The Return Of The King

Lord Jesus, we pray that as we come to your word now

that you would speak to us by the power of your spirit,

that you would grow us in Christ,

that you would make us alive in you,

and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Great opportunity for me to promote the resource stand.

There's one of these left called Radical Together,

and we had a couple of copies on it, on the stand,

and it was the subtitle of the book that caught my attention out at Curon

because it says,

Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God.

Which is what we've clearly signalled

is what we want to do within our church family in the coming 12 months.

Activate people for ministry more so than even what we've got at the moment.

So unleashing the people of God for the purpose of God.

And I got into this book and read some of it through the week,

and it was just a joy to me.

And I decided to throw away the beginning of my message this morning

and read to you from something I read.

I was sitting in a small room on the most un-evangelised island on earth.

And as I looked out the window,

I saw the sun rising over shanties that spread across the landscape for miles.

The mist began to disappear over the millions of men and women

who inhabited this massive city in the middle of the island.

Beyond the city limits,

multitudes of other people were spread throughout rural villages,

many of which require days of travel to reach.

And as I watched the city begin to awaken,

I heard the early morning call to prayer.

Religious incantations resounded from loudspeakers

stationed throughout the city,

so that everyone could hear them.

And everywhere people began their day by solemnly going to prayer rooms

and sacred sites to bow and worship.

Most of the 45 million people on the island are Muslim,

and most of them have never heard the gospel.

Nearly 50 different people groups on the island

have no church to speak of in their midst,

and many of the people have never known a person

who has confessed faith in Christ.

What is interesting, though,

and unfortunately ironic,

is that the most unevangelised island on earth

is also home to millions of Christians.

One of the largest tribes on the island

is filled with professing believers.

Years ago, a Baptist couple came to this island

to share the gospel with the tribal leaders.

Those leaders did not like what they heard,

and so they killed and cannibalised the two missionaries.

Yet a Lutheran from Germany came to the same tribe,

and this time when he proclaimed the gospel,

the tribal leaders listened and believed,

and within months the majority of the tribe

had professed faith in Christ.

The problem, however,

is that in the years since this mass conversion to Christianity,

this tribe has turned inward,

and due to a variety of factors,

including cultural isolation and religious persecution,

these Christians have virtually kept Christ to themselves.

Take the issue of pork.

Muslim tribes across this island do not eat pork

because they believe it is unclean.

This Christian tribe, on the other hand,

loves to eat pork,

and naturally any Christian wanting to reach Muslims

with the gospel would be wise

to abstain from pork around Muslims.

Yet most Christians here

are not willing to even take this small step.

One believer succinctly said

to a friend of mine on the island,

I would rather a Muslim go to hell

than for me to have to stop eating pork.

Reaching Muslims here

would not only be uncomfortable for Christians,

it would also be costly.

Many Muslim tribes on the island are devout,

and one state practices Sharia law.

Anyone caught trying to lead people to Christ in that state

will be imprisoned or likely even killed.

Any Muslim caught converting to faith in Christ

in that state will immediately be executed.

Indeed, the price is high for any believer here

who desires to engage the unreached with the gospel.

And so Christians sit back.

They're living next to multitudes of unreached peoples,

yet they are unwilling to share Christ with them.

Indeed, they focus on church activities among themselves.

They have constructed large church buildings

all over the city.

They have numerous denominational conventions,

nearly 30 theological seminaries,

and even missions boards

organised among themselves throughout the island.

My friend who lives here says,

David, they have all the trappings of the church,

and the only thing they are missing

is the heart of Christ.

And as soon as my friend said this,

I was stunned into silence.

I thought, is it really possible

to have all the trappings of the church

and miss the heart of Christ?

Is it possible for church people

to be so focused on personal comforts

and so fearful of potential cost,

they virtually forget the purpose of God

among all the peoples of the world?

And as I asked the question,

I realised the answer,

is of course it's possible.

Much of what we have seen in the West

proves that we have massive resources,

mega buildings,

multitudes of programs,

and a myriad of conferences and activities.

Meanwhile, thousands of people,

groups around us in the world,

still have not heard the gospel.

And from most appearances in the church,

however,

we seem to be okay with that.

We seem content to let these people,

groups continue churchless,

Christless,

gospel-less.

To seriously engage them with the gospel

would be

uncomfortable and costly.

And on it goes.

Now I'm continuing our series of messages

from Matthew chapter 24 and 25

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

on the second coming of Jesus Christ.

