STUDY THEME: JAN. 1, 2006, JAN 8, 2006 THINGS THAT MATTER SS01-08-06.
W0RK MATTER: GEN. 1: 26-28, 31; 2:15; PS. 127:02; PROV. 6: 6-8; 21:5; COL. 3: 22-4:1
MONEY MATTERS: LUKE 12: 16-21, 27-28, 31-34, 42-44, 48b.
Throughout the month of January we will be looking at the STUDY THEME: THINGS THAT MATTER. Let’s us begin by asking; Which of the following sets of things matter most to the people you know: gaining personal possessions, power, pleasure, and prestige: or focusing more on the will of God in matters such as work, money, human life, character and sexual purity?
Things that matter to some people gratify a person only for a short time and leave that person disillusioned, still searching for a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in life.
The Bible is clear about what really matters and what doesn’t. The five lesson for January focus on developing a right perspective and proper actions regarding five things that really matter. These lessons come from passages found in various Old and New Testament books of the Bible.
The lesson titles indicate the areas to be studied: Work Matters, Money Matters, Life Matters, Character Matters, and Sexual Purity Matters.
This Study Theme is designed to help us develop a right perspective regarding things that matter by: Describing the origins and value of work, and committing to practicing a biblical work ethic (Jan. 1).
Distinguishing between the temporary value of money and the eternal value of the kingdom of God, and determining to make the kingdom of God the top priority of our life (Jan 8).
Believing that all people have value, and deciding on ways we will be involved in proomo9thign human life, health, and wholeness (Jan 15).
Recognizing that character grows out of the condition of the heart---including its attitudes and desires, and determining ways to align your heart according to God’s values (Jan. 22) and understanding the importance for sexual purity for single people and married people alike, and committing ourselves to live within God’s guidelines of moral and sexual purity (Jan. 29).
The “LIFE QUESTION” for Jan. 1 lesson is “Why should I value work?”
The BIBLICAL TRUTH is that work was ordained by God before the fall and is beneficial and satisfying to workers as well as honoring to God.
The LIFE IMPACT is designed to help us develop a right perspective of work; and committing to practice a biblical work ethic.
Picture yourself on a Monday morning. Imagine that you can hear comments being made by people throughout your neighborhood. One says that he hates Monday mornings because he has
to go to work. Another says that she would gladly stay in bed if she did not have to help earn a living for her family. Another hopes to win the lottery this week so he won’t have to work another day of his life. Someone else expresses a dread of facing another week in a boring and frustrating occupation. Another counts the days to retirement so she will never have to work again. Another person asks, “Why do people have to work?” This week’s Jan. 1 lesson study is on what the Bible says about the origin and value of work.
Human beings were crated in God’s image. We reflect that image in our work. We reflect that image when we work for the good of others as well as ourselves; when we give our work the best of our abilities; when we show initiative and creativity: when we are God-motivated about everything in our lives; when w are just and fair to others; when we show a reverence for God, a respect for people, and a commitment to what is right; when our word is our bond and it is grounded on truth; and when our labors bring a sense of joy, satisfaction, dignity, respect and thanksgiving to us for our being privileged to co-labor with God here on earth.
We should embrace work as a blessing from God because God assigned it as a means by which people reflect that they’ve been created in God’s image. Work is the means by which wise men and women meet their own needs, meet the needs of their families, and avoid the sin of laziness.
An over emphasis on work falls outside of God’s design. Work should be part of a balanced life. Christian workers should perform their work not just to please their employers but also to please God. Christian employers should treat their employees fairly. All believers should perform their work in a way that honors God.
1. All kinds of legitimate work can be done in a way that honors God.
2. Work honors God when done for God and not just to please others.
God is honored when believers are self-starters and Christ-motivated to turn in the best quality of work possible.
Employees and employers should practice these same principles in their relationships.
WORK MATTERS, BUT THEN MONEY ALSO MATTERS. PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO LUKE 12.
Most of us agree that money matters. Our problem is not that we don’t think money matters but that we think it matters too much. The majority of Christians struggle to find or maintain a biblical perspective on money and all it represents.
Why the struggle? In our culture money is a means of keeping score, and the score separates winners from losers. One reason some people live beyond their means (using credit) is that h they want to show they are winners. Perhaps more significantly, money also is believed to be the means for achieving “the good life”----a life characterized by security, comfort, and convenience. The invalid assumption is that those things bring happiness.
