Luke chapter 19, beginning at verse 11. As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, Engage in business until I come. 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, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, Lord, your mina has made ten minas more. And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas. And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. Then another came saying, Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own wicked words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? And at my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, take the mina from him and give it to the one who has the 10 minas. And they said to him, Lord, he has 10 minas. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me." So ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing. Dear Lord, even as the disciples at the beginning of this section are somewhat mistaken in their understanding of the kingdom, Lord, we come before you as disciples also needing correction, needing teaching, needing guidance. Lord, would you do this for us through your word and by your Holy Spirit. Give us ears to hear that we might hear and receive your word for us this afternoon. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, have you ever noticed how sometimes some people act very differently when the person who's in charge is out of the room or absent? Think about a workplace where the boss leaves for vacation for a week. Some employees will stay very diligent, knowing that they're accountable, while others will take it as an opportunity to slack off or maybe extend their lunch break by a couple of hours. Or maybe consider the home where mom and dad step out for a little while. Maybe even mom is out gardening and the kids are inside the house alone. Some kids will follow the rules and they'll keep to what they've been told. Others will test the limits. And maybe some children will outright rebel, acting as if mom and dad is never coming home. Kind of Lord of the Flies situation. Well, this is the idea that Jesus presents to us in our passage today. He speaks of this nobleman who will leave for a time in order to receive his right to rule his kingdom, and then he'll come back. And before he leaves, he entrusts his servants with certain tasks and responsibilities that they're to accomplish. But how will they respond while he's away? Well, as we'll see, some will be very diligent. They'll take his words to heart and they'll work hard in his absence. But others will squander the opportunity, living as if the king is never gonna return. And still others will be outright rebellious, attempting to reject his rule altogether. And through this parable, Jesus is preparing his disciples and us for how we are to live in the interim between his first and second comings, how we're to live until his second coming. Our king has left. He has received all power, all authority over what is his. He is presently ruling from heaven. But what we await is that second coming. His kingdom has come. And it is present to our face, but what we await is that full and final coming of the kingdom in all of its visible glory. What we await is that day when all will bow the knee. But until that day, Christ has given us a calling, he's given us vocations, he's given us responsibilities that we are to undertake. We have work to do as we await his return. And so the parable asks each one of us, how will you live? How are you living as you await the return of King Jesus? Are you undertaking with diligence the responsibilities he's given you, the gifts he's given you, the opportunities? Well, as we walk through this parable today, we'll consider the four groups that Jesus mentions. First, there's the king. Secondly, there's the king's enemies. Third, the king's false servants. And then finally, the king's faithful servants. Well, the first and most important character in this parable is, of course, this nobleman who is about to be made king. It's clear, of course, that Jesus is speaking about himself. At this point in his ministry, the disciples had no difficulty in thinking of Jesus as a king. They had seen his power on full display. I mean, they had witnessed as he commanded wind and wave. They saw him multiply loaves and fish. They saw him cast out demons, heal the blind, heal the lame, raise the dead, heal the sick. What they struggled to accept was not that he was this glorious Messiah that had come. What they struggled to accept was that before he would reign, like a David or like a Solomon, he would first have to suffer. And this is precisely why Jesus told this parable. Luke tells us in verse 11, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. In other words, the disciples know that they're on the cusp of Jerusalem. Even though Jesus has told them so many times, Jerusalem equals suffering for Jesus. The disciples still think that Jerusalem equals glory. We're gonna go into the city, we're gonna be received, we're gonna overthrow the Jewish authorities, we're gonna overthrow the Romans. It'll just be like the reign of David or Solomon, even better. They just imagine this wonderful restoration of Israel's former glory. So even still, they fail to grasp the full picture. that although the kingdom had come in part, it had not come fully, and it would not be present in the way that they expected, not just yet, because before the crown must come the cross. Before the throne must come that place of suffering. And to some extent, albeit in a different way, what Christ is teaching his disciples is that they too, in a sense, will also have their own cross to bear. before they receive their crown of glory on the last day. And so Jesus begins to tell them this parable. He said, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Now this wasn't a very strange