MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(Powerpoints used with this message are available for free. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com & request #347.)
TEXT: Luke 19:9-27; Ephesians 2:10; Psalm 2:2
A. In Luke 19:11-27 Jesus tells a familiar parable, & for that reason I hesitate because when you talk about something familiar, people tend not to listen. They think, "I already know all about that."
I've also learned from experience that what is said is not always what is heard. And that could be a problem, too.
ILL. That reminds me of an amazing story about Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It seems that he was often bored stiff by those long receiving lines at the White House. He was convinced that people really didn't listen to what was said when they went through those lines.
So on one occasion he decided to see if people really did listen to what he said. As people went by he said the same thing to each of them. He smiled graciously, shook their hand, & then said in a very kind way, "I murdered my grandmother this morning."
Amazingly, he received responses like, "Wonderful, Mr. President," "Keep up the good work, Mr. President," "We're praying for you, Mr. President."
Finally the Bolivian Ambassador came by, & actually did listen as FDR said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." For a moment the Ambassador was taken aback. He stood there blinking his eyes, & then responded, "Well, she must have had it coming."
So sometimes people really do listen, & I hope you will join me this morning in considering again the Parable of the 10 Minas, or as it is called in some English translations, the Parable of the Pounds found in the 19th chapter of Luke.
B. Now please don't get this parable confused with the Parable of the Talents recorded in the gospel of Matthew. There are many similarities between the two parables, but there are also some real differences.
I'm not going to read this parable in its entirety because that would take too long, but please keep your Bibles open to this parable in Luke 19 because we'll be referring to it often.
Vs. 11 begins with, "While they were listening to this..." Jesus had just been discussing with His disciples what had happened at the house of Zaccheus. They had heard Jesus say to Zaccheus, "Today salvation has come to this house." (Luke 19:9)
They also heard Jesus say, "The Son of Man has come to seek & to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10) And as they were listening, Jesus shifts gears & begins to tell them this parable.
C. There are two reasons given in vs. 11 for the telling of this parable which indicate that Jesus is teaching a very important lesson here.
1. First of all, in vs. 11, Luke says that Jesus told the parable "because He was near Jerusalem."
Jesus knew that as soon as He entered Jerusalem all the frenzied events of the last week of His life would begin. So before that happened, Jesus took this last opportunity to teach them a very important lesson.
2. Vs. 11 also says that Jesus told them this parable because "the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once."
D. So He tells this parable to teach them about the kingdom of God. And it is clear that in this parable the King represents Jesus, Himself.
1. First of all, Jesus teaches them that the Kingdom of God is not coming right now. There are several things that must happen first.
You see, the apostles were convinced that once they entered Jerusalem, that the wonderful kingdom they had been dreaming about would become reality. They were sure that would happen.
They had been following Jesus for 3 years. They had seen Him perform miracles. Demons yielded to Him. Diseases were cured, hungry people fed, & the dead raised. They were convinced He could do anything He wanted to do.
So it was natural for them to think that now their kingdom would begin & Jesus would be the King. But Jesus says, "Don't expect a coronation, because that is not going to happen. Instead, get ready for rejection. There will be a crucifixion instead of a coronation."
2. Finally, & most important of all, Jesus wants them to know what they are to do while He, the King, is gone, & before He comes back again.
E. So with that in mind, let’s look at the parable. In vs's 12-13, Jesus says, "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king & then to return. So he called 10 of his servants & gave them 10 minas. ‘Put this money to work,' he said, ‘until I come back.'"
Now here is where the parable of the minas is very different from the parable of the talents. In the parable of the talents, told in Matthew, Jesus said, "To one he gave 5 talents of money, to another 2 talents, & to another 1 talent, each according to his ability." (Matthew 25:15)
We look at the Parable of the Talents & say, "This points out that we are all different. We have different gifts & different talents."
But in this parable everybody received the same thing. Each servant received one mina, which equals about 3 month's wages. Jesus emphasizes that each servant received exactly the same thing.
So what is He saying? What is Jesus teaching us? What does the mina represent? It is obviously not the same thing as the talents in the Parable of the Talents found in Matthew.
What is it that we all have that is exactly the same? How are we all similar? There are a lot of areas where we are different. But how are we all the same?
So we go through a process of elimination, checking off ways where we are not alike, until finally we eliminate almost everything. But there is one way where we are all the same. We have all received the gift of life. We didn't earn it. God just gave it to us.
We'll not all live the same length of time. We don't have the same talents. But we all have our lives as a gift from God.
PROP. Jesus is saying, "Take this gift & use it wisely. Invest the life I have given you, put it to work until I come again." And in this parable Jesus tells 3 ways of investing our life - 3 different attitudes toward life.
The first one is found in vs. 14. It says, "But his subjects hated him, & sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don't want this man to be our king.'"
I. WE DON'T WANT YOU TO BE OUR KING!
The first attitude is, "We don't want Jesus to be our ruler. We don’t want Him interfering in our lives. We’re doing fine just the way we are. So leave us alone. Let us live the way we want to live. We don’t need Him & we don’t want Him!"