To the contrary, many wealthy people testify that their riches failed to provide them the inner peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment they expected.
A good question for us to ask is “How does God want us to view and handle money?” Or put another way, “How can I make sure the money I own doesn’t own me?” The teaching of the Lord Jesus in Luke 12 can help us answer that question.
The Life Question in today’s lesson is, “How can I make sure the money I own doesn’t own me?”
The Biblical Truth is that believers are to pursue God’s kingdom above all else and exercise wise stewardship over their financial resources.
Of course we learn this as the parable unfolds. However, all we see in vs. 16-17 is a rich farmer who had an abundant crop and was trying to decide what to do with it. What were his sins? He was already a rich man when the story begins, but he was not condemned for being rich. He was not condemned because he gained his wealth in a dishonest way. He was not condemned for exploiting his workers, as James 5: 1-6 condemns landowners who withheld the workers’ wages.
Apparently he was an honest, hard-working farmer whose wealth had come in legitimate ways. He was also someone who planned for the future. This is a good thing unless it becomes as shown in James 4: 13-16. At this point it is not clear whether he was foresighted or presumptuous. The only danger sign in vs. 17 was his use of the words I and my. These two words dominate vs. 17-19. In the Greek text I appears eight times and my appears four times. The barns….fruits….goods were his and his alone. He also spoke of his soul as though he were in total control of his life and possessions. Nowhere in these words and thoughts is there any mention of God or of other people. He took credit for his success: there was no dependence on God and no gratitude to God. He was hard working, which is good, but he gave none of the credit for his success to God. He committed the sin of that Moses warned the Israelites in Deut 8: 17 against falling into---thinking “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.”
The man’s presumption ignored several realities. He overlooked the shortness of life and the insecurity of riches. Material wealth and all it represents do not last into eternity. Most importantly, he ignored his need for God. This explains why God called him a fool. In his plan he assumed that he had many years. But that very night he died. And all his wealth became the property of someone else.
He had lives as though he were some kind of immortal god who had no need for the true and living God….he had spent all his energies to possess what slipped from his grasp when his heart ceased to beat.
The action in the parable probably happened on one day. The farmer had a bumper crop. We meet him as he decided what he would do with his harvest. The parable records his thoughts during that day. God spoke that night and he died. We don’t know his age. Whatever his age, he planned for the future as if he would never die. His final epitaph is vs. 21: “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not right toward God.” He did not own his possessions, but they possessed him.
PLEASE READ LUKE 12: 27-28.
In Luke 12: 22-26 Jesus spoke to His disciples following the parable and used two illustrations to teach them not to worry about where their food and clothing would come from. He wanted them to know that life is so much more than pursuing food and clothes.
Jesus lived in a society in which many people lived from day to day. They were concerned about the basic necessities of life, including food and clothing. Jesus told them not to worry about such things. He said that life is more than food and clothing. No one can add to his height or increase his lifespan by eating something or by what he wears.
Then Jesus used two examples from nature: birds and flowers. In both comparisons Jesus used the words how much more. The birds don’t store up food for the future, yet God feeds them. If he feeds the birds, how much more will He feed His people.
In vs. 27 Lilies refer to the “wildflowers.” Jesus might have picked one of the scarlet anemones that grew on the hills of Palestine. The fields that bloomed during that season were bright with color. Flowers cannot make themselves beautiful. Solomon was wealthy and must have worn strikingly beautiful garments. But even with all his expensive clothes was no match for the beauty of flowers. Yet flowers quickly wither and lose their beauty. Jesus argued from the lesser to the greater. If then God so clothes the grass with its short-lived time of beauty, how much more will he clothe His people?
Wood was scarce in Palestine, so dead grasses and wildflowers were used to help feed the ovens. Jesus called His disciples people of little faith. This is because anxiety and worry are not expressions of faith and trust in God. Anxiety and preoccupation with material things is a characteristic of people who don’t know God. Worry is an expression of doubt and the opposite of trust in God.
Why did God use birds and flowers to make His point? What Jesus says about them does not mean that we to should not work for a living. Rather, it means that if even these creatures are the objects of God’s concern, then surely we, whom God has endowed with gifts and talents enabling us to plan and to work, will be provided for.
