“I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.”—Luke 19:26
LABORING WITH THE GOSPEL (Part II)
In our Early Morning Worship, we began a discussion of Jesus’ Parable of the Minas or the Pounds. We said that this parable is not very well known among Jesus’ teachings because of the misconception that this is simply Luke’s version of the popular parable of the talents recorded in the 25th chapter of Matthew. In truth, while there are several similarities between the parables, there are some notable differences that make this parable worth a second look.
The Parable of the Talents teaches us about the importance of stewardship—properly managing the resources that God has entrusted to us. The Parable of the Minas teaches us about the importance of our laboring for the Gospel—to use the gift of the Gospel entrusted to us for the growth of Christ’s kingdom. In the Parable of the Talents, the main character is a house-holder, but in the Parable of the Minas, the main character is a Nobleman who would return as a King, and this represents the character of Christ, who entered into the world the first time as the Promised Messiah, but would re-turn as the Conquering King. In the parable of the Talents, each servant received a different-sized gift—according to his ability. But in the parable of the Minas, each servant received the same gift, and this gift represented the Gospel truth that has been entrusted to every believer. In each of the parables, the charge to the servants was the same—do the best that you can with what you’ve been given. But in the case of this parable, this is not so much a reference to stewardship as it is to spiritual responsibility and faithfulness. In that the minas represent the truth of the Gospel, Jesus was charging his hearers with the responsibility of utilizing the Gospel to produce a profit—the addition of more lost people into the Kingdom; this profit would be reflected in fewer people living in darkness and more people walking in the Light. And as we come to discover by the end of this parable, there are consequences for failing to use what has been entrusted to us.
Church, unless we use our spiritual gift, we run the risk of losing our access to the power that is inherent in it. Now, let us be clear about what we’re talking about. The spiritual gift referred to here has nothing to do with gifts of the Holy Spirit, but has to do with the gift that is given to each believer in Jesus Christ at the moment of his belief —the gift of the truth of the Gospel. You see, all of us have different gifts of the Holy Spirit, which God distributes as He chooses. Some of us possess several gifts of the Holy Spirit, while others of us have only one or two. In that regard, gifts of the Holy Spirit relate more to the Matthew 25 parable than to the Luke 19 parable. But before we get to gifts of the Holy Spirit, the first gift that each believer receives is the gift of the truth of the Gospel. It’s a gift that’s the same for everybody; it’s a gift that’s available to everybody; it’s a gift that demands the same criteria from everybody—“believe and you shall be saved”; it’s a gift that promises the same result for everybody—forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God and assurance of an eternal place with Him in Heaven. And it’s a gift that carries with it the same charge for everybody—the Nobleman has charged his servants to put the gift to us to make a profit.
There’s no greater profit that can be made than the addition of lost people into the body of Christ. As the body of Christ, our greatest desire for people must be that they are saved. But beyond desire, the thought behind this parable is that there must be an accompanying effort on the part of the saved to reach the lost. And this effort must involve the employment of the right tool for the job. And the right tool for this job is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
One reason why the Church falls short in expanding the kingdom is because we tend to want to use other tools for the job. Rather than stand on the truth of the Gospel, we employ gimmicks like prosperity religion; rather than stand on the truth of the Gospel we opt for formulaic programs—5 steps to healing; 10 steps to a blessing; 12 steps to a breakthrough; 40 days of purpose; rather than stand on the truth of the Gospel, we seek to draw crowds to ourselves through a focus on entertainment rather than ministry. And these things, when used the right way, will draw a crowd, but they won’t expand the Kingdom of Christ. No, the kingdom can only be expanded when we stand on the sim-ple truth of the Gospel; the Kingdom can only be expanded when we tell people about Jesus—eternally pre-existent Jesus; the divine Logos, who was with God in the beginning and, indeed, was God; who became flesh and dwelled among us and permitted us to behold His glory, full of grace and truth; Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God; Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep Who, through the blood of the everlasting covenant makes us perfect in every good work to do His will, and works in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight; Jesus, who created nature for man and then dwelled in nature with man and then succumbed to nature as a man and then defied nature to deliver man from the clutches of death, Hell and the grave; Jesus, who was wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquity, who bore the pain that brought us peace and by whose stripes we are healed. If we would but stand on the truth of Gospel, if we would but stand in the power of who Jesus is and what He has done for us, if we would but employ this truth, the kingdom of God will expand as God gives the increase. But if we fail to labor for the Gospel, even though we know the truth of the Gospel and the power of the Gospel, then not only do we fail to do our part to expand the kingdom, but we also run the risk of losing the rewards that employing the Gospel makes available to us.
Jesus teaches in this parable that there are rewards for those who labor for the Gospel and that these rewards are proportionate to the amount of labor that’s put forth. Each of the Nobleman’s servants received the same sum of money, 10 minas. Each servant was expected to do the same thing, employ the gift for the maximum profit. And upon the King’s return, each servant was to report on what they did with the gift they had re-ceived. Well, as Jesus tells the story, when the King returned, the first servant humbly reported that he had produced 10 additional minas with the gift that he had been given, and his reward was to be given charge of 10 cities. The second servant humbly re-ported that he had produced 5 additional minas with the gift that he had received, and the King rewarded him with the administration of 5 cities. So far, so good. But when we get to the third servant, something disappointing takes place. The third servant returns to the king only with the gift that he had originally been given. There is no increase; there is no profit to report. But worse than that is the fact that there was no effort put forth to make a profit. Listen to what the 3rd servant says, in verse 20: “Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.”
