The Return of the King

Father, you taught us to live by faith and not by sight.

To live by what we know and believe to be true.

And to be governed by that truth.

And not by our changing circumstances.

Or our changing feelings.

We want to be faithful servants that wait on you.

That steward the precious gospel that you've entrusted to us throughout our lives.

And to that end, we need your help.

So please, address us once again as you always do as your people.

Transform us by your word.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Luke 19, 11-27.

He said to them, Engage in business until I come.

But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, We do not want this man to reign over us.

When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him.

That he might know what they had gained by doing business.

The first came before him saying, Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.

And he said to him, Well done, good servant.

Because you have been faithful in a very little.

You shall have authority over ten cities.

And the second came saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas.

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

Then another came saying, Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief.

For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man.

You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.

He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant.

You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.

Why then did you not put my money in the bank?

And at my coming, I might have collected it with interest.

And he said to those who stood by, Take the mina from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.

And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas.

I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them,

bring them here and slaughter them before me.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

I once read a children's book for my daughters entitled Waiting is Not Easy.

It's a famous one.

You guys might know about it.

It's from the famous series by Mo Williams called Elephant and Piggy.

And they're two friends who have very different personalities but get along well.

And in this particular book, Piggy tells Elephant that he has a surprise for him.

And Elephant, of course, is delighted to hear that his friend has a surprise for him.

And then he says, I cannot wait because he's so excited.

And, of course, Piggy tells him, well, you will have to wait.

And at which point Elephant responds in disbelief, wait?

What?

Why?

Piggy tells him that the surprise is not here yet.

At which point Elephant groans loudly and then says, I'm waiting.

Waiting is not easy.

And then he grabs Piggy's collar and shakes him vigorously and then says, I'm done waiting.

I do not think your surprise is worth all this waiting.

I will not wait anymore.

And then he leaves briefly only to then return sheepishly and say, okay, I'll wait some more.

This goes on and on and on.

And it's really cleverly written because as you're going through the book, with each page, you become more impatient.

You're waiting for the resolution.

What is this surprise?

I want to see.

And so it kind of makes the reader experience exactly what Elephant is feeling.

Because waiting is not easy.

And in the end, they wait so long that the sun goes down and the elephant yells in exasperation,

And we have wasted the whole day.

We have waited and waited and waited and waited.

And for what?

And at that moment, Piggy points to the sky and says, for that.

And there's a beautiful starlit sky.

And the elephant looks at that and says, that was worth the wait.

Waiting isn't easy.

And we feel this keenly, especially in our age of distraction and instant gratification.

And Jesus understands this.

And waiting, even though it's hard for us, has never been easy for humanity to begin with.

And Jesus, understanding this, wanted to leave his disciples with something as they are waiting for his return.

Because these disciples believed that Jesus would immediately establish the kingdom of God in fullness.

But Jesus knew that the time for the fullness of the kingdom had not yet come.

There would be a period of waiting after his death, resurrection, and ascension.

And we see this intention of Jesus in verse 11.

As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable.

Because he was near to Jerusalem.

And because they, the disciples, supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

They thought Jesus, upon going to Jerusalem, would establish the kingdom of God and overthrow the Roman oppressors.

And establish a theocratic state again.

And yet, Jesus wants to correct this misconception.

It's true that throughout the Gospel of Luke, in multiple occasions, that Jesus has said that the kingdom of God has already come upon you.

It's already here.

And that's true in the sense that the kingdom of God has already begun to break into our world through the life and work of Jesus Christ.

But even though it's already here, it's not yet consummated.

It has not been fulfilled.

And there's a distance, a gap between his first coming and his second coming.

And in order to be faithful in that waiting, this passage teaches us that we must expect his return and rule.

And so the main point of this passage really is that we should faithfully steward the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because when Christ returns, he will rule and he will repay his subjects accordingly.

And the first, we'll see that the king will return to rule.

And second, we see that the king will return to repay.

Okay.

Verses 12 to 14 set the scene for the parable and introduce us to all the main characters.

First, it says in verse 12,

A noble man went to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

So the word noble man, when it's used in the Greek word,

it of course does refer as in the English to the fact that this person belongs to the landed gentry.

This person is of noble birth.

