Faithfulness

Today's scripture reading comes from Luke, chapter 19, verses 10 to 27.

Luke 19:10–27

Please follow along in your bulletin as I read.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable.

Because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

So he said,

So that he might know what business they had done.

The first appeared, saying,

Master, your mina has made ten minas more.

And he said to him,

Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing.

You are to be in authority over ten cities.

The second came, saying,

Your mina, master, has made five minas.

And he said to him also,

And you are to be over five cities.

Another came, saying,

Master, here is your mina,

Which I kept put away in a handkerchief,

For I was afraid of you,

Because you are an exacting man.

You take up what you did not lay down,

And reap what you did not sow.

He said to him,

By your own words I will judge you,

You worthless slave.

Did you know that I am an exacting man,

Taking up what I did not lay down,

And reaping what I did not sow?

Then why did you not put my money in the bank?

And having come,

I would have collected it with interest.

Then he said to the bystanders,

Take the mina away from him,

And give it to the one who has the ten minas.

And they said to him,

Master, he has ten minas already.

I tell you that to everyone who has,

More shall be given.

But from the one who does not have,

Even what he does have shall be taken away.

But these enemies of mine,

And who did not want me to reign over them,

Bring them here,

And slay them in my presence.

This is the reading of God's word.

Thank you, Taylor.

That was excellent reading

Of the passage today.

How are you guys doing?

Oh, come on.

That's terrible.

I've been gone for four weeks,

And that's all I get is good.

How are you guys doing?

Good?

Great.

Great.

Great.

That's good.

You know, it's great to be back.

And as you can tell,

We stayed out a little in the sun in the States.

It was very hot where we were.

For my Australian friends,

Yes, I wore sunscreen.

I get nagged about that all the time.

But then I was informed that anything below 50 is just suntanning oil.

So it has to be a 50 or above for it to count in Australia.

So I wasn't near the 50 mark,

But we had sunscreen on.

We had a great time.

And so it's good to be back.

And,

But when I looked at the passage that I have to preach on today,

I was like,

Whoa!

Wow, what a fun passage to come back to.

But that's one of the things we love about as we go through the gospel of Luke.

We don't,

Can't skip passages.

We have to follow them the way that God spoke them to the authors.

And so we're going to kind of attempt to look at this and see what God can teach us today.

As I come up here,

If you hadn't seen me in four weeks,

You've never seen me before.

My name is Tobin.

I'm one of the pastors here.

And I just want to start off by saying that I will probably offend you in this sermon.

Okay?

So I just,

And I'll probably bother you in this sermon.

Because I,

I've bothered myself.

Reading this sermon and thinking about it.

And so we're on this journey in the gospel of Luke for the last two years.

Some of you are wondering when this is going to end.

Today,

We are in the last week of Jesus' life.

Okay?

So he is heading towards Jerusalem.

And it's going to end one week from now.

And so as we look at what he has to tell us in this journey,

I think that there's a lot of things we can,

Can apply to our life.

And a lot of questions.

And so what,

What my intentions are is,

We're going to look at this passage really quickly.

I'm going to draw out some points that I have been struggling with in my life.

I'm going to ask you some questions.

And then we're going to lead right into a communion time.

I'm going to lead you in communion.

We're going to pray.

And then we're going to dismiss everybody.

There's going to be no announcements.

There's no,

If you want to stay here and spend some time praying,

That the worship team will be up here and they'll play some music.

If you need somebody to pray with you,

There'll be elders and leaders and small group leaders around.

Grab us.

If you're ready just to go and go eat,

Please be mindful of the people who are staying here.

And they're going to be praying.

And just walk out quietly and gather out back and get a Diet Coke.

If you need to.

But that's kind of where we're heading here.

Okay.

Is that good?

So we're going to try something new here.

So Jesus is in Jericho.

Last time we talked,

We looked at this story of Zacchaeus,

Who was a tax collector.

He was a chief tax collector.

And salvation came to his house.

And then we get to this passage in Luke 19,

10 and 11 to 27.

And we see right away why Jesus puts it there.

It's in verse 11.

If you follow it.

So Jericho is about 17 miles east of Jerusalem.

The Passover is coming.

Jesus is being followed by about 500 people.

Some of the authors,

Extra Biblical authors,

Josephus and other people say that it's like a rock concert.

They're all following Jesus.

They're going to Jerusalem.

Because they believe that at the Passover time,

The king, who is Jesus,

Is going to make himself known.

And everything will be made right.

When we talk about the Bible,

We talk in segments of time.

We talk about there's a creation,

Where God creates everything.

There's a fall,

Where our ancestors made poor choices.

They only had to obey one rule.

They couldn't do that.

And because of their disobedience,

Corruption spread throughout the whole creation.

Then we have this story of redemption,

Where the king comes back,

And he buys back his people.

He buys back creation.

And he makes all things new.

And then we have this story of restoration,

Where things are made new when the king comes.

And in the Jewish mind,

Redemption and restoration were one.

And so they're thinking,

If Jesus is going to come back,

He's going to make himself known king.

He's going to,

It's going to be like apocalypse,

Or it's going to be like opening the sacred cradle,

And God's wrath is going to come out,

And all the enemies are going to melt,

And all of God's people are going to be there,

And they're going to rule,

And it's going to be amen,

And that's the end of time.

