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Stay alert! (Matthew 13:24-30) March 25, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Jeremiah 1-6

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus told them another parable.
Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like this: Once there was a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field. While the farmer’s workers were sleeping, his enemy crept into the field and sowed weeds among all the wheat seeds. Then he snuck away again. Eventually the crops grew—wheat, but also weeds. So the farmer’s workers said to him, “Sir, why didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where did these weeds come from?”
“My enemy must have done this,” replied the farmer.
“Should we go pull up all the weeds?” asked his workers.
“No,” said the farmer. “It’s too risky. As you pull up the weeds, you would probably pull up some wheat as well. We’ll let them both grow until harvesttime. I will tell the harvesters to collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, and only then to harvest the wheat and bring it to my barn.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Well, I have another confession to make. I don’t know how many times I’ve read this passage. I’d have to look up the number of sermons I’ve preached on this passage and used it to talk about the fact that Christian life in a sinful world. God doesn’t take us out of the world, but leaves us here among the thorns and weeds until His harvest-time comes. Then He will separate the wheat from the weeds. He will sort out the good from the bad. Until then, we just put up with some of the evil around us because it’s not going away until He comes again.

I’ve talked in the past about the fate of the two types of plants. The wheat is gathered into bundles and taken into the farmer’s barn to be enjoyed by the farmer and his family. The weeds are bundled and burned. Sounds a lot like the two kinds of punishment meted out at the final judgment, doesn’t it?

I’ve talked about how Satan, God’s enemy does everything he can to spoil the good work God does and sows evil wherever he can. Sometimes Satan even sows evil in the institutional church with its gossip and dissension, its politics, jealousy, and greed. He makes many look more like the world than Christ and so weeds are sown in the middle of God’s field.

But that’s not the confession I need to make today. For the first time, I noticed two important phrases I’ve just passed over time after time as I focused on other parts of this parable. Did you see them? The first one says, “While the workers were sleeping,…” Ouch! The enemy came in while the workers slept! Did you know the Uniform Code of Military Justice carries a punishment up to death for sleeping while on guard? There’s a good reason for that. If you are on guard duty, you are responsible for alerting the rest of the unit if an enemy is on the perimeter and being the first defense to keep the enemy out. If you’re asleep on the job and the enemy breaks in and kills your buddies, you’re essentially an accessory to murder because of your failure to carry out your responsibilities.

So here are these workers sleeping on the job. When they should be watching for the enemy and protecting their boss’ land, they are snoozing under a tree and let the enemy creep in and sow weeds in the field. But that’s not all that happens in the story. Did you catch the second phrase? The workers said to the farmer, “Sir, why didn’t you sow good seeds in your field?”

So here they are blaming the farmer for their negligence. Isn’t that just like too many of us? Oops, I messed this one up, who can I blame! I know, let’s blame God for all the bad things that happen to us. We’re good at that, aren’t we? When in reality, if we would just wake up and keep watch the enemy would never have the opportunity to sneak in and destroy the way we let him. Notice I said we let him! See it’s our choice.

We are not strong enough to stand up against Satan, but God is. The sentry on duty isn’t strong enough to stand up against an attack when the enemy begins to rush the perimeter of a unit. The commander knows that, too. But his job is not to defeat the enemy. His job is to give the warning, alert the rest of the unit, make sure everyone knows the enemy is about to attack. That’s the sentry’s job. So if we will just recognize the enemy is on the perimeter, God will take over and help defeat the enemy. He has already defeated him anyway. Satan just doesn’t know it yet.