But almost always, it also refers to the person's noble character.

This person is of noble, of character.

He has a good character.

He's a gentleman, a worthy man.

But he journeys to a far country in order to receive a vassal kingship or a client kingship.

A client king reigns over a region on behalf of kind of a controlling king,

a suzerain king that's over the entire will.

And this is a concept that was very familiar to the Jews in Palestine at the time

because Herod the Great, or Herod the First,

also went on a similar journey to Rome before the beginning of his reign

to receive this client kingship over Judea from the Roman emperor.

And in this analogy, the noble man is Jesus

and the one from whom he receives a kingdom is his father who rules over all.

And Jesus is saying that he must depart from his disciples first to receive a kingdom and then return.

And this was spoken of earlier in Luke chapter 9 verse 31

Luke 9:31

when Jesus spoke of his departure that he was going to accomplish at Jerusalem.

And that departure is a reference to his death and his resurrection and his ascension to heaven

and after which he'll return.

And so he's going away to a far country and the disciples are to wait for him.

The consummation of the kingdom is not going to be immediate.

But before he departs, this noble man, he says that he's called his ten of his servants,

verse 13,

gave them ten minus and said to them,

engage in business until I come.

The servants here are the second character in the parable.

These are servants that belong to and are accountable to their master, the noble man.

Interestingly, the noble man calls ten of his servants.

If Jesus intended to refer only to his apostles,

there were twelve apostles, he could have easily said twelve servants.

But he doesn't.

He uses a more generic number that symbolizes a large number, a ten.

Ten disciples.

And that he does it intentionally, I think,

to show that all of his disciples and future followers of Jesus Christ are intended.

All the future followers of Christ that come after the twelve apostles.

All of us are in view here.

We're his servants.

And to these ten servants, the noble man distributes ten minus,

meaning each one gets one mina.

Mina is a Hebrew currency that's equivalent to about 100 Roman denarii.

Since the denarius was the standard daily wage of a common worker,

one mina is worth about four months' wages.

So whatever that is for you, you can think about kind of the average income.

And three to six months' worth of expenses is recommended for your emergency fund.

So imagine receiving kind of what's worth your emergency fund from the noble man.

And the charge of the noble man to the ten servants is engage in business until I come.

He wants them to put the mina that each of them has received to good use and to make a profit from it.

And then in verse 14, we meet the final character in this parable.

He says,

These are citizens of the state that the noble man will come to rule over if he receives a kingship.

But they don't want him to become king over them.

And so they send a delegation after him to protest to the controlling king.

This man is no good.

He's not fit to rule.

We don't want him as king over us.

There's a historical backdrop to this that happened, you know, less than 30, around 30 years,

actually before Jesus' time.

It was in the first century Palestine after Herod the Great died.

His son, Herod Archelaus, was expected to succeed the throne over the client kingship in Judea.

However, and this king is mentioned in Matthew 2.22.

However, because his soldiers had been irresponsible and had slaughtered during the Passover 3,000 Jewish worshipers in the temple,

the Jews, for understandable reasons, didn't want King Archelaus to become king over Judea.

And so when King Archelaus went to Rome to receive his kingship,

the Jews sent a delegation after him to protest and say that they don't want this guy to be king over them.

And in order to balance the politics, the Roman emperor gave him kind of a kingship in terms of authority, but not the title.

And of course, after returning, he swiftly eliminated all the opposition.

And so that's kind of in the background of this parable.

Even though, obviously, Jesus is not the wicked king that King Herod Archelaus was.

But it's very similar to what's going on.

Because these citizens hate him here without cause.

They don't say, we do not want this noble man to reign over us.

They use kind of a derogatory way of referring to him.

They say, we do not want this man to reign over us.

Literally, it's, we do not want this one to rule over us.

We don't want that one.

This one.

And so they object to him without cause.

There's nothing in the parable that suggests that this noble man was worthy of their hatred and ire.

They despise the man.

And since in the Gospel of Luke, the Jewish religious leaders are highlighted as people who consistently reject Jesus and oppose Jesus,

there's probably a specific reference to them, even though it can be interpreted to mean all those who reject Jesus.

It says in John 1.11, Jesus says that he came, it says of Jesus that he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

These Jewish leaders.

