Of course any person who has been saved surely appreciates what the Lord has done for him, but many times those who have been in the depths of sin almost seem to appreciate their salvation more than those who had led good moral lives. Well, it seems that this man, who had been demon possessed was thrilled at what the Lord had done for him and he wanted to follow Jesus wherever He went. You would think that his request would have pleased the Lord greatly, but notice, Jesus denied his request to follow Him. Instead He said, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."
You and I, as children of God, can relate to what Jesus said, because basically this is what He has said to all of us. He did not take us to heaven as soon as we were converted. Instead, Jesus tells us, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."
In Luke 19:13, Jesus has this to say TO US who have been left here on earth, "And he called his ten servants,...and said unto them, Occupy till I come..." The word that was translated "occupy" here is the same word we get "occupation" from.
When you ask a sinner what his occupation is, he may say, "I am a dentist," or, "...a lawyer," "...mechanic," "...carpenter," etc. But, when a Christian says that one of these is his occupation he is scripturally incorrect.
Illus: A man told a Christian, one day, "I thought you were a brick mason." The Christian responded, "No. I work as a brick mason to earn a living, but my occupation is serving God each day."
It is important for Christians to realize why God leaves them here after they have been converted. Many mistakenly feel they have been left here to buy and possess as many material things as they can. One day they will stand before God and hear Him remind them, "I told you to occupy until I come, but you made collecting things that rust and deteriorate your occupation."
How can we keep that from happening to us? How can we "occupy"?
I. LOOK AT WAYS
There are many ways to "occupy," but we want to examine two that are pleasing to God.
A. We need to be faithful
As Christians we are "the bride of Christ," and as the "bride of Christ," we are to BE FAITHFUL to Him.
Illus: There is only one man that a woman has to answer to if she is not faithful - that is the one she is married to and that she promised to be faithful to!
As Christians, as God's church, the "bride," we all have been given TALENTS and RESOURCES to work with and God expects us to use them to advance His kingdom.
Look at the parable in Matt. 25:14-30, "For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The one thing that God requires is FAITHFULNESS! Many Christians get all tired out and discouraged because they think God requires RESULTS. Nowhere in this parable did the Lord require RESULTS.
Illus: The story is told of the man who was given the task of taking a sledge hammer and beating on a large rock. He assumed the reason he had been assigned to do that was to crack that large rock. After several hours of pounding he was completely exhausted and discouraged. He sat down and put his head in his hands. About then his boss drove up. The boss asked, "How are things going?" The laborer said, discouraged, "It really is not going well at all. I have been pounding on that rock for hours and not even one small crack has developed." The boss recognized his discouragement and asked, "Why are you discouraged?" The man replied, "Like I told you, I have been pounding on that rock for hours and I cannot even crack it!" The boss said, "Do not be discouraged. Not once have I asked you to crack the rock. All I asked you to do was pound on it."
You see, the laborer was discouraged because he was looking for RESULTS, but all the boss was looking for was FAITHFULNESS to the job he assigned, and that is all God is looking for from any of us. Look at the parable again. We see clearly what the servants were commended for.
-To the one who had been given FIVE TALENTS and was FAITHFUL in using them, his lord said, verse 21, "...Well done, thou good and FAITHFUL servant..."
-To the one who had been given TWO TALENTS and was FAITHFUL in using them, his lord said, verse 23, "...Well done, good and faithful servant..."
-To the one who had been given ONE TALENT came no words of commendation. Why? His lord was ANGRY with him BECAUSE OF HIS UNFAITHFULNESS! He hid the ONE TALENT that his lord had given him.
There are lost people today who have been gifted by God:
-They have the personality to win.
-They have the education.
-They have the talent to sing.
-They have the talent to speak.
However, all of these gifts are wasted because they LOVE THE WORLD and the LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN THEM!
People can give you a thousand reasons why they do not serve the Lord with the talents they have, but there is only one reason, and that is that they do not love God enough to WORSHIP and SERVE HIM!
The Lord told the man, who had been demon possessed, AND WAS GLORIOUSLY CONVERTED, that he could not come with Him, but rather that he should go and tell his family and friends of God's love and compassion toward Him.
This is the same thing that God requires of us. He has not saved us and immediately whisked us away to Heaven. No, He left us here on earth so that we could be FAITHFUL WITNESSES to our family and friends of what He has done for us. WE NEED TO BE FAITHFUL UNTIL HE COMES! Also...