And we've been learning that Jesus taught

that the end of the world

and his first coming

are two separate events.

That was something that was new

for the mindset of the people

amongst who he lived.

There will be a period of time

before he returns.

Jesus will return.

He will return suddenly and unexpectedly.

People will be going about normal life.

The world as we know it will end

with the return of Jesus Christ

as Lord and King.

And for some,

his return will be a wonderful surprise

and for others,

a very unpleasant one.

No one will escape the event.

Everyone who has ever lived

will be raised to life

to face the judgment of God.

And understanding these things

has really important consequences.

We have power to call false teaching rubbish

when people make predictions

about Christ's return.

Jesus says,

no one knows the hour or the day,

only his dad.

There's been a great story in the media

even this week.

The American pastor called Howard Camping

died at 92.

And he was famous

or he was infamous

because he predicted the coming of Christ

several times in his life.

He finished well.

He apologised for a very grave mistake.

But what was incredibly sad to me,

the news this week

showed some of the stories

at the time when he did these things

and he had people in his church family,

his followers,

who literally gave their life savings

to advertising the date

on which Christ was going to return

and telling people to get ready for it.

And they showed the other protesters

gathered out his side,

his church,

on the day,

one of the days

when it was supposed to have occurred

and there were people there

with placards and banners

and saying things like,

trust science,

don't trust religion.

So when we move beyond

what God's word allows,

we can cause the name of Christ

to be dragged through the mud.

In Matthew 25,

Jesus uses two pictures

to describe what he has already taught

in Matthew 24.

And the pictures show us

how to live

between the two comings of Jesus.

Last week,

the first picture

was the parable of the ten virgins,

five who were wise,

they were well prepared

for the delayed return

of the bridegroom,

and five who were foolish,

who thought they knew

the bridegroom,

but didn't.

And this morning,

the second picture

in Matthew 25,

the parable of the talents,

the Bible reading

that Josh has just read to us.

And again,

this is a story

about how to live

in the light

of Jesus' delayed return.

And you pick that up

from verse 14

because Jesus said,

again,

it will be like a man

going on a journey.

He's about to go

on a journey.

And in verse 19,

after a long time,

the master

of those servants

returns.

So it's going to be

a long period of time

between his departure

and between his return.

This is about life

between the two comings

of Jesus.

It's a great story.

The master's going

on a journey.

He calls his servants in.

He entrusts them

with the running

of his business.

He gives them a task,

something to do.

One of them

gets five talents

to look after.

One gets two.

The other gets one.

He gives each of them

responsibility.

And verse 15 says,

each according

to his own ability.

He gives them

what he believes

they're capable

of handling.

There's nothing more,

nothing less,

not too much

and not too little.

But this is big business.

I worked it out

the other day.

Our talent was

a measure of money.

It's not a God-given

gift or ability.

It's a measure of money.

And a talent was equal

to 6,000 days wages,

6,000 denarii.

And the average

Australian wage

at present

is something like

$70,000.

You divide that

by 52.

And again,

for five,

by five,

for a five-day

working work,

it comes out

at something like

$270 a day.

So if you're getting

less than that,

you're not getting

the average wage.

And if you're getting

more,

you're getting far

more than you

should be getting.

Not true.

But you work it out.

A talent

in today's values

is nearly

$1.5 million.

So five talents

is $7.5 million.

And two

is $3 million.

So these guys

are actually entrusted

with running

their master's business.

They're given

really big sums

of money

to be responsible

for.

And they're running

the business

until the master

returns.

You see,

the first two,

they get to work,

they double the money

over a long time.

These are not

short-term

money market gains.

This is solid,

hard work

building a business.

And the third,

verse 18,

went off

dug a hole

in the ground

and hid

his master's

money.

Now that wasn't

such a strange

thing to do.

A rabbi

at the time

said that the

best way to

protect money

was to bury it.

In a world

without banks

and without

chub safes

and all sorts

of security,

a normal way

to protect

your money

was to bury it

and not tell

people where

you'd planted it.

So much

for your family

if you died

suddenly.

HSC

Ancient History

teaches that

soldiers going

off to war

would bury

their personal

fortunes in the

ground to keep

it safe

until they

return.

These three guys

are entrusted

with the master's

business.

They're given

responsibility

and the master

has expectations

of them

according to

their ability.

They are to be

on about the

master's business

while he's absent.

They are to work

industriously

for him.