These are the citizens of the kingdom that Jesus will come to ruin, come to rule.

And as opposed to the servants who were mentioned earlier, these citizens have rights.

The servants are presumably slaves of perhaps foreign birth, as was typical in this age in Palestine in the Roman Empire.

Citizens, on the other hand, had rights.

They belonged to the emperor.

And they had more reputation.

The slaves, the servants, on the other hand, were often marginalized and disenfranchised.

And this is often the case for the Christian.

Usually, throughout the world and throughout history, Christians belong to groups and parties that are marginalized, persecuted.

This is the case throughout the world even today.

According to a review commissioned by the U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt,

as well as by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,

Christians are, to this day, the most persecuted religious group in the world.

Open Doors USA, which compiles the World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians faced the heaviest persecution,

writes that in 2018 alone, 245 million Christians faced high levels of persecution.

4,136 Christians were killed for their faith.

1,266 church buildings were attacked.

All of them, only in those top 50 world watch list countries.

And this is to fulfill what Jesus taught his disciples in John 15, 18-19.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you are of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,

therefore the world hates you.

And we see this happening in this parable.

The citizens hated the nobleman,

which means these citizens will also hate the servants who do the nobleman's bidding.

They will also become the objects of their hatred.

And in that kind of climate, it's difficult to persevere.

It's hard for the servants of the Lord to remain faithful

when their Lord seems to be delayed in his coming.

And yet there's this powerful contingent of citizens that oppose their master's rule.

The influential people, the citizens don't seem to support him.

Should I then switch allegiances to ensure that I'm a member of the party in power?

However, it's easy to be disheartened and discouraged in a climate of opposition and persecution.

And that's exactly why Jesus tells his disciples this parable.

Because when there's uncertainty about the master's return,

when there's uncertainty about who's the true leader of a society,

usually chaos ensues and people vie for power.

However, if we do not have firm faith that Christ will return triumphantly as king,

we will succumb to the pressures that we face in this world.

We will hedge our bets.

We will not be completely sold out for the Lord.

But if we know for sure that he will return,

we will not worry about the judgments of men.

Because we care only about our master's judgment,

his esteem of us.

So we will not be swayed to and fro by the opinions of men

because we care only about doing the will of our king.

That's why Jesus assures his disciples that he will certainly return to rule.

He says in verse 15,

When he returned, having received the kingdom,

he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him,

that he might know what they had gained by doing business.

And later, verse 27, the king says,

But as for these enemies of mine,

who did not want me to reign over them,

bring them here and slaughter them before me.

Notice the transition.

The people who were formerly called citizens

are now called enemies.

Disloyal subjects will ultimately become enemies of the state.

Those who reject Christ as their king

will ultimately lose their citizenship in the kingdom of God.

It will prove that they had no citizenship to begin with.

This is a promise of justice and vindication.

The enemies of God who taunted the people of God,

who falsely accused the king,

they will be silenced,

be defeated.

It sounds harsh unless you're on the receiving end of injustice.

That's kind of how our world functions.

Everybody cries for mercy unless they're the ones that have been wronged.

And then now all of a sudden they want justice.

Christians who suffer in this world,

Christians who experience this kind of opposition,

understand the vindication, the victory,

the joy that this brings,

this promises,

that Christ is coming back

and he will make all things right.

This is a promise that no matter how life gets for the followers of Christ,

no matter how many tears you shed in this life of following Christ,

no matter how many difficult battles you fight

against the sins of your life,

against demons both figurative and literal,

against the systems of evil and oppression in this world,

even when you suffer and struggle and grieve

because you see so much sin and wickedness in this world,

when you persevere to the end,

all of your sorrows will be healed.

All of your questions will be answered.

And Jesus will make all things right again

because Christ will come.

He will return to rule.

That's the promise.

So will you submit to his lordship now?

That's the question.

Will you serve him in this life

because that's the only way

you'll get to serve him in eternal life?

Only those who pledge allegiance to Jesus in this life

will be counted as citizens of the kingdom of God.

That's the first point.

The king will return to rule.

And not only will the king return to rule,

when he returns,

the king will also repay everyone according to their deeds.

We see this starting in verse 15.

When he returned,

having received the kingdom,

he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money

to be called to him,

that he might know what they had gained by doing business.

