Learning Jesus | Week 24
Learning Jesus Week 24
Stewards, Sons, & Servants
Key Word – duty >> Central Passage – Luke 16:19-31
Today’s parable is probably one of the most difficult parables to understand. If you compare the manager in this parable to the Pharisees who abused their stewardship, this might enhance your understanding. In verse 14, we learn that the Pharisees are listening to Jesus as He teaches His disciples. Anyone who is a teacher, whether they be a parent, evangelist, school teacher, etc., has at times directly taught one person or group (v1) while indirectly teaching another person or group listening to the instruction. So read this and the lessons that follow as Jesus has a heart to disciple His disciples to greatness and to win individual Pharisees to repentance.
Day 1 – Luke 16:1-9
1. We don’t know whether the steward (manager) cheated his master or simply did not manage his master’s money wisely. We only know that he was “wasting” his master’s possessions which prompted the master to demand an account of his books before letting the steward go. We also don’t know if after being confronted, the steward misused his master’s money or if he made use of his given authority to reduce the clients’ debts or if he sacrificed his commission so that he could reduce the clients’ debts. The last option seems most logical given that the master commends his steward’s shrewdness instead of sending him to jail.
o The steward’s actions did benefit the clients, his “friends,” but was benefiting them the steward’s purely motivated goal? Yes No
o Did the steward’s actions benefit his master in any way? Yes No
o So whose future did the steward secure by “making friends”? ________________
Why are the steward’s actions exactly what we would expect from an unbeliever who lives according to the world’s wisdom and values?
2. Remember the parable we read about a friend who reluctantly provided bread in the middle of the night just so his friend would leave him alone? The reluctant friend’s response to petition was to totally contrast the Father’s response to our petitions. Following rabbinic teaching rhetoric, Jesus moved from the lesser (friend) to the greater (heavenly Father) so that His disciples can properly apply the parable’s principle to pray boldly. Here Jesus is again moving from lesser (steward, a son of the world) to greater (disciple, son of light).
o How are sons of light God’s stewards?
o If we believers steward our money to “make friends” of the lost (evangelize/disciple), how will they greet us when we see them in our shared “eternal dwelling”?
o In verse 14, we learn that the Pharisees trusted the temporary benefits of money instead of God.
With Whom could the Pharisees “make friends” to shrewdly provide for their own future? ________
3. In how you steward your wealth and possessions, are you living as a son of light or a son of the world? Meditate on this passage, and seek God in prayer about this.
Day 2 – Luke 16:10-18
Background Information – Jesus is still referring to worldly money as “unrighteous wealth” (v11). This would include not just money, but all worldly possessions that “fail” (Luke 16:9) when we die, meaning we are not able to bring them with us into eternity. Remember that sometimes Scripture uses love as in “to choose” and hate as in “not to choose.” Another way to think of it is that to love is “to prioritize something” and to hate is “to not prioritize something.
1. Why does Jesus polarize money as a competitor to God?
2. In contrast, the Pharisees viewed money as a sign of God’s favor, so they ridicule Jesus. Review Jesus’ response in verse 15. How does Jesus describe what man exalts? How does He describe the Pharisees?
Background Information – Jesus seems to transition abruptly in verse 16 to the Law and to the Kingdom. He does this to pull what should have been solid common ground from under the Pharisees’ feet. The Pharisees believe they upheld the Law of Moses. But it commands generosity to the poor and vulnerable so that the nations would know the heart of Israel’s God. We already saw how the Pharisees declared their worldly goods as “corban” to supposedly dedicate them to God. In reality, however, this practice reserved their goods for themselves and “excused” them from supporting their vulnerable elderly parents.
The Pharisees believe they are following the Hebrew Scripture’s teaching on the kingdom, but by rejecting both John and Jesus, they are rejecting all the Law and Prophets pointed toward. So they hinder those seeking the eternal kingdom (v16) from entering. The Law communicates the eternal values of God’s rule in His Kingdom; therefore, not a dot of it will become void. Another example of how the Pharisees changed the Law to justify themselves before men is they allowed men to divorce their wives.
3. Jesus’ point is ALLLLLLLL we do should reflect that we prioritize God.
o How does a man choosing to be true to the covenant he made with his wife reflect that he prioritizes God above himself?
o Yesterday you meditated on the parable of the steward and sought God’s conviction for how you manage your money and possessions. Review what this lesson is teaching us God’s attitude toward those who violate His Word to worship themselves. Ask the Holy Spirit to pray through you as you write a letter to God below.
Optional Memory Verse -- 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.
Luke 16:13
Day 3 – Luke 16:19-31 Central Passage of the Week
Background Information – Before Jesus ascended into heaven, dead believers did not go to heaven but to “paradise,” also called Abraham’s bosom. Believing Jews demonstrated their faith through animal sacrifices, but the blood of animals was insufficient to remove their sins; this blood could only temporarily cover sins. So until Jesus settled their debt with the Father, these saints waited on the “good side” of the place of the dead, called Sheol in Hebrew When Jesus ascended, He took them with Him (Eph 4:8-10). However, unbelievers just as they do now went to hell, the bad side of Sheol. There they await their judgment at the Great White Throne. After judgment, they shall be cast body and soul into Gehenna, the Lake of Fire.
