after the five dollars god has given you he's not going to give you 50. That's just the point.

That's the point jesus is making. Now folk my intention is not to not to speak about gambling but what it reveals when when you see those lines of people and many of them are christians and many of them will will will make christian symbols.

Many of them will pray and say god i'm you know please i need i need to win this. What it is showing is greed. What it is showing is discontent. What it is showing is how wanting more and more and more.

This is this is the problem. And folk you know i've just been watching some of the images on the screen in afghanistan and just looking at people fleeing for their lives. Everything they had built up their house their furniture their heirlooms their car it's all gone.

They're just hoping to get out of there with their lives. And yet a year ago those same people their house their cars if they have cars some of them do their furniture their possessions was everything to them.

That was their whole life. And now suddenly it's nothing when faced with the reality of the brevity of life. And folk i believe as christians as i was watching the news you know i said lord please may the christians come to that same position.

And i'm not asking that we lose everything but we come to the same understanding of saying those things matter nothing. If i can just get into heaven that's the important thing. And yet we want to hold on to these things.

And then the other aspect that i want to know there as i said there are many many things we can talk about here. But the other thing i want to just highlight is the consumerism of our society. Many people don't have money because they spend it all now while hoarding money is not a good thing at the same time blowing every penny you have is also not a good thing because it shows greed in a different sense.

Some some people are greedy because they want to see money in the bank and they'll turn every penny over 10 times just to make sure that they can they can increase their bank balance. Other people's greed has a different form.

They will max out every credit card they have and you've seen them at the at the cash out. Well let's try this card. No it's declined. Try this one try this one. No it's declined. And then you look at the stuff they're buying and it's rubbish.

It's not essentials. It's not even good stuff. It's just junk. But they gotta buy. And there's a sickness in our society that we have to buy buy buy buy. And we get some kind of high out of buying stuff.

When in and i first came to america we would go to yard sales to to buy essentials to furnish our house and to buy some stuff. And and i was amazed by the number of things that were still in their boxes dresses and clothes with the labels on.

They've never been worn. So why did they buy them. Because they needed them. No because they just love buying folk. It is a god and an evil task master that people serve. And folk unfortunately christians are in the same boat.

You know has a whole wardrobe someone gave her not in this church every single one with a label on. Not because this person went out and bought her these things but because this person bought these things.

And years later discovered i don't have closet space gave them away. Finally not out of the goodness of her heart. No. So she can go and buy more folk. You cannot serve god and money or things. And yet that is what every not every god help us but almost every christian tries to do.

You can't do it. Decide. Remember god calls israel from the very beginning and over and over in the history of israel. Choose today who you're going to serve. And i pray that today may be a crisis point for somebody when you say i'm done with serving this world i'm going to serve god.

And i'm not asking you to give up your job. I'm not asking you to give up your house or whatever whatever it is but i'm asking you to change your attitude. That these things become your servants not your master.

That your money is a servant and a tool to serve god and not a master. That you have to serve as a slave. Because at the end of the day when the chips are down you can only serve one or the other. And when you have to make a decision between stuff and god you will serve.

You will choose the one who is your true master. All right. Let's move on verse 14. The pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided him. They scoffed at him. They thought he was nuts.

Maybe you've listened to me for the last 15 minutes and you say well he's nuts. Because that's the problem when we talk about these things. When jesus talked about these things when i talk about these things folk the problem is that the vast majority of christians say why does he have to get onto that.

Can't he speak about theology. But this is theology. This is how we live our lives. This is how we express our worship of the lord. And i'm pretty sure there are some who are watching. Maybe some who are here this morning are saying oh he's lost it.

And that's what they said of jesus. Because you see it's it's easy when we talk about worship. When we talk about singing. When you talk about hebrews chapter 1 the wonderful greatness of the lord jesus.

That's great. But don't touch my money. And certainly don't touch my attitude to money. Jesus says in verse 15 you are those who justify yourselves before men. But god knows your hearts. You see again it's easy to take these verses in isolation to take this verse and say well let's understand what is this verse saying.

But it's in the context of what jesus has just been speaking about. And he's just been speaking about their attitude to money to material things. And he says you justify yourselves before men. In other words you make yourself look good all religious and spiritual.

But god knows your hearts. And remember this is the essence of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is putting on a mask. Hypocrisy is trying to appear all spiritual when in fact you're not. And folks sometimes we can fool some people.

We can't fool god. God knows your heart. You can appear to be religious. You can appear to be all holy and all spiritual. But god knows the truth and the reality. And here's the problem. What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of god notice that he's he's he's using two extremes.

What is highly esteemed by men god sees as an abomination. And and and here's the problem is that we we can fool people because people have the wrong values. I guess one of the things that i spend some time wondering about from time to time is is what makes certain preachers popular and famous.

And folk please understand i'm not saying this in any sense of jealousy. I'm trying in an objective way to understand why do some preachers get thousands and thousands of hits or views on their videos and you and i listen to them.

And i know a good preacher when i hear one. But many of these guys are not good preachers. They mishandle the word of god. Many of them don't even know anything about the word of god. And yet people flock to them.

