TEXT: Luke 19:11-27

SUBJECT: Luke #73: What to Do Till Christ Comes

Jesus Christ is coming again!

On this doctrine, the people of God have always agreed. We have often differed on some of the details of His Coming, but on the Coming itself, we speak with one voice. In the words of the Nicene Creed:

Notice how dogmatic the framers were: there’s no hint of uncertainty or hesitation. Nothing like, in our opinion, or we think, or at the moment it seems to us, can be found in the Creed. The Early Church took the Second Coming of Christ as a matter of fact, not of opinion or speculation.

They were right. The Second Coming of Christ is a matter of fact. The Bible says so in many places and today’s story assumes it.

The Teller of our story is the Lord Jesus Christ. This means the story is true and that it can be understood if we read it carefully, with faith, and a desire to act on it insofar as it tells us how to live.

The Time He told it was just a few days before His death. This underlines the importance of listening carefully. For if the Lord knew He was about to die, He would be at pains to make His every word count. If He was never guilty of idle chatter, how much more discreetly would He choose His words in the shadow of the cross?

The People who first heard the story were His followers who thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. It’s easy to fault them for their mistake, but you mustn’t do that: it was an innocent one. They themselves had heard John the Baptist calling for repentance because The Kingdom of heaven is at hand! The Lord Himself began His public career with the same message. His compassion and teaching indicated the King had come and His every work of power and grace confirmed it.

In a sense, the Kingdom was near. But it wasn’t the Kingdom they were looking for. In the coming of Christ, they rightly foresaw a Kingdom of perfect love, joy, and holiness.

But what they didn’t expect was that the Kingdom of God would come in two stages.

The first stage had occurred and was occurring at the moment. But the second stage—that kingdom of perfect justice and peace was still a ways off—a long ways off! Nearly two thousand years have already passed and perhaps billions more are to pass. This we don’t know and we cannot speculate on it wisely or safely.

The goal of our story is to tell these people what to do between the two stages. In other words, it teaches us how to live until Christ comes again.

The form of the story is a parable. Some of the parables are not easy to interpret, but this one is. We may differ on a detail or two, but the big idea cannot be missed.

The parable is about a king, his court, and the citizens who didn’t like their ruler.

The king is called away from home to take possession of another kingdom—which he may have inherited, or married into, or won in battle.

Just before leaving, he calls for ten servants and gives each of them some money to invest for him in his absence. The amount is one mina each or something like $40,000. Off he goes.

When he gets a safe distance from his home, a delegation comes out to meet him. He knows the men; they’re his citizens and they’re none too happy with their king. In fact, they say he’s no king at all, that we

The king might have had them killed on the spot for their insolence, but he’s got other things on his mind. He’ll take care of them when he gets home. He’s gone for a long, long time.

But then he comes home. He’s a man who cares more for his money than for his Royal Dignity, and so, the first thing he does is call for the ten servants to see what they’ve done with his money and what profit he has gotten out of it.

The first man has turned his $40,000 into $400,000! The king is very pleased with him, and as a reward for his wisdom and hard work he makes him the governor of ten cities!

The second man wasn’t quite as shrewd as the first, but he too, has turned a good profit: his $40,000 has become $200,000. The king is pleased with him, too, and makes him lord of five cities.

The third servant comes to the king and he doesn’t look very confident. You see, he has not invested the king’s money and—though he hasn’t stolen it or wasted it—he also hasn’t done anything with it.

The king is not satisfied with that man’s investment strategy! If he had wanted one mina when he got back, he could have put it in his shoe! No, he commanded the servants to do business with his money—to invest it—so he would have a good return on it.

The servant said he was too scared to risk the Royal money, but the king said he should have overcome his fear and obeyed his lord and master. (Matthew adds the word, lazy, to the indictment).

The money was taken away from the good-for-nothing servant and given to the first servant who would know what to do with the king’s money!

Another servant was surprised by the king’s command and reminded him that the first servant was already well paid for his work. The king knew that, of course, and replied:

In other words, if he can be trusted with ten minas he can also be trusted with eleven minas. And, if a man cannot be trusted with even one mina, let him have none at all!

So much for the Ministry of Finance.

But, wait a minute: remember the proud rebels who wanted no part of this man’s rule? The king hasn’t forgotten them. He has them arrested and brought to him in chains. Then he gives the order: hang them all! The order is obeyed and the king has had his revenge on his enemies.

That’s the story. It speaks to two kinds of people.

It speaks briefly to people who don’t want their rightful king to rule them. Their King is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not only the king of the church, but He’s the King of everyone—of every man, woman, child, angel, and demon.

Some do not like His rule and will not submit to it. For a time they get away with it—they think! But they are as wrong as they can be. Jesus Christ knows what they are doing and the true reasons they are doing it. Now, like the king in our story, He’s far away from His kingdom (it seems) and His rule is not obvious.

