The King Returns

I’ve begun to suffer already.
It is the titles of my messages. It’s usually I’ll throw something
in there and if I can refine it over time, that’s usually
the last thing that I get to, if at all. And most of them will
carry, you know, I mean, usually I put something bland in there.
But today, for this message, I really had a purpose and I
was trying to craft this double entendre with the word returns. And what I intended to convey
by that, and I thought about saying the return of the king
or the returns of the returning king, that’s essentially what
I intended to convey was that as the king returns, he brings
with him. Remuneration or payment or in
some cases, even retribution, so Depending on the degree to
which you are offended by my title or find it to be completely
inadequate. Now, you know how more accurately
to pray for me. If you would, I want to look
at this passage today, which has, in a sense, a parable. It is a parable. It has, in a
sense, a parallel in the Gospel of Matthew. You know it as the
parable of the talents and I know that I’ve read the passage a
number of times, but my presumption in coming into the Gospel of
Luke and in beginning to study this passage was that these parables
were parallel, that they were identical in nature and purpose
and even in verbiage. And the more I studied it, the
more I found out that that isn’t the case. The parables aren’t
identical. The details are quite dissimilar. In fact, even the setting is
different. The context, if you will, is different. The purpose
that Jesus told the story is relatively different in places.
The parable, as it was uttered in Matthew, was uttered at a
different occasion and the purpose of illustrating a different point.
And so it shouldn’t surprise us that just as Jesus words and
several other occasions were used in various ways and various
contexts, The same is the case today with what we might judge
as the parable of the talents. I don’t know how many of you
have those Bibles that have the titles Remember that the cheating
little comments that I tell you not to use as you’re going through.
One of the things that I advocate, one of the surest ways to get
to know a book of the Bible is to take a Bible, a clean Bible.
And by that, I mean not writeries with study notes and all kinds
of commentary and not not one of these that has the titles
of the paragraphs, because if you can take a book Remember,
if I if I had the time, I’d take you through the book of Titus. We studied the book of Titus
in Sunday school. And I’ll bet you still even after
what has it been a year and a half, almost two years, I’ll bet you
still we could think our way through the book of Titus. And
what I’ve advocated is going in and looking at the paragraph
and coming up with a good, strong paragraph title like a newspaper
headline. Well, for anybody who has that
for the book of Luke, just look at it. And for anybody who has
this one, it’s a very unfortunate paragraph title. And that’s why
I urge time and time again, these paragraph titles are not inspired. Luke, when he sat down to write
his account of Christ’s ministry on earth, did not title this
paragraph. And it’s good. And I can criticize
it because of that, because when it says that this is a parable
of money usage, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Couldn’t
be further from the truth. This isn’t a parable about money.
It’s not a parable about how we spend our money, what we earn. Couldn’t be further from the
truth. If you would, I want to take you to this parable. And
I want to look at it in its entirety. We’ll compare it with the parable
of the talents in Matthew’s gospel, and then we’ll unpack it and
see what the Lord has for us today. Let’s look, beginning
in chapter 19, verse 11. While they were listening to
these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was
near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going
to appear immediately. So he said, a nobleman went to
a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then
return. And he called 10 of his slaves
and gave them 10 minas and said to them, do business with this
until I come back. But his citizens hated him and
sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign
over us. When he returned after receiving
the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given
the money be called to him so that he might know what business
they had done. The first appeared saying, Master,
your mina has made ten minas more. And he said to him, Well
done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very
little thing. You are to be in authority over ten cities. The
second came saying, Your mina, Master, has made five minas. And he said to him also, And
you are to be over five cities. Another came saying, Master,
here is your Mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief, for
I was afraid of you because you are an exacting man. You take
up what you did not lay down and you reap what you did not
sow. He said to him, by your own words,
I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you not know that
I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and
reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money
in the bank? And having come, I would have
collected it with interest.” Then he said to the bystanders,
take away the mina from him and give it to the one who has the
ten minas. And they said to him, Master, he has ten minas already. I tell you, that to everyone
who has, more shall be given. But from the one who does not
have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these
enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring
them here and slay them in my presence.” The context, you know it well
that by way of a brief review, Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. He is going to lay down his life
during the course of his travels. He has been teaching and offering
not only example, but clear instruction about the kingdom. He started
chapter 18 with that great parable on prayer to urge them to prayerfulness,
all in the context of the uncertainties that were around them. Jesus
launched from there. With no doubt a mixed audience
around him into the parable of the Pharisee and the publican,
two kinds of different prayer, misguided prayer, arrogant prayer
could hardly even be called prayer in its analysis. He went on from
there to give the full account of the story of the rich young
ruler who came to him. And ultimately, Jesus said how
hard it is for a rich man to come into the kingdom of heaven.
