Show 2 minute Video clip (available on SermonCentral): "If Jesus Returned Today" [1]
Did you note the comment at the end of the film? The question is not “When will Jesus Return?”, but rather, “What will we do before He gets here?” How will He find the members of the body of Christ? So when Jesus comes, we would proudly say, “I’m a member of Rosemont Baptist Church!” As a member, how will He find us? As a …
Spectator or participant?
Recipient or provider?
Consumer or contributor?
Taker or giver?
Worshipping with fellow believers or Attending a ball game?
When pastors get together and we talk about the work in our churches, we talk about the 80/20 mix: 80 percent of the work done by 20 percent of the people. Where are the workers? We have to beg to get Sunday School teachers. How much more we could do if people would just step up to the plate?
Today message: “Do Business Till I Come,” is all about doing those things we are called to do, not just as a church, but as individual believers. Today and next Sunday we will be exploring Luke 19:11-27, bu this morning we are only going to look at verses 11-15.
Luke 19:11–15 (NKJV)
Hugh Hewitt (conservative radio talk show host) in his book “The Embarrassed Believer” contends that most Christian are embarrassed believers. They do not talk about their faith or church. They don’t have Bibles on the corner of their desks. They never engage others in spiritual conversations. And the result has been the dramatic increase of pornography and violence over the last five decades. The values of the world today pale in comparison to the values of mid last century. He writes, “From Paul’s imprisonment and martyrdom to this year’s murders of Christians around the globe, there is an ennobling and inspiring thread of courage uniting saint after saint. It is an inheritance of every believer. And it is to this that we are called.” Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes...” (Romans 1:16). And Jesus said, “ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38). Too many of us are embarrassed, silent, secret agents for God. Yet we are called to be bold witnesses of Jesus Christ. He closes with these words, “Christians in America trying to save the lost, comfort the suffering, cure the ill, clothe the naked and bring joy to the despairing will not make a significant and lasting impact unless they do so openly and without apology as Christians. The witness must accompany the work or the work will not endure and the world is hungry for our witness.’ Bold witness! [2]
Jesus does not have any secret agents. We are all called to be His witnesses.
Today’s passage is about Jesus’ return. Do you know there are more passages in the Bible dealing with Jesus’ second coming than prophecy concerning His first coming. As certain as His first coming is Jesus’ second coming. The key verse we will consider today is quite simple. It is Jesus’ command concerning His second coming and what we are to do until that time:
Luke 19:13b (NKJV) ‘Do business till I come.’
If you are reading from the Authorized version or commonly called the KJV, it will say “Occupy” but most all other modern English versions have “Do business.” The Greek here is quite clear: Do business, conduct trading, exert ones self, to stay busy. I’m afraid too many people look at the word “occupy” and not understanding the 400 year old meaning of the KJV word "occupy", and they sit and do nothing but “occupy” time and space.
Jesus has very specific things for us to do till He returns. Sitting and doing nothing is not an option. There is no such thing as standing still in Christianity. We are either moving forward with the Gospel or we loose what we have and move backwards. (more on this next week).
Often times this parable of Jesus gets mixed up with the parable of the Talents told by Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30. These are two different stories but they do have some similarities, yet also important differences. For example: In this parable, each servant gets the same amount, whereas in the parable of talents, each servant gets different amounts. This parable was told in Jericho, after the conversion of Zacchaeus, just prior to Jesus entering Jerusalem. The Parable of Talents was part of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, his teachings about the time of the end and His return, given two days before His crucifixion. I will be looking at both as we examine this parable.
Luke, in his recording of Jesus’ parables, often gives keys to understanding the parable:
Luke 19:11 (NKJV) Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.
Here is Luke's key to understanding this parable; the disciple were mistakenly thinking that Jesus was going to bring in the Kingdom, or restore the kingdom to Israel when He enters Jerusalem. Yes, Jesus has His triumphal entry but He does not bring the kingdom. In fact five days later the Romans will be nailing Jesus to the cross. Many times Jesus told them what would be happening, but the disciples are slow to catch on. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus just told the disciples again what the plan was just a few verses earlier in chapter 18.
Luke 18:31–34 (NKJV) 31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” 34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.
So Jesus keeps telling them. But an important part of His telling is instruction on what they were to be doing in the meanwhile. So Jesus explains using this parable of the minas.
Luke 19:12 (NKJV) Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
Now just for a moment I want to skip verse 13 and go 14:
Luke 19:14 (NKJV) But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
Whoa! What is this about, we’re familiar with the story, especially the version we read in Matthew 25:14-30 about the talents, but this story is has a parts that are different – it was some elements in it that Matthew does not have. As I have said, these are completely two different parables as I will discuss further.