concept to his hearers. This would have been quite familiar. In the Roman Empire, local rulers would have to travel to Rome in order to receive their right to rule in their particular province. So they needed this authority from Rome in order to kind of rule as a sub-ruler in some area of the empire. In fact, history records that Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great, traveled to Rome in 4 BC to secure his kingdom. And in fact, his own father, Herod, had done this himself years earlier. And so this was a common occurrence in the empire. And so the point is clear. Like this nobleman, Jesus too must depart before he returns in glory. His kingdom is not an earthly one, and his rule would not be established by political conquest. Instead, as Jesus has told his disciples many times, he must first suffer many things. He will be rejected by men. He will be rejected by the chief priests. He will be crucified on the cross. He will die and be buried ever before he will ascend and then reign in all of his fullness. And so the kingdom, although it had already come in Jesus' ministry, that full invisible reign of Christ will only be fully realized when he returns on the last day. This is the time that we live in. We live. in this in-between time, the time while the noble has left to receive his authority, and he has received that authority, and now we're waiting for him to return, as it were. We live in a time that Jesus, in a previous passage, described as a time of longing and desire. Remember when he said, you will desire, you will long to see the day of the Son of Man, but you won't see it, not yet. We will long for that day when Christ will return, when justice will be seen, when every knee will bow. But until then, we wait with eagerness. Next, Jesus instructs us how we are to conduct ourselves as we await his return. Before leaving, the nobleman entrusts his servants with a task. Verse 13, calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minus and said to them, engage in business until I come. Now a mina was worth about four months wages. So not a ginormous amount of money, but also not an insignificant amount either. And this was given for a purpose. It wasn't given for the servant's own personal use. It was given to them as a responsibility. They were to invest this money. They were to use it in order to grow it on the king's behalf. Again, this is where we find ourselves. Christ has ascended. And while we wait for his return, he has both given us gifts and he's given us tasks to accomplish with those gifts. He's entrusted us with things like the gospel, with spiritual gifts, with earthly resources and opportunities. All are to be used for his glory and for the advancement of his kingdom. And as we'll see, In the parable, when the king returns in glory, he will demand an account from all of the subjects of his land. That's because he has the right to do this, because he is the king. He has all authority over his land and his subjects. That's true of the king in the parable, and the same is true of King Jesus. Now we have mixed feelings about kings and that's because throughout history there have been many evil kings. Sometimes a king will invade another king's land and then take that land and then claim that he's now the rightful king. And so it's a kind of a might makes right kind of thing, whether or not that king has legitimate authority over that land. But not so with King Jesus. King Jesus' rule is a rightful rule because he is the rightful king. His rule is not dependent on human approval, nor is it really subject to challenge. After his resurrection, he declared in Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. This means that our King, Jesus, has the right to the loyalty of all of his servants. Since he is our King, then our lives are not our own. We belong to him. Certainly as our creator and master, we owe him our loyalty, but how much more do we owe him a debt of gratitude and loyalty because this king has purchased us with his own blood. But this king's authority does not stop at the church. He's not merely the king of believers. Jesus is king over all, whether people acknowledge him or not. Every person who has ever lived and who will ever live lives under his rule. Right now we live in a time where many reject that rule. Many people by nature live as though they were the kings of their own lives, as if they were their own sovereigns. But their rebellion will not last forever. The day is coming when the king will return, not in humility, but in power and in judgment, and he will establish his kingdom in all of its fullness. And on that day, he will call every person to account. And so until that day comes, the great question for us is this. How will you live as you wait for the king's return? Well, after introducing the king, Jesus then describes another group, the king's enemies. Their response to his rule is not one of submission or loyalty or respect. one of outright rejection and rebellion. No sooner has the nobleman left on his journey than a group of citizens send a delegation after him. And we read how they hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. Again, this echoes a real historical event. As I mentioned earlier, after the death of Herod the Great, Herod's son, Archelaus, went to Rome in order to receive his authority to rule. But his subjects hated him so much, probably for good reason, that they sent a delegation to Rome behind him to protest and say, no, we do not want this man over us. And when Archelaus returned, he exacted a very harsh judgment on all who opposed him. Now Jesus, of course, is not endorsing tyrants. He's not endorsing the Herods, as we know well from the Gospels. Rather, he's using a real-life event so that his audience, his disciples here, can better understand. But