The noble man who went away to a far country

has returned as king,

and he now wants an accounting of what his servants have done

in his absence.

He wants to know if they put the money

that he entrusted to them to good use

and made some profit to show for it.

And we see several different responses to this accounting.

It says in verse 16,

The first came before him,

the first servant,

saying,

Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.

It's a very encouraging response.

With one mina,

the servant has made ten minas more.

A thousand percent profit.

And the king responds,

first by commending the servant,

recognizing his hard work,

and then he rewards a servant

and then he gives the reason for this reward.

He says in verse 17,

Well done, good servant.

It's his recognition,

his commendation.

And then he says,

Because you have been faithful in a very little,

this is the reason for the reward.

And this reason is very similar to Jesus,

what he said in Luke 16, 10.

One who is faithful in a very little

is also faithful in much.

And one who is dishonest in a very little

is also dishonest in much.

It's an illusion to think

that lazy people

will all of a sudden become diligent

when they are entrusted

with more important tasks.

It's an illusion to think

that people who lie about small, petty things

will not lie about more important things.

People who cut corners in small matters

will also cut corners in big matters.

It's the people who are faithful

in what is very little,

who will also be faithful with much.

It's people who manage, for example,

their own households well

that will manage the household of God well.

It's people who are generous

with their middle class income

that will also be generous

when they are rich.

Likewise, our earthly stewardship

is a test of our heavenly,

test for our heavenly entrustment.

It determines what we are worthy of

in the eternal kingdom of God.

But what exactly is this mina

that we're supposed to steward?

Often we assume that a mina

is a reference to our talents and gifts.

That was my initial reaction as well.

And that's because we're so familiar

with the parable of the talents,

which is kind of a similar parable,

a more familiar parable from Matthew 25.

And related to that,

one of my seminary professors

used to always talk about the things

that we're supposed to steward in our life.

And he used alliteration to say,

we're supposed to steward our time,

our trust,

our temple,

our treasure,

our talent.

All starting with T,

even though it's not always obvious

what they mean.

We're supposed to steward

a time that God has given us.

We're supposed to make the best use of the time

because the days are evil.

We're supposed to steward our trust,

the trust that we have from others,

our relationships,

relationships that God has given us,

our neighbors,

our friends,

our relatives.

We're supposed to steward our temple,

meaning the body of Christ,

our body,

physical bodies,

which is the temple of the Holy Spirit,

according to 1 Corinthians 6.19.

We're supposed to steward our treasure,

literal treasure,

our money,

making heavenly friends,

advancing a heavenly agenda

using our earthly wealth,

according to Luke 69.

We're also supposed to steward our talent,

the gifts that God has given us,

abilities,

using them effectively for the glory of God.

Now, these are all biblical ideas.

They're true.

But I don't think that's the kind of stewardship

that Luke has in mind.

And the reason why is this.

In the parable of talents,

in Matthew 25, 14 to 30,

the servants all receive different amounts of talents.

The first talent is,

the first servant is given five talents,

second is given two,

and then a third is given one.

And it says,

it was according to each one's ability.

In Matthew,

this parable explicitly refers to the fact

that the parables are proportionate

to that person's ability.

It represents their talents,

their gifts,

the opportunities that they have

because of the gifts that they possess,

that God has given them.

But in this parable,

in Luke,

every servant receives one minor.

There's no distinction,

no differentiation.

What's more likely in view in this parable,

it's the stewardship of the gospel.

It's the stewardship of the word of God

that God has entrusted to us

because to engage in God's business

as God's servants

is to be a disciple

and to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

The minor then represents

the entrustment of God's precious word,

his message of salvation

through Jesus Christ,

that he lived,

died,

and was raised from the dead

for the forgiveness of sins

and the salvation of sinners.

That's,

I think,

what this minor represents.

Every believer then

is called to be

this steward,

a servant

of the message of Jesus Christ.

Paul spoke often about this reality,

that he's a steward of the gospel,

that he's a servant of God

to proclaim the word.

And I think this identification

of the minor

is confirmed

by the metaphor of farming

that is used later

in verses 21 and 22.

It mentions reaping and sowing.