So a day of

reckoning comes.

The day of

settling accounts

comes a long

time later.

a delayed

return.

And the

first has

turned

seven million

dollars

into

fourteen

million

dollars.

And the

second has

turned

three million

dollars

into six

million

dollars.

And the

master says

exactly the

same to

both of

them.

Excellent.

Good and

faithful servants.

You have been

faithful in a

few things.

I will put you

in charge of

many things.

Come and

share your

master's

happiness.

He's delighted.

He recognizes

their hard work.

They rejoice in

their success

together.

It's not their

money but they

have been successful

for their master

and he is pleased

for them and he

is pleased with

them.

They are well

prepared for their

master's return

because they have

been faithfully

discharging their

responsibilities.

They share joy

all around when he

comes back because

they have been on

about the master's

business.

Very different

story from the

third man or with

the third man.

Verse 24.

Oh master I knew

you were a hard

man.

Harvesting where

you have not sown

and gathering where

you have not

scattered seed and

so I was afraid

and I went out

and I hid your

talent in the

ground and say

here it is.

Here is what

belongs to you.

I've kept it all

safe.

I haven't lost

a cent.

But as he says

these words he

almost accuses his

master of being a

venture capitalist

making his money on

other people's

efforts.

You just trade on

everybody else.

Saw it in the

bush.

Saw it in

Wee-Woo.

Farmers had

planted their

crops and they

would pay big

money to grow

them.

And they would

live with the

risk of the

season.

And then they

sold their crops

into markets where

the price was

controlled by

commodity and

money traders in

cities around the

world like New

York.

Men and women in

business suits who

wouldn't have a

clue what dirt was

let alone putting

their hands into

it.

That's not your

job is it?

In Sydney.

They're probably

those people in

churches higher up

the north shore.

Is that correct?

Or lower down.

There you go.

But this third

servant seems to

have little respect

for his master.

He goes, he gets

the money, tosses it

back to him.

I've looked after it

for you.

I was afraid of you

and so I made sure I

kept every last cent

safe.

mongrel boss that

you are.

He didn't say that.

The master's filthy.

You wicked, lazy

servant.

So you knew I

harvest where I

haven't sown and

gather where I

haven't scattered

seed.

Well then you

should have put

your money on

deposit with the

bankers so that

when I returned I

would have received

it back with

interest.

Jews couldn't

charge fellow

Jews.

interest.

But money could be

borrowed in the

Roman Empire to a

maximum of 12%.

Could have at least

put it in the bank

and this last man is a

piece of work.

He has a shot at his

master to pass off

blame.

He's drawing a wage

from the business but

he doesn't care two

bits about his

master's business.

He's dumped a vast

sum of money in a

hole in the ground

for the entire time

that his master was

away and presumably

got on with life and

his own business.

He did his own

thing.

His master said he

was wicked and he

was lazy.

How long would you

last in your job if

you went to work and

you used all the

company's stationery and

computer peripherals?

If you spent all day

on the phone on

personal business,

wouldn't your employer

have every right to

throw you out of the

place?

See the third servant

in this parable might

have been working his

butt off while his

master was absent but

growing his own share

portfolio, doing a

stack of beneficial

trades on eBay, running

around and doing work

for mates all over the

place, he may have been

busier even than the

other two.

But Jesus called him

wicked and lazy because

he was squandering his

master's resources and

business.

He wasn't responding

at all to the one who

had the right to tell

him what his work was,

he did his own thing.

Is that not a picture of

the church that I read

about at the beginning?

Full of religious

activity and a

beautiful infrastructure

and not touching their

Muslim neighbours?

I reckon if you'd asked

this guy what his job

was, he probably would

have said, I work for

the master.

And if you looked at

what he was doing all

the time, the master

away was away.

It was nothing.

It was a big fat

zilch.

And Jesus called the

man wicked and lazy,

his doom assured,

cast away into darkness,

never to be heard from

again.

Now I hope it's not

too hard to see where

this is heading.

Jesus, our King, has

come once and he will

come again.

We live awaiting his

return.

He's been a long time.

He could come back

today.

He could come back a

long time into the

future.

But he will return.

But in the meantime, we

are stewards of the

master's business.

We are not here for

ourselves.

We are here for what

God wants us to do.

In Matthew 24, Jesus

tells us that the

faithful and wise

servant is the one

whom the master has

put in charge of his

household.

And when the master

returns, he finds his

servant faithfully at

work doing his job.

