A Life Entrusted By God (Bible Study)
Bible Study
Readings: Luke 16:1-13, Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 37:12-16, 21-29
Luke 16:1-13
Vs. 1 Sometimes Jesus talks to the crowds and sometimes the disciples, why might this distinction be important? Do you think Jesus would talk differently/share differently with two different groups? Why? What happens when the Pharisees hear it in vs. 14?
Why was an accusation like this a big deal, both for the accuser and the accused?
Why was it important that this was brought forward to the owner?
2 Do you think the manager was guilty? Why do you think the manager reacted in this way?
3 Do you ever feel this way in terms of your capacity or willingness? What would you be too ashamed to do?
4 What is the manager’s plan? How does this, in a worldly sense, help us to understand the good of fickle wealth?
5-7 How do you think the debtors would have responded to this forgiveness? How would they feel about the manager? How would they have felt about the rich man? How would they have felt about their debt? How would they have felt about their future?
Do you think there is a reason for the difference in forgiveness between the wheat and the oil?
8 Why was this a commendable version of dishonesty?
Was the master commending the servant over the children of light? How can shrewdness with worldly wealth be both a good thing and a bad thing?
9 What difference can friends make? What does this say about shared salvation? Can you think of any other stories that relate to this idea?
How does this story relate to the fickleness of our own lives, job, and money?
How does a vision for the end, make us wiser about our time right now? What does it change for the manager?
10-12 Do you think the manager will be trusted with very much?
How does what we do with what we currently have, relate to what will be waiting for us in the time to come?
What do you think the true riches are?
How does this life and stuff not really belong to us? How are we more like managers? What would it mean for something to truly belong to us?
13 Why can we not serve two masters? Have you ever experienced this in your own life?
How is difficult to juggle priorities? How can it help our use of money or anything, when we make God our master and priority?
Luke 16:19-31
19-21 What are the differences between these two men? What defined both of their lives in this telling?
Why is the name Lazarus used? Do you think this relates at all to Jesus’ friend Lazarus who was raised from the dead?
What does this detail about the dogs tell us? How does it relate to the rich man’s actions?
22-23 What is the difference after their death between the two men? Why do you think this is the case? Do you think there is more than what is said in Vs. 25?
What do you think Abraham’s side or bosom means?
Hades is a Greek image for hell, which differs in some ways with the waste, death and sacrificial pit of the Hebrew image. How do the two relate?
Do you think the rich man's torment is simply a punishment? Could there be more reason for it? How might this be a natural consequence? How could his life and practice be preparing him for an inability to experience and enjoy the reality of heaven or stand in the fire of God?
How does wealth and longing relate to the afterlife in this story? Is there more to it than this?
24 What does the rich man’s request tell us about his belief about himself and Lazarus?
Fire can be both a good and a bad thing. How does our relationship to it change that reality? What does this tell us about the fire of God’s presence as depicted in the Exodus and more?
25 Again, is this the whole story? Why might Abraham be simplifying the story for the rich man? How does this relate to what the rich man cares about?
26 What do you think this great chasm is? What might be standing in the way of them truly coming to one another in the time to come?
How did Jesus bridge many great chasms? What hope does this offer for everything?
27-31 What is the rich man’s wish? Does he care about more than wealth? Why is this still not enough?
What did Moses and the Prophets do to help people believe? Why should this be enough?
Why would people still not believe even after someone was raised from the dead? Why wouldn’t they believe Lazarus?
What is Abraham’s statement foreshadowing?