Jesus used the exact same language

earlier in chapter 8

in the parable of the sower,

and there he explicitly said,

the seed

is the word of God.

Now,

that's not to say

that the gospel of Jesus Christ

is insignificant

or very little.

The gospel is the pearl

of great price,

of great value.

Rather,

our role

of gospel stewardship

in light of all

of God's kingdom purposes

is minuscule,

relatively speaking.

What we are entrusted with

in the entire complex

of kingdom economy

is very little.

We're a small part

of the whole picture.

And this is actually

very encouraging for me.

I hope it's encouraging

for you as well

because this means

whether you're a lay member,

just a regular member

of a small village church

of 20 people,

or you're a pastor

of a mega church

of 100,000 people.

Your role

in gospel ministry

and the advancement

of the kingdom of God

is very small

in light of all

that God is doing.

What matters

is whether or not

you're faithful

with that very little

that you have.

are you engaging

in kingdom business

with your life?

Are you putting

the gospel of Jesus Christ

to work,

both in your life

or your own sanctification

and growth as a Christian,

but also in the lives

of others?

Are you sharing

the good news

of Jesus Christ,

investing it,

sowing those seeds

to see if they will

bear fruit among

your neighbors

and friends?

If you are doing that,

then God will reward you

after His return

and He will reward you

with things

that are far greater,

far greater responsibilities

than you can even

dream of in this life.

Look at what the king

says to this first servant

in verse 17.

You shall have authority

over ten cities.

One mina,

it's worth about

$12,000 in our day.

It's not enough

to buy a house.

You can't even buy

a trailer home with that.

But because He was faithful

in that role

of stewarding one mina,

the Master now gives Him

ten cities to rule over.

It's a staggering responsibility.

This shows us that

Jesus' ultimate plan

is to have us,

His people,

share in His life

the rule of His kingdom,

to partake in His reign.

And this is so encouraging

because maybe

you feel at times

that your current role

in serving Christ

is very small.

Maybe you feel that

you have little power

or influence in your life.

Maybe you feel

that your circle of friends,

your neighbors,

is very few.

And that what you're doing

for the Lord

is insignificant,

even negligible.

If that's you,

let this truth

encourage you.

All that we do

in light of God's

eternal kingdom

is very small indeed.

But if you are faithful

in that little bit,

if you share the gospel

with your few friends

and neighbors,

God will entrust

much to you

in the coming kingdom,

in the consummated kingdom.

and what He entrusts to you

will far exceed

and transcend

all of your wildest ambitions

and desires

in this life.

So don't despise

the smallness

of your ministry.

Cherish it.

Be faithful in it,

knowing that it was given

to you by the King

who is coming back,

the King who sees

everything

and reward faithfully

according to

our deeds.

The returning king's

response

to the second servant

is very similar

in verse 18 to 19.

And the second came

saying,

Lord,

your mina has made

five minas.

And he said to him,

and you are

to be over five cities.

Once again,

very generous.

This exchange

is abbreviated.

It doesn't have

the commendation

that was there

in the first servant.

But the following reward,

which is also

proportionate to

his labor

and his profit,

shows that

this second servant

also deserves

commendation,

praise,

from the master.

He too is

a good servant.

He made five

additional minas

and he's rewarded

with authority

over five cities.

Now,

this parable

teaches us

that some of us

will make more

of our gospel

stewardship

than others.

And that there

will be varying

degrees of rewards

in the kingdom

of God.

Sometimes,

I think we're

surprised by this

fact,

but the Bible

consistently teaches

that there are

varying rewards

in heaven.

1 Corinthians 3,

13 to 15,

for example,

says this,

on the judgment

day,

fire will reveal

what kind of work

each builder

has done.

The fire will show

if a person's work

has any value.

If the work survives,

that builder

will receive a reward.

But if the work

is burned up,

the builder

will suffer

great loss.

The builder

will be saved,

but like someone

barely escaping

through a wall

of flames.

There will be

a difference

in the final judgment

of how we will

be saved.

Some servants

of Christ

will be saved,

but just themselves

without any

lasting work

labor onto the

kingdom to show

for it.

Other servants

of Christ

will be saved

and their work

will survive

the testing

and they will

be rewarded

for the good

work that

they have done.

