Conference yukon::christian_v7

    Luke 16:9  And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon
    of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into
    everlasting habitations.
     10  He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in
    much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
     11  If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon,
    who will commit to your trust the true riches?
     12  And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's,
    who shall give you that which is your own?
     13  No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
    and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
    Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
    

    Luke 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had 
    done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation
    wiser than the children of light. 
    
    The Lord Jesus is *not* commending unfaithfulness on the part of a
    steward.  What is being commended is an attitude of considering what is
    *our* future, and acting wisely accordingly.  The children of this
    world are often concerned and take steps to make their future (in this
    life) as secure as possible.  The children of light should be doing the
    same -- using the resources available to us in view of our future,
    except that our future is not this life, but the life to come.  For an
    example of using the "unrighteous mammon, consider from 1 Timothy 6:
    
    17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not 
       highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, 
       who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 
    18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to 
       distribute, willing to communicate; 
    19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the 
       time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 
    
    Everything that we possess now is not our own -- it belongs to our
    Master, and we are called to be good stewards.  If we are faithful,
    some day He will commit to us true riches.
    
    Mark L.

In a course I took, "The Parables of Jesus", we spent quite
a bit of time on this parable.

The point is as Markel notes in .2; even the unjust and
unrepentant attempt to provide for themselves as well as
they can for their future.  We should do the same.  However,
since our future is quite different, we prepare quite
differently.  The treasures that are eternal are *quite*
different from the treasures that are wordly.  Let us, therefore,
pursue the eternal treasures that we may be called wise by
our Father in heaven.

Collis

    The crucial verse linked to the parable of the 'shrewd' (NIV), 
    'dishonest' or 'unjust' manager / steward is verse 9..
    In the NIV, this is rendered :
	"I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so
	 that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."

    The dishonest (or at best, questionable) aspect of the actions of the
    manager in the parable are not what it is about; rather his choice of
    disposition of what was under his responsibility.  He administered the
    debts, and could conceivably have adjusted them for his own gain (eg
    calling in what could be afforded, and adjusting the bills to indicate a
    different value).  Rather, he bestowed generosity, in the name of his
    employer, but clearly under his own personal authority.  The favour of
    these friends could be bought, to some degree.  So instead of choosing to
    amass for himself what embezzled wealth he could, he used the resource
    to establish himself with those who were likely to be able to stand with
    him when he was in need.

    The warning of verse 9 is that material possessions are transient.  Yes,
    it all belongs to our Father in heaven, and He can bestow it as He
    desires, but the point of our existance is not 'worldly wealth'. That
    'worldly wealth' is only a resource which is used to teach us, and to
    offer us opportunity to demonstrate love, reflecting the Father.

    The exhortation of verse 9 is that even material possessions can be used
    for eternal purposes.  If you invest your 'worldly wealth' in friendships
    - showing people that they matter to you, that you genuinely care about
    their material needs (as well as in any other way that opportunity
    offers), you have won a friend; they are more open to you in spirit than
    they would otherwise be.  And this may even provide an opportunity
    reaching out to their spiritual needs - making a temporal friend into an
    eternal sibling...  

    The 'welcomed into eternal dwellings' could indicate the 'bonus' joy of
    meeting in heaven, as well as that 'well done...', the fellowship of
    people whose presence there - their path to salvation - has been
    facilitated in some way by our use of time, materials etc to let them see
    the LORD (rather than us living for solely material ends).  When all
    wordly wealth is gone (extending from the parable), some measure of that
    wealth has been transformed into something which does not pass away.

    The teaching this continues into, in verses 10-13 is much more
    straightforward - if you can be trusted with a little, you can be trusted
    with much, and vice versa, and: you can't be totally committed to two 
    masters simultaneously.

							God bless
								Andrew

	Andrew,

	Seems a bit more than 2 cents, and EXACTLY the type of information
	I was looking for (though I appreciated the earlier replies, Andrew
	got down to the nitty gritty of the verses that were confusing me).

	Much much appreciated, and definitely food for thought!
	
	Karen

    An alternate reading to verse 9 is "...that when *it* [the mammon of
    unrighteousness] fails, they may receive you into everlasting
    habitations."  Even if we are faithful in using our monetary means in
    the way the Lord would have us, there will come a day (at the end of
    the age) when it will fail.  A suggestion regarding who "they" refers
    to:  consider later in the passage (v. 22):  "And it came to pass, that
    the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
    bosom...."  Also, coupled with the many verses which speak of the
    angels being involved in the time of the "harvest" (for example,
    Matthew 24:31 "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
    trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
    from one end of heaven to the other."), I would say that "they" could
    well be referring to the angels that are involved.
    
    Mark L.