Digging in Deeper: Luke 16:8

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“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

As we saw this morning, this parable is another one of those stories of Jesus that start out as we might expect, but then suddenly take a sharp left turn into ground that not only isn’t what we expect, but doesn’t make any sense. If you had only this verse to go on, you might think that the unrighteous manager had done something good. You would be wrong. He cheated his master out of a lot of money (thus his title). So then, what are we supposed to do with this? 

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Morning Musing: Luke 16:8

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“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Jesus said some strange things during His ministry. There are whole books dedicated to examining this or that hard saying. LifeWay’s Bible Studies for Life Sunday school material has been looking at different hard sayings of Jesus for the last few weeks. I’ve preached at least two sermon series on the subject. Of all the weird and hard things Jesus said that the Gospel authors recorded for us, this parable ranks right near or even at the top of the list. Let’s talk about why and what we are to do with it. 

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The Cleansing Flood

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This week we continued our series, Bible Stories to Make You Squirm, by looking at one of the most well-known stories in the whole Bible. What could possibly be problematic about a story that every knows and is used in baby nurseries all over the place? When you look more closely, a whole lot. But, when we look more closely, as before, we’ll find that there’s more here than meet’s the eye. Keep reading to see how this all unfolds.

The Cleansing Flood

Have you ever gone back as an adult and watched a TV show you remembered from your childhood only for it to seem like a totally different show than you remembered? Over the years with our boys I’ve tried a few times to take them back into my childhood with some of the cartoons I loved to watch. Some of these have been enduring classics like Looney Toons or Tom and Jerry. Scooby-Doo was a hit for a while with them. But on occasion, as I have tuned into something with them, I’ve been left wondering what my parents were thinking letting me watch this or that. More probably they just didn’t know I was watching it.

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Digging in Deeper: John 14:6

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“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

We want options. Lots of them. The more the better. We want cars with bells and whistles. We want television service with a million channels. We want restaurants with huge menus and buffets with over 100 items. One of the worst feelings in the world today is having no choice about something. As a result, this is one of the hardest things Jesus said. Can we make it any easier? 

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 10:13

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“No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Nobody’s going to know. It’ll just be this one time. Just this and then that’s it. There’s no other way to get through this. I’m all alone in this. There isn’t anyone who can help. This is just more than I can handle. Which line have you used or had used on you before in a moment of temptation? There are all kinds of lines designed to drag you into sin, but all of them are rooted in lies. Paul identifies three particularly common lines for us here. Let’s take a look at these. 

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