Pastor Rusty Milton
Luke 16:13-17 ESV
"A Divided Heart"

We often separate our lives into the sacred and secular, but for the Christian, there is no such distinction. All is sacred. If we seek peace and security primarily in possessions, money, relationships, sports, or power, etc., they will possess and control us. In other words, when the heart is divided, your possessions will possess you. In Luke 16, Jesus speaks of the impossibility of serving both possessions and God, exhorting his hearers to serve God alone and thus escape the enslavement which comes from idolizing money and material things. How do we know if we are struggling with this? We can ask ourselves:

1) Do we find ourselves dreaming about what we are going to have someday more than we meditate on God and his truth?

2) Are your feelings and actions controlled by those desires?

3) Do you find yourself making decisions to further your career or gain more money, even though those decisions are destructive to your family and loved ones?

4) Are you never satisfied with what God has given you, but covet what others have?

If your answer to many of these are "yes," then repent of idolatry. Choose to trust in God to supply all your needs when you trust in Jesus--our greatest possession. 

Luke 16:13–17
English Standard Version

13 pNo servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

The Law and the Kingdom of God

14 tThe Pharisees, who were ulovers of money, heard all these things, and they vridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who wjustify yourselves before men, but xGod knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men yis an abomination in the sight of God.

16 z“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then athe good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and beveryone forces his way into it.5 17 But cit is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.