Luke 16:9 And I say to you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when you fail… I. A FAREWELL IMPORTS A LOOK BEHIND. What is there in the Christian's last look at the world? It is a fact that that look must be taken. We may avoid many things, but not that. Of the end of business we can have no doubt. If it end not before death, it will at death. When the end comes, there will be a tenderness in the adieu. Of course, there will be much to make a farewell pleasant. Business will be an object of not unmingled regret. 1. But still, we say, there must be tenderness in the adieu. It is an adieu. 2. But there are other sources of regret. Business has been a source of positive enjoyment. It has supplied a wholesome excitement. It has exercised the active powers. 3. Nor can we omit to remark that when the Christian fails in death, he leaves, in business, that which has been the channel and scene of spiritual things. It is in business he has "exercised himself to godliness." The place of work has been the place of prayer. II. Let us now contemplate the Christian IN THAT BRIGHT PROSPECT WHICH IS BEFORE HIM WHEN HE LEAVES THE WORLD, as he looks forward to "the everlasting habitations" to which he will be "received" at his failure in death. That ground is Christ. It is not because we are by good works entitled to it, that we can obtain an inheritance above. 1. And, therefore, I remark, first, that though secular life closes at death, the Christian retains all that made that life holy and noble. With many, business was an end; with him, it was a means. With many, the thought, the care, the aim, the ambition, were all comprised in this outward world with him the outward world was but a glass, a tool, a stepping-stone. 2. And while the Christian retains his principles, which made his business good and holy and happy, those principles are transferred to a better sphere at death. 3. The Christian, in failing at death, will be able not only to expect the continuance of holy activity in a better sphere, but to connect his past with his future activity. (J. A. Morris.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. |
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