Matthew 24 also gives a

huge glimpse of what the

master's business is.

Verse 14, this gospel of

the kingdom will be

preached in the whole

world as a testimony to

all nations and then the

end will come.

And in verse 31, he will

send his angels with a

loud trumpet call and they

will gather his elect from

the four winds from one end

of the heavens to the

other.

Angel sounds all spooky as

in heavenly messengers and

sometimes they are.

But angel simply means

messenger.

And so it's completely

valid to read this last

verse as he will send his

messengers with a loud

trumpet call and they will

gather his elect from the

four winds from one end of

the heavens to the other.

When I went to South

Africa recently and worked

with Andrew Barnes who was

the pastor at Musenberg

Community Church and the

pastor of the church that

Darian and Vanessa are at,

he wrote to Darian, our

link missionary afterwards

and he said about me,

let's blow my own trumpet

for a sec, he said,

it's as though God sent an

angel to say exactly the

right things to me, I feel

so encouraged to carry on.

Enormous encouragement to

me and I am thrilled to

think that God used me as

his messenger in his time

to encourage Andrew and

let me tell you that Andrew

was an enormous blessing to

me as well.

But the point for me with

angels is that God uses

heavenly beings as his

messengers and he also

uses heavenly beings, he

uses human beings as his

messengers.

So what's happening between

the first and second

comings of Jesus?

His gospel is being preached

to the nations.

God's messengers are being

sent out into all the world

to gather his chosen people

in.

It's a joyous and it's a

magnificent work and Romans

Romans 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 expresses it, it

says everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be

saved.

How can they call on the

one they have not believed

in and how can they believe

on the one of whom they

have not heard?

And how can they hear

without someone preaching

to them and how can they

preach unless they are

sent?

As it is written, how

beautiful are the feet of

those who bring good news.

See people are gathered to

God through the preaching of

the gospel.

As the message of Christ is

spoken in God's world, people

are gathered from the four

corners of the earth into his

family.

Preaching of the gospel,

declaration about Christ

happens in formal settings

like church but where

Christian people come to

gather or maybe somebody

interested in finding out.

It also happens in informal

places like over morning tea

at work and in time reading

the scriptures with our

children, at dinner with

friends.

Being on about the

master's business in the

context here is particularly

about telling the world

about Jesus Christ in both

word and in deed.

I remember feeling really

embarrassed at one of my

ordination interviews a long

time ago and I was asked,

have you led anybody to

Christ?

It's almost like how many

notches have you got on your

belt?

And at the time I couldn't

think of anyone.

But if the question had been

who had I spoken to about

Christ, then the list would

have been long.

It would have been family,

it would have been friends,

it would have been workmates,

it would have been the

occasional stranger, mostly

people that I had some sort

of a relationship with.

See, we don't control the

response, but we do have

control over whether we open

our mouths and speak, we

have control over what we

say and we have control over

how we say it.

My engineering boss would give

me some stick.

He was a bit of a rogue and

he would wind me up at work

about my faith.

He knew I was a Christian

and we'd had numbers of

conversations.

And his girls were Christian.

And I didn't convert him.

But I did speak to him about

Christ numbers of times.

And 30 years later, I got his

Christmas card the other day

and it's been developing over

quite a few years, but it's a

joy to read his Christmas

cards because he now strongly

proclaims Christ as he cares

for an invalid wife who suffers

with MS.

He has been growing as a

disciple of the

Lord Jesus Christ.

God has gathered another one

of his elect from the four

corners of the earth through

the saving message about

Jesus Christ.

So brothers and sisters,

own your faith and speak

about it.

Understand that when people

give you a hard time, some of

them will be people that God is

gathering into his kingdom even

in the future.

And how you respond to them

even now, as pain in the butt

as they might be, matters.

See, Christmas time itself

brings many opportunities to own

Christ.

Tell people that you're going to

church.

Tell people that Christmas is

much bigger than a baby story.

It's about what this amazing man

came to do.

Take the opportunities that God

gives you to speak about what you

believe.

Be on about the master's business.

It's a wonderful parable because

God recognises our different

opportunities.

Two servants grow their master's

business.

He's equally pleased with both of

them.

He makes no distinction between them

in terms of his pleasure with them.

They have both been doing his

business and he loves them for it.

And he speaks the same wonderful

word to both of them.

He says, well done, good and

faithful servants.

Come and share your master's

happiness.

Amen.