USING THE THINGS OF THE WORLD TO REACH THE LOST
Make yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon
Luke 16:1-13 NASB
Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' "The manager said to himself, `What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg— I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' "`Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' "Then he asked the second, `And how much do you owe?' "`A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, `Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with thir own kind than are the people of the light. "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon; that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings. "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. "If therefore you have not been faithful in the {use of} unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true {riches} to you? "And if you have not been faithful in {the use of} that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
MAMMON = Status, Wealthy Friends, Power and Influence, Cash, Checks, Credit Cards, Stocks
and Bonds, Gold, Silver, Precious Gems, Wealth, IOUs, Anything Bartered, Brownie Points, Worldly Goods. .
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BUT DIDN'T GOD SAY TO LOVE NOT THE WORLD?
1 John 2:15-16
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world —the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life —comes not from the Father but from the world.
Galatians 6:14
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
DIDN'T GOD SAY WE ARE TO BE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD?
1 Corinthians 5: 9-11
I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
1 Corinthians 7: 29-31
What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
BUT USING UNRIGHTEOUS MAMMON IS ALSO HIS COMMAND TO US!
Whatever we have should be the very best.
We should use what we have to win the lost.
The very best Business Methods.
The very best Tracts.
The very best Television Programs.
The very best Radio Programs.
The very best Books.
The very best Movies.
Nothing we use to win the world should be second rate!
We are competitng with the world to win the world.