the rejection and the hatred directed against this nobleman points to how Jesus will be hated and rejected by the Jews of his own day. Again, remember Luke told us that the disciples think that as soon as they enter Jerusalem, it's all downhill from there, it's plain sailing. Jesus will be received, he'll be made king. But not so, Jesus warns. And as the Apostle John says, he came to his own, but his own did not receive him. In fact, as we know, his own not only didn't receive him, his own crucified him. The very people who should have welcomed Jesus as their long expected Messiah, their Savior, their King, their Lord, their God, the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the chief priests, they hated him. They did not want him to reign over them. Notice the words of that delegation. We do not want this man to reign over us. What does it sound like? Sounds a lot like what the Jews would say when they called for Jesus' execution. When Pilate asked, shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar. But even today, Jesus is still rejected by those who consider themselves his enemies. There are still those who hate him and try to reject his kingship. The Apostle Peter writes how scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. And they will say, where is the promise of his coming? And we certainly see scoffing at Jesus in our own day, don't we? From so-called academics to Hollywood and the media and how they represent Christ and Christianity and Christians. Turn on any TV show and the Christian is always the fool, the bigot, the hypocrite. You hear Christ mocked in your workplace, maybe even among unbelieving family and friends. But those who mock Christ, those who scoff at his coming, those who rebel against the king make a fatal, fatal mistake. They assume the king will never return. Well, that's just a myth. That's what you tell children to make them obey, or that's what my granny believes. He's not coming again. No, the king is coming again. That isn't myth. It's fact. It's reality. It's not wishful thinking. The king will return. And notice how the parable does not end with the rejection of the king. It ends with the king's reckoning. In verse 27, the nobleman, now king, having returned with all power and might and authority, pronounces judgment upon his enemies. We read in verse 27, but as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. This is not an overreaction, this is justice. The king's enemies rebelled against his rightful rule and now they face their consequences. This, of course, points to a very sobering reality, that of the final judgment. When Jesus returns, every rebel against his rule will face this same perfect righteous judgment. The Apostle Paul describes how the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Jesus himself in Revelation 22, 12 says, behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay everyone for what he has done. This is a sobering and terrifying reality. The day will come when there will be no more room for resistance. No one will be able to hold up a sign saying, not my king. No, Jesus is the king, whether you acknowledge him or not. And he is coming, whether you believe it or not. Dear friend, this is a question of eternal significance. Where do you stand with King Jesus? Are you among those who bow before him now in joyful submission? Or are you among those who resist his rule now, assuming that you can live your life apart from him, being your own God, your own sovereign? The news for you is that he is coming again to bring justice and judgment. But the good news is that this king is also a merciful savior. Right now, between this time of his first coming and his second coming, is a time of mercy and grace. That door of mercy is still open. Christ is patient. Christ calls sinners to repentance. Now is the time when bloodthirsty rebels who resist his will can be converted and saved and be shown mercy if they but come to him and plead for that mercy. But this window of grace will not remain open forever. The day will come when mercy gives way to judgment. And on that day, there will be no more opportunity to surrender. Dear friend, do not wait until it is too late. Bow to the king today, for he is coming to judge his enemies. There's the king's enemies. The next category we'll consider is that of the king's false servants. These false servants are people who outwardly claim to follow the king, but in reality, they demonstrate that they don't even truly know the king or serve him. When the nobleman returns, he calls his servants to give an account of what they have done with what was entrusted to them. Some of them have been faithful and diligent in what they were given, but one servant stands out. He says in verse 20, Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. So unlike the other servants that we'll consider in a moment, this individual did nothing. He didn't even attempt to invest his money. But rather than admitting his negligence, he shifts the blame onto the king. It's really the king's fault, you see. He says, for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow. So rather than confessing his failure, his faithlessness, he makes an accusation against the king. Well, it's the king's fault. The king is harsh, the king is unjust, the king is severe. As we'll see, the accusation is not only false, but it also reveals this servant's complete lack of understanding of the king's character. Well, the king responds with severe judgment. He says, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. In other words, this false servant will be treated in the same way as his enemies were treated. If the servant truly believed the king was severe, well then he would have at least deposited the money in a bank to earn interest. But he did not, proving that his excuse