But one day He’s coming back to set things right and to mete out the punishment His enemies should fear—but don’t!

Some of His enemies are bold and loudly say: "We will not have this Man rule over us". Others are a bit more reverent (or at least more quiet). They don’t scream and stomp and shake their fists at Christ. No, the just quietly ignore Him. His rules are for someone else; His gospel may be true, but not for me; His judgment may come some day way off in the future, but I’ve got plenty of time.

The Lord is coming to square things up with these people. Are you one of them? I know you’re not a loud-mouthed blasphemer, but are you His enemy? Quiet, somewhat respectful, but still, His enemy?

If you are, the Day of Judgment is coming for you: maybe this afternoon, maybe a thousand years from now, but the timing doesn’t matter: what matters is the Day of Judgment is coming for you!

On that Day, you will be turned out of God’s Kingdom and assigned to the company you’ve always preferred:

What an appalling thing it is to be an enemy of the King! Especially when the King’s power and justice and wrath are infinite! And even more so when the King offers you His friendship!

As important as this is, however, this is not the main meaning of the parable. Chiefly, it is addressed to people who want the Kingdom of God to come. It is meant for disciples of Christ.

What does it say to us?

It says we have gifts from Christ and we are responsible for how we use them.

What are your gifts? When I was a boy, my church held a Spiritual Gifts Seminar. By signing up (and paying the fee) you could find out what your gifts were and how to use them. At the time, I thought it was all very exciting, but now I see it was nothing but a wasted Saturday and money thrown away on nothing.

No seminar or survey or crystal ball is needed to determine your spiritual gifts. What is a gift? On the most basic level, a gift is something given. What have you been given? The Bible says…everything! (cf. I Corinthians 4:7, James 1:17).

This means whatever you have is your gift. Can you preach? That’s a gift. Can you cook? That’s a gift. Do you have some spare time? That’s a gift. And so is spare money. Can you change a diaper? That’s a gift and so is writing and painting and fixing a car, singing, making a phone call to cheer up a sad believer, and anything else you have or can do.

Jesus Christ has given you these gifts. They are like the minas in our story. And He wants you to wrap them up in a napkin, and keep them safe and secure in the attic. Right? Wrong! He wants you to put them to good use.

The gift of cooking, for example, can be put to use in: (1) making you fat, or (2) helping moms who are so tired they can’t make a good meal for their families. Which is the better use? The gift of money can be used to: (1) buy things you’ll get rid of at your next garage sale, or (2) help people whose electricity is about to be turned off. Which is a better thing to spend your money on? The gift of time can be spent: (1) vegging out in front of the TV, or (2) serving Christ and His people.

Can’t you see this is what the story is about? It’s not about rewards in heaven or whether or not unfaithful Christians go to heaven when they die! It’s about stewardship, accountability. It’s about using what the Lord gives you to glorify Him.

When you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in all His Royal Splendor, you’ll wish that you had been a good servant. You’ll wish then that you had been like that first man who got ten minas for one or even the other man who got five minas for the one he received. What you don’t want to be is like the other man who kept the mina safe, clean, and…unused!

So put your talents to work for Christ. And see if He doesn’t use them in ways you never dreamed of!

I need to say one last thing. It’s not directly in the story, but it can be justly implied from the story. If the Lord wants all His servants to maximize their gifts, we as a church ought to encourage the use of gifts and not suppress them.

Why would a church want to suppress the gifts of its members? That’s easy to explain: if gifts are used, mistakes will be made! And we don’t want that! And so, to avoid mistakes, we make the biggest mistake of all in doing nothing!

John Wooden was the greatest coach in the history of college basketball. He used to tell his players: "The team that makes the most mistakes usually…wins!" Wins? That’s what he said because that team is not afraid! The losing team is afraid and so, will not be bold enough to take the big shot, or make the hard pass or run the risk of fouling out its best player. That’s why it’s the losing team because it plays scared.

Should we be reckless? Of course not: some churches should be warned of that. But our kind of people need motivation on the other side: we need to be bolder than we have been and gentler to people who have messed up by trying hard.

What should you be doing while waiting for Christ to come again? A hundred and fifty years ago, some people sold everything they had, traveled to Jerusalem, and stood on the Mount of Olives waiting for the Lord. As far as I know, they’re still there—but long dead! That’s not what the Lord wants us to do!

A few years ago, a group of people dug a bunker in Waco, Texas, because their Teacher told them the Lord was on His way. In fact, it was the Federal Government that came and killed these people.

Now a man is telling you to leave your church because the Lord is at hand. He, too, will be proven wrong with time.

For the Lord has no special instructions for living in the Last Days. No, it’s the same ones He has for any other time: 30 A.D, 1066, 1492, 1776, 2003. The year doesn’t matter. What the Lord wants us to do is the same thing He wanted the people way back then to do: "Do business till I come". Be faithful with what He has given us.