Expository Thoughts On Luke – Luke 16:13-18 - John Charles Ryle
SERVING TWO MASTERS
These verses teach us, firstly, the uselessness of attempting to serve God with a divided heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “No servant can serve two masters–for either he will hate the one and love the other–or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The truth here propounded by our Lord appears, at first sight, too obvious to admit of being disputed. And yet the very attempt which is here declared to be useless is constantly being made by many in the matter of their souls. Thousands on every side are continually trying to do the thing which Christ pronounces impossible. They are endeavoring to be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time. Their consciences are so far enlightened, that they feel they must have some religion. But their affections are so chained down to earthly things, that they never come up to the mark of being true Christians. And hence they live in a state of constant discomfort. They have too much religion to be happy in the world, and they have too much of the world in their hearts to be happy in their religion. In short, they waste their time in laboring to do that which cannot be done. They are striving to “serve God and mammon.”
He that desires to be a happy Christian, will do well to ponder our Lord’s sayings in this verse. There is perhaps no point on which the experience of all God’s saints is more uniform than this, that decision is the secret of comfort in Christ’s service. It is the half-hearted Christian who brings up an evil report of the good land. The more thoroughly we give ourselves to Christ, the more sensibly shall we feel within “the peace of God which passes all understanding.” (Phil. 4:7.) The more entirely we live, not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, the more powerfully shall we realize what it is to have “joy and peace in believing.” (Rom. 15:13.) If it is worthwhile to serve Christ at all, let us serve Him with all our heart, and soul, and mind and strength. Life, eternal life, after all, is the matter at stake, no less than happiness. If we cannot make up our minds to give up everything for Christ’s sake, we must not expect Christ to own us at the last day. He will have all our hearts or none. “Whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4) The end of undecided and half-hearted Christians will be to be cast out forever.
These verses teach us, secondly, how widely different is the estimate set on things by man from that which is set on things by God. Our Lord Jesus Christ declares this in a severe rebuke which he addresses to the covetous Pharisees who derided Him. He says, “You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts–for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
The truth of this solemn saying appears on every side of us. We have only to look round the world and mark the things on which most men set their affections, in order to see it proved in a hundred ways. Riches, and honors, and rank, and pleasure, are the chief objects for which the greater part of mankind are living. Yet these are the very things which God declares to be “vanity,” and of the love of which He warns us to beware! Praying, and Bible-reading, and holy living, and repentance, and faith, and grace, and communion with God, are things for which few care at all. Yet these are the very things which God in His Bible is ever urging on our attention! The disagreement is glaring, painful, and appalling. What God calls good, that man calls evil! What God calls evil, that man calls good!
Whose words, after all, are true? Whose estimate is correct? Whose judgment will stand at the last day? By whose standard will all be tried, before they receive their eternal sentence? Before whose bar will the current opinions of the world be tested and weighed at last? These are the only questions which ought to influence our conduct; and to these questions the Bible returns a plain answer. The counsel of the Lord, it alone shall stand forever. The word of Christ, it alone shall judge man at the last day. By that word let us live. By that word let us measure everything, and every person in this evil world. It matters nothing what man thinks. “What says the Lord?”–It matters nothing what it is fashionable or customary to think. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” (Rom. 3:4.) The more entirely we are of one mind with God, the better we are prepared for the judgment day. To love what God loves, to hate what God hates, and to approve what God approves, is the highest style of Christianity. The moment we find ourselves honoring anything which in the sight of God is lightly esteemed, we may be sure there is something wrong in our souls.
These verses teach us, lastly, the dignity and sanctity of the law of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ declares that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the law to fail.
The honor of God’s holy law was frequently defended by Christ during the time of His ministry on earth. Sometimes we find Him defending it against man-made additions, as in the case of the fourth commandment. Sometimes we find Him defending it against those who would lower the standard of its requirements, and allow it to be transgressed, as in the case of the law of marriage. But never do we find Him speaking of the law in any terms but those of respect. He always “magnified the law and made it honorable.” (Isaiah 43:21.) Its ‘ceremonial’ part was a type of His own gospel, and was to be fulfilled to the last letter. Its ‘moral’ part was a revelation of God’s eternal mind, and was to be perpetually binding on Christians.
The honor of God’s holy law needs continually defending in the present day. On few subjects does ignorance prevail so widely among professing Christians. Some appear to think that Christians have nothing to do with the law–that its moral and ceremonial parts were both of only temporary obligation–and that the daily sacrifice and the ten commandments were both alike put aside by the gospel. Some on the other hand think that the law is still binding on us, and that we are to be saved by obedience to it, but that its requirements are lowered by the gospel, and can be met by our imperfect obedience. Both these views are erroneous and unscriptural. Against both let us be on our guard.
Let us settle it in our minds that “the law is good if man uses it lawfully.” (1 Tim. 1:8.) It is intended to show us God’s holiness and our sinfulness–to convince us of sin and to lead us to Christ–to show us how to live after we have come to Christ, and to teach us what to follow and what to avoid. He that so uses the law will find it a true friend to his soul. The establishes Christian will always say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” (Rom. 7:22.)
John Charles Ryle