Occupy Till I Come Luke 19:11-26
Well it’s time for our annual summer break and we will not have Sunday service again until the first week in September. So I was thinking how can I motivate you to continue to grow in the Lord while we close for repairs to our sanctuary?
The text of today’s message is a good place to start. The people in the crowds had followed Jesus for nearly three years. They had come to realize that Jesus was special. What they did not know is if Jesus was the promised Messiah.
There was a lot of confusion, Jesus did miracles and signs and wonders and spoke with authority. He openly challenged the religious leaders of the day but he did not talk about the political situation all that much.
The Jews were an occupied people they had some freedom but they were surrounded by Roman soldiers and heavy taxes. At best they were allowed to exist but not thrive. Herod had built the temple as a way to appease them and to earn some recognition as a religious leader.
Still Jerusalem was not in their own hands and they wanted to break the yoke of their oppressors. Some thought that Jesus was going to do this, some like Judas Iscariot were known as freedom fighters. They were hoping to overthrow the Romans by force and Judas had gotten close to Jesus in the hope that he was their Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Judas and many others had hoped Jesus could be pushed into action against the Roman occupation and that with the good will of the people behind him a revolution against Rome could occur like the Maccabean Revolt of 167 B.C. Such were the hope and dreams of some who followed Jesus.
Jesus came to free men and women from a different kind of oppressor, sin. Even the religious leaders failed to see this and thought Jesus was after their power. It seems everyone misread Jesus and what he was there to do.
The politically powerful feared him as a trouble maker, the religious leaders feared him as a prophet and the people embraced him as their Saviour. No one had ever seen anyone quite like Jesus before.
In today’s scripture Jesus takes a few minutes to try and straighten everyone out on who he is and what they can expect. Jesus uses an illustration about a noble man who had to leave the country to be crowned king in another country but who would return. Jesus was not ready to be made king at least not at this time.
In these few lines Jesus expresses His Lordship, Royal lineage and Divine kingdom all in one breath. The people wanted to make him King of Jerusalem but he was so much more.
In the story that Jesus tells he explains how some of the people were opposed to the man being made a king and that they protested. In this way Jesus was speaking against his detractors and one may wonder if this story is meant to be taken prophetically?
In the story the noble man leaves and returns a King. In life the son of man Jesus ascends to heaven and promises to return a King. Today there are still many who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as King and many who out right refuse to recognize Jesus as the Son of God.
Yet the man returns to his servants. Now he asks them to show what they did with the valuable coin that had been entrusted to them. The first servant brought forward a return of ten, the second a return of five and the third did nothing with what he had been entrusted with.
This is the lesson for us. Jesus has entrusted us with much as his servants. We know salvation and freedom from sin; we know the power of his word to change lives. We know the truth of the Gospel and the eternal hope that if brings. We possess all these valuable things and more yet what are we doing with them?
Have we taken the time to invest ourselves in Gods Kingdom? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Are we busy building for the Kingdom on earth or are we like the third servant burying what little we have in the hope that it is enough.
We are to be busy with the things of God. We are to build on our numbers as Christians and grow the kingdom. It is a very difficult task here in Canada with so many turning away from God. We have so much wealth people do not feel the need for God. They think they have enough. Material goods and worldly position and power are not what we should seek.
Proverbs 11:30
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he who wins souls is wise.
Have you won a soul to Christ? It is a hard thing to accomplish. I can not say I have done it. I do not know if I have led a single person to Christ and for that reason I labor on.
I have done my small part in the hope that my good intentions have brought forth a harvest for the Lord. I do not know the numbers and so I must continue to work.
I can not rest in my effort for I have a multitude of sin to cover in my own life. Not that I can find salvation through works. No.
James 5:19-20
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring them back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the way of error will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Do you know a Christian who has lost their way? Then try your best to bring them back and in so doing you will save them from death, eternal death.
It reminds me of a Robert Frost poem I took in high school. It is about a man stopping his horse on a snowy night to watch the woods fill up with snow. He would love to just stop and watch but he must keep going.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there’s some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Our work here on earth is like that poem. We watch people as they fill their lives with sin rather than snow and slowly the sin gets deeper and deeper filling up their lives until they are nearly buried. For me I am compelled to press on to keep telling them the good news of Gods Gospel. I must press on I can not stop idly by as the snow continues to fall. I have miles to go before I sleep. There are many woods I must pass and many that need to be warned.
I urge you this summer to remember that Jesus will return to seek out his servants. Will you have kept busy winning souls and living for Him or will you grow tired and weary and just hold to the little you have? Press on; keep up the fight for winning souls at home, at work and on vacation. Occupy until I come and when we are together again then we can present the Lord with the return from our labors. Let us win souls and build His kingdom on earth until He return to reign over it.
