Ten Mina's
Notes
Transcript
Who here would describe yourself as a person who is good at waiting?
Not where you are just patient but where if you are waiting to are accomplishing things.
Arika is amazing at this, because she is great at waiting.
In fact whenever we go on a long car ride with the kids she gets together activity books, and games for them to play on the the drive.
And she is productive when she waits,
Then their are people like me, where I will be waiting and I might start something, but then I click on Facebook or an article and realize I just wasted an hour staring at my phone.
But you know whenever we are waiting for something, whether it be a ride, maybe its you are waiting to get married or have kids,
Whatever we choose how we wait.
And today we are going to be looking at a passage that talks about how to live as we wait.
And so we are going to be in Luke 19:12-27 and this takes place right after where we were last week.
Because last week Jesus ended up changing the life of this man Zacheus and now these people have seen Jesus work Miricles, they have heard his teaching and they have seen a person that had power and no one could stand turn to Jesus.
And we are told in verse 112 that these people thought that the Kingdom of God would appear at once.
Meaning they thought Jesus was the Messiah and in their minds (even though this was a bad interpretation) they thought Jesus was going to take over the Romans and the Jewish people would be free.
And so they have this on their mind, and then Jesus tells this parable or story.
And He says this (just starting in the first few verses)
12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ 14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ 15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
So what makes this parable really interesting is this parable is believed to be one of the only parables that was actually based off of an actual event
Because in this era there was a ruler named Harod the great and when he passed away, his area that he ruled was split between his three sons
however for them to rule these areas they literally had to travel and receive the kingdoms.
And often times people would try to stop this process.
And so Jesus is telling this story and this just happened with one of Herod the greats sons
I mean it would be like if I started talking about an election a few years back.
We would all go “I know exactly what he’s talking about”
And so He is talking about this and mentions that before he leaves he gave his servants money to invest.
And so now He has come back to see what they have done with what they were given.
And let me just pause here because before anything I have to point out that each one of us is in the in between phase.
We are in this place where Jesus came 2000 years ago where we have been given a taste of the kingdom of heaven, but the full thing is not here
Its almost like if you are a Costco fan. They have samples everywhere and Liam, Finn and I just go around while Arika gets the real shopping done,
But its just a taste, its not the full thing.
And there will be a day where we get the full thing.
But we are in this in-between point.
And at this inbetween point the king has given each person a treasure to invest.
And really you have been given a treasure that you get to choose what you want to do with it.
Your life is a treasurer,
God has given you talents and gifts
God has given you grace, that can change your life and the lives around you.
God has given you the ability to:
Give hope to the hopeless
To restore relationships
To stand up for the people that do not have a voice.
And so the king returns and He ask what have you done with whats been given?
What have you done with this beautiful gift of life that God has given you.
And look at the servants come and they say this:
16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ 17 “ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ 18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’ 19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’ 20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ 24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ 25 “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ 26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’ ”
So He gets to the first guy and he says I made 10 more mina
A mina was about 3 days worth of pay
So he says I made 10 more
Then the next comes and says I made 5 more mina
And this is a really simple point but when you are given something you use it right?
I mean think about if I made you some sort of decoration for your house.
And surprisingly it was beautiful.
If I came over and the decoration was not up I would go wait a second!
Why are you not using this beautiful thing I had given you,
Because when you get a beautiful gift you use it.
And I think too often we are give these amazing gifts from God.
But instead of living into it, we hide it out of sight or maybe even go this is amazing, but then put it down and forget about it.
but look what the first two servants do, because I want you to notice something.
Because the servants use their gifts and then their master gives them more.
And this is not a prosperity gospel, where I am saying if you give 10 dollars you will make 1000
But what this passage is saying is when you lay down your life for God,
He begins to open more doors to use the things He has gifted you with to make a difference.
I think a lot of times we get this mindset where we want to make a huge impact for God, but in reality we might not even be being faithful with the small things in our life, and then we get frustrated we might not see huge things happening.
In fact we see this with the last servant in verse 20 the last servant comes and instead of him going this is what you gave me, this is what I made, He actually says I placed the money in a cloth.
And he says that I knew you were a hard master and he goes I wanted to make sure I did not loose it.
