GOOD SAMARITAN
GOOD SAMARITAN
(CP Lu 10:25-37) This has one of the simplest teachings in all the parables Jesus told, yet it has been the subject of some of the most fanciful elaborations. The teaching is simply that our neighbour is any person whose need we know, and whose need we are able to meet. We fulfill the righteousness of God's commandment that we are to love our neighbour as ourselves when we respond to such a person's need, whether they be a brother or sister in the Lord, or our worst enemy (CP Ex 23:4-5; Lev 19:17-18; Mt 5:43-48 (Lu 6:27-35); 22:36-40; Jn 13:34-35; Ro 13:8-10; 15:1-3; Ga 5:14; Eph 4:25; Jas 2:8-10, 14-16; 1Jn 3:11, 16-18). God's command to love our neighbour as ourselves reaches out far beyond our immediate circle of friends and other Christians with whom we fellowship on a regular basis. It is a call to show mercy and love to every other human being we encounter in our Christian walk. There is a teaching within the teaching here, and that is that if we are to love our neighbour as ourselves then we are not to shut ourselves away from them. We must remain in the world with them in order to fulfill the righteousness of this commandment. If we raise protective barriers to live sheltered lives as Christians, we transgress God's two greatest commandments and will incur His wrath (CP Lu 10:25-28). This clearly shows the error in the practice of some religious orders shutting themselves away from mainstream humanity. Christians are not to be merely hearers of the word deceiving themselves, but doers of the word, if they want to be blessed (CP Mt 7:21-27; Ro 2:13; Jas 1:22-27).
One of the more fanciful elaborations of this parable is that the man who was robbed is Adam; the robbers are the devil and his angels who stripped and robbed Adam of his immortality; they beat him by persuading him to sin; the priest and the Levite represent the priesthood and the ministry of the Old Testament which could profit nothing for salvation; the Good Samaritan is Jesus; the binding of the wounds is the restraint of sin; oil is the comfort of good hope; wine is the exhortation to work with fervent spirit; the beast is the incarnate flesh Christ deigned to come to us in; being set upon the beast is believing in the incarnation of Christ; the inn is the church; the two coins are the two commands to love God and our neighbours, and the innkeeper is the apostle Paul. Another interpretation has the two coins signifying the year 2000 as being the year Christ will return to earth. It is incomprehensible that such a simple parable could evoke such ingenious interpretations, but that will always happen when we look for hidden meanings and symbolism behind every teaching in scripture instead of keeping it in context as Jesus taught us in the parables of the sower and the tares of the field in Mt 13.
FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT
(CP Lu 11:5-10) This parable is used by some to teach the necessity of persisting in prayer when our prayers are not immediately answered. But that is not what the parable is teaching at all (CP V1-4). This is what is commonly called the Lord's prayer. Jesus used it as the model to teach His disciples to pray, and He then illustrates for them by the parable of the friend at midnight that they can expect their prayers to be answered. The man in the parable got what he needed because although it was midnight, he boldly and unashamedly went to his friend, knocked on his door, and asked for it. In V9-10 Jesus promises us that we can do the same with God. All we have to do is what the man in the parable did: ask, seek and knock. The word importunity in this parable means shamelessness, boldness, impudence, audacity. It does not mean persistence, as so many teach. This is the only place in the Bible where the word is used. To summarise this parable, it teaches quite simply that, as the man who shamelessly dared to ask his friend got what he asked for, so those who shamelessly through prayer ask, seek and knock, will also get what they ask for from God (CP Jn 15:7; 1Jn 5:14-15). God's will is His word and if we abide in Him and His word abides in us we will never ask for anything outside of His word.
RICH FOOL
(CP Lu 12:16-21) There is a wealth of teaching comes out of this parable. Jesus told it in response to a man asking him to make his brother share their inheritance (CP V13-15). Jesus refused to arbitrate in a dispute of this nature. His point was that there is much more to life than disputing an inheritance, and after warning His listeners against the sin of covetousness and the error of thinking that a man's life consists in the abundance of his possessions, He told this parable. It is a grim warning to Christians against making material possessions or riches the focus of this life at the expense of their souls in the next life (CP Mk 8:36). In Jesus' perspective riches are an obstacle to salvation because as He teaches in this parable the acquisition of wealth for the sake of it is covetousness which is futile and self-defeating, for the end of it is death. Paul teaches that covetousness is idolatry, and that no covetous person or idolater, shall inherit the kingdom of God (CP Eph 5:5; Col 3:1-6). This is a warning for believers, not unbelievers - Paul wrote these letters to two churches, and that applies to us too. A Christian's life is not to be spent accumulating material possessions and wealth which neither gives life nor provides security because death separates from things. Abundance in Lu 12:15 means more than is needed; surplus to needs. The fate of the rich fool generalises the fate of all who are more concerned with possessions than the things of God. This does not mean that we are not to labour for our own or our family's needs - we are obliged to provide for our family, and God blesses us for doing so (CP Pr 13:11; Ecc 5:18-20; 1Ti 5:8). We cannot confuse working to meet our needs with covetousness. Covetousness is greed for material things and the desire to have more.