I listened to the first few minutes of a of a of a preacher a couple of weeks ago. And the title of his message i don't remember the exact title but had to do with pride. Pride was in the title that was he was preaching about pride.

And in the first two or three minutes and that's as far as my patience went. He says we all have a problem with pride. And then the very next sentence he talks about his international ministry and how many thousands of people watch his videos and how many thousands of emails he gets from all over the world.

Folk please understand i'm not jealous. I'm not envious of that kind of thing at all. I have one concern and that is that my father is pleased with me. That's all that matters to me. But he's preaching against pride.

And yet he is the most prideful man that i've ever heard in my life. Look at my ministry look what i've done but don't be proud for prideful. And yet thousands of people watch those videos and they say this is great.

And they can't understand that this the very thing he's preaching against is the very thing he's demonstrating you see because what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before god. Our values are just not god's values.

I wish they were and i'm sure jesus was praying god. I just want israel to see things the way you see things. Because if they saw things the way god saw things they would have rejected the pharisees and they would not have crucified jesus.

But they didn't have a clue. And folk i'm praying god help us god give us people in this country people in this world who will see things the way you see them. Who will value what you value. Who will love what god loves and who will hate what god hates.

Folk we need a we need a conversion. A conversion in the church at large so that god's values may become our values. And we stop trying to impose our values on god and saying well god surely this must be good because i think it's good.

And god says no it's not good. Just at the beginning of the verse he says you're those who justify yourselves before men doesn't matter what men think. There's only one who declares whether we're just or not just.

And that is the father or the lord jesus on the day of judgment. It's his judgment that matters. And yeah you can get people to follow you. You can get people to think you're the greatest christian out or the greatest parent out or the greatest whatever it is it.

That's not what matters. It's god's judgment that matters. And it's only god who justifies. You can be just justifying yourself before man. And of course that little word yourself. You can't justify yourself.

There's only one who can justify us. And that's the lord jesus through his work on the cross of calvary. That's the only justification. There is now verse 16 and now there's a there's a change. He says the law and the prophets were until john.

This is another difficult verse. By the way john 16 has a bunch of difficult verses. The law and the prophets were until john. The law and the prophets the old testament. Remember the law the first five books.

The rest of it basically the prophets. Of course there's in between there are the poetic books but that's all regarded by them as the prophets were until john. Which john. John the baptist. Obviously.

So the law and the prophets were until john. Since that time the kingdom of god has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. There are two difficult issues here. The first part of the verse first three lines on the screen is the basis of an enormous amount of heresy in christianity.

Today they preach this as jesus saying the law and the prophets were till john. And then that was the end of the law and the prophets. We're no longer under law. We're under grace. How many times you have heard that is that what jesus is saying.

Well i'm going to move forward and then i'm going to come back to verse 16. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one title of the lord to fail. When will the law fail. When will the law cease.

When will the law stop. Never. Heaven and earth will pass away jesus said elsewhere. But my words will endure forever. The law continues. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one title.

Remember the title is the little squiggle on the top of the hebrew letter that changes one letter from one to the other. The same almost the same. It's not exactly the same but the same as the dot on the eye.

And if we if jesus was writing english or speaking english he would have said it's easier for the dot on the eye because it's just a little dot. But it makes the difference between a one and an eye. Between an l and an eye.

Not exactly but some in some some typefaces it does. And in hebrew there are three letters where there's a little little squiggle on the letter and it changes the letter. And jesus says those little squiggles won't fail.

So is jesus saying when he says in verse 16 the law and the prophets were until john. So the lord prophets is gone. No he says it. It continues then verse 18 whoever divorces his wife marries another commits adultery.

So what's he doing here. He's taking the law and he is reinforcing it. He is restating it and he's only taking one out of the ten. And in matthew he takes i think three out of the ten. He could have taken all ten.

So is jesus saying the law and the prophets is until john and the law and the prophets are no more. No he's just restated it. So the law and the prophets is not done away. And obviously we understand that we are not saved by keeping the law.

We understand the book of galatians. I'm not going to go into that in great detail or at all but for the sake of those who are watching and saying well this guy is a heretic because he is a legalist. He's saying we've got to go back to the law.

No we don't go back to the law. But there's a the principles of the law stand forever. And jesus makes the point here. And he says adultery is adultery. It doesn't change from the old testament to the new testament doesn't change before john till after john.

And it doesn't change after the cross because paul says the same thing. And that's just one example. All right now let's go back verse 16 again. The law and the prophets were until john. Since that time the kingdom of god has been preached.

So look at what jesus is saying. He's not saying the law and the prophets is until john. And now that's gone. He's simply saying that was what was the message. The message until the new testament was the law and the prophets.

There was no gospel in the old testament. It was just the law and the prophets. Now he says we're preaching the kingdom. It doesn't do away with the law and the prophets. It's just that our message is a different message now.

And it's not a different message. But it's remember we spoken about progressive revelation on thursdays. It's an extension of the old testament. But that's our emphasis. There are christian churches where every every sunday when the church comes together they'll read the ten commandments.

