Living Life With an Open Hand

In one paragraph

Pastor Scott walked through all of Luke 16, two parables connected by a short stretch of Jesus speaking directly to the Pharisees, and showed how both stories circle the same question: what does the way you handle money reveal about who you actually are? The chapter opens with the parable of the shrewd manager, a man who gets fired and uses his remaining time in the job to cut deals with his...

Read together

1. John 14:19 quoted as encouragement before singing: 'Because I live, you also will live'
2. 1 Peter 5:7 quoted as encouragement before offering: 'cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you'
3. Matthew 7:24 quoted from Matthew about anyone who listens to Jesus' teaching and follows it being like a person who builds on solid rock
4. Acts 1:8 quoted by Kimberly as the basis for the church's missions program: 'you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth'
5. Luke 16:1-31 the main passage for the sermon, covering the parable of the shrewd manager, Jesus' teaching on wealth, and the rich man and Lazarus
6. Exodus 22:25 cited in explaining that usury is against Torah: 'if you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor'
7. Leviticus 25 cited alongside Exodus in the discussion of Torah's prohibition on charging interest to the poor
8. Jude 24-25 quoted as the closing benediction about God keeping believers from stumbling and presenting them blameless with great joy

Talk about it

1. Pastor Scott described the shrewd manager as someone who recognized he had limited time left and acted urgently on that. Where in your own life do you find it hardest to act with that same sense of urgency about the things God has called you to do?
2. Three possible explanations were offered for how the manager reduced the debtors' bills, including removing interest that was already against Torah but that everyone quietly accepted anyway. Can you think of areas where we treat something as an acceptable sin the way usury was treated then?
3. Jesus says that the way a person handles money reveals their character, and that faithfulness in small things carries over into greater responsibilities. How have you seen that principle play out, for better or worse, in your own experience?
4. Abraham tells the rich man that his five brothers already have Moses and the prophets, and that even someone rising from the dead would not persuade people who refuse to hear what God has already said. What does that tell us about how people actually come to repentance, and how does that shape the way we talk to people about faith?
5. Pastor Scott summed up the whole chapter as living life with an open hand, saying that if we have received freely we will want to give freely. What is one practical thing that open-handed generosity might look like for you this week?