Many Christians who would never consider themselves to be materialistic in the strict sense of the word nevertheless live as though material things are extremely important, yet in the parable of the rich fool Jesus shows us that the desire for wealth and material possessions directly conflict with the purpose of God for His children, and that the selfish amassing of wealth and possessions by Christians indicates that they no longer see life from the vantage point of eternity. Their goal and their fulfilment is no longer in God but in themselves and their possessions. It may not start out that way but that is how it will end up (CP De 31:20; 32:12-18; Hos 8:14; 13:6). Jeshurun in De 32:15 is a symbolic name for Israel. Because of their wealth and success the Israelites had become self-sufficient, thinking that they no longer needed God and His help. Likewise when we have an abundance of blessings we are also tempted to feel self-sufficient and that we do not need to seek God and His help either. History has repeatedly shown that in time of ease and plenty God's people are most prone to forget Him and stop seeking His face (CP Pr 20:21; 28:16, 20-22). Riches and possessions are only temporary. They should not be the object of a Christian's faith. The desire for them cause Christians to sin, and just as the Old Testament children of God forsook Him after they acquired wealth and possessions, so too according to scripture will New Testament Christians (CP 1 Ti 6:9-12).
Paul's perspective of those desiring wealth is the same as Jesus'. He teaches here that the pursuit of wealth debases the mind, destroys Godly traits and makes Christians selfish, proud, and avaricious, which all lead to destruction and perdition. Perdition refers to the state after death wherein exclusion from salvation is a realised fact, wherein man, instead of becoming what he might have been in God, is lost and ruined forever. This is a warning for those inside the church, not outside it - for believers, not unbelievers. Paul teaches here that perdition is the final destiny of Christians who determine to be rich because this desire for wealth is not a passing emotional thing, but the result of a process of reasoning. (The word "will" in V9 is from the Greek word boulomai, which refers to a desire that comes from the reasoning faculties, not from the emotions, while "coveted" in V10 is orego, which means to stretch one's self out in order to grasp something; to reach after, or desire something.) This applies to all grades of wealth and Paul's warning to Timothy to flee it in V11 is a warning to all Christians whose ambition is to have more money than that which satisfies their everyday needs (CP Psa 37:16; Pr 15:16; 30:7-9; Ecc 5:10-17; 6:9; Jer 45:5; Ro 12:16; Php 4:11-13; 1Ti 6:6-8; He 13:5-6). These scriptures all teach the same thing: godliness with sufficient material blessings to meet our everyday needs should make us content with life. Money and the abundance of material things do not give life meaning and thus cannot bring real happiness. Ecc 5:10-17 teaches that in general an honest working person can sleep more peacefully after working all day than those who accumulate riches. The fear of the wealthy is that something will happen to cause them to lose everything, but even if they do not lose anything, they can take nothing with them when they die.
It is sad to have to say this but it needs to be said, and it should challenge every one of us to be constantly re-evaluating our lifestyles to ensure that our heart is centred on heavenly treasure and not on treasures on earth: many Christians do not mind how hard they work for an abundance of earthly possessions, but do no work at all to lay up treasure for themselves in heaven. The word conversation in He 13:5 means manner, or way of life. This passage teaches that a Christian's way of life has to be without the desire for more than that which will satisfy our everyday needs. This is what Jesus means in Lu 12:15 when He says that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth. Covetousness and financial fear are overcome by a contentment founded upon the assurance of God's constant presence for those who seek his help. In order that we may have a clearer understanding of what 1 Ti 6:6-10 teaches here is the literal English rendering from the Greek according to Kenneth Wuest's Word Studies in the Greek New Testament:
"But godly piety associated with an inward self sufficiency which is its natural accompaniment, is great gain; for not even one thing did we bring into this world, because not even one thing are we able to take out. And having food and clothing, by these we shall be fortified sufficiently; but they that are after giving the matter mature consideration, desire to be wealthy, fall into temptation and a snare and many hurtful cravings which drown men in destruction and perdition; for a root of all the evils is a fondness for money, which certain ones bending their effort to grasp, have been led away from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many consuming griefs."