Before he actually saves the rich man, Zacchaeus, as we’ll
see in just a moment, there is this interlude that is quite
telling. And I want to point out this
particular context. In chapter 18, verse 35, It recounts the blind man sitting
by the side of the road. And remember, Jesus, I believe,
is even as apostles were part of this, didn’t want Jesus to
be bothered. They didn’t want him to be slowed.
I believe that there was even an element of that when Jesus
does go into Zacchaeus his home. That there was some irritation
among the crowd because their whole efforts were being slowed. They’re trying to get to Jerusalem
so that Jesus can assume the throne and so that they can assume
their place in his kingdom. That’s the context. They’re advancing
towards Jerusalem where they think the Messiah is going to
be crowned and the whole kingdom is going to appear. That’s the
context. It’s not the case, though. And
if you look in verse 11, it says, while they were listening to
these things, I think even in the midst of his concluding words
to Zacchaeus, where Zacchaeus, I believe, truly came to Christ. And what a joyful moment that
must have been when Zacchaeus gave away all his money and began
to pursue Christ and him only. What a great moment. And it says
that while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on
to tell a parable. Jesus once again, as ever, sees
the moment. He sees this as an opportunity
to teach, and perhaps there was this unsettledness, this insistence
that they get moving again. Jesus, you know, we’re looking
at our clocks. We’ve got to go. We’re ready
for the messianic kingdom to break forth. Look again, though, at verse
11, while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on
to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem. And you know
what, when I first read that, I thought, you know, that’s one
of the strangest reasons I’ve ever heard in in the Bible for
anything. He told the parable because he
was near Jerusalem. I tried to confound my little
girl this week with some of those little odd sayings that my grandmother
used to say. Is it colder in the mountains
or in the summertime? And on and on my grandmother
would go with those things. And that’s about how I read this.
Jesus told the parable because he was near Jerusalem. And as
I looked, you know, I did the research. He’s about 20 miles
in our measuring system, 20 miles from Jerusalem. And that clarified
it all for me. No, it didn’t. It still didn’t
make sense. Jesus went on to tell a parable
because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom
was going to appear immediately. See, that’s the context. This
is the reason Jesus tells right up front, he gives us the reason
that he is even going to announce these things. Because they’re
getting so close to Jerusalem and the people are so completely
given over to the idea of this messianic takeover that Jesus
says, time out. You better hear this parable. The crowd was bubbly with enthusiasm. The Jesus was going to assume
the throne. The crowd was in this high state
of expectation that now Jesus was proceeding to Jerusalem for
some kind of a political takeover. The messianic kingdom was going
to appear, the word appear there indicates their expectation that
it was going to be revealed in this blast of glory from heaven. And that they were all going
to be part of it. And they were all behind Jesus. And they were
all going to get to enjoy the messianic kingdom with their
new messianic ruler. If you don’t think that’s true,
just think through some of the other gospel accounts. In John
6.15, Jesus at that point was perceiving that they were intending
to come and take him by force to make him their king. They
wanted this earthly king so bad that, you know what, we’ll just
appoint him. We’ll just appoint him and put
him in office and by golly, that will be that. In Mark 10, James
and John were caught up in the moment. James and John, the two
sons of Zebedee, came and said to Jesus, Teacher, we want You
to do for us whatever we ask of You. Which is always a trick
question. And He said to them, what do
you want Me to do for you? They said to him, Grant that we may
sit one on your right, one on your left. You see, even the
apostles were lobbying for position, positions of power and influence
and and responsibility in the new messianic kingdom that they
thought was just 20 miles away. In fact, remember, even after
Jesus was resurrected there in the Luke volume to the book of