So that's what they're thinking here.

And Jesus tells them that it's not like that.

We hear a lot in the Bible,

Where it says stuff like,

There's a king,

And there's a kingdom,

But it's now,

But it's not yet.

There's this hope,

And there's grace,

And it's now,

But it's not fully seen.

That we still walk in darkness,

Even though we see glimpses of these things.

But to the people on Jesus' day,

They didn't see that.

They just thought that when Jesus came,

Everything, Messiah came,

Everything was going to be made right.

And so they just kind of listened to Him.

I mean, the story we're going to look at today,

He said over and over and over.

And the people still don't understand it.

They still kind of just nod their head,

Go, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Great, go Jesus.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

And they don't understand anything that He's saying.

Because in their worldview,

In their grid,

They just can't comprehend

That there's not going to be a king

Who comes and makes everything right immediately.

And so they just nod and go,

Okay, yeah, yeah, okay.

Wives,

Your husbands do that sometimes, right?

I'm guilty of that.

I was on Skype last night with Christina,

And she was using her 45,000 words that day

To catch me up on what was going on in our family.

And most guys' brains can only handle about 5,000 words.

And there got to a point in the Skype session

Where I'm like,

Yeah, yeah, uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And if she had said,

And so my mother-in-law is going to come live with us for five years,

I would be like,

Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh.

So just realize that there's something in guys' brains,

But there's something in every one of our brains that does that.

There was a famous president in America, FDR,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

He felt like that.

He felt like that whatever he said,

No one really listened.

And he felt like all these state dinners were worthless and useless

Because he would have these deep conversations

And no one would ever listen to what he was going to say.

So he devised a plan.

His next heads of state dinner,

In the line,

As people gave and recepted him and asked him,

How are you doing, Mr. President?

He was going to say with a big smile,

I'm doing very good.

I killed my mother-in-law last night.

And he was going to see what people's reactions were.

And so the people started coming up there,

And they said,

How are you doing, Mr. President?

He goes, I'm doing very good.

I killed my mother-in-law last night.

And the reactions were as he expected.

Oh, that's really good.

We're so proud of you.

We're praying for you.

We think you're doing a great job.

You're doing absolutely fine.

Just keep it in there.

Keep going.

Person after person.

How are you doing, Mr. President?

I did very well.

I killed my mother-in-law last night.

The story goes that finally,

The Bolivian president came up there.

And he shook his hand.

He said, How are you doing, Mr. President?

And he goes, I'm doing very well.

I killed my mother-in-law last night.

And the Bolivian president was in shock.

And it was clear to FDR that he heard for the first time what 40 people did not hear.

And the Bolivian president looked at him up and down, kind of nervous.

And he said, Well, Mr. President, I suppose she deserved it.

It's a true story.

Sometimes we talk and we do things and we don't listen to what we're saying.

And it's true with the story today.

We're going to talk about a story that you've heard over and over and over again.

We talk about it all the time at Watermark.

There's nothing new under the sun.

And for most of us, we just kind of nod and go, Yeah, uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah.

That's great.

Good, good.

And we don't let it sink in.

But my prayer is that today as we spend time in communion and think about why this is the last parable Jesus told his disciples.

What is so important about this parable?

That this is the last thing he's going to tell them before they go to Jerusalem.

This is the last major teaching point for them.

Why is he teaching this thing to them?

And what do we need to learn from it?

And again, I think that you, my prayer is that you will be challenged.

I have been challenged.

My prayer is that you would be offended.

If you come to church and the things that we say from God's word don't challenge you or offend you or make you angry at us or the teachers or at God,

then you're not listening to what God's word says.

Because there are some very hard things in it.

And most of us just kind of go, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, okay, okay, let's go eat.

Me included.

Verse 11.

They were listening to these things and Jesus went on to tell them a story.

They're going to Jerusalem.

So he tells the story because they're going to Jerusalem and they suppose, they think, that the kingdom of God is going to come.

And it's going to appear immediately.

So they think that when Jesus comes, he's going to be the Messiah.

And he is the Messiah.

And he's going to change everything but what he wants to try to tell them that it's not like that.

It's going to be different.

That my kingdom is going to be now but it's not fully now.

It's going to be later too.

And that I'm going to be the king and I'm always the king but one day I'm going to come back and receive this kingdom.

He goes on and he says, there was a noble man who went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return.

So there's this rich, noble, aristocratic man and he has been given a kingship and he needs to go away to this other place to receive the scepter.

And then he'll return to rule.

And in verse 13 when he does that, he calls ten of his slaves.

The word there, slave, is doulos.

It's a special word for slaves.

It means someone who's a slave voluntarily.

I mean slaves are not like what we think today.

A lot of times he became a slave because your city got captured.

A lot of times he became a slave because you owed a debt to somebody.

And then after five years you paid that debt off.

If your master was so good to you, you could become a doulos.

You would go to your master and say, you are kind and you are gentle and I want to be your servant forever.

And the master would take your ear to the doorpost of the house.

He'd put an earring in it.

And that basically signified that you are his servant and you have done it.

You've chosen to do it.

You've become a special servant because you love your master so much.

And so this guy calls his ten servants and he gives each of them a mina, as Taylor said so well.