B. We need to be fruitful
How are we to be "fruitful"? We are to be "fruitful" by "bearing the fruit of the Spirit" in our Christian life.
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT THAT WE BEAR THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT AS WE WAIT FOR THE LORD TO RETURN? Because it is only as we bear the fruit of the Spirit that the lost world can "...taste and see that the Lord is good...." Psalm 34:8.
Illus: All of us, at one time or other, have bitten into some kind of fruit and as soon as we bit into it we knew if it was good or not. It is said that there is only one thing worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm; that is, biting into an apple and finding only half of a worm...
It doesn't take long for a lost person to size up a Christian as being "Grade 'A'" or just a hypocrite. The sinner knows if your testimony is "rotten."
HOW CAN WE SHOW SINNERS THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD? By letting them see the fruit, listed in Galatians 5:22-23 - "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance..." If they can see these things in our lives they will be able to get a "taste" of the goodness of God.
We must be careful not to "put the fruit of the Spirit on a shelf," and allow our testimonies to "sour" before the lost world that is looking up to us!
Illus: We all know of a few Christians, who seem to have been truly saved, but who, over the years, changed. They did not change for the better, but rather for the worse and now, when lost people look at them, they see an expression as if those Christians had just bitten into a rotten sour lemon.
Senior citizens may have a problem with this more than the young Christians. Perhaps they have been through a lot of HARD TIMES and DISAPPOINTMENTS and instead of letting those things mellow them, they became complainers and sinners see that they have a "sour" spirit instead of being filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit!
Look at the list of the NINE fruits that God wants us to develop in our lives as we OCCUPY TILL HE COMES FOR US:
-LOVE
-JOY
-PEACE
-LONGSUFFERING
-GENTLENESS
-GOODNESS
-FAITH
-MEEKNESS
-TEMPERANCE
When we possess all these fruits in our lives, sinners will see something they desire. When we possess all nine of the fruits of the Spirit we have a life that EVERYONE on this earth desires to have. These are WAYS we "occupy" till Christ returns. Now...
II. LOOK AT WHY
THE GREATEST WORDS that could be said to any human were the words that lord said to the servants who were faithful in doing his wishes - Matt. 25:23, "...Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
It does not matter what you and I do, all the sacrifice will be worth it to hear the Lord say those words to those of us who have "occupied" until He came.
THE MOST HORRIBLE WORDS that could be said to any human were the words he said to the servant who wasted his talent.
Listen to these horrifying words, "...Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Someone is asking, "Preacher, is this parable teaching salvation by works?" No! It is saying what the book of James teaches.
In James 2:17-19 we read, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
-We live in a world today where people want a CONVENIENT RELIGION that does not require anything of them.
-We live in a world where people want to grab HEAVEN with one hand and HELL with the other.
The Bible makes it clear that IF WE ARE SAVED BY GOD'S MARVELOUS GRACE, our lives will reflect it. We recognize that the greatest thing that ever happened to us was being saved and we want to tell our FAMILY and FRIENDS about God's love. We want everyone to know how He had compassion on us. We understand that this is OUR OCCUPATION THAT GOD HAS LEFT US HERE ON EARTH TO DO and this is what God will REWARD us for!.
Conclusion:
The Lord said, "Occupy till I come." Notice, in conclusion, that the Bible states that even the devil has faith. James 2:19, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
You see, those who have a profession that BELIEVE, but have not WORKS to support their belief, they have about as much religion as the devil has, and the devil certainly is not going to heaven, and there is a good chance that many who claim they are saved will not go to heaven either.
The truly "born-again" need to recognize that our OCCUPATION is SERVING THE LORD!
Illus: Suppose you were getting ready to go to work and company drove up - would you stay home, or would you tell them that you have to go because you only have a few minutes to get to your job? Most responsible people would excuse themselves to go to work because they consider their job to be their "occupation." Then why do we stay home when company comes if we are to be at church? We say that it is bad manners to leave them. No, it is bad manners for them to show up just when it is time for you to leave for church.
The people around us need to recognize that our OCCUPATION is serving the Lord! We may have a regular job to earn a living, but our OCCUPATION is SERVING THE LORD!
The Lord Jesus would not allow the demon possessed man to follow Him, but told him to, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." In other words, He says to us, "...occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13)
I. LOOK AT WAYS
A. We need to be faithful
B. We need to be fruitful
II. LOOK AT WHY