was a lie. And so his failure, was not due to fear of the king's character, but it was due to his own faithlessness. Faithlessness. You know, it wasn't as if the servant tried his hardest, but he just couldn't turn a profit, or it wasn't that he tried his hardest and he only made a very little bit, and the king is just this harsh taskmaster. No, it's neither of those things. It's not simply that he didn't do enough, it's that he didn't do anything, proving that he wasn't truly a servant. And then the king takes his minun and gives it to the other faithful servants, saying, I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As we consider this false servant, what's really at the root of his facelessness, of his failure? I think we can say that it's that he never truly knew the king. He never truly knew the king. If he truly understood the king's character, he would have used his minor wisely. Instead, this servant sees the king as harsh and unjust, rather than as the kind and benevolent ruler that he is. And this false servant represents all who claim to belong to Christ, but whose hearts are far from him and who really don't know him. These individuals are not openly hostile to the king like the earlier category, the first group. These individuals may even bear the title of servant, but by their thoughts, their words, their actions, they reveal that they really don't know the king at all. Now this is a hard truth. It's something that we often struggle to understand how it is that False believers or hypocrites can exist within the church. But scripture warns us repeatedly that this will be the case. James warns of self-deceived church leaders whose fruit does not match their message. Paul warns of wolves infiltrating the church. Jude describes false leaders who creep in unnoticed. Peter writes how they will arise secretly. The point is that they will be very hard to discern, but they will be there. Think about it. Even right now, among Jesus' own disciples, there are false servants, who Judas, Judas was one of the 12. Judas was a disciple. He would have prayed publicly. He would have led others in Bible studies. He managed the finances. He was trusted by the disciples. You know, when Jesus warned that he would be betrayed by one of the disciples, it wasn't as if everyone kind of looked out of the corner of their eye to look at Judas. No, nobody expected Judas. Judas had the appearance of being a good, godly man. Judas had done many good things. Think of all of the sacrifices Judas had made to follow Christ. He probably gave up family. He probably gave up prestige to be rejected by others for following Jesus. He had given up the comforts of home to travel like a vagabond all around Israel with Jesus and with the disciples. Judas had made as many sacrifices as the next man. He even bore the title of disciple. And yet through all of that, Christ was never his Lord. Judas had never bowed the knee to Christ. He was a false and wicked servant, and eventually his heart was exposed. This is an uncomfortable truth, but one that we must be prepared for, that not all who call themselves Christians truly belong to Christ. And sadly, it can extend from the person in the pew all the way to the leaders of the church. Now, this parable is not meant to make true believers panic or to doubt our salvation or to doubt the grace of Christ in forgiving our sins if we're truly trusting in him, but it does call us to a number of things. First, I think it calls us to be spiritually prepared to see that happen over and over again. In every church I've been a member of, except for this one so far, I've seen it happen. I'm sure you have too. And it's painful, it's sad, it's a terrible thing to see. And yet scripture warns us that it will be the case. There will be those who profess the name of Christ who show, either through false doctrine or false character, that they do not know Christ, and thus we must be spiritually prepared, as painful as it is to be prepared for those times. But secondly, it calls us to self-examination. We must ask of ourselves, am I merely going through the motions of being a Christian, or am I truly trusting in Christ? Am I simply living as a cultural Christian because it's easy for me, or maybe I was brought up that way, and so it's easy to do. Or do we have hearts that are truly trusting in Christ, that, like the tax collector, are pouring out, not hiding our sins, but pouring our sins out in confession to Christ, trusting in Him alone, receiving from Him all the grace that He offers to sinners like us? Let us bow our knees to Christ. Let us trust in Him alone. Let us have hearts that yearn for His coming. Let us look to his coming, that day when every heart will be exposed. False servants on that day, regardless of position or title, or how they're even viewed by other men, will be revealed for what they are. Such is the fate of false servants. And that brings us to the final category. We've considered the king, the king's enemies, the king's false servants, but now finally we see the king's faithful servants. In verses 16 to 19, the king receives the report of his faithful servants. The first servant comes and says, Lord, your mina has made 10 minas more. Notice how the servant speaks of the minas. He says, your mina has made 10 minas. Even though this servant has been extremely profitable for the king, he doesn't take any credit. He says, your mina, not mine, but yours. All credit, all increase goes to the king. There's no boasting in what he's done. And the king is pleased, and the king commends him. Well done, good servant. Does this sound like a harsh or severe master that the false servant described? No, this king is incredibly generous. Remember that these servants have only done their duty, they've only done what they've been commanded, and yet