Acts, At the beginning of the book of Acts, it says they had
all come together and they were asking him, Lord, is it this
time that you are restoring your kingdom? Disappointment after disappointment,
and now they finally think, all right, now something big is about
to happen. Maybe it’s this. And so it’s
in that context that Jesus tells this parable. Let me take you
to Matthew just briefly, because I want you to understand the
purpose of Matthew’s account and the differences in Matthew’s
account. Matthew, chapter 25, and we’ll
pick it up in verse 14. In Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus
is talking about the shortness of time. He’s talking about the
brief period of time that we have here on this earth as Christians. He’s talking about in terms of
his return, the brevity of time. In fact, Matthew 25, verse 13
says, Be on the alert. You do not know the day or the
hour that Christ is going to return. You do not know when
the Lord is coming back. Let’s pick up Matthew’s account
of the same story used for a different purpose. Verse 14, it’s just
like a man about to go on a journey called his own slaves and entrusted
his possessions to them. Great reminder that anything
that we ever have isn’t really ours in the final analysis, is
it? If we have some gift of ministry,
if we have some talent or skill, if we have some great sum of
money, it’s not ours. We don’t have anything, Paul
said, that we didn’t receive. And he gave to one five talents. And it’s from that word that
we get our modern word talent from. It was an Englishized word
that really originally meant coin. It was a coin. He gave
the man five coins, but in the turn of the phrase, in the King
James Version, they took this word talents And that word has
stuck for some natural or developed skill or giftedness that a person
might have. But what is meant here is some
sum, some gift given. By this man to a slave and to
another, he gave two and to another one. Now, there is one of the
major differences in the parable. Because in our parable, he gave
everybody the same. You see, you can go to this parable
and say, God is sovereign. He gives one this gift and this
and that. And I preached it and it’s true. But in our parable,
that won’t work. God does sovereignly dispense
and measure His gifts, but in our parable, what you get if
you step back is that everybody gets gifts. Just leave it at
that. Everybody gets gifts. Look at
verse 16 of Matthew’s account. Immediately, the one who had
received five talents went and traded with him and gained five
more the same manner. The one who had received to gain
two more, but he would receive the one went away and dug it
in the ground and hid it, hid his master’s money. Different
details, essentially the same story. Jesus may have used this
parable, this sermon on numerous occasions. And we see the master’s return.
And here’s where you get so many parallels with Luke’s gospel.
After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled
accounts with them. And the one who had received
the five came up and brought five more. Likewise, the one
with two came and brought two more. In verse 22, in verse 33,
his master commends him. In verse 24, the one who had
received the one talent. And here comes the guy just like
in our parable. And it closes with essentially
the same conclusion that our parable closes, verse twenty
nine, for to everyone who has shall more be given and to him
who has he shall have an abundance. But from the one who does not
have even what he does have shall be taken away. And so the parables
are comparable, if you want to. I would even call it this. It’s
an illustration and the illustration is similar, but it’s used for
different purposes in different places. In this particular place
here in Matthew, it’s used because of the brevity of the hour. In
the Gospel of Luke, and if you would turn back to the Gospel
of Luke, it’s used for an entirely different purpose. It’s used
for the purpose of saying, you know what, look, if the only
reason you’re on this road today is coming to Jerusalem so that
you can be part of this messianic kingdom that’s going to take
place today. Don’t bother coming. Because true faithfulness is
going to demand faithfulness over time. A true test of faith
is going to be proven out over a long period of time, not just
in an instantaneous, just because you happen to be standing near
me when I’m crowned. Let’s look at Luke’s account.
