Occupy Until I Come Luke 19:11-27

Introduction

Please bow your head in prayer.

Oh, Lord, we thank You for this time of gathering; we thank You for Your glory being displayed in Your people singing and gathering on this day in Your name. Glorify this time. May the preaching of the Word be pleasing in Your sight, and may all of me that is not useful for the Kingdom be removed or suppressed, and let all of me that is for You be brought out. May no error be in my words, and may they edify or correct the hearts and minds of the people gathered here,

In Jesus name, Amen

Hello, everyone. My name is Collin Morris, and I will be your preacher for the morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and I am glad you are all gathered here today.

Leading up to our message this week, I've been listening and reading about the saints of the past. Men like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and Charles Spurgeon. I see these men's great deeds that have been accomplished by the time they reach my age and think, "Wow, what am I doing with my life?" We read these men who seemed to live the life of 10 men and think, how could they do it all? If you were to ask these men, they would respond something like, "By the power and glory of Christ." These men knew how to steward their time and resources to glorify God the most. Why would men, saved by grace, strive so hard to secure a salvation they have already obtained? These men understood that Christ's return could happen any day and that we should live in accordance with that.

Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 19. In this chapter, we will be reading and expositing the parable of the minas. It is similar to the more well-known parable in Matthew's gospel, the parable of the talents. There are some critical differences in this version of the parable, which has a different focus than Matthew's, but they are both parables about stewardship. The main idea is that we will be rewarded for our faithfulness and rebuked for our faithlessness. We will be rewarded for our faithfulness and rebuked for our faithlessness.

We will be reading starting at verse 11 and ending at verse 27.

Luke 19:11–27 ESV

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 a 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 reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own 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 ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten 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.’ ”

This is the Word of God.

As we read the text, four points seemed to fit the outline: the correction, the call, the reward, and the rebuke. The correction, the call, the reward, and the rebuke.

Correction

As we look at the beginning of this passage, we see that Luke states the parable's purpose. It corrects the idea that the Kingdom of God was to come immediately. This was an idea that the Jewish people had about the coming Messiah. They thought that the Messiah would be David 2.0. They thought they would get a king who would free them from the oppression of Rome. This parable was to show that this was not His mission. In the previous chapter, He revealed to His disciples that He was to die at the hands of the Gentiles and that He would rise again. He had told them before and would say to them later that He must go away for a while where they cannot go.

The beginning of the parable reflects this same imagery of going away. "A nobleman goes to a far country to receive Himself a kingdom and then return." The concept of a noble going to another authority to gain status or kingdoms was not uncommon to those of the people of the day. Certain nobles would go to ruling authorities to receive titles and authority. David E. Garland writes in his commentary on Luke about a similar situation that happened in history, "when King Herod died, he left his Kingdom to three surviving sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip. The bequest had to be confirmed by the Romans, and Archelaus traveled to Rome to gain the support of the emperor Augustus. The Judeans revolted and also sent an embassy of fifty to oppose his appointment because of his brutality."

There is this dichotomy in Luke's Gospel of the Kingdom of God now and not yet: the fulfillment of the Kingdom in Christ's life in His death and resurrection, but the waiting for the return of the King. Jesus has received the Kingdom and is waiting for His proper time to come down and bring the fullness of the Kingdom to us. He does this so many who have not heard of Christ would have the opportunity to join Him and be saved from the wrath to come.

We also can struggle with the Kingdom of God that is here and the Kingdom to come. We live in a time where we know the Messiah lives, yet we are not bonded with Him in the fullness of His glory. We live in a broken world, but we have a redeemer who has saved us from our brokenness. We must ensure that our vision of the Messiah would not submit to our ideas and desires like the teachers of that day. We must serve the faithful risen Savior to who we submit our ideas and desires. The true and risen Christ that saved us from our sins.

Call

The parable continues, and the nobleman then calls for himself ten of his servants, or bondservants and gives each of them a mina. For those of us in the 21st century, we may not know what the term bondservant would mean. It is not what we would typically understand to be a servant. This type of servant has chosen to bond with their master. Usually, it hits the end of their time of servitude or "contract," which was usually because of debt owed, and they would get to choose to stay with their master voluntarily. This agreement was made between master and servant because they loved their master or had better living conditions under their master's care. This type of servitude is by no means the slavery that we know of in our more modern history. It was not something the bible promoted, but an unfortunate circumstance of the time.

This example, though, tells us a little bit about the servants receiving the minas: They were the ones who loved the master or enjoyed being under the master's care. They were not just guys forced to be there that the master chose. They were men whom the master entrusted with some of his wealth. For those wondering, a mina is about three months' wages. This amount would be about $17,500 in today's money. It is by no means a small amount.

In contrast to the parable of the talents in Matthew, this parable has the wealth spread evenly instead of given based on ability. Why would this matter? They are communicating similar concepts but different ideas. The idea of the parable of the talents would be to use the gifts you have been given to the best of your ability for your Lord's sake, while the parable of the minas would likely be a reference to something we would all have equally. This line of reasoning would lead to the conclusion that this text references salvation in Christ instead of talents, skills, or spiritual gifts.

He then tells them to "engage in business until I come," or as the King James Version states, "Occupy until I come." Do you notice how similar it sounds to Jesus's great commission for His disciples? Matthew 28:18–20: "And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." The Greek word "occupy" in this text means to do business or trade or to keep busy. When I hear the Word occupy, I think of military operations. We are to occupy this post until reinforcements arrive. While this is not the primary meaning, I think it can be helpful for us to think of it in this way, especially regarding the great commission. Jonathan Edwards, a prolific writer and pastor, wrote 70 resolutions to seek God more in his life. His fifth resolution reads, "Resolved, Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can." At 19 years of age, Edwards reveals a truth that we seem to forget in our modern age: that the days are evil. Time is a scarce resource that we can't get back. The days God gives us need to be used for the glory of His name. That is why He has not returned yet; we are still here to reach the lost and to make His name great among the nations.

Just like the people of the parable, we are surrounded by citizens who hate Christ. They hate the King and