The Christian’s Attitude Toward Possessions

Luke 16:10-15, 19-23

GOLDEN TEXT: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”—Luke 18:18

A PART of this lesson is on the subject of the impossibility of having two masters, God and Mammon. Mammon represents earthly riches—not only financial wealth, but also honor among men, etc. This was a thing which was particularly hindering the Pharisees from taking the proper course in acknowledging their error and seeking for and obtaining mercy. Mammon still is a great hindrance to all who desire to be the Lord’s people.

Whoever worships Mammon—and it may be self, or wealth, or fame, or position, and honor among men, one or all of these—cannot at the same time be a true worshiper of God—a true follower of Christ—because God and Mammon are rivals before our hearts. If we attempt to divide our love and attention, and to give part of it to God and to His service and part of it to Mammon, the results will be unsatisfactory to God, unsatisfactory to Mammon, and unsatisfactory to ourselves.

We must, therefore, decide either to live for self and earthly things, or to renounce and sacrifice these in the interest of God and of heavenly things. The worshipers of Mammon may have certain advantages as respects the present life, in the way of earthly prosperity, but Mammon cannot give eternal life. It is the gift of God, and those who would have God’s gift must be God’s friends, God’s children. He demands of such that they shall manifest their love and devotion to Him by renouncing Mammon, by joyfully sacrificing earthly name and fame and favor and interest, thus showing their high appreciation of His love and favor, the riches of His grace, and the exceeding great and precious things which He has promised to give them in the life to come.

These are to “make to themselves friends”: in other words, to lay up treasures in heaven, by the sacrifice of the Mammon of unrighteousness. That is to say, they are to sacrifice their various interests of this present time of unrighteousness, “this present evil world.” Some may have very little of Mammon at their disposal to sacrifice; but the Lord encourages us all by saying that he that is faithful in that which is least, will thereby give evidence of how faithful he would be, if he had much; and the Lord accepts the little sacrifices which we are able to make, as though they were greater ones.

“She hath done what she could,” is the best testimony as respects the use of present opportunities in the Lord’s service, whether it refers to a mite or a million, a little influence or a great one. It is not the amount that God is seeking, but the character, the disposition of heart; and whoever has the right disposition of heart and is careful in the small affairs of life, to serve the Lord with all that he possesses to the extent of his ability, such an one will have committed to him the true riches—the heavenly riches.

The latter part of this lesson deals with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Evidently the committee which selected this lesson thought they saw some relationship between the Rich Man of the parable, and he who possessed much of the Mammon of unrighteousness noted above. The Sunday School committee also had in mind that this parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is intended to teach what becomes of the rich and the poor after they die. By a trick of the imagination, many students of the Bible suppose this Rich Man to be a sinner and the poor man to be a saint, and that their experiences after death are illustrated in the Rich Man’s torment and the poor man’s abode in Abraham’s bosom.

All of this, however, is quite apart from the real lesson of the parable. This parable does not hint that this rich man was a sinner; nor does the parable indicate that this beggar was a saint. The beggar was taken to Abraham’s bosom, not heaven, which again reminds us the parable does not fit the traditional theory that is entertained concerning the experiences of all good people when they die—namely, that they go immediately to heaven.

Briefly stated, there is evidence that the rich man was used by the Master as a symbol of the Jewish nation, which up until that time, was rich because it enjoyed the favor of God. The poor beggar, on the other hand, represented the condition of the Gentile nations who up until then were outside of the favor of God. About the time of our Lord’s first Advent, both of these symbolic men died to the condition they occupied; that is, the Jews died to their condition of favor with God, while the Gentiles died to their cast-off condition and believing Gentiles were brought into favor with God.

It is for this reason that the beggar is said to have been carried into Abraham’s bosom. In other words, by faith he became one of the children of Abraham. The Jewish nation, on the other hand, being cast off from divine favor have been in the flames of persecution practically ever since, and often they have appealed to the Gentiles for aid, but seldom with success. This condition of disfavor to the Jewish nation who had been so long enjoying the riches of God’s favor, and the picture of the Gentiles being favored as represented in Abraham’s bosom, we believe, is the lesson of the parable.

QUESTIONS:

What is the Biblical thought attached to Mammon?

Why is it impossible to serve two masters?

Does the parable of our lesson inform us whether the rich man was a sinner or the poor man righteous?

What seems to be the correct solution of the parable?

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