Church, there are some important lessons that we can learn from this servant’s failure. First, I want you to see that, whereas the other servants humbly reported success, this servant arrogantly reported failure. He comes to the king with a prepared defense for his wrong and sinful action. “What made his action wrong?” His action was wrong because he didn’t do as he was instructed. The instruction that he received was simple, clear and direct: “Put this gift to use until I return.” But by this servant’s own admission, instead of putting his gift to use, he laid it away in a piece of cloth.
Church, if we are to effectively labor with the Gospel of Truth, then we must learn to be obedient to the King. Disobedience is a form of rebellion; disobedience is an outgrowth of selfishness; disobedience is an indication of improper motives and improper priorities. Disobedience is sinful. And we can’t conceal disobedience with other things. Some of us try to do like Saul did—we try to conceal our disobedience with our sacrifices. But the Word says that obedience is better than sacrifice. We can’t defend disobedience with an attitude that says, “I have a better idea”, for the Word reminds us that we should, “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and never depend on what we think we know. In all our ways we are to acknowledge Him and He will keep our paths straight.” Obedience comes with its own reward, but it becomes clear in this situation that disobedience carries with it its own punishment.
Not only was this servant arrogant with his sin, but he was conservative with his faith. By his own admission, he was afraid of losing what had been given to him, and his fear of losing what he had was greater than his commitment to doing what he was told.
Church, we must never let fear overrule faith; we must never let fear overrule fidelity. Our Lord has gifted us with the greatest treasure that anyone can have, the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and we’ve been charged to make specific use of it for the benefit of the His Kingdom—“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that this all-sur-passing power is from God and not from us…For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” But when we are guided more by fear than by commitment to our calling, then when the Lord returns—and He will return—we may have what He gave us, but we won’t have anything else. We may have our salvation, but we will have no evidence that we did anything to help secure the salvation of others. We may have our deliverance, but there will be nothing to show the Master that we devoted ourselves to the deliverance of others. When we let fear dominate, we play right into the hands of those who hate Jesus. You see in the text that He talks about the fact that there were those who did not want Him to be King. Well, there are still people today who don’t want Jesus to be King. And when we operate from a position of fear, we give those people a foothold in the world. They want us to be afraid to talk about the goodness of Jesus; they want us to be afraid to talk about the miracles of Jesus; they want us to be afraid to talk about the forgiveness of Jesus; they want us to be afraid to talk about the righteousness of Jesus; they want us to be afraid to talk about the love of Jesus; they want us to be afraid to talk about the power of Jesus. If we stay afraid, then we will keep our faith inside these four walls; if we stay afraid then we will hide our gift instead of employing our gift and the kingdom will not grow.
Well, there’s a 3rd thing I want you to see here. This man blamed the King for his fear. Do you hear what he says to the King? When he gives his report, he says, in so many words, “King, you’re responsible for my fear. It’s really your fault that I didn’t do any more than I did. I was really afraid of you. I know that you are a hard man. I know that you take out what you did not put in and that you reap where you didn’t sow.”
Church, it’s bad to be arrogant in your failure, it’s awful to be ruled by fear, but its really sad when we blame the King for our fear. This man’s words make it clear that though he had received the Gospel, he really didn’t understand what the Gospel does. His words suggest a legalistic view of God, who requires more than He benefits. That leads him to do as little as possible and try to get by simply refraining from doing evil rather than stepping up to the challenge to do good.
Church, God doesn’t just want us to not do wrong, but Jesus wants us to do right. He doesn’t just want us to say, “I kept what You gave me”, but He wants us to say, “I used what You gave me to Your glory and Your honor.” If this man was just concerned about not losing what he had been given, he would have done better to put the money in the bank, where it could draw interest. But by just hiding it away, what he had never fulfilled its potential. And in the same way, if we never put the truth of the Gospel on display—if people never see Jesus in our walk, if they never hear Jesus in our conversation, if they can’t distinguish us from the world—then we diminish the power of the Gospel and, in trying to keep what we have, we actually find ourselves going backwards.
Well, as I close today, what was the result of this man’s failure? Well, the punishment that he received was that what had been given to him was taken away. The King said “Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.” This punishment is in keeping with the laws of nature. Anything that is deprived of usage will get weaker and eventually become useless. And the Gospel is too important for that to happen. So the moral of what Jesus is saying here is that, rather than let the power of the Gospel be diminished, He’ll take it away from those who don’t want to use it and give it to those who will.
Church, the plight of this 3rd servant represents a lost opportunity. And whenever we fail to use what has been given to us we experience lost opportunities. But the good news is, wherever there is a lost opportunity for Christ, there is someone else who’s willing to step in and do what the 3rd servant is unwilling to do. There’s always somebody who’s willing to make good use of what the Lord has blessed them to enjoy.
Which one are you? Are you arrogant in your failure? Are you so busy trying to hold on to what you have that you’re unwilling to use what you’ve got? Are you so desperate to validate your stagnation that you would blame the King for your fear? Or are you willing to pick up where others have left off and fulfill the mandate that Christ has given to all of us to go and make disciples? The choice is yours.
