Street Meeting Twelfth
W e have two texts set before us this Lord’s Day. The first, found in the opening thirteen verses of the sixteenth chapter of Saint Luke, is a word intended for the sheepfold alone. The second, found in the verses that follow—from the nineteenth to the thirty-first—is a message directed both to the sheep within the fold and to the public gathered without. Luke 16:1-13 The Parable of the Deceitful Steward The first was given to the sheepfold as a solemn reminder that the Christian religion is a practical thing. It is not enough to offer God our worship in the spirit; we must show the reality of that worship in a tangible way to those who bear His image. In like manner, God did not merely declare His love from the heavens; He demonstrated that love toward us by the giving of His own Son. It is in this very act of giving—of pouring ourselves out for the sake of others—that we truly mirror the Lord Jesus, making His grace wonderful and visible to a world unfamiliar to such kindness....