60IN60 Day 52 - Wed Apr 24

It's Day 52 and we're in Luke 21.

One reason to be in the Bible regularly? It provides the answers to life's most pressing questions: "Why am I here?" "What value does my life have?" "What does God want out of me?" "What does a life well spent look like?" For all the time we spend daily on trivial things, it's essential that we spend some time on the big questions. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 4 - The measure of our generosity is not the amount of money, but the amount of sacrifice.

Help:
- Verse 18 - Given verse 16, this has to mean that we will be given life beyond this life.
- Verse 32 - Two possibilities: a. it's a reference to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70; b. the word used there is the word for "race," which means that this will happen before humanity is done.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Questions and Comments:

- "My question is about the parable of the pounds. I always thought it was about gifts. But now I don’t think that anymore. I’m not quite sure what it’s about. Is it really just about them taking the money and making him more money? And the one servant was too lazy and scared of the master to invest the money?" - The parables of the pounds (also known as the parable of the minas) in Luke 19:11-27 tells of a king who entrusts servants with a mina (an amount of money from back in those days). He tells them to put the money to work and then goes away. When he returns he calls the servants to see what they've done with what he has entrusted to them. One has earned ten minas with the mina his master entrusted to him. The master says, "Well done." A second has earned five. The master says, "Well done." A third servant has hidden his mina and earned nothing with it. He is rebuked. This parable is a picture of us as the servants of God using what God has given us to bear fruit for Him. The mina represents our time, our spiritual gifts, our money, and all the other things God has given us. He expects us to use our time, gifts, money, etc. after we become Christians working for Him. As we do that, our lives will bear fruit for Him. The fruitfulness varies (some 10x, some 5x, etc) but one thing He will not approve is "burying our talents" and doing nothing with what God has given us. This may seem surprising to some because there is often the thought that once we're saved He doesn't expect anything else from us. That's not Biblical. As we obey the teachings of Christ we will naturally be fruitful (John 15; I just did a sermon on this a couple weeks ago). For a deeper discussion of this idea of expected fruitfulness, see chapter four of Christian Pharisees.