Luke 19:11-27 M: While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas.
C: ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
M: “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
C: “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
M: “ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
C: “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
M: “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
C: “Then another servant came and said, ‘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.’
M: “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
C: “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
M: “He replied, ‘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. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”
Let’s pray this prayer together: Lord God Almighty, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by your Holy Spirit that we may always look forward to the end of this present evil age and to the day of your righteous judgment. Keep us steadfast in true and living faith and present us at last holy and blameless before you; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
My dear friends in the name of the King of kings,
What would it be like to see God? When you and I imagine seeing God one day, we all may have different ideas of what he looks like. We also might have different ideas of our reaction to seeing God. What do you think you will say when you see God face to face?
When we see God face to face, we may be expecting that God will come right up to us and wipe every tear from our eyes. When we see God, we may be expecting the closest, most meaningful bond with another being that we could ever imagine. When we see God, we may be looking for perfect righteousness, peace and happiness, something beyond what we could ever experience here on earth. God in his Word promises us that being able to see him face to face will bring all of this and much more.
Seeing God face to face is so much more because we will also see his majesty. This same God who can’t wait to wrap us in his arms and say, “Now you are mine forever!”, this same God is also the great King over all the earth. If you and I were allowed to see into heaven for a moment right now, we would see the great King, Jesus, seated on his throne in all his heavenly glory. We would see angels beyond number singing a glorious song, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.” We would hear people singing, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” We would be in awe of this great King who loves us so much.
Imagine this King, Jesus Christ giving you an errand to run for him. Having seen Jesus Christ on his glorious throne, knowing how much he loves us, taking to heart the sacrifices he made so that we could experience his love forever, what would we say? If Jesus were to appear to you in all his glory, and this great King asked you, “Would you do something for me?”, what would you do? Would we turn and walk away, and ignore his request? Or would we eagerly run and do everything that our great King has asked us to do? Would we say,
I’M ON A MISSION FOR THE KING
1. I want to share the Gospel faithfully
2. I want everyone to see the King one day
The end was coming soon. Jesus had proclaimed the Kingdom of God faithfully for 3 years, and everyone could tell that something was going to happen. They were all eagerly expecting that the Kingdom of God was going to appear right then and there.
Yes, Jesus was coming to the end of his earthly ministry. Every step he drew closer to Jerusalem was a step closer to the suffering and death he faced on the cross. However, the kingdom of God wasn’t going to appear then. No, the visible appearance of the Kingdom of God would wait until that day when he would return to this earth in all his glory. Then all the promises of life in the presence of the King will be fulfilled.
Until that day, what was life in the Kingdom of God going to be like? Here Jesus describes it to us. There was this man who was born to a noble family, and he was planning to go far away where he would be appointed King. He was blessed with servants who he was asking to take care of his business matters until he returned. He called in ten servants, and he gave each servant a mina, which was worth about three months wages. What he was asking them to do was simple: “Put this money to work until I come back.”
However, not everyone was happy that he was going to be the King. Some of these people who didn’t want him to be the King sent a group of people to the place where he would be appointed King to say, “We don’t want this man to be our King.”
But this group of people was ignored and he was made King anyway. After a while, the King came back home, and he decided to see what his servants had done with the money that he had given them. As he called in each servant, there were varying results. One servant had earned ten more minas with the one he had been given while another had earned five more. They had worked faithfully and put their master’s money to work as he had asked. The king saw that they had been faithful in their work, and, though they didn’t deserve it, the king decided to bless them. To the one who had earned ten minas he said, “Well done, my good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.” To another who had earned five minas he said, “You take charge of five cities.”
Then there was one more servant. He had received his mina just like the others, only he didn’t put the money to work. He said, “Sir, here is your mina; I wrapped it up in this 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.” That piece of cloth that he wrapped up the money in was supposed to be a rag that a person would use to mop the sweat off of his brow as he is hard at work. Instead of putting the money to work, as the king had asked, he just kept it for himself.