It's basically the equivalent of three months salary.

And he says in the passage when he gives it to them, he basically says to them, do business with this.

And in Greek it says, I will return.

So he calls his ten servants together.

He gives them three months of salary.

And he says, do business with this.

The Greek word is very specific.

It says pragmitsa.

And it basically means to make known, to bring forth fruit, to set up a shingle, to occupy.

And so he's calling his servants there.

He's given these mina, this talent, this resource.

And he says, I'm going away to get a kingdom.

I want you to take this and use it to make my name great.

I want you to take it.

I want you to take it and use it to expend and extend my kingdom and bear fruit.

And when I come back, I'll ask you how you did.

Verse 14.

Verse 14.

But the citizens of that land hated him.

And they sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us.

So you have a master.

You have the doulos who love him.

And you have the citizens who hate him.

Now, the minute Jesus told this story, everyone in the audience would have known exactly what he was talking about.

Because this is actually a true story.

It happened twice in Jesus' lifetime.

Well, once before Jesus' lifetime and once during Jesus' lifetime.

In 40 BC, Herod the Great, who's the Edomite, an enemy of the Israeli people, the Jewish people.

He became king.

And to receive his kingship, he had to go to Rome and get his official title put on him.

Then when Herod the Great died, his son Archelaus in 4 BC did the same thing.

Now, Archelaus was an incredibly, and Herod was also incredibly cruel, incredibly bad.

He was a tyrant.

And no one wanted him to be king.

And so historians tell us that when he went to Rome to receive his kingship, the Jewish people sent 50 of their leaders after him to plead before Caesar not to make this man their king.

So everybody hearing Jesus' parable would have automatically associated it with what had happened historically.

Well, it didn't happen for Archelaus.

Caesar listened to the people, and so he only got one-fourth of the kingship.

His brothers got the rest of the kingship.

And so he comes back, and he's angry with everybody.

So he says the citizens hated him, and after the delegation, they said, what shall we do?

So what do we know?

There's a king.

He's about to receive a kingship.

He gives money or stewardship or resources to his helpers and says, make my name great, put up shot, expand my world, expand the kingdom so everybody knows it.

And everybody around him, all the other citizens of the land, hated him.

You got that?

Okay.

Question.

Why did the king give the resources to the stewards?

Think about it.

He's going to be king.

Everything is going to be his.

When he comes back, he can do anything he wants.

Why did God give you and I resources?

Why did he give us talents?

Why did he give us money?

Why did he give us knowledge?

Why did he give us families?

Why did he give us spouses?

Why did he give us friends?

Why did he give us all these things?

Why did the ruler give all of these things to his servants?

Because it was going to be his anyway when he came back.

What's the answer?

Anyone?

It's a test.

It's a test.

The ruler, God, the rich man, the noble man, he gave his servants these minas, these talents,

all of these things to test them.

To see if they would pragmetsai.

To see if they would trust him.

To see if they believed in him.

To see if they believed that he was good and that he was going to come back and that everything he had was theirs.

To see if they were willing to sacrifice everything.

Because one day the king was going to come back and when the king came back, he was going to make everything right.

I mean, he was going to see if they really believed what he said.

Did they really believe that when he came back that they would rule with him?

Did they really believe that everything that he was giving them right now was nothing?

Compared to what they were going to get when the king returned?

He's testing them.

He wants to see if they're going to do business.

He wants to see if they're going to be faithful.

He wants to see if they're going to believe that God is good.

And that he gave us all these things so that we can make his name great.

And bring forth spiritual fruit.

Jesus says there's three types of people who receive the gifts.

There's three reactions to the people.

There's three ways that we, you and I, respond.

The first way is found in verses 15 through 19.

And there are these two servants.

These two servants, he calls them faithful servants.

In Greek he actually says they're generous.

They're generous, they're good, and they're faithful.

And these first two servants come and they basically, and you notice what they say?

Look at what they said.

Verse 16.

It first appeared and he said, Master, your mina, your mina has made ten more.

He doesn't say, I've been so talented.

I was so good.

I was able to use all these things.

I was so skillful.

I was able to make this, make it to a profit of a thousand percent.

He says, your mina has made it.

Where does the power come from?

Does it come from our ability?

It comes from God's gift.

God's gift.

So he said to that first one, well done, good slave, good doulos, because you have been faithful in a very little thing.

Very little thing.

All the resources, everything that he's given them, all the things that we have now, our money, our houses, our skills, our jobs, our families, all of these things are minas to us, the Bible says.

And the master says that they're very little compared to what he wants to give us.

But he's only going to give faithful servants.

And so he goes on and he says, because you've been faithful in a little thing, verse 17, I will give you authority over ten cities.

Think about that.

So he goes from being a slave to a ruler.

He goes from having a little things to having the wealth of ten cities.

He goes from getting three months' salary.

And actually it says that he keeps the three-month salary and he keeps the profit.

The master doesn't take that away from him.

The master just goes, wow, great job.

And he gives them more.

In the same way the Bible says that you and I will have that same thing happen to us.

That if God comes again as a ruler and he sees that we've been faithful with everything that he's given us,

if he sees that we've been responsible, if he sees that we've been generous, if he sees that we've been good,

that what we have now is nothing compared to what he wants to give us.

Do you understand that?

