Today’s passage: Luke 16:14-18
Helpful thoughts:
- The inspired scripture reveals to us the hearts of the Pharisees. God knows their hearts (And ours). Their master was money.
- Because money was their master and they were controlled by their greed, they actively ridiculed God to His face.
- These men who were slaves to a worldly master, had changed the practices of religion in the name of worship toward God. But man’s view of religion changes nothing of the truth of God’s holy Word!
- These religious leaders were not observing themselves according to what God had said in His Word. They were justifying themselves through their own logic and assumptions first and then bending and twisting the Word of God to conform to their desires.
- “We must not bring the Word of God into the culture. We must instead bring the culture to the Word of God.” – John MacArthur
- It is “easier” to bring your ideas to the Bible, read it lazily, and walk away feeling affirmed than it is to let the Spirit use the Bible to take your ideas and radically change them for your growth and sanctification. Continual surrender (Dying daily to self) takes effort…”forcing” our way.
- Jesus’ teaching about marriage and divorce is being used to illustrate his point. The Pharisees had manipulated the words of the Law in the OT to allow themselves to divorce their wives in order to (in their mind) “upgrade” to another. They were being selfish and sinful while calling their actions righteous.
Questions to consider:
- How does verse 17 give us confidence in the inspiration and the preservation of God’s Word? When we read our Bibles, who are we hearing from? If God is the author, how should we approach the scriptures? How should we respond to the truth found within?
- If we are ever reading the Bible to see if it’s OK to do something we feel is probably wrong, what might we need to ask ourselves? If we have been taught that something is right or wrong and the Bible says otherwise, who should we listen to and obey?
- What do we see in this passage that goes beyond the external actions of people? What did God know about these Pharisees? Why do we do what we do? What informs and shapes our desires to agree with God? How can you continue to fight for that change and growth?