Some people still live on a survival level, but many people have enough to eat and to wear. They worry not about the basic necessities but about things they want. They strive for enough money to buy the latest creature comforts or the newest technology. They feel deprived if they can’t have such things. In the parable of the rich fool we saw one form of sinful preoccupation with things----anxiety. Greed is the desire for more and more. Anxiety is the fear that there may not be enough.
What is the opposite of anxiety? The answer includes gratitude, contentment, and trust. Paul’s words in Phil. 4; 6-7, 10-13 exemplify the Christian response to not having everything we want. In vs. 6-7, he said to be anxious about nothing, to be grateful for anything, and to be prayerful about everything.
In vs. 10-13 he testified that he had learned the secret of contentment. Paul was grateful and content whatever the outward circumstances. His secret was that he could do all things through Christ, who strengthened him. Christ promised to provide everything we need to do what He calls us to do.
PLEASE READ LUKE 12: 31-34.
These verses are part of a larger passage in which Jesus dealt with possessions. Jesus’ emphasis in vs. 22-30 was on anxiety. People who are preoccupied with possessions are often anxious about having enough possessions. Vs. 30 points out that anxiety, like greed, is a sinful way of being preoccupied with possessions. These attitudes are characteristic of a pagan way of life.
They do not have a Heavenly Father who promises to care for them. Therefore, they worry and give much labor to providing for the necessities of life, such as their food, clothing and shelter. Believers can trust their Heavenly Father for these necessities, for they know that He knows and cares about their needs.
Vs. 31 is one of the favorite verses that many Christians set as the goal of their lives: “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you.” Matthew reported th is verse in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 6: 33. The conjunction but that begins the sentence indicates a contrast between something Jesus had just said with something He was about to say.
He had just said that Gentiles put seeking the necessities of life foremost in their lives because they do not have a Heavenly Father who knows and supplies their needs. Not so for Christians. They don’ have to make seeking life’s necessities a priority because God promises to supply their needs. That frees believers to seek His kingdom as the priority of their lives.
God wants all Christians to make seeking His kingdom their priority instead of seeking material things. God’s kingdom is His rule and reign. Christians should seek to have God’s rule effective in every area of life. Under His rule, they seek to live their daily lives and serve Him in the plans and purposes of His kingdom.
When one seeks the kingdom first, God, the King of that kingdom, promises to provide all the things that are needed for life under His rule. These things include food, clothing and shelter as well as protection and fellowship. Believers still have to labor, but they do not have to assume total responsibility for meeting their needs. God helps them. He uses their vocations labors to develop them, to be a means of witness, and to fulfill their place in His kingdom purposes. Jesus lovingly commanded believers to pursue His kingdom above all else.
In vs. 32 Jesus reminded us that the kingdom we seek is actually a gift from God. We don’t earn our way into the kingdom: it is a gift of God’s grace. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
When the rebellious sinner acknowledges Jesus Christ as Lord and willingly accepts the position of servant of God in his kingdom, God begins to give that believer kingdom life, which includes necessary provisions. A new Christian need feel no longer the need to pursue material things at all costs but can pursue spiritual matters now. Like any loving father, God delights in giving His children the best that He has to meet their needs. In vs. 32, God’s best is citizenship in His kingdom.
The love of God is expressed in this remarkable vs. 32. The words fear not are a familiar biblical assurance. The words little flock are found only here. The Good shepherd tenderly leads His flock. This is one of several passages that fulfill Isaiah’s word picture found in Isaiah 40: 11. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”
In vs. 33 Jesus called believers to “sell that they have, and give alms to the poor.” Did the Lord intend that all His followers should do what He asked of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:22-23? Or did He expect this dedication only of some? The context of Luke 12:33a clearly indicates that the total renunciation of all person possessions is not the intent of this saying since disciples are expect to have the means to practice a continual generosity. In other words, if Jesus’ disciples gave all away, they would have nothing left to be generous with.
Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, or provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out may have been a way of saying that your purse or wallet should always have something to give.
Another interpretation of the money bags is that is that they refer to a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, or “a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted. These treasurers in heaven are the results of generous giving on earth. These are the only secure kinds of investments. Earthly treasures may be taken by a thief or destroyed by a moth. Money is an earthly treasure. We leave our money and our possessions behind when we die. Money, however, can be used in ways that bear fruit for eternity.