I think we

have a hard

time coming

to terms

with this

reality

because we

live in an

egalitarian society

and we imagine

heaven to be

a totally

egalitarian place.

And I think

we imagine

heaven to be

that kind

of a place

because we

believe that

only in such

a place

that people

can all be

perfectly happy.

But that's

actually not

true.

Equality

is necessary

for happiness

in this

world

because we

are prideful

people who

believe that

we deserve

at least as

much as

everyone else

and because

we envy

one another.

Where there

is no pride,

no envy,

there's no

strife between

people regardless

of differentiation

of roles and

station.

We'll all be

perfectly satisfied

in our

respective

capacity to

enjoy God

and to

rule in the

kingdom of

God.

And there

will be no

sin, so we

will all be

perfectly happy.

There will be

no envy, no

pride, no

quarreling among

us.

But these

rewards are

here to

motivate us.

Does it not

motivate you to

be faithful with

the very little

that you have

been entrusted

with?

Don't you

want to have

greater

responsibilities

in the

kingdom of

God?

Don't you

want to

enjoy greater

privileges in

the kingdom of

God?

Don't you

want to

render greater

service to

our gracious

king?

Isn't that the

heartbeat of

every Christian?

Because we

should faithfully

steward the

gospel of Jesus

Christ because he

will surely

return to repay

everyone according

to their deeds.

Now in

verses 20 to

21 we see

the response

of the third

servant.

And this

servant has

the leaf to

report but

he has made

no profit and

yet he talks

the most.

We already

get a clue

that it is not

going to end

well by the

way he's

called.

He's not

called the

third servant.

He's simply

referred to as

another or

the other

one.

There were

ten servants

to begin

with.

Jesus doesn't

go through

each one

because he

only needs

three servants

to make

his point.

But this

last servant

that is

featured is

of a different

character than

the first two.

He's the

other servant.

And he

says in

verse 20

this servant

says,

Lord here is

your mina

which I have

kept laid

away in a

handkerchief.

Now think

about that for

a moment.

The word

keep laid

away means

to put

away for

safe keeping.

But think

about something

that's precious

that you want

to keep

away.

Secure.

And then

look at where

the servant's

keeping the

money.

In a

handkerchief.

He makes

it sound like

it's virtuous

of him to

try to keep

the mina

safe.

But he

was careless

and irresponsible.

It's like

folding something

away in a

napkin.

I wouldn't

even put

a hundred

dollar bill

away in a

handkerchief.

Let alone

three months

of wages.

There was a

saying among

the Jews

that if you

want to keep

your money

safe,

you should

bury it in

the ground

instead of

folding it

away in

a

handkerchief.

This servant

puts the

money away

in a

handkerchief.

What if

someone tosses

it into the

laundry pile

and throws

away?

Or if it

gets lost,

someone just

throws it

away,

or it's

to be

tossing it

like garbage.

He was

not being

overly

cautious with

the master's

money.

He was

actually being

careless.

But worse

than that,

he was

being blatantly

disobedient.

His master

had commanded

him in

verse 13,

engage in

business

until I

come.

And the

servant

engaged in

no business.

He didn't

do what he

was explicitly

asked by

his master

to do.

And he

gives this

excuse in

verse 21,

which is even

more brazen.

He says,

for,

this is his

reason,

I was

afraid of

you,

because you

are a

severe man.

You take

what you

did not

deposit and

reap what

you did

not sow.

To

paraphrase,

you know

what the

real problem

is,

master?

It's

you.

You're

a severe

man,

a cutthroat

businessman.

You're

always

wheeling

and

dealing.

You

exploit

people

and

situations

by

taking

advantage.

You

reap what

you didn't

even sow.

So I

had no

choice.

I was

afraid of

you.

I had

to keep

the

minus

safe

somewhere

instead

of

risking

it

by

engaging

in

business.

Perhaps

this servant

thought to

himself,

well,

if I

make a

profit,

it would

become

my

master's

money

anyway.

If I

lose it,

well,

I'll be

held accountable

for it,

so why

bother?

Might as

well avoid

all the

trouble,

just put

it away

for

safe

keeping.

In

defending

his own

virtue,

this third

servant is

impugning the

very character

of his own

master,

but the

truth is

that this

master

doesn't fit

this servant's

description or

characterization

in any

way.