I don't.

I have a hard time sometimes.

Because sometimes I just think here and now is all there really is.

What the passage says is that here and now is a test.

To see if we're going to believe that God is good and if we can trust him.

And if we believe that he's good and that we can trust him, that he's going to come back and that one day we're going to rule with him,

then no matter what we sacrifice here and now,

it's nothing.

It's nothing.

Compared to what the ruler wants to give us when he comes back.

Then we have a second guy who's also faithful and he came and he said,

your mina master has given five minas.

And he said to him also, you are over five cities.

Same reaction, same response.

The mina did it.

The guy basically just trusted God to be good.

Trusted God.

Whatever he gave him, I'm going to give this to you and you're going to use it.

You're going to make your name great.

You're going to do great things in your kingdom.

And I'm going to trust you.

Whatever that is in my life, whatever those resources are,

they're mine, but they're not mine.

They're yours and you gave me them so that I can use them.

The passage says that the master is incredibly generous.

I mean, he gives all these things to everybody.

They don't deserve it.

They don't earn it.

He doesn't watch over their shoulder to see how they're doing it.

He just has one request.

Whatever you do with it, pragmitsa.

Make my name great.

Expand the kingdom.

Show people Jesus.

Do things that are going to open up people's ears to the gospel.

It's this message, and the message is what changes people.

Whatever you do with the resources, just do it, but make sure that people hear.

And so the passage says over and over that the master is incredibly generous

and incredibly good, and he's just bestowing all these things on his servants.

Then the second type of servant comes.

Verse 20, it says, another came.

In Greek, it's not a good word.

It basically means another of a different type.

A wicked one.

A selfish one.

An evil one.

And this other one came, and he basically said,

Master, here is your mina, which I have kept away in a handkerchief.

In Greek, the word actually is snot cloth or sweat cloth.

So the guy's been, and he's had this mina in it the whole time.

And he's mina in it the whole time.

And then the master comes back, and he goes, here's your mina.

He's a different type of servant.

He makes an excuse for himself.

I was afraid of you because you weren't exactly a man.

You take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.

Does he know the master?

Is the master like that?

According to this passage, no.

Because the master is incredibly generous.

He's incredibly good.

He gives us all of these things.

He allows us to use them the way he wants,

and that when we come back, and if we trust him,

and we believe in him, he's going to give us something so amazing.

I don't know what you guys think about heaven.

I mean, as a guy,

what I hear about heaven in churches is not very attractive to me.

Sitting on a cloud,

playing harps,

and just kind of doing that forever.

I mean, I have a hard time singing anyway,

but doing it forever?

I just,

but the Bible doesn't say that's what heaven's going to be like.

The Bible says heaven's going to be like a new heaven and a new earth.

It's going to be,

you're going to come.

You're going to have responsibilities.

You're going to rule with God over his creation.

You're going to be judged by how faithful you are right now.

And, you know,

I think of like,

you know,

it'd be like you do your job performance review this year,

and the guy says,

you've been amazing.

You've been great.

You've,

you've been overseeing $50 million,

and that's,

you've been our best employee.

You are,

it's incredible.

Next year,

we're going to give you 20.

What would you think?

You think,

that's,

that's not a reward.

That's a punishment.

Next year,

you can just rest.

You can go on vacation.

Well,

sometimes that might be a reward for part of a time.

But he says here,

that's not what heaven's going to be like.

And so that when we're faithful and we do good,

God,

it comes back and he rewards us for those things.

He gives us responsibilities.

He doesn't necessarily give us a vacation,

but he gives us more responsibility.

And this servant,

this different type of servant,

this servant who didn't know the master,

this selfish servant,

this one who hung out with Jesus in his crowd.

He was on the journey for three years.

Whenever the two by two went out,

he went out with them.

He was actually the money counter of the disciples.

So whenever I looked at him,

they would say,

surely he is a follower of Jesus.

But when Jesus didn't give Judas what he wanted,

the passage says that Judas betrayed Christ

for 30 pieces of silver.

Because Judas hung around the master,

but he didn't really know the master.

He didn't have a relationship with the master.

He just wanted to use the master.

Jesus says that some of us are like that.

That we come to church.

We're involved in activities.

We are pastors and elders,

small group leaders.

We count the money like Judas did.

We're introducing people to the church.

But when the master comes back,

it's going to be clear

that we didn't really know him.

We didn't have a relationship with him.

We just wanted things from him.

And the master's reaction is very,

very, very strong to the servant here.

He says in verse 22,

by your own words,

I will judge you.

You are a worthless slave.

Did you know that I'm an exacting man,

taking up what I didn't lay down

and reaping what I did not?

So that's not true.

But that's what the slave thinks.

And so Jesus says,

okay, let's play that game.

If you think God is really like that,

well, what if God is really like that?

If you really believed that he was like that,

the master was that hard,

you would be working like a madman

before he came back

because you knew that he would expect something of you.

So he says, by your own words,

I'm going to judge you,

you worthless slave.

Did you not know that I'm an exacting man?

Then why did you not put the money in the bank

instead of your snot cloth?

And having come,

I would have collected interest.

And then he said to the bystanders,

take this mina away from him

and give it to the one who has 10 minas.

And they said to him,

master, he already has 10 minas.