Selfish, greedy persons (such as the rich fool) invest their earthly treasures based on the kind of persons they have become. On the other hand, unselfish, generous persons reflect the kind of character they have become when it comes to using their earthly resources for things of eternity.
Treasurers stored in heaven are safe from thieves and moths, for they are stored in God’s kingdom under His care. They draw an eternally high rate of interest in heaven.
Vs. 34 is one of those basic teachings of Jesus that is both simple and profound: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The statement when turned around is equally true. Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. We reveal by our actions where our treasure is and where our heart is. They are together. A treasure can be anything or anyone that is the primary object of a person’s affections. When God’s kingdom is one’s treasure, then one’s heart is focused on and committed to God’s kingdom.
PLEASE READ LUKE 12: 42-44, 48b
Jesus had been talking about the stewardship of possessions. In vs. 35-41 He reminded His disciples that they should make the right use of wealth by using it in the service of God’s kingdom. He stressed practicing good stewardship of life and service. They needed to be faithful because the end of time was coming and the Son of Man would return to earth.
Though the time of the Lord’s return is uncertain, the fact of His coming is sure. Therefore, Jesus’ disciples needed to be ready so they will be found faithful, seeking the kingdom of God with all their hearts and resources.
Peter, in vs. 41, asked Jesus if the two brief analogies Jesus used to illustrate this were meant just for the apostles or for everyone. Jesus’ response was a question of His own.
The Lord did not really answer Peter. But Jesus’ question implies that He was addressing all believers, not just the apostles. Jesus described a faithful and sensible or prudent manager or steward.
The “house-manager was in charge of the master’s household. He was in charge when the master was away and was responsible for the household. One of his responsibilities was to measure out the food and the rations. He had to give an account of everything to the master when the master returned.
In vs. 43 Jesus referred to the house-manager as also a slave to his master. He might manage others, but he served his master. If the master found his slave faithfully at work when he returned, that slave will be rewarded. The implication is that if the master found the slave unfaithful, he would have punished him. The master will reward his slave for being a good
steward in his responsibilities.
The clause, alerts the hearer and the reader to an important statement that Jesus was about to make. Because the slave was faithful in his responsibilities, the master would reward him by putting him in charge of all his possessions. He was faithful in little responsibilities: he could be trusted with larger tasks. The principle Jesus was teaching was that of being a good steward of what you have, however great or small.
Christ has entrusted to us the care of what belongs to Him. He also has told us what to do, thus we are stewards of His world and His people. Someday He will return and demand an accounting. The work of a good steward is faithfulness. The reward to faithful stewards includes commendation from the Lord and larger opportunities of service. This is one reason to believe that heaven includes not only rest but service as well.
In vs. 42-44 Jesus described the reward that the faithful manager would receive. In vs. 45-48 Jesus described unfaithful managers and the judgment they would receive. The two mangers’ different beliefs concerning when their master would return was the basis of their actions: either faithfulness or unfaithfulness.
The degree of their reward or punishment would be based on the degree of their response to their master’s will.
Believers are not responsible for what they do not have. But they are responsible for all they do have. At the end of vs. 48 Jesus declared that much will be required of those who have been given much. The responsibility and thus their accountability is commensurate with how much they were given. To those who have been entrusted with more, they will be responsible and accountable for faithfulness to the more that they had. Thus, regardless of what we have, we are accountable for using it to honor God and to advance His kingdom.
Money is not mentioned in vs. 35-48, but it is implicit in these verses following verses 13-34, where money is highlighted. The concept of biblical stewardship is as broad as the gifts of God. We are stewards of the gospel, of our time, of our talents and gifts, and of our lives.
Some people are critical whenever the subject of money is in a sermon or a Sunday School lesson, but preachers and teachers cannot avoid a subject so important in the Bible and in life.
Money matters. Money is important. It cannot buy many of the best things of life, but some things can only be bought by money. Sending missionaries requires money. Helping the needy takes money. Buying Bibles cost money. The Bible calls us to be faithful stewards of the money God has entrusted to us.
Decisions to begin to tithe often open up people’s lives to doing God’s will in other areas of their lives from which they have excluded Him. This is why generous and sacrificial giving of money brings new joy, purpose, and discipline to the lives of Christians.
THE ANNUAL SANCTITY OF LIFE LESSON IS TAKEN FROM MATTHEW 9.
A.V. DAUGHERTY altav@swbell.net http://www.theweeks.org/av/