Many of the original people who listened to this parable no doubt connected it with an event in Jewish history that had occurred about 30 years before. When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., he left Judea to his son Archelaus, who had to go to Rome to have the inheritance approved. Not wanting Archelaus as their ruler, because of his cruelty,
the Jews sent fifty men to argue their case before Augustus Caesar, who did ratify the inheritance without giving Archelaus the title of “king.” [3]
This is the same Archelaus that when Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus returned from Egypt, they passed up Bethlehem and Jerusalem and went back to Nazareth, outside of judea, where Archelaus ruled. In this parable, Jesus is putting Himself into role of the Nobleman, going out to receive the Kingdom and will one day return to rule it. Many people then, and today – the rest of the world – would rather Jesus not return to rule.
Dr. Michael L. Brown, a noted Christian news commentator, wrote in a well known Christian 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!'[4]
We see this at play today. But what about the rest of us. That brings us back to verse 13.
Luke 19:13 (NKJV) So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’
The nobleman, the man who would return as the king, gave His 10 servants, 10 minas (KJV-pounds). Each one received the same amount, one mina each. A mina was worth about 3-4 months’ pay for the average farm worker. This is different from the Parable of the talents. In that parable the Master gave out 5, 2 and 1 talents to just 3 servants. A talent was worth more than a mina, about 6 times what a mina was worth.
So what is the difference between a talent in Matthew’s account and a mina here in this story? What do they mean?
Because each one of the servants received the same, the mina represents the Gospel whereas differing numbers of talents in Matthew’s parable represent different abilities, opportunities. However in both cases, the directive was the same. They were to be used by the servants for the enrichment of the master and the kingdom.
In the this parable of the minas, the command of the nobleman was clear: ‘Do business till I come.’ they were to use the minas to trade and make even more money for the returning King.
This was not a suggestion. The sense of the Greek here is that they were to be engaged in business with this money, to use for the benefit of the kingdom. The Greek here is the imperative – which means that this was a command from the nobleman – it was not an option. To do nothing meant to be disobedient to the command of the returning King.
We each have been entrusted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We each have the same Gospel. The Gospel which we possess is no different from the Gospel that the Apostle Paul possessed, or that Billy Graham possessed. Jesus did not entrust the Gospel to the angels, but to His body, the members of the church.
So We have been entrusted with this precious Gospel. What are we going to with it?
Well if you look in your Bibles, you will see that we are far from the end of the story.
Luke 19:15 (NKJV) “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
There is coming a day when we will have to give an account. Jesus is coming, and I believe He is coming soon. You see, it matters little if we are alive when He comes, or He calls us home before that day. We each must give an account.
Hebrews 4:13 (NKJV) And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Everyone who has ever lived will see jesus one day and will give an account for each one's life. Some will give an account unto judgement, others will give an account in the receiving of rewards. For the Christian, this accounting will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NKJV) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Now let me make one point clear. We are not saved because of the works we do in spreading the gospels or doing good works. These are things we do because we are saved. Our handling of the Gospel and performing good works which should result in the furtherance of the gospel, are indicators of our salvation.
Look at the life of the tax collector Zacchaeus, the story which immediately proceeds this story. Zacchaeus, who climbed into the sycamore tree to see Jesus. He was wondrously saved.
Luke 19:8–10 (NKJV) 8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Zacchaeus was not save because of what he did, those were the evidence of His salvation and Jesus confirmed it.
Jesus has entrusted us who are saved by His grace, with the Gospel, what are we going to do to show the world we truly possess it? Our marching orders from the King is clear. We each have been given the Gospel, and the command from Jesus is, "Do business till I come." Are we busy about the Lord’s work?
Next week we will examine how the servants of the returning king handles the minas with which they were entrusted.
If you do not know Jesus, you cannot do His will or do His business until you have come to know Him.
Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
That is the message of the Gospel. God desires all to be saved and come unto repentance. It is all about Jesus. It is all about coming to Him and bringing others to Him.
[1] www.sermoncentral.com/church-media-preaching-sermons/sermon-video-illustrations/if-jesus-returned-today-6148-detail?ref=MediaSerps
[2] www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84213/witness-by-tim-smith?ref=TextIllustrationSerps and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hewitt
[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996), Lk 19:11.
[4] www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/faithful-to-the-king-parable-of-the-mina-melvin-newland-sermon-on-fear-234414?ref=SermonSerps