And in verse 26, he says,

I tell you to everyone who has,

more shall be given,

but from the one who does not have,

even what he does not have,

shall be taken away.

Now let's deal with these enemies,

the third people.

But these enemies of mine

who did not want me to be lord over them,

in Greek, to reign over them,

bring them here,

let me slay them in my presence.

The end.

What does this passage mean for us today?

What does it mean for me?

What is Jesus trying to teach us?

Because the Bible says the story is the same

for these people as it is for you and me.

We have a king who went far away to a kingdom.

He went as far as you could go.

He went to heaven

to receive his kingdom from the Lord.

And when he left,

he left his people gifts and talents and minas,

the word of God,

the gospel.

And he said to us,

do business for me while I'm gone.

Make my name great.

Bear fruit.

Do things that will make people look at the master

and go, wow, he's amazing.

He's trusted us with family

and relationships.

He's trusted us with money.

He's trusted us with jobs.

He's trusted us with house.

Everything, everything that we have,

everything,

you list out all your assets,

everything that you are,

everything that's about you,

all of these, the Bible says,

is a gift from God.

And it's a gift to you

because God loves you,

but he also wants to test

and see if you believe him.

Do you really believe that he's good?

Do you really believe that he's coming back?

All of these things are going to be seen

by our hands,

not necessarily by our words

because sometimes our words are cheap,

but our hands show these things.

So what does it mean to be faithful?

To be faithful means

you take everything that God's given us,

our health, our mind,

our body, our ability,

our family, our time,

our money,

everything that he's given us,

and we realize that it's a gift from him.

We realize that everything that he's given us,

he calls us to bear fruit in it.

So when God gave me Christina,

when the king comes back,

he's going to ask me,

what did I do with Christina

as a fellow follower of Christ?

Did I encourage her in her walk with the Lord?

Was I good to her?

Is she better off now than when I first met her?

Am I serving her?

Do people see from the relationship

that we have together

an amazing God who's full of grace

and mercy and goodness in our life?

Do people see that?

When God comes back,

he's going to ask the wife,

I've given you your husband.

How have you treated him?

Do you realize that it's this precious gift,

this thing that you didn't deserve,

you didn't work for,

you don't earn it.

I gave it to you.

And I ask you to use it,

to help it flourish,

to make it grow in the kingdom.

Did you do that?

Were you responsible with those things?

I gave you your kids.

Were you a good parent?

Did you point them to Christ?

Did people looking at your family realize

that this is what the kingdom of God is like?

I gave you your friends.

Did you use your friends?

Or did you serve your friends?

Did you help them walk closer to God?

Or did you hurt them?

I gave you your money.

It's not your money.

It's God's money.

How did you use that money?

When the king comes back

and he looks at our bank books

and he compares how we used our money

to how he wanted us to use our money

or how we could have used our money

to make his name great,

will we be embarrassed?

Or will we be happy and proud and glad?

God.

The faithful servant realizes

that God is good

and he's generous

and he's given everything to us

and we're in this journey together

as a church

learning what it means

to use those things

and to help those things flourish.

And we need each other.

We need accountability.

We need people speaking into our lives.

We need people to look at our lives

and say,

hey, you need help here

or you need help there

or how are you doing there?

You're doing amazing here.

God's really honored

by what's going on.

But all of these things,

the faithful servant realizes

that they're gifts from God

and that one day he's going to return.

He's going to look at all those things

and he's going to give us a reward

compared to how we use those things.

Then there's the unfaithful servant.

They've come to church.

They've been involved in the community.

They've basically been connected to the church.

The scripture's really clear.

It's basically,

they're talking about Judas

and there's a lot of Old Testament stories.

And so the person who comes in,

they like the fellowship.

They like the community.

They like to be a part of God's family.

And so they sit here

and they're a part of God's family.

They do all these things.

Most of the time,

their focus is on themselves.

They don't want to really be responsible.

They're just a different type of servant.

If you really look at their heart,

you see that their actions

are focused more on themselves.

They don't really understand the master.

And when you ask them,

why aren't you doing some of these things

because God's called us to do these things,

they say,

yeah, but you know,

God is kind of,

he's kind of tough.

I mean,

if God were nicer,

he would let me do some of these things

because I need to do these things

because that's just how I'm made

and it's what I need.

And the faithless servant

doesn't realize God's graciousness

and they call God harsh

and they make excuses

and they're more worried about their kingdom

than God's kingdom.

The passage says that when they come,

they will be separated from the kingdom of God.

Everything will be taken away

and they'll be kind of pushed out.

We realize that they weren't really followers

in the first place.

They just kind of hung out

and they thought it was cool

and it was neat,

but they didn't have a relationship with God.

They didn't love Christ

they didn't use the resources

and all of these things God is looking at

and seeing what do we do with our hands

and how did we use the resources

that he's given us.

The story says,

the Bible says,

that everything is from God.

Everything that he's given us is a gift.

He's graciously allowed us to use it.

He doesn't ask hardly anything from us for it.

All he's saying is,

I want you to do one thing.

I want you to do pragmitsa.

I want you to make my kingdom flourish.

Whatever you're doing,

I want you to make people see that I'm great.

I want you to let people hear the gospel

because it changes lives.

It's the power of salvation.

So when people hear God's word being proclaimed,

they're changed.