All we have to do is stay awake, stay alert, watch for the temptations that Satan sends our way. Then we sound the alarm and bring in the big guns. Call the artillery. Send for reinforcements. Let God deliver us from the attacks that Satan might bring our way. What happens then? Victory! That’s what! Don’t sleep on the job. Stay awake. Stay alert. Sound the alarm. You won’t be sorry when God keeps Satan and his minions outside the gates of your life.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The clever asset manager (Luke 16:1-18), October 3, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Luke 16:1-18

Set – Ezra 6; Psalms 138; Luke 16

Go! – Ezra 5-6; Psalms 138; Luke 16

Luke 16:1-18
1 Here’s a parable He told the disciples:
Jesus: Once there was a rich and powerful man who had an asset manager. One day, the man received word that his asset manager was squandering his assets.
2 The rich man brought in the asset manager and said, “You’ve been accused of wrongdoing. I want a full and accurate accounting of all your financial transactions because you are really close to being fired.”
3 The manager said to himself, “Oh, no! Now what am I going to do? I’m going to lose my job here, and I’m too weak to dig ditches and too proud to beg. 4 I have an idea. This plan will mean that I have a lot of hospitable friends when I get fired.”
5 So the asset manager set up appointments with each person who owed his master money. He said to the first debtor, “How much do you owe my boss?” 6 The debtor replied, “A hundred barrels[a] of oil.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your bill by half. Just write 50 on this contract.” 7 Then he said to the second debtor, “How much do you owe?” This fellow said, “A hundred bales[b] of wheat.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your debt by 20 percent. Just write down 80 bales on this contract.”
8 When the manager’s boss realized what he had done, he congratulated him for at least being clever. That’s how it is: those attuned to this evil age are more clever in dealing with their affairs than the enlightened are in dealing with their affairs!
9 Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.
10 If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities. If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things. 11 If you can’t even handle a small thing like money, who’s going to entrust you with spiritual riches that really matter? 12 If you don’t manage well someone else’s assets that are entrusted to you, who’s going to give over to you important spiritual and personal relationships to manage?
13 Imagine you’re a servant and you have two masters giving you orders. What are you going to do when they have conflicting demands? You can’t serve both, so you’ll either hate the first and love the second, or you’ll faithfully serve the first and despise the second. One master is God and the other is money. You can’t serve them both.
14 The Pharisees overheard all this, and they started mocking Jesus because they really loved money.
Jesus (to the Pharisees): 15 You’ve made your choice. Your ambition is to look good in front of other people, not God. But God sees through to your hearts. He values things differently from you. The goals you and your peers are reaching for God detests.
16 The law and the prophets had their role until the coming of John the Baptist. Since John’s arrival, the good news of the kingdom of God has been taught while people are clamoring to enter it. 17 That’s not to say that God’s rules for living are useless. The stars in the sky and the earth beneath your feet will pass away before one letter of God’s rules for living become worthless.
18 Take God’s rules regarding marriage for example. If a man divorces his wife and marries somebody else, then it’s still adultery because that man has broken his vow to God. And if a man marries a woman divorced from her husband, he’s committing adultery for the same reason.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Have you ever thought about My parable of the crafty asset manager? He cheated his boss, but in the process gained friends so he could at least get some sympathy if he was fired and maybe get a meal or two from those he helped. Some would call him dishonest and, in fact, he was. He was dishonest to his boss and dishonest to those who owed his boss money. But he found a way to make friends.

I’m not condoning dishonesty. I am asking you to think outside the box to figure out ways to make friends. The world thinks money is the answer. The clever asset manager figured out ways to ease the financial burden for some. He found ways to connect to people. His ways were unconventional, but he certainly got their attention. Perhaps there are unconventional ways you can link with people in your community to enable you to share My message with them.

No, I don’t want you to break My laws to do it. I still want you to obey My commands, but there are ways to reach people outside the conventional means to do so. What are their interests? What are their needs? What can you do to help meet those needs in ways that do not put them in jeapordy or you in violation of My laws? The asset manager actually had the authority to discount those bills. His boss didn’t criticize him for doing it because it was within his purview to do what he did.

Can you do the same within your authorities? Can you help others in ways that you might not think of immediately in your line of work or your daily routine? If making money is not your driving force, how can you use your activities to help others and show Christ today?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.