The things that may happen in the future will affect us today. When we know that this recession will drag on for a long time, we have to make plans - to keep our jobs, spend less save more… The government will have to find ways to create jobs for the retrenched, bring forward projects to stimulate the economy… Knowing what is before us, we need to make adjustments to our lives and plans.
As children of God, we ought to do the same. What plans do we have for the future? If we know that Jesus will one day return, will that affects us today? Do we need to make changes to the way we live? This is the question we’ll think about this morning.
Jesus was preaching about the Kingdom of God. As Jesus and His followers came near to Jerusalem, "the people thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once." People were saying, "Jesus plans to overthrow Rome!", "He will come and set up the throne of King David!"
There words were spreading around, and Jesus needs to correct these wrong ideas. Yes, He would one day establish His Kingdom, but not now and not in this manner. And so He told them this parable.
A man of noble birth - a prince - went to a distant country. He was to be appointed as King over that land. Before he leaves, he gave each of His 10 servants 10 minas (a varying unit of weight or money used in ancient Greece and Asia). He said, "Put this money to work until I come back." (v.13).
Luke 19:13 … and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (KJV)
Busy doing something with it UNTIL I come.
(1)preoccupied with it… (2)keep doing it UNTIL I come…
An equal assignment, because all of them were given the same amount. Jesus was explaining to His listeners, that when He himself leaves (at the ascension), He will be giving all His servants a responsibility. The same task will be given to all who follows Him. This refers quite clearly to the Great Commission.
At His departure, Jesus spoke to His disciples:
Matt 28:18-20 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
2 Cor 5:18-20
18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
The nobleman says, "Put the 10 pounds to work…" but he did not restrict them in the manner in which they are going to invest. They are free to do it in different ways. As the story continues, we read that one servant gained 10 pounds more, while another one only 5. Both had 1 pound at the beginning but they earned different amount. While the third servant did not do anything.
The nobleman said, "Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’" (Luke 19:23). The servant could have done the simplest, most easy thing -just deposit it in the bank. At least we can gain some interest.
Notice, the nobleman was not expecting great gain from every one of the servants. He was not demanding 10 pounds gain from everyone of them. In fact, his focus was whether the servants did something with the money. As long as you do something - even the simplest and most easy thing - whether it’s 10pounds or 5pounds gain, I’m happy and you’ll be rewarded.
Today we are living in the time period after Jesus’ ascension and before His return. And He has given us a job to do - share the Gospel. We are all given 10pounds - we are being entrusted with the Gospel. Jesus wants us to do our job faithfully, just as the first two servants. Be faithful in spreading the Gospel… and keep on doing that UNTIL He comes. If He has not come, then we must go on doing it. In whatever ways - whether big ways or small.
We will not all have the same success. Jesus is not expecting all of us to preach like the great evangelist Billy Graham - we must all bring 1000s of people to Christ. His concern is whether we did what we can. Some of us will bring in 10pounds - like disciple Peter - when he preached 1000s came to accept Christ. Others will be like his brother disciple Andrew - who did a simple thing - when he saw Jesus, the first thing he did was to find his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus (John 1:41-42). Or disciple Philip who found his friend Nathanael and simply said, "Come and see." (John 1:45-46).
Adopt the attitude Paul has - 1 Cor 9:22-23
22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
God will bless you and reward you, just as the first two servants. Notice, no reward had been promised at the beginning. The gifts given to the servants were from the master’s generous heart. God does not have to reward us for serving Him faithfully. We ought to be faithful in serving Him, considering all that He has done for us. Yet the Bible tells us we will receive crowns - crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:8), crown of life (James 1:12), crown of glory (1 Pet 5:4) - God in His grace gives us rewards. We may not all produce the same results, but that is not what God is after… He does ask us to be faithful and do our best.
If you are faithful in using the little God has given you, He will give you more. Because when we are faithful, it proves that we can be trusted with more. David was faithful in taking care of his father’s sheep, so God was able to entrust the nation to his care. Joshua was faithful as Moses’ servant and God made him a leader. Joseph was faithful in all his ways, and God exalted him to the second most powerful man in Egypt. Faithfulness in little things indicates we are trustworthy in great things. It shows our dependability. So if you want to be a great servant of God, look at the little things He has asked you to do today.
The THIRD SERVANT lost all the blessings. He was lazy - he did not do anything. In fact, he was disobedient. He ignored the words given to him. I believe if he had gained only 1 pound, he would have been rewarded too and become ruler of 1 city.
When we look at what he said, we realised that he did not really know his master. He did not love his master, and did not understand his master’s heart. He had no appreciation for what his master had done for him. He was convinced that his master was a mean selfish man who would not reward him anyway. Love and faithfulness go together. The husband and wife who love each other will be faithful to each other.
Jesus says, "15If you love me, you will obey what I command…. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching…" (John 14:15,24)
The THIRD servant was so untrustworthy, therefore what he has was taken from him. And given to the one with ten… who is dependable, willing to use what God has given him. If you are faithful over a few things, God will make you ruler over many things.
Jesus promised in Rev 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." The "Gospel pound" has been in the world for nearly 20 centuries, and still there are millions who have never had an opportunity to hear the message of salvation. Let us be faithful in doing that.
Sometimes we’re give up too soon because we see no fruit. We were told to sow... we may not be able to wait to see the tree grow, or the bearing of fruits... we have to keep sowing. God is working in ways we do not know...
Persian Legend - Pour Water Into Basket
A certain king needed a faithful servant and had to choose between two candidates for the office. He took both at fixed wages and told them to fill a basket with water from a nearby well, saying that he would come in the evening to inspect their work.
After dumping one or two buckets of water into the basket, one of the men said, "What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as we pour the water in, it runs out the sides."
The other answered, "But we have our wages, haven’t we? The use is the master’s business, not ours. He is a wise King, and must have his own purpose that we do not understand."
"I’m not going to do such fool’s work," replied the complainer. Throwing down his bucket, he went away.
The other man continued until he had drained the well. Looking down into it, he saw something shining at the bottom - it was a diamond ring.
"Now I see the use of pouring water into the basket!" he exclaimed. "If the bucket had brought up the ring before the well was dry, it would have been filtered out in the basket. The King was looking for his diamond. Our work was not useless."
The King found his most faithful servant!
Don’t be discouraged. Keep sowing the seed of the Gospel. This is the one task Jesus has given us before He left.
Dear friends, Jesus came for you. Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." We were lost in sin, not knowing the God who made us. Today through Jesus we can come to know God our Father. Jesus came to pay the penalty of our sin so that we can be reconciled with God and return home to heaven. All who believes in Jesus, and accept Him as Saviour, will be saved. For He died on the cross for us, so that we can live eternally with God in heaven. I urge you to take time to study the Bible, and consider Jesus today.