And so whatever you do

with all these resources I'm giving you,

please make sure that you allow people

to hear the gospel

if you want to be faithful.

It's not a fun message, is it?

It's not a sexy message

where you say,

ooh, good, that's great.

God's going to give me a Rolex

if I follow him

and everything's great

and it's going to be perfect.

But the message is that

you and I are sent out into a world

and the world hates God.

And if the world hated Christ

and they hated him so much

that they crucified him,

we shouldn't be surprised

when people hate us.

And the question is,

what are we going to do?

Are we going to act out

and serve amongst the hard

and difficult times

and be found faithful?

Or are we going to say,

no, this is not convenient,

it's too difficult,

I don't want to do it.

And surely God meant something else.

Maybe I can pragmitsai another way

instead of giving up these things

that I like to cling to.

Here's some questions

I've been asking myself,

so I'm not just asking you.

What does it look like

for us to be faithful to God?

What does it look like

for you to be faithful to God

and do business for him right now?

Do you think about those things?

Now, if you're not thinking

about those things,

I'm not saying that you're not a Christian.

But I am saying,

if you consider yourself a Christian

and you're not thinking

about those things,

that should be like

a massive red flag.

You should be asking yourself

some questions,

well, why doesn't that bother me

that I'm not using

any of these resources

towards God's kingdom,

but I'm using all these resources

towards my kingdom?

Because the Bible says really clearly

that we are to make his name great,

to be generous,

to be kind,

and to use everything

that he's given us.

All the minas are for him.

How do I react

when I read a Bible passage

like today

where I hear a tough sermon?

Do I honestly

examine my life?

Or am I sitting there going,

yeah, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh,

okay, yeah, mother-in-law,

okay, yeah, great,

yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Do I really examine my life?

Do I seek to live a holy life?

Do I seek to live a life

that's pleasing to God?

Or do I say, yeah, yeah,

I know that's,

but you know,

that's just church stuff,

and God and I,

we have this special agreement,

and he just allows me

to do whatever I want,

and in the end,

it's all gonna be okay

because he's gonna come back,

and we're really close,

and you're laughing,

but I've had people

tell me that

over and over and over.

Now, if you've said that,

I'm not saying

that you're not a Christian,

but I am saying

you need to be very careful

because Scripture

is really clear

that when the Master

comes back,

he's going to expect

certain things

from his children,

and if we're not

about pragmitesizing,

if we're not about

making his name great,

then we're being disobedient

to what he's called us to do,

and we're losing out

on the reward

that he wants to give us

for eternity.

You ever thought that?

I know it's gonna sound weird,

but I do weird things sometimes,

but I think,

what if everything

we have right now,

if we're not good stewards of it,

we get the exact opposite

in heaven forever?

So what if we have

this amazing house,

but we never use it

for God's kingdom,

we never invite people into it,

we never tell people about Christ,

we never gather fellowship,

we never do community,

we just have this amazing house,

and we like it

because it's our amazing house.

And then when the judge

comes back,

the king comes back,

and he says,

hey, you had your amazing house there,

here's this little cubicle

I'm gonna give you

for eternity.

What if that's reality?

The Bible says that is.

You maybe never heard

this message before,

but if you're a child of God,

God expects certain things of us

as we walk with him.

And the biggest thing

is to take that mina,

that gospel,

that message,

that resource he's given us,

and to use it for his glory,

to bear fruit.

Because if we don't,

then he's going to take it away.

Where do I focus mostly

as I go through my day?

Am I focused on myself?

Or am I focused on God?

Or other people?

Am I the hero of my story?

I mean, every time I talk about things

and things go on,

is it me who comes to the rescue?

Is it me who does the right things?

Is it me who fixes everything?

Is it me who knows

how to get things done?

Is it me who should be listened to?

Is it me?

Are we the heroes of our story?

The Bible says that we're servants.

And God's the hero of our story.

Now I'm not saying

if you're always the hero

that you don't know God,

but I am saying that

if you're always the hero,

that should be

an amazing red flag

that's sticking up before you

because God is the only hero

in Scripture.

And he's called us to be faithful.

One last question.

When I see my sin,

am I sad?

When I sin,

and yes, as a pastor,

I sin.

I probably sin more

than all the rest of you in here.

When I see that,

does that make me sad?

Do I understand

how that affects God?

Or do I just go,

well, yeah,

you know,

God and I have a special agreement.

It's okay.

It's not going to affect anybody.

It's okay.

Do I plan out sin?

Okay, my boss is not going to be here,

so if he's not here,

I can do all these things

and not worry about it.

No, I'm not supposed to do that,

but that's okay.

My wife's not going to be here

or my husband's not going to be here.

Well, they're not here.

I can do all these things.

I can plan these things out

and I'll be okay in the end.

Okay, no one's looking,

so if no one's looking,

I can do these things

and it's okay.

Do I plan out sin?

1 John 4 says,

no one who's in the fellowship of God

habitually sins.

Am I habitually sinning?

Or do I just stumble into sin?

It finds me as a lion's crashing out my door.

There's a big difference there.

Now, if you are planning out your sin,

I'm not saying that you're not a children of God,

but I am saying that you need to be really careful

because God wants something from us

and it's so much different than that

and he expects something from us.