First,

he was

described as

being of

noble

character in

verse 12,

and in

second,

we see how

he dealt

with the

first and

second servants.

He was

exceedingly

generous

with them.

They were

faithful with

very little,

and he

gave them

cities to

rule over

in his

kingdom.

He was

not stingy,

he was

not harsh

or berating.

And as

he comes

to the

five-minus

servant,

he doesn't

compare him

to the

ten-minus

servant,

saying,

well,

is that the

best you

could do?

I mean,

look at that

guy,

he got ten,

he had the

same minus.

He doesn't

belittle his

servants.

He's

gracious,

kind,

generous.

This third

servant is

slandering his

master based

on a

misjudgment

of his

character.

There's an

important lesson

here for us

all.

Do you see

God as a

harsh task

master?

God as

a hard

man,

a severe

person,

if you

view God

as a

stingy,

ungenerous,

ungracious

person,

you will

not be

diligent in

his service.

Who wants

to serve

that kind

of Lord?

I mean,

several studies

have noted

that even

in our

workplaces,

harsh,

berating bosses

reduce

productivity

of his

employees.

If they

get burned

long enough

instead of

looking out

for the

interest of

the company,

they'll start

looking out

for themselves.

But our

king is

good and

gracious.

He's slow

to anger

and abounding

in steadfast

love.

He is

merciful and

compassionate

and this

truth should

make us

eager to

serve God.

It should

make us

look out

for his

interests

and not

for our

selfish

interests.

He's eager

to reward

the

faithfulness

of his

servants.

So when

you

bumble

your

attempt

to

share

the

gospel

with

your

neighbor,

God's

not going

to

berate

you

and say,

is that

the best

you can

do?

That was

my one

chance

at saving

that man's

life and

you blew

it.

Now you

go sit

in the

corner and

never open

your mouth

again.

God's

not going

to treat

his

servants

that way.

Brothers

and sisters,

if I saw

God to be

that kind

of God,

and as a

pastor who

preaches his

word week

in and week

out,

if I saw

God that

way,

I would

crumble under

the pressure

and I would

never have the

courage to

step up to

the pulpit

if that's how

God treats

his servants.

But our

God is

gracious.

Time and

time again,

he encourages

his servants,

he comforts me,

he comforts all

of us,

lifts up our

head and

pushes us

forward,

reminds us

that fruitfulness

and growth

they come

from ultimately

him,

he's the one

that provides.

As God

says in his

word in 1

Corinthians 3

and Mark 4,

we sow the

seed and we

can water it,

but only God

gives the

growth.

That's why

Christian pastor

and author

Mark Dever

puts it this

way in his

book,

Gospel and

Personal

Evangelism,

he says,

we don't

fail in our

evangelism if

we faithfully

tell the

gospel to

someone who

is not on

account of

that converted.

We fail only

if we don't

faithfully tell

the gospel at

all.

Evangelism

itself isn't

converting

people,

it's telling

them that they

need to be

converted and

telling them

how they

can be.

No matter

how eloquent

or persuasive

we are,

we cannot

take someone

who is

spiritually dead

and make

them alive

alive again.

Only God

can do

that.

Only God

can bring

the dead

to life.

But will

you be

faithful with

the little

he's given

you?

Invest that

miner,

sow that

seed.

This other

servant was

not faithful

to obey

his master

and is

roundly

rebuked in

verses 22

to 23.

He said

to him,

I will

condemn

you with

your own

words,

you wicked

servant.

You knew

that I

was a

severe man

taking what

I did

not deposit

and reaping

what I

did not

sow.

Why then

did you

not put

my money

in the

bank

and at

my coming

I might

have

collected

it with

interest?

The king

is turning

the excuse

of the servant

and using

it against

him.

Because if

you really

believe that

I was this

cutthroat

businessman who

makes

unreasonable

demands of

his servants,

you should

have at

least put

the mina

in the

bank and

then he

would have

safely accrued

interest in

my absence

without you

having to

raise a

finger.

Now this

rebuke shows

that this

servant had

not only

misjudged

his master,

he was

also lazy

and foolish.

If he

feared God,

he should

have tried

to produce

something to

show upon

his master's

return.

But he

did nothing.