You know there are a couple misconceptions here because first off this servant did not know His master well.
Because his understanding of his master is way off and because of that instead of using his gifts he is going I am scared to use it.
I love this quote from A.W Tozer. It says “Nothing twist and deforms our souls like a low concept of God.”
When we misunderstand God, we misunderstand ourselves because we are created in His image.
And now because of this instead of using what we have been given, we find ourselves either going wow all the gifts I have been given have no use
Or we find ourselves hoarding.
Where we go I need to get as much as we can and keep our gifts to ourselves rather then using it for God.
Has anyone ever watched the show extreme horders, I don’t know if thats my pastoral recommendation, (PICTURE)
But theres this one episode where the guy actually had a ton of junk but he also had a ton of things that were actually really valuable.
But for him He felt like he had to hoard them all.
And can I just say I think we end up this way when our understanding of God is off,
We hoard the things that are so often toxic in our lives (the hurts, habits, addictions) and we hoard the things that we view as valuable (our resources, time and talents).
And meanwhile God is wanting us to let go of both of them and give them to Him.
Because what happens is we hold onto our lives and it begins to look like this.
And as we give it all to God he begins to declutter it, and this space that was cluttered, overcrowded and centered on us begins to be used for an amazing purpose.
You know as we close I wanted to read a prayer that was written by a woman named Audrey Eldrige
And its called a prayer for when there is not enough, and I edited a little,
But I think our tendancy is so often to say there is not enough.
I don’t know how I am going to pay my bills,
I don’t know how I have enough times for my kids, family, wife and job,
And we get in this hoarding mind set, rather then asking God for His heart,
So will you close you eyes as we pray this together (and there will also be some music playing in the background).
“God we are struggling to trust that You will provide in our lives. As we spend every paycheck on necessities for ourselves and our families, and our time and talents feel stretched, we are constantly aware of how much we lack. As we look at what we have versus what we owe, we don’t see how there will ever be enough. Our instinct is to double down on worry, to take matters into our own hands and be greedy with every dollar and every moment we have.”
“Even now, Oh Lord, let us look for ways to be generous. Let us expect You to provide. Let us be good stewards of the little we have so that we may be trusted with so much more. You are the God who nourished the Israelites in the wilderness, who turned water into wine, who fed five thousand with a handful of loaves and fish. We tell ourselves these stories of Your kindness to remember that You are an abundant provider. You may not always give in the way that we ask, but You will always provide exactly what we need, for even when we are faithless, You remain faithful. So when our minds begin to spiral into worry”
“and when it looks like our ends will not meet, may we cling to Your promise that there will always be enough. Our oil will not run out. Our wells will not run dry. We boldly ask You for provision, Lord, and we hold You to Your promises. May we entrust our lives, our bills, and our bank accounts to You. May we commit our salaries, our investments, and our assets, our time with our family, our time with our friends our time at our job to Your care. All of it is Yours, Lord, given to us to steward temporarily. We do not worship our wealth, nor do we despair at poverty. Rather, we draw near to You. We look to the sparrows for guidance. We consider the lilies for advice. They do not needlessly toil or worry beyond what they can see. We lift up our eyes to soaring hills—from where does our help come? Our help comes from our Father, who lavishes us with the unsearchable riches of Christ. Give us the faith, Oh God, to trust You for what we do not have. Give us cheerful hearts of generosity, even if our contributions seem meager. Give us riches that do not run out and hearts that rejoice over treasure in heaven. Give us lightened loads so we may carry on with simple, joy-filled lives. Hear us as we cry, Make us like the sparrows, God! Dress us like the lilies! Our hearts are stilled by Your reply: Oh My children, how much more you are to Me than they. Amen.”
You know as we close I just want to zero in on the last part fo that passage. because there is one part that seems confusing, and harsh and its the end.
Because the king brings the people that rebels and kills them.
But here is what I want you to get, because there is this aspect of the spiritual side of things, and a lot of scholors believe that these people do not represent actual people, but they represent evil.
And its showing Jesus ending evil and reigning in a world where all is made right,
And maybe this morning you just need that reminder that God is in control.
because each one of us has been given this treasure in our lives.
The question becomes how are we going to use it.
And as we close lets sing this song together.