How are we doing?

The passage says

that there are no neutral people in God's kingdom.

That each one of us,

we're either the faithful,

we're the worthless,

or we're the hostile.

Which one are you?

Now, when I hear this

and I think that I start going,

well, I'm over here

and I'm right on this line,

so I'm kind of like 85% faithful

and like 15% worthless,

so I just want to stop that for a second.

What if we're all worthless?

What if the king came back tomorrow

and he looked down at our money

and he said,

worthless.

What if the king came back tomorrow

and he looked down at how we treated people in our lives

and he said,

worthless.

What if the king looked at how we used our resources

and our family

and how we treated our husbands and our wives

and he said,

worthless.

The amazing thing about this story

is the story doesn't end here

because even though he says,

get these people and slay them in my presence,

it hasn't happened yet.

I mean, if that had happened one day

before I came to Christ

and I would have been worthless

and I would have been lost.

But the passage says

that the master continually seeks out his servants.

He continually shows them how gracious he is.

He continually shows them how kind he is.

He continually shows them how much he loves them

and he's begging us to trust him

and to walk with him

and allow him to be God in our life.

And so our action point for here today

is I just want you to look at a couple things in your life.

Whatever that is,

as we pray,

we're about to enter into communion now.

As we enter into communion

and the stewards come forward

and the worship team comes up right now,

I just want you to come before the Lord

and spend a couple minutes

thinking about your life

and the meanness that God has given you

and assume that you are worthless

in every one of those areas

and ask the Lord,

what does it look like for me to change this year?

Now when I did that,

I put out a list of 50 things

because I needed to change 50 things,

but maybe you just pick two things

and you ask God,

okay, my spouse,

I've been a worthless spouse.

How do I become better?

The first thing you realize

is it's not about doing and doing and doing

because you will never do enough.

The first thing you realize

is that it's about being.

That Christ has already done everything

for us on the cross.

And for us as his children,

it's understanding what that means in our life

and surrendering those things to him.

All these resources that God's given us.

I'm just going to pick something.

My watch collection of five watches.

How is that helping the kingdom of God

being pushed out to all the world?

If God were to come back

and go to the lake house

and Christina's house

and he found my comic book collection

of 5,000 comic books

that I've kept

because I want to keep them

because I want my sons to read them

and I thought they were cool

and my dad collected them.

And it might be a great thing

and God might be okay with it.

But the question I have to ask myself is,

is that resource which God has given me

being used for his kingdom?

Or can I be using it a different way?

I don't know what God's going to tell you

to think about,

but my prayer is as we go into communion

that you would ask him,

what are the things that he's given you

as his child

and how does he want you to use those

going forward?

We talk a lot about on a journey.

We're not saying we're all there,

we're never going to be there

until we get to heaven,

but what this passage says

is what is the next step?

Because the master's going to come back

and he's going to ask us how we do

with the minas that he's given us.

My prayer is that you'd be uncomfortable.

My prayer is I offended you.

I don't know if I can pray that.

I pray that you would be greatly disturbed

by God's word

and not by my mannerisms,

my words.

And that you would use this time

and this week to ask God,

what does it mean to come before him?

When we think about communion,

we realize that in one week from now,

Christ is going to go to Jerusalem.

He's going to be amongst the angry people.

500 people are following him right now.

When he refuses to make the kingdom come,

everyone will forsake him.

He had a movement of 500 people

and one week he's going to have

a movement of nothing.

He's going to be crucified and beaten

and die on a cross all by himself.

And the passage says that he does that

because he's buying back a kingdom.

He's buying back his servants.

And until we understand that,

we're never going to be able to be

the servants that he wants us to be.

We're never going to understand the gospel

and the power of it to change our lives.

It doesn't just save us from eternity.

But every moment we walk,

we realize,

man, I am,

I'm broken,

but you know,

God is amazing

and God loves me so much

that he gave his son for me.

And he gave me these resources

that he wants me to use for his kingdom.

How can I use those resources?

Communion is a celebration

of what God has done for us.

Communion is a memory

that God has entrusted you with

minas and resources

to use and do business for his name.

Communion is a reminder

that we're in a hostile world,

that we're drinking the blood

and the body that was broken for us

because the people all around him

hated him.

More importantly,

communion

is a reminder

that if we're faithful

and we serve

and we trust that he's good

and we realize

that everything he's given us

is really only a test

for something so much greater

and that he's going to come back

and that we're going to rule with him.

And if we really trust him,

if we really believe that,

then we really believe

that he's good,

then we can do all these things

even amongst the hardness

of our office

and in our family

and wherever he puts us.

And communion is a reminder

that he's going to come back.

Father, we just thank you

for this day

and we thank you

for your word

that you cared about

us so much

that you put things in there

that make us uncomfortable.

How terrible would it be

to follow a God

who doesn't tell us

all the story

until the very, very end

and then we are left

lacking.

But we come before you now

and we just realize

that you've given us

everything we need.

You've given us your son.

You've given us the gospel

that changes our lives

and doesn't just assure us

eternity with you,

but it assures us

walking with you

day by day

and the power to change.

It's not a self-help thing.