Sometimes

people say

things like,

well,

the God

of the

Bible seems

so harsh.

I don't

want to

believe him.

I don't

want to

believe in

a God

like that.

But let

me ask

you,

if God

really is

harsh,

well,

then you

better believe

him and

get to

work.

Right?

When people

say that,

what they

really mean

is,

well,

I can't

imagine

that God

is like

that,

so he

must not

be like

that.

Which is

just as

foolish as

a high

schooler

saying,

well,

I can't

imagine a

solution to

this math

problem,

so there

must not

be a

solution.

That's a

poor excuse

for not

doing your

math homework.

It's an

even poorer

excuse for

doing nothing

in the

kingdom of

God.

Even if you

have a

wrong view

of God,

that should

lead to

some

action.

The servant's

apathy shows

that he

really did

not care

about God

and his

kingdom at

all.

And we

see that

clearly in

the king's

punishment

in verses

24 to

26.

And he

said to

those who

stood by,

take the

mina from

him and

give it to

the one who

has the

ten minus.

And they

said to

him,

Lord,

he has

ten minus.

The third

servant's one

mina is

given to

the one who

has made

ten minus

profits.

So then he

now has

twelve.

And they

protest people

around him,

oh Lord,

he already

has ten minus

profit.

Lord,

it's unfair

to take

away this

servant's

money.

He only

has one

mina to

give it to

this servant

who has

ten.

Presumably

the additional

mina would

also translate

to additional

kingdom or

reward.

And the

master explains

his rationality

in verse

26.

I tell you

that to

everyone who

has,

more will

be given,

but from

the one who

has not,

even what

he has

will be

taken away.

There was

an American

philosopher and

author named

Albert Hubbard

who once

put it this

way.

He said,

if you want

anything done,

ask a busy

man to do

it.

This is a

truism,

it's not

always true,

but it's

generally true

because the

busy man is

usually busy

because he

has shown

that he

can get

stuff done.

That's why

people have

given him a

lot of

things to

do.

The idea

is similar

to what

we find

here.

It's the

servant

that has

proven

most faithful

that should

be entrusted

with the

most

responsibility.

Jesus said

something very

similar in

Luke 8,

18.

the parable

of the

sower,

which I

referenced

earlier in

that same

context.

Take care

how you

hear,

for to the

one who

has,

more will

be given,

and from

the one

who has

not,

even what

he thinks

that he

has will

be taken

away.

Jesus is

warning us

then to

take care

how we

listen to

and obey

the word

of God.

Those who

listen well

and live

obedience to

God's word

will be

given more,

but those

who do

not

listen

well

will have

even what

they thought

they had

was an

illusion

taken away.

The fact

that this

servant

loses his

gospel stewardship

shows that

he is not

ultimately

saved.

He thought

he was a

Christian.

He thought

he was a

servant of

Christ.

But the

way it

turns out

he was

not.

That's

why he's

called the

wicked

servant

in verse

22.

And let

me remind

you that

this is

the reason

why the

servant

didn't do

his work,

didn't really

know God.

This parable

reveals that

this servant

never knew

God because

he didn't

know how

gracious and

merciful he

was.

He saw

him instead

as a

harsh

taskmaster.

And so

let me

remind you

also of

how gracious

and merciful

God really

is so you

can believe

in him

rightly and

follow him

truly.

God

entrusted

the stewardship

of the

earth

originally in

Genesis

1.28.

He created

man and

woman and

then he

blessed them

and he

commanded

them be

fruitful and

multiply and

fill the

earth and

subdue it

and have

dominion over

the fish of

the sea and

over the

birds of the

heavens and

over every

living thing

that moves on

the earth.

That was our

original

stewardship but

we messed it

up.

We sinned

against God.

We betrayed

his trust by

choosing to

live for our

own glory rather

than for his

glory.

We were meant

to be his

representatives but

instead we

became rebels,

his enemies.

We ruined the

earth.

We trashed the

environment.

We marred the

image of God

in humanity by

mistreating our

fellow men,

abusing them,

stealing from

them, lying to

them and

killing them.

That's what

humanity did to

their first

entrustment from

God.

And yet

amazingly,

unbelievably,

in the heart

of God,

his dream,

there's a