None of this teaching denies the promises of God in scripture to prosper His children, but that is the point the parable of the rich fool makes: God is the one who blesses, and believers with wealth and possessions must not see themselves as being rich, but merely stewards of that which is God's. They must be generous, ready to share, and rich in good works (CP De 7:11-15; 28:1-14; Josh 1:8; Psa 1:1-3; 34:9-10; 112:1-9; Pr 11:24-26; 19:17; 22:9; 28:27; Lu 6:38; 1Ti 6:17-19; Jas 2:14-17; 1Jn 3:16-19). In the parable of the rich fool, and the scriptures which precede and follow it, Jesus is clearly teaching Christians against making temporal wealth the object of life. He sees in the desire for riches a life-goal totally opposed to God, which claims men's hearts and therefore estranges them from God (CP De 8:10-19). This scripture teaches how Christians must guard against pride and backsliding when God does prosper them. Prosperity brings with it the temptation to be arrogant, causing us to forget that God is the source of all blessings, and it is because it is God Himself who gives us the power to get wealth, wealth itself is not sinful. It is the pursuit of wealth and our misuse of it that is sinful (CP Psa 39:4-7). This teaches us that God has given unto each one of us a certain life span in which our faithfulness toward Him will be tested and determined. How we spend that span of life will determine our destiny in eternity (CP Mt 7:21-27; Ro 2:13). We can spend it chasing wealth and material things for our own self-gratification, or we can spend it doing God's work, which is the only way we can be saved (CP Psa 49:1-20). Whilst this is a call to all mankind, as Christians we need to know what it is saying to us. It stresses both the futility of trusting in riches, and the transitory nature of all that the world has to offer. Anyone at all whose life consists in an abundance of earthly possessions or in worldly pleasures or fame rather than in seeking after God and His kingdom will perish (CP 1Jn 2:15-17). Only those totally consecrated to the service of God and completely yielded to the authority of Jesus will be redeemed from the grave (CP Ecc 2:18-23).
All these scriptures teach the same thing. They are a true picture of man in his best state. All his imaginations, plans, schemes and ways soon come to nothing. He heaps up earthly treasure for himself and does not even know what will really happen to it after he dies (CP Pr 23:4-5). No human labour has any enduring value if it is not dedicated to God (CP Ecc 6:1-2). Dedication to work as its own reward is a vain pursuit. The ability to enjoy what we have depends on a right relationship with God. Without God it is all in vain. The rich fool in the parable gave no thought to the things of God. He mistook the purpose of life, imagining it consisted in the abundance of his possessions rather than it being a channel of blessing for others of God's children in need. Scriptures teach that the primary purpose for Christians even getting a job is to help others in need (CP Eph 4:28). Jesus equates our treatment of others in need with our treatment of Himself (CP Pr 19:17; 21:13; 22:9; Mt 25:31-46). Our Christian work is not only a spiritual walk, it must also serve the need of others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ (CP Jas 2:13-17; 1Jn 3:16-19). What we do of the work of the word proves our Christian consecration to the service of God, and confirms our love for God and each other. This is the acid test of Christianity by which we know whether we are following the example of God's love to others. If we are not willing to give of our material things to others in need, we certainly would not lay down our lives for them like God expects us to, and like Jesus did for us. 1Jn 3:16 is the exact counterpart of Jn 3:16 (CP Jn 3:16).
All the scriptures studied so far very clearly warn Christians against making temporal wealth the object of life (CP Mt 6:19-21, 24). Here Jesus equates the desire for wealth with serving mammon. Mammon refers to earthly riches. Jesus solemnly warns us that we cannot be faithful to God and also covet wealth. Covetousness is idolatry and behind every idol are demons, and although Christians pursuing wealth would not worship idols made out of wood or stone, they are in reality worshipping the demonic forces behind idolatry (CP 1Cor 10:1-7, 14-22). Paul's warning here that Christians "cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils" is essentially the same as Jesus' warning that Christians "cannot serve God and mammon" in Mt 6. The majority of Christians see these passages in 1Cor 10 as merely referring to food sacrificed to idols and idolatrous feasts, but there is much more to it than that. Paul teaches here that although an idol is nothing in the world, it does represent something that is not the true God. An idol is not only an image of something, it is also a representation, whether corporeal (material, physical) or imaginary, or some other thing. Idolatry can involve professing allegiance to God and His word while at the same time giving equal or greater allegiance to someone or something else. As Christians we must learn to distinguish between the things the world loves because that which is esteemed by the world is an abomination before God (CP Lu 16:13-15).