We're not called

to go out

and do five different things,

but we're called

to examine our lives

to see what the power

of the gospel means to us

as we walk with you

and to trust you

as good

and realize that

no matter what happens

today or tomorrow,

that you're in control

and all these resources

that you've given us,

even precious ones

like our children

or resources you've given us

because you're so good

and so gracious to us

and that you have something

even greater for us planned.

And one day you're going

to come back

and you're going to ask us,

Tobin,

what do you do

with your kids?

I didn't give them

just for you,

but I gave them

so that you would

do something amazing

for my kingdom

that you would teach them

and you would point them

to Christ

and you would love them

and you would show them

mercy and grace

and you would show them

they don't need

a perfect parent

because they have

a perfect God.

Are you pointing them

to a perfect God?

For some of us,

it's our relationships here.

God has given us

amazing connections

and people

and friendships

and we typically

we just use them

like a piece of tissue.

We blow in them

and when we're done

we throw it away.

Lord, I pray for us

that we would not

be caught

and judged

in that manner

when you come back

because it is going

to be hard

for many of us.

It's our money

and our resources.

It's our greatest idol.

I wonder how many of us

really feel like

we're doing well

with our resources

to you.

If we really feel like

we're tithing

what we should.

If we really feel like

we're using our time

and our gifts

and serving

for your kingdom,

I wonder if we really

feel like we're involved

in a community

like you've called us

to be.

I wonder if we knew

that you were going

to come back tomorrow.

How many of us

would be nervous

and worried?

Father, let's pray

for these next moments

now that we could

come before you

and we could just

do business with you

as you've asked us

to do business for you.

Lord, would you

speak to us,

show us areas

that we're not

very faithful

and help us

to confess those

to you

and come about

a plan

of what it looks

like to be different.

Father, for some

of us, I know

that if statistics

are right,

some of us

are in here

and we are hostile

and we hate you.

We are not

in the family.

We want to be God.

We want to determine

what is right

in our lives.

Our idol

is ourselves.

The passage

says so.

Lord, I pray

for those of us

in here like that

that you would

just show us

your goodness

and your mercy,

that you would

show us

that you

withheld nothing

to bring us back,

that you sacrificed

even your son

to pay for us,

that your son

was found faithful

because he received

the kingdom

and that one day

he'll come back.

And I pray

for those

who are hostile

right now

and that you

would break their heart

and melt their words

and eyes

and they would just

feel your presence here.

know that you

are gracious

and you're good.

Help us to repent

of our blindedness

because I realize

that most of us

are blinded

to how blinded

we are.

I pray that this week,

Lord,

as we repent

of that,

of our self-sufficiency

and what we think

is faithfulness,

that you would change us

and that we would feel

your mercy

and your grace

and we would be

with you,

the God of second chances

and we'd realize

just how precious

we are to you

and how much

you desire for us.

Help us to trust you,

to believe that you're God,

that you're coming back

for us.

And what I know

that if statistics

are true,

if my life is true,

that we've all

been unfaithful

and faithful

and hostile

in different areas

at different times

and we've all

carried massive

amounts of guilt

and shame.

I know that.

Sometimes I can't even

look at myself

in the mirror

because I realize

how much I've

disappointed you.

I pray for those

of us in here

who are the shame holders

and the guilt keepers

that we would

release that to you

and realize that

you're not a God

of shame and guilt

but you're a God

of forgiveness

and love

and mercy

and grace.

Lord,

I just pray

that whenever

we feel that over

that we would

release it to you now

and just realize

that you've already

taken it

at the cross.

It's already been

washed away

and by the very fact

of us trying

to hold on to it

we've basically said

that we are God

and that your forgiveness

isn't good enough.

We need somebody else

to forgive us

and we need to forgive

ourselves

and we need them

to apologize

and Lord,

you've already fixed

all those things

and so help us

just to rest

in that.

And what I realize

there's some of us

in here

who probably

don't need

to get up

right away

and run out

but they need

to sit here

and just spend

another minute

or two praying

and thinking

as the music goes

and I pray

that they would

do that.

They would meet you.

They would spend

time with you.

They would do

business with you.

They would fall

in love with you.

For the rest of us

as we leave

Lord,

I pray for us

that we would remember

just how merciful

and gentle

and good you are

and help us

not to think

like the third servant

but help us

to realize

that everything

we have

and everything

we are

and everything

we do

is a gift

from you.

you do it

because you love us

but you do it

because you want us

to see

if we are faithful

or not.

You already know that.

You already know that.

We can't hide

anything from you.

So if we are

we rejoice

and we come before you

because it's all

because of you

and if we're not

we repent

and we come before you

because it's all

because of you.

We thank you

that you are

a good God.

we pray

that the rest

of this world

and the rest

of our world

and Hong Kong

would be different

as they see

servants who walk

and struggle

and who are broken

but who strive

to trust you

and to live

their lives

for your glory

and your kingdom

and not our own.

Father thank you

for friends

around us

who speak truth

even when it hurts.

thank you

for your word

that speaks truth

even when it's

not fun to hear.

But we know

that you give it to us

because you love us

and you want something

so much more for us

than what we have now.

So much more.

Help us to want you

and help us

to want your son.

Father we love you

and we desperately

need you.

So we pray

that we would not

be the same

when we leave here

that we would be different

and that you would

continue to transform us

as we walk with you.

We pray these things

in your son Jesus

holy name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.