In the process, he lost even that. The king said, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?” Instead, the money had been buried in the ground, and not even used in the simplest way by this servant. So the king said, “Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.”
Then what happened next? This same king had all those that didn’t want him to be king brought before him. The command was simple. “Bring them here and kill them in front of me.”
We, my friends, are the servants who have each received a mina. The great King, the King who sits on a high and lofty throne in great glory, the great King who loves us so dearly has planted the Gospel in our hearts, this great King has asked each of us to do something. We know what God requires of us. We know that he demands that we be absolutely perfect, that we never use his name to curse or swear once, that we always let everyone around us know the best we can about his love. We know that his perfection demands that we perfectly love everyone around us. We also readily admit, when we look at our lives, that we have not loved God or our neighbor as God demands. So what did our great King do? Did he come here making demands of us, asking us to fulfill all the demands of the Law? No, he came here to live the perfect life that we are supposed to live. He came here not to be served, but to serve and offer his life as a ransom for many, including you. The Great King became this world’s greatest servant. He comes to you and says to you, “Here, here’s the perfect life I lived. You can have the credit for it. Here, here’s all the suffering I went through on that Friday. It pays for all your sins. Although you have deserved an eternity of suffering because of the sins you have done, this is my gift to you: eternal life with me in the joys and happiness of heaven.”
That’s the Gospel. That’s the mina that each one of us has been given. One day, Jesus, the great King, will come back to check and see what we have done with that mina. Have we put the Gospel to work and faithfully studied his Word? Have we faithfully received his Supper, trusting in his body and blood for the forgiveness of our many sins? Have we done everything we can to faithfully share this Gospel message with everyone around us? Or have we just hidden it away, not sharing it with others, and, in the process, risk not even believing it ourselves.
The truth is, as a church, just about all we are doing is sharing it with ourselves. We’ve made sure that we’ve had pastors and teachers who will teach us, but not really much more than that. But someday, pastors and teachers retire or leave this earth. Then what happens? What happens if we don’t train new pastors and teachers? Will there be a pastor here to show you your sins and then show you that Jesus died for those sins? Will there be teachers who will faithfully teach our children about Jesus and his love for them? Are we putting our money to work to reach others or are we only taking care of ourselves?
When we receive money for our work, whose name is on the paycheck? When we look at our bank accounts, whose name is there? When we look at the titles for our cars and everything else we have, what’s printed there? All of these things have been titled in your name because God has given them to you. Everything you have is a gift to you from God. One day, this great King will come back to you, his servants, and he’ll see if you carried out the mission that he gave to you. He will send for you and ask you, “What have you gained with what I gave you?” Are we here only to take care of ourselves, or are we truly united in faith and purpose to preach the Gospel to everyone?
Just imagine what would happen if just we, the people who regularly attend worship every weekend, if we would each give just five percent of our incomes. We’d easily carry out the ministry plan that the leadership of our congregation is proposing. If each one of us just gave one more dollar for each ten dollars we already give, we’d have no problem reaching our goal of training pastors and teachers and sending out missionaries to carry the gospel to the world. Just imagine if we all just gave 10 percent of our income to the Lord for his work. That’s only one dollar for every ten that God gives us. We could double our work in sending missionaries out, plus have plenty for calling a full time staff minister to care for families, to call a deaconess, to serve our congregation and our community to our fullest. Just imagine, if we were all faithful servants, carrying out the commission that our King has given to us.
What does all this take? It takes hearts that are convinced that one day, we will see our King in all his glory. It takes hearts that are convinced that we don’t deserve to be in his presence, hearts that are grateful for all the gifts we have received from God’s hand in this life, hearts that are thankful for the gift of eternal life that awaits each one of us. It takes hearts that say, “What I expect to see in heaven, I want to do all I can while I’m here on earth so that others can see the King also and remain in his presence forever.” It takes hearts that say, “Me? I’m here on a mission from the King of kings.” Amen.