Christians must ever be alert to the danger of being seduced from their allegiance to God by the allurements of riches and earthly possessions. We must guard against any preoccupation at all with material things lest they become more important to us than the things of God (CP Mt 13:3-9, 18-23). This is the parable of the sower. It was the first parable we studied concerning the nature and development of the kingdom. It perfectly describes what the end is for Christians caught up in the pursuit of wealth, which the parable calls the deceitfulness of riches. The teaching in this parable centres on the soils, which represent those who receive God's word, and how they respond to it. The term deceitfulness of riches means that wealth gives a false impression, whether by appearance, statement, or influence - a false sense of security. Choke here means figuratively to overpower. What this teaches is that the false sense of security emanating from earthly riches overpowers the word of God in Christians and prevents them bearing fruit for the kingdom. They have been seduced by their wealth from continuing in the word of God. This is the same teaching as 1Ti 6:10 where those that coveted after wealth "erred" from the faith. Erred here also means seduced. They were all seduced by their wealth away from God (CP 1Ti 6:10). Christians succumbing to wealth and material possessions are yielding to forces in opposition to the nature of the word of God which they received for their salvation. Christians cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. We cannot have both salvation and covet earthly things. We cannot serve God and mammon (CP Rev 3:14-20).
This is called the letter to the church at Laodicea. It is one of seven letters to seven churches Jesus addresses in Rev 2 and 3, and while these seven churches actually existed at the time of John's Revelation, they are also representative of all churches since then, and the letters have an ongoing application for all generations since then too. They are for the admonition of both the corporate body of the church, and for each of us individually. The Laodicean church is a lukewarm church, but churches are people - Christians - so a lukewarm church is made up of lukewarm Christians - in this context Christians who have compromised God's word with worldly things. In their self-sufficient prosperity and worldliness Laodiceans have excluded Jesus from fellowshipping with them. They see themselves as rich, increased with goods and needing nothing, but Jesus sees them as poor, blind, wretched, miserable and naked. He counsels them not to lay up treasure for themselves on earth, but to store it up for themselves in heaven. He then invites anyone who will repent to restored fellowship with Him, otherwise they will be rejected (CP Job 31:13-28).
What Job says here should be the testimony of every New Testament Christian, because one day, like Job, we will all have to give an account to God for everything we lavish on ourselves and withhold from others (CP Lu 16:19-25). This is not teaching that the rich man went to hell just because he was rich and Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom because he was poor. Neither affluence nor poverty determines our eternal state, but the life we live on earth. The rich man went to hell because his life was consumed with self-centred living, not caring about others of God's children worse off than himself. He fared sumptuously every day while Lazarus went hungry. In his self-indulgent lifestyle the rich man violated God's two greatest commandments (CP Mt 22:34-40). God says it is only our love for others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, that proves our love for Him, and we cannot honestly say we love them if we are not prepared to give of our material possessions to them, which is what we learned in Jas 2:13-17 and 1Jn 3:16-19 (CP Jas 2:13-17; 1Jn 3:16-19 with Ga 6:7-10). Anyone claiming to be a born again believer, who at the same time consciously sows to their flesh is guilty of mocking and despising God, and will forfeit their place in His kingdom.
One of the best examples of how Christians can get caught up in self-centred living and forfeit God's blessings is to be found in the Old Testament book of Haggai the prophet (CP Hag 1:2-10; 2:10-15). God's children in Haggai's time had forfeited God's blessings because of their apathy toward the things of God. They were preoccupied building and beautifying their own houses while God's house remained desolate. They needed to be reminded of their obligation to God, so God used Haggai to rebuke them. God's purpose was to motivate them to reorder their lives and their priorities so they could resume building His house. This same obligation is ours today and God's rebuke to them is for us also. Many of us are so busy with our own lives and self-interests that we too are neglecting to build God's house. We do not have to physically build the temple like the children of Israel had to in Haggai's time, but we are responsible for extending God's kingdom in the earth by the giving of ourselves and our finances into it. Haggai's call to the Israelites to consider their ways is a call to God's children in all ages to consider their ways. As Haggai insisted that God's work must come first with the Israelites, so too it must come first with us. God's kingdom and His righteous concerns must be the first and foremost priority in our lives. We cannot live self-seeking lives apathetic to God's purpose, or we will also be cut off from His blessing.
We must all make the work of God our first priority by committing what we are, what we have, and all that we do, to Him. We must turn from selfish ambition and personal agendas to focus on advancing His kingdom (CP Lu 12:22-23). Jesus continues on here after telling the parable of the rich fool. He is not teaching that Christians cannot make provision for their physical and financial needs to be met, but that there are to be no life-style excesses in so doing. It needs to be restated here that believers with wealth and possessions must not see themselves as being rich, but merely stewards of that which is God's. They must be generous, ready to share, and rich in good works. Whatever we have belongs to God and whenever we use it to advance His kingdom we are simply redistributing the wealth He has entrusted to us (CP 1Chr 29:10-16). This has been a rather lengthy treatment of the parable of the rich fool but it was considered necessary in view of the proliferation of prosperity doctrines sweeping the contemporary church. Believers need to know what God's view is concerning Christians and wealth.