In Jewish parables, characters are not given names. Jesus does not reveal the rich man’s name. He calls the poor man Lazarus, which means “God is my help. Perhaps He does this because it is a true story -- of course, only God would know the stories that occurred in the place of the dead! Later Jesus will raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, so perhaps this is why He names the poor man. Regardless, naming Lazarus gives this poor man dignity and Jesus’ listeners heightened compassion for him.
1. This is a “reversal” story. Completing this chart will help you see how.
2. Label the statements below true or false based on Jesus’ teaching regarding those in hell. --
T or F They are eternally separated from God and the saints (believers)
T or F They are not conscious of their lostness.
T or F Their state can change.
T or F They are in torment.
T or F They remember their past opportunities to choose God.
3. Jesus tells this story after rebuking the Pharisees for their love of money. Consider Abraham’s reply regarding the rich man’s brothers: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” How did the rich man fail to be shrewd about his future like the steward in our Day 1 passage? Consider how his neglect of Scripture impacted his future.
Jesus will raise a Lazarus from the dead (John 11) and He Himself will rise from the dead. He will give the Pharisees a few more opportunities to apply this story to their hearts.
Day 4
Background Information – Using the Pharisees as examples of ungodly leaders, Jesus taught that how we steward our money clearly reveals whether we love God and others. This love impacts our community today and for all eternity. Keep love’s priority in mind as Jesus shifts now to training His disciples to lead Christian communities who will be anything but perfect.
1. Read Luke 17:1-2. Jesus warns His disciples that they must not introduce temptations to their communities as the Pharisees did or allow others to do so.
o The Pharisees tempted the people to pursue money because they taught wealth indicated God’s favor. Imagine our pastors taught that the rich had God’s favor and the poor did not. How would this false teaching tempt the people in our church to behave?
o What type of church would we become as a result?
o What effect would this have on our city?
2. Read Luke 17:3-4; Matthew 18:15-17.
o What effect might one unforgiving member of a family have upon the whole family?
o What are the steps for forgiving a brother or sister who is caught in sin?
o If a brother or sister were confident they could seek the forgiveness of others in their community again and again, how might this help them to overcome their sin?
3. Review this lesson and spend time meditating upon your leadership in your family, church, community in these areas. You have space below to write a prayer.
Day 5 – Luke 17:5-10
Background Information – In yesterday’s lesson, Jesus taught His disciples about the reality of tempters among the children of God and commanded them to forgive a brother or sister who sins, even if that person comes to them again and again seeking forgiveness. It is not surprising that the disciples cry out, “Increase our faith!” because to forgive a repeated offender seems impossible in our flesh. Jesus’ remedy is faith in God alone. He compares faith to the way a mustard seed grows naturally from the tiniest seed to a tree, and then He compares faith to what would be unnatural – the uprooting of a mulberry tree, which has ancient deep roots, and its replanting in the sea.
1. What points about faith do Jesus’ two comparisons teach? Consider Who is the object of our faith.
2. What attitude should a servant have toward self? Master? Work?
3. Think of someone you, a servant of God, forgive again and again.
o Why is it your duty to forgive them?
o Is your attitude aligned with question 2? _______ Use the space below to pray. You can follow Jesus’ outline for the Disciple’s Pray (Luke 11:1-4) that we studied in Lesson 21
REFLECTION Questions
These questions along with the Central Passage will usually be the focus of your group’s discussion each week.
Today in group you studied a reversal story. In Jewish thinking, Lazarus’ earthly life of poverty would have foreshadowed his eternal life in hell. Imagine the rich man’s surprise when saw Lazarus in Paradise at Abraham’s side. Trusting the Pharisees’ words that exalted his worldly heart, the rich man didn’t read the Word or he would have known the heart of God for the brokenhearted.
1. Share a reversal story of your own. It could be your coming to know Jesus story or it could be a story of how God disciplined you or rescued you or gave you a mission or a subject relating to our lesson this week such as – money, giving, trusting the Word, perspective of eternity, forgiveness, not tempting others to sin, mustard seed faith, and duty. How did God conform your heart to His as a result?
2. Jesus referred to His disciples throughout our lesson this week as Stewards, Sons, and Servants, and in Day 5, we learned He sees our obedience to God as a duty because we can only serve one Master (Memory verse Luke 16:13!)
o Why would you have it no other way?
o Who, besides yourself, will likewise be humbly grateful you lived no other way than for Christ?
Just list names. Q3 allows for you to share a story .
3. Share a story about how your story of reversal reversed someone else’s story.
4. Praise God and pray for one another about where you would like to see God reverse next.
COMMUNITY GROUP TIME
• Discuss the Central Passages questions. (This week that is Day 3—Luke 16:19-31.)
• Open Share Time -- Allow time for each to share “starred” insights or questions from Days 1-5. Allow others to respond to the shared insight.
• Is anyone able to recite all or part of Luke 16:13?
• Reflection Questions
• Close in prayer.
God’s joy & strength to you,
kpaulson@gracelaredo.org