No we don't read the ten commandments doesn't mean the ten commandments is done away with. But our message is the cross. Our message is the kingdom. That's what we're preaching. Jesus doesn't preach against the law but he preaches the kingdom.

There's a different emphasis. And our emphasis today is not the law. It is grace. But it doesn't mean that grace does away with the law. Jesus does not do away with the law. He fulfills the law. And again we misunderstand that statement.

We say well that means if he fulfilled it then we can put it away. No it simply means that jesus perfectly kept the law. That doesn't mean he does away with it. That's a whole other a whole other story.

All right now. The other difficult part of this verse and i think i'm out of time but i want to finish this section because we want to get to the rich man and lazarus next week. So the kingdom has been preached and everyone is pressing into it.

Matthew says. And the violent take it by force. Very difficult verse to interpret. But and i've not found a good interpretation in the commentaries. So i'm going to give you mine and you can take it for what it's worth.

The kingdom is the message. Everyone is trying to get into it. Is that true. Yeah everybody wants to go to heaven. Except the few that don't believe that there's anything beyond death. But i'm pretty sure that you stop people on the street outside here and you asked you want to go to heaven.

Probably eight or nine out of ten will say yeah i want to go to heaven. And it doesn't matter how bad you lived your life. You get angel's wings and you're up there looking down. And of course we don't.

We know that's not the truth. But that's the problem. Everyone wants to get there but everyone doesn't get there. Everyone wants to get into the kingdom. Everyone is pressing to get into the kingdom. Remember at this point there are thousands of people following jesus and they all want to be part of the kingdom.

But did they all get to be part of the kingdom. No only 120 in the upper room and 500 in galilee. And i'm you know those just rough numbers but less than a thousand. Maybe i don't know of the thousands who were following jesus who who'd stopped their businesses who'd left their fishing had left their farms and they were just following jesus wanting to get into the kingdom.

But when the cross came they all disappeared. And so my understanding of this verse simply is that jesus is saying i'm preaching the kingdom and everybody wants it. And that's true. But it doesn't mean everybody gets it all right.

Let's move on verse 17. It's easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one tittle of the law to fail. The whole of the bible is true and the whole of the bible is relevant. And while i've spent most of my ministry preaching the new testament i have preached from the old testament.

But the preaching from the new testament is based on the preaching of the old testament. As you'll see as we go through the book of hebrews if you don't understand the old testament particularly the law you will not understand the book of hebrews.

Verse 18 whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. Whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. Jesus is stating this obviously to prove that the law is not done away.

But that's not the end of the story. Because it's easy to say well yeah that's the technical thing. That's what. That's why jesus is saying this. No he's making a point about divorce and adultery. And thankfully for you we've run out of time because this is where i need another three sessions to speak about divorce.

But you've heard me on that subject before. But folk let me let me just sum it up by saying that we live in a time when christianity and when the church has minimized divorce as being acceptable preachers are divorcing not just once but twice three times four times getting remarried over and over and over.

And it's fine. And they continue preaching the churches continue to accept them as legitimate men of god. Jesus says no divorce is wrong. End of the story end of the story. There are two exceptions again just to make this clear the one exception is adultery.

If the other partner commits adultery and again there's a whole teaching that goes with that. It doesn't mean it's an excuse to get divorced. But if you really have to that's one reason and the other is in 1 corinthians chapter 7 desertion.

If the unbeliever leaves then paul says let them go. You're not bound. Those are the only exceptions. There are no other exceptions. I know there are preachers and there are friends of mine who will differ with me on that.

But that's my understanding. Oh what about this situation. What about i don't know. What about those situations. All i know is what jesus told me. And all i know is what paul said. And that divorce for any reason other than adultery and desertion is sin.

Now you may be in a remarried situation. It doesn't mean that you now need to divorce again and commit yet another sin to go back to your first wife as some people are preaching. Yeah it's a very popular teaching in some some circles.

I've dealt with three marriages in that with that regard already. But folk if you are married and i'm not addressing those who are in second marriages or third or fourth marriages that that that's not the point i'm trying to get to at this point because i have one minute left.

But if you're in a marriage there is no excuse for you to leave your husband or your wife. Because many of us are just looking for an excuse and jesus is addressing people who had two different views.

And the the view that paul's school that paul came from the school of was that basically if she burnt the food you could divorce her. Jesus says no way. And yet we will divorce for burning the food today as we used to say in the old days for squeezing the toothpaste tube the wrong way.

Folk there is no excuse. You make it work you get god's help and god's grace and you stick it out and you make it work and god will bless you and god will bless the marriage. And it may not happen today or tomorrow.

It may take many years in our own marriage it took decades but god came through for us. God came through for us. If you honor god in your marriage god will honor you. But you live in disobedience. Don't expect god's blessing on your life because jesus says you're in sin father we pray that you'd help us.

Lord i wish i had more time but lord these things are real. This is what life is made up of money and marriage and adultery and hypocrisy. Lord we pray that you'd help us. Lord help us to be the people you want us to be.