of this illustration. In verse 12, it records that,
so he, that is Jesus, said, a nobleman went to a distant country to
receive a kingdom for himself and then return. It’s a common
scenario for being promoted to a degree. It still is, don’t
you? Not too many of us ever get jobs where we’re not interviewed,
at least in some fashion. It was done by Caesar. Caesar
typically wanted the subject to come before him, look him
in the eye. If you want to call that an interview,
what have you. Normally, he knew who he was
dealing with, but he wanted to meet him face to face. That’s
exactly what he did with Herod. We have the historical record
of that. We have this historical record
of Archelaus, his son, going before Caesar, being bestowed
the office And subsequently to Antipas, Herod Antipas, same
thing. They received the kingdom of
Judea by going, as it were, to a far country, namely Rome, and
they went into the emperor, into his palace, and they were conferred
this office. In the case of Archelaus, we
have another little detail that Josephus records. And I don’t
believe that Jesus is is using this for the purpose of pointing
them to these earthly rulers. I’ll show you what it’s about
in a moment, but it’s interesting that when Archelaus went to Rome
to have his hered ship, if you will, conferred upon him. A delegation
of Jews, the Jews sent an embassy to the emperor to express their
desire not to have the man reign over them. And so, in a sense,
Jesus is just using a common thing. It would be like me using
an illustration from our previous election. The people all had
this image in their mind and it helped them to grasp the truth
that much better. That this man goes away, he goes
away a man and comes back a king. And as he goes away, others go
with him that don’t want him to come back. It was somewhat of a formality.
It was a symbolic bestowal of authority. What Jesus was telling him, this
crowd, was that he himself, once the suffering was finished, once
the sacrifice on the cross was made, once the resurrection was
accomplished, that he was going to be ascending to his father
in heaven. And that he was going to be apart
from them to a far country for some time. After that mediatorial work was
finished, he was going to be away from them for a while, a
very long while, an undetermined amount of time. But that he would return. And
you can’t read that verse without noting that the man who goes
away and is away for some time comes back as a king, but he
does come back. Christ is coming back. In telling this parable,
Jesus tells them that so far from marching into Jerusalem
and establishing this kingdom right now. In the here and now. Jerusalem is to be essentially
his departure point. So the launching pad. He’s leaving
them to go to his father in heaven and far from this earthly kingdom,
it’s going to be this far distant kingdom. That comes with him
when he arrives a second time, he will return. And when he returns,
he will be bringing gifts with him. He will be bringing remuneration
with him and he will be bringing retribution. The noble man who goes on a journey
is Christ. And he comes back a king. want to take you. Let’s let me
pick up one more thing here in verse 13. In verse 13, it says
in giving Luke’s account of this parable. That he called 10 of
his slaves again, different detail from Matthew’s account, gave
them 10 minutes and said to them, do business with this until I
come back. And in there, we do have a parallel thought. that
in both parables there was an authority who gave to his subjects
something, whether it’s a coin or what have you, some giftedness,
and expected them to utilize it for his good. He expected
them to serve him in the use of these things. And in that
sense, there is a very clear illustration here of the giftedness
that all believers receive. We all have received gifts. Every
believer is to faithfully employ those in the work for the extension
of God’s sovereign dominion on earth until he comes back. You say, well, I’m not sure about
that. I don’t know what my gifts are. I’m not sure. Well, flip
over briefly. I’ll take just a minute. Flip
over to the book of Ephesians. Keep your finger in Luke 19.
Flip over to the book of Ephesians. And in chapter four, we’ve spent
some time on this, but we’ll we’ll take a few minutes. In Ephesians, chapter four, I
just want to pick up in verse seven, the context here is after
three long chapters of heavy doctrine, Paul gets really practical. Really practical in chapter 4,
verse 1. And he starts by dealing with
unity. Preserving the unity. Do you
know what? We don’t create the unity that exists in our churches.
The Holy Spirit creates it. All we do is do our best to hold
it together. To stay out of the way and stay
out of trouble and stay out of strife. Preserving the unity. And then in verse 7, Paul says,
but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure
of Christ’s gift. And in saying so, first and foremost,
he says it’s universal, everyone to each one of us. Every one
of you, regardless of how old you are in the Lord or maybe
how important you think you are in the church, each one of us
has been given a measure of Christ’s gift. And it’s not only universal,
it’s undeserved. It’s always grace. When God looked
at you, he didn’t say, oh, there’s a talented one. He certainly
didn’t look at me and say, oh, there’s a public speaker. I’ll
choose him. That’s not how God operates. And it always makes
my skin crawl when I hear somebody say of an unbeliever, oh, boy,
God, oh, God would do well to have him on his team. Sure wish
God would save him. Wouldn’t he be an important addition
to God’s kingdom? It’s always undeserved. We’ve
got nothing to bring to the table. Nothing. It’s unnatural. To each one, grace was given. It’s God given. And it always
this is another thing that makes my skin crawl. I spend a lot
of time with crawling skin whenever I hear somebody talk about a
natural talent as being God given. There’s no doubt that God’s given
you your legs and he’s given you your eyes and he’s given
you all these things and he’s given you opportunity. That’s
no doubt true. But are we going to suggest that
that is a spiritual gift? Is that how God has gifted you
for the service of the church? Performing some natural talent. And finally, They’re unequal. They’re universal. They’re undeserved.
They’re unnatural and they’re unequal. What do I mean by that? They’re measured. They come in
various amounts, various gifts, in various measure to various
people. We can’t all receive the same
gift package, if you will, and we don’t all have the same expectations. One pastor said it this way,
the gift is measured and while each individual receives, he
receives according to the will of the sovereign distributor.
It’s God. God determines who gets what.
You can’t work your way into a gift. You can’t study long
enough to acquire the gift. You just serve, you serve how
God has equipped you to serve. He goes on and says, and whether
the measure be great or small, whether its contents be of more
brilliant endowment or humbler and unnoticed talent is all equally
Christ’s gift. Did you hear the beauty of that
statement? It means that no matter how God
has gifted you. You might look at it and say,
yes, but nobody notices or what I do doesn’t seem to to really
bring God that much glory or that much notice. It is all equal in God’s eyes. It’s as precious to him as any
public and magnanimous gift that somebody else may have. All is equally indispensable
to the union and edification of the body where there is no
division. The law of the church is essential
unity in the midst of circumstantial variety. Did you hear the beauty
of that statement? That is the church, these multi
gifted, diverse people all fitting together. And if you read through
the end of that, everybody doing according to each individual
part and without it, the church doesn’t function. It doesn’t
function. The passage goes on, if you look
at verse eight, where it says, therefore, when he ascended on
high, he led captive a host of captives and he gave gifts to
men. I mean, is there any argument
Can there really be any argument to the fact that God, in saving
you when He saved you, gave you a gift package? I mean, it’s an amazing thing that
God, who doesn’t need anything, would choose to equip us to serve
Him for the extension of His kingdom here on earth, if we
would only serve, if we would only exercise those gifts. Back to Luke’s account, if you
would. The bottom line is here, he said,
do business. And there is that element of
this message that is in harmony in both passages. It does cross
over. It’s there in both passages that
we are to do business. If God has equipped you with
a gift, you are to serve Him. You are to exercise faithfulness. One pastor said it this way,
the servants must do business. They must conduct themselves
in such a manner that through their word and examples, sinners
are brought to the Lord. Believers are strengthened in
the faith. They themselves must grow in
every Christian virtue and the gospel must influence every sphere. God gave you the gifts, but you
have to exercise them. One Puritan exhorted in these
terms, he said, the countless privileges which Christians enjoy
are the minas given to them by Christ. For which they must one
day give an account, did you know that part? To most of us,
it may be feared, have little idea of the extent of our responsibility
to whomever much is given, much is required. Now, let’s pause
for one second, because you say, you know, I’m just I’m just a
Christian. I don’t have much. I haven’t
been to seminary. You know what you have probably
sitting on your lap right now, something that the great majority
of the saints throughout history have not had. You have the word,
you have the word in your language that you can go and study at
any time. What a great gift that is. You
have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. And as I’ve already said,
you have this great gift package. You have the privilege of living
and serving in a free country and proclaiming Christ almost
wherever you go. And so are these people. There was
this group of people to which Jesus bestowed these gifts. This nobleman going to a far
country gave gifts. But there was another group.
Verse 14 has it. His citizens hated him and sent
a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign
over us. And then speaking this, Jesus basically predicted here
that he was going to depart. And he was going to depart with
the knowledge that his own countrymen had rejected his claims. His
claims to be the Messiah. John’s gospel opens up with that.
Remember that poignant phrase, he came to his own and his own
received him not. He came to his own people, he
came to the Jews. In fact, as we’ll see in the crucifixion
accounts, remember in John’s gospel, John chapter 19, they
cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate
said to them, Shall I crucify your king? And they, the chief
priests, answered, We have no king but Caesar. They utterly
rejected Christ. And to each of these, to each
of these, the king has gone away, but the king is bringing back.
The king is coming back with a return for each group. To those
who have been faithful, To those who haven’t, to those who have
rejected him, the king has something for everyone. Let’s see what
it is. And here’s where I polished that
not so polished title, the returns of the returning king. The king
returns, bringing something for everyone. First of all, he brings
returns to the faithful. Returns to the faithful. Look
at verse 15. When he returned after receiving
the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given
the money be called to him so that he might know what business
they had done. Do you know that there will be a moment for each
one of you, each one of you who has claimed the name of Christ?
And been truly saved and received this gift package one day, he’s
going to stand you in front of him and say, OK, how did you
do? What do we say? Do we reach in our pocket and
pull out the gift package that He gave us wrapped in a cloth? Christ is going to come back.
And He’s going to judge the world and He’s going to, in a sense,
judge us. He’s not going to cast judgment
upon us and cast us to hell, but He is going to call us into
an account. An account of every individual
person and how they’ve used the gifts that He’s entrusted to
them. The sad thing is that people don’t usually use the gifts that
the Lord blesses them. I think if we really knew the
extent to which we hide our talents under a rock, that we wrap our
minas up in a cloth, we would be utterly ashamed.
We can’t possibly say that we’ve maximized our efforts for Christ,
can we? Is there any one of us that says,
you know, I’m content, I’m good? Some bring glory to God in the
use of their gifts, some use them well, some use them poorly,
some in one degree, some in another. But every man eventually will
give an account and the amazing thing will be rewarded for how
he used his gifts. Now, if there are statements
that have baffled me on the face of it, even after I study this,
I don’t get it. You mean to tell me that, God, you’re giving me
a gift and depending on how I exercise that, if I exercise that with
faithfulness, you’re going to bless me with some kind of a
reward? That I don’t get. I don’t understand it. But it’s true. It’s true. In fact, I’m going to take you
on a tour Let’s do this. Turn to Psalm
18. This isn’t just a New Testament.
This isn’t something Jesus is inventing. This is God’s way
of dealing with His people. And even if you wanted to use
terms like retribution or payment or repayment or a blessing, God
tends to bless obedience and tends to judge disobedience. Look at Psalm 18, verse 20. The
Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according
to the cleanliness of my hands. He has recompensed me. Look at
Psalm 19, verse 11. Moreover, by them, your precepts,
your servant is warned in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 58, verse 11. Surely, there is a reward for
the righteous. Surely, there is a God who judges
the earth. This is the God that we’re dealing
with. This is the God that Christ is advancing there in that little
parable. This isn’t new doctrine. This isn’t some astounding new
thing. Oh, did you hear what Jesus said?
Now we’re going to get rewarded for our deeds. In fact, it’s
the language of the Proverbs. I’m going to sail through this,
so just park for a minute. Proverbs 11, 18, the wicked earns deceptive
wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward. Proverbs 11, if the righteous
will be rewarded in the earth and he takes it as axiomatic,
if the righteous will be rewarded in the earth, how much more the
wicked and the sinner? Proverbs 11, 13, 13. The one who despises
the Word will be in debt to it, but the one who fears the commandment
will be rewarded. Jesus wasn’t saying anything
new, and the prophets advanced the same thing. Isaiah 40, Behold,
the Lord will come with might with His ruling arm before Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him. This shouldn’t surprise us that
this God that we serve, and you know what? It’s cover to cover.
It’s cover to cover. Revelation 22. Behold, I am coming
quickly. My reward is with me to render
to every man according to what he has done. Don’t be surprised. Don’t be surprised at Christ’s
words. The first appeared there in Luke chapter 19, verse 16,
saying, Master, your Mina has made 10 minas more. And Jesus
rewarded him. There, the master began to reward
this slave. But look at his attitude. And
shouldn’t it be our attitude? The servant speaks so modestly
of himself that it isn’t even what he had done. It’s what the
Lord’s gifts had done. Your Mina has made ten Minas
more. Any good work is a work from
grace. They’re performed freely. That’s true. But even that is
by God’s grace. Verse 17, He said to him, Well
done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very
little thing. You are in authority over ten cities. And here is
where people made way too much of this. We don’t even know.
All he’s saying is that with varying levels of faithfulness
is going to come varying levels of reward. The second came, your
Mena master has made five Minas. And he said to him also, you
are to be over five cities. In both cases, the servants receive
the reward. And you know what? It’s not. And I believe this
is how heaven’s going to be. You ask me what is the reward?
I don’t know, but I can guarantee it’s not money. It’s not money. It may be some position of responsibility. It may be some challenge before
us. You know what? It’s not going to be a pile of
money that just allows us to sit back and hedonistically enjoy
whatever heaven is. In this case, it’s a wider sphere
of activity. It’s more responsibility. What better way of honoring God
and to be rewarded by Him, to be given greater privilege to
serve Him? Isn’t that true? To serve God. The king returns bringing something
for everyone, not only returns for the faithful, but returns
for the fickle. Look at verse 20. Another king, and this is
our wrap it up in a towel. Servant, another came saying,
Master, here’s your mean. I kept it put away in a handkerchief.
I was afraid of you because you are an exacting man. You take
up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.
And this is the typical response. This isn’t the typical response
of the churchman. This is a response of a person
who claims to know Christ, but finds him to be kind of a cruel
God. I don’t like all of his rules. I don’t like the fact that, you
know, I hear this all the time. I don’t go to a church. Oh, OK. You mean where God’s people are,
where God’s word is preached? Where God’s praise is sung, you
mean there? One Puritan said it this way,
the heart of an unconverted man is illustrated here in a striking
manner, like Adam and Eve when they had eaten forbidden fruit.
He is afraid of his master in heaven and does not love him
like the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness. He finds fault
with God’s providences and dealings and charges him with hardness
and injustice. Beware of your heart when you
begin to judge God as being unfair to you. Beware. The master said to him, by your
own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. How it is
that people concluded that this is a Christian is beyond me,
because to me, he’s verifying the fact that the man is not
a saved man. Did you not know that I’m an exacting man, if
that’s really what you thought of me, why didn’t you go to the
bank? Is basically what the man asks him. Why did you not put my money
in the bank? And having come, I would have collected it with
interest. Then he said to the bystanders,
take away the Mina from him, give it to the one who has 10
Minas. And isn’t this a sobering thought, people? The very thought
that we can lose privileges, that we can lose responsibilities,
we know it’s true in the ministry. You know, the principle here,
you remember the principle that is so often said takes money
to make money or the rich get richer. Remember those two sayings?
It’s essentially the principle that Jesus gives here. Just like
wealth brings about more wealth or at least the opportunity to
make more wealth. So also it is with. The service
of Christ. The good man possesses the richest
means, rather, of still greater goodness, one said, and vice
accumulates self-depraving force in measure. It means basically,
which direction are you headed? Are you serving Christ and headed
towards more service? Or are you being indolent and
lazy in the use of your giftedness and therefore drawing nearer
and nearer to sin and sinfulness? The bottom line here is that
to neglect opportunities is to lose them, to sacrifice them,
it’s to squander them. And yet to make the most of opportunities
is to earn more opportunity. What a great way of serving God. The main lesson of this whole
parable is that the whole period of Christ’s absence is an opportunity
to serve him and to serve him abundantly. And whoever makes full use of
those opportunities and faithful in those will always receive
those greater opportunities as well as some kind of a reward
in eternity. What a gracious and merciful
God that we have. But I said that the king returns
bringing something for everyone, not only returns for the faithful,
returns for the fickle, but returns even for his foes. God is not
going to be mocked. God is not going to be held at
bay by those who don’t want him to serve. This man that went
away as a noble man and came back as a king, he came back.
He wasn’t going to stay away just because some delegation
of people didn’t want him. And Christ, just because he was
chased and harassed and ultimately persecuted and crucified, wasn’t
going to stay away. He’s not going to stay away just
because there are countless scores of people who still don’t want
him. He’s coming back. Look at verse 27. And he’s coming
back and he’s not empty handed for them either. But for these
enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring
them here and slay them in my presence. Now, those are tough
words. Those are graphic, harsh, difficult words. But they’re
just as true as those words that talk about reward and blessing
for faithful service of him. Even though God spares people
for a long, long time. While Jesus is in the far country,
he’s coming back and he’s coming back as a king and he’s coming
back and he’s not empty handed. And those who rejected him in
the day of judgment are going to receive a certain and final
ruin as their portion. Remember, in our study of the
book of Kings. The striking thing to me there was that every time
there was a coup, if you will, every time there was a change
of power, there was a house cleaning, wasn’t there? Remember? sons
were killed, cousins, nephews, everybody was purged out of the
kingdom. Anybody remotely related to the previous king, his sergeants,
his generals. One said it this way, vengeance
upon enemies of the opposite party was in the ancient times
the most terrible kind. Boy, did we learn that. When
some banished prince or political leader was restored to power.
I mean, can you imagine today if they let Saddam out of prison
and said, hey, you know what? We made a mistake. You’re king.
Go ahead. You know, have a good day. Can you imagine? Can you
imagine the house cleaning that he would do in his land? Silla, the Roman dictator, when
he was returned to power, ordered a general massacre upon his return. He just said, wipe out everybody. sparing women and children only. In more modern times, we’ve seen
oftentimes these kinds of things result in these executions and
retributions. But you know what? That’s nothing.
It’s nothing compared to divine justice, because divine justice
is going to be given justly. And it’s far more terrible than
any human vengeance. Essentially, what Christ says
is that a fatal end awaits anyone who refuses to acknowledge and
obey the Lord Jesus. This is what He forecasts on
His way to Jerusalem. Not some popular movements. Not some takeover where people
were all going to be part of a smiling kingdom. Jesus says
He’s going away for a long time. But he’s going to return and
when he returns, he’ll have something for everyone. What does he have
for you? Let’s pray. Gracious God, for those of us
who know you, it’s unfathomable that You would one day seek to
reward us merely for exercising the gifts that You have bestowed
upon us. But Your Word says it. And Lord, because we love You
and because we do desire to serve You, not just out of a love of
reward, we seek to serve You all the more faithfully, doing
whatever You’ve called us, knowing that You’ve gifted each believer.
Lord, let us not be found as that faithless and worthless
slave who hid whatever talent he had received, whatever gift
under a rock, wrapped up in a napkin. Help us to serve zealously and
fervently as unto Christ. Father, if there are any in this
room who have yet rejected Christ as their King, We pray that you
would do your divine work on them and draw them to yourself.
Bring them to humble submission. Bring them to faith. For your
glory. It’s in Christ’s name that we
pray. Amen.