not only does the king commend them, he also rewards them. To the first he says, because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities. And to the next servant who made five minas, he says, and you are to be over five cities. These faithful servants could have wasted their minas. They could have done nothing with them like the false servant. They could have squandered them like the prodigal son. But instead, they invested what was entrusted to them in service to their king. They lived in anticipation of his return. They knew he was coming again. They longed for his coming, and they lived for his coming. And so he rewarded them far beyond what they ever deserved. Well, from this we learn a number of things about our relationship to our returning king. This parable teaches us how when Christ returns, he will reward us for our works done in faith. Now to be clear, our works don't earn our salvation. It's not that our works either offset our sins somehow, and it's not even that our works earn our rewards. No, even the rewards we receive, even those are given graciously. because we have a generous and gracious King. And when we think about rewards in heaven, heaven is such a glorious thought, it's hard to think of anything, how could anything be added to heaven to make it better than it already is? The life everlasting of sinlessness and being in God's glorious presence, isn't that reward enough? And yet scripture does teach that there are more rewards, if that can even be imagined. Scripture doesn't go into great specifics and particulars with what these rewards are like, and probably for good reason, we'd probably overly focus on the reward in our service, but it is enough to know that our King rewards our labors for Him done in faith, and that is enough to encourage us to press on in our service to our King. Another truth that we learn from the faithful servants is how we are to live as we await the return of our King. Jesus is calling us to faithfulness. It's not so much the greatness of his servants that he commends, but it's their faithfulness. As we await Christ's return, we are called to be faithful in whatever our calling is, in whatever station of life we're in. Sometimes we can feel as though, well, if I had a more important station in life, well, then I'd do these things or I'd be faithful in those things. If I was the boss at my workplace, if I was the pastor in the church, or if I had this position or that position, well then I'd be faithful in what I'm doing. The reality is that all of us, in whatever station and position of life we're in, are called to be faithful. And we've all been given a responsibility. All of us are called to faithfully serve our king. And so the question is, are we? We're to be faithful with our possessions. This is a recurring theme in the Gospel of Luke. As you await the return of Christ, are you being faithful with the use of your possessions? Do you squander them like the prodigal son? Do you love them like the rich ruler? Do you cling to them like Lot's wife? Do you use them to justify yourself like the Pharisees? are, do you acknowledge that you are just a steward and a servant, and however much you've been given, or however little you've been given, you've been given it by Christ, and you are a steward of his good gifts. But it's not just money, this extends to our time, our talents, our relationships. How are we stewarding those limited and finite resources? And of course, this call to faithfulness goes beyond the physical and temporal stuff of this life, because even unbelievers can steward their time and money well to a degree. But how much more precious are the spiritual things that we've been given? We've been entrusted with, as a church, with the word and sacraments. As members of this body, we've been entrusted to one another. As members of this church, we've in fact covenanted together before the Lord. If you ever forget what's in our church covenant, you can go and read it. And if you've lost the document, email me and I'll send it to you. We've covenanted, we've pledged ourselves to the Lord and to one another to love one another, to pray for one another. And so many other things. If you don't feel like you have a calling or a gifting, or you're wondering, what's my calling? What's my gifting? At the very least, it's the church covenant. And there's enough in there to keep all of us very busy. And as your pastor, it brings me such joy to see your faithfulness, your service, your love for one another, and a love that certainly extends even beyond the bounds of this local body. So let us press into these things all the more. And as we are faithful to what Christ has called us to, he will reward, and he will increase the minus. We're simply called to be faithful with what we have been given. He will bring the increase, and he will reward. faithful service. And so let us serve our King faithfully, knowing that he is not unfair, but he is just. He is not a harsh taskmaster. He is a gracious King who lavishes mercy and reward upon his people. He gives us far beyond what we could ever deserve. Let us live and labor not for human praise, human approval, human thinking, but for the good pleasure of our King. May we live each day in expectation of his return, ready to give an account and longing to hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, just as you called us into this new life of faith, just as you gave us spiritual birth, we thank you that you promised to preserve us through this life and to see us into glory. So Lord, help us, cause us to persevere faithfully each step of this journey as we travel as pilgrims along the way. Keep us faithful for your glory that we might hear those glorious words, well done, good and faithful servant. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.