ILL. Michael Brown wrote in "Charisma Magazine", “I believe there is a common thread that unites the new atheism, the radical left, & the gay activist revolution. It is the philosophy that says 'We will not have God & his Son rule over us!'
Liberal philosopher Richard Rorty was even more direct, telling parents of college students that, as professors “we are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your ... religious com-munity of dignity, trying to make your views seem silly rather than discussable.” (Michael Brown: what's so great about Christianity: Dinesh D'Souza)
Sadly, enemies of Jesus today remind us of Psalm 2:2, “The kings of the earth take their stand & the rulers gather together against the Lord & against His Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, '& throw off their fetters."
By rejecting the king, they hope to escape responsibility for how they live. They may think they're escaping responsibility but they will never escape their punishment. They didn't want Jesus as their king then, & many people don't want Jesus to be their King now.
SUM: Yes, there are people who take the gift of life from God & say, "We'll take care of ourselves. We don't want any advice. So leave us alone!" They don't want the king; therefore they will not be a part of His kingdom.
II. I WAS AFRAID OF YOU, SO I DIDN’T EVEN TRY.
Now skip down to vs. 20 where Jesus describes another attitude of life.
A. Vs. 20 says, "Another servant came & 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 & reap what you did not sow.'"
ILL. Can you imagine taking an appliance into a repair shop & then coming back a few weeks later only to see it still sitting in the corner of the shop, with cobwebs hanging from it? And the shop worker tells you, "Oh yes, It's right here. I haven't touched it. You can have it back just like it was." He hadn't done a thing with it!
ILL. Or how about the man who bought a gift for someone he loved very much? He worked hard for the money to pay for it, & spent a lot of time choosing just the right gift. Then he fought the crowds to get it. He wrapped it himself & even put a pretty bow on it & sent it by Express Mail to the one he loved.
But sometime later he visited this one he loved & saw his package lying on the floor, over in a corner, unopened. How do you suppose he felt?
Then imagine how God must feel when you carelessly treat His gift to you. Well, in this parable Jesus tells us in vs's 22-23, "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, & 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?'"
B. Notice what Jesus called him. He called him a "wicked servant." As we look at this man we begin to feel sorry for him. What did he do wrong? He didn't embezzle the money. He wasn’t dishonest.
He just didn’t do what his master had told him to do. He didn’t put the money to work. He didn’t invest it in anything worthwhile. He just didn’t do anything with what his master had given him. And his excuse was, “I was afraid.”
Then Jesus says, "If you were really afraid of me, then why didn't you do what I told you to do?" It seems that Jesus is saying, "You say out of one side of your mouth, ‘I took you seriously,’ but your actions say, ‘I'm not really afraid enough to make me do what you say. I'm going to ignore your instructions.'"
But God is not going to let us get away with that. Like the king in this parable, God has given us the gift of life. In fact, Ephesians 2:10 reminds us, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
So God has made you to fulfill His purpose through your life. Do you trust God? Do you want His kingdom to grow? Are you willing to be faithful in using what God has entrusted to you?
III. I'LL DO WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO.
Another attitude is found in vs. 16-19, "The first one came & said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned 10 more.' ‘Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of 10 cities.'"
"The second came & said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned 5 more.' His master answered, ‘You take charge of 5 cities.'"
A. Evidently they had no reason to expect a reward. The king had not said, "Take my mina & put it to work, & when I come back I'll pay you a percentage of the profit."
He had simply told them, "Put this money to work…until I come back." (Luke 19:13) So they invested the money & they worked, not expecting a reward. They invested because they were faithful to the king.
B. That is important, isn't it? There are people today who say, "I want to be a Christian," but the reason is because they expect favors from Jesus. They expect Him to make sure that their life is trouble free.
But these men invested simply because they were faithful to their king. God is looking for people like that. So when he came back & found what they had done, He rewarded them for their faithfulness.
ILL. One stormy night an elderly couple entered the lobby of a small hotel & asked for a room. The clerk said they were filled, as were all the hotels in town. "But I can't send a fine couple like you out in the rain," he said. "Would you be willing to sleep in my room?" The couple hesitated, but the clerk insisted.
The next morning when the man paid his bill, he said, "You're the kind of man who should be managing the best hotel in the United States. Someday I'll build you one to manage." The clerk smiled politely.
Several years later the clerk received a letter from the elderly man, recalling that stormy night & asking him to come to New York. A round-trip ticket was enclosed. When the clerk arrived, his host took him to the corner of 5th Avenue & 34th Street, where stood a magnificent new building.
"That," explained the man, "is the hotel I have built for you to manage." The man was William Waldorf Astor, & that hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria. The young clerk, George C. Boldt, became its first manager.
Never downplay the importance of what you are doing for Jesus. He sees it all. The reward for diligent service in small things is the opportunity for even greater service for our God & King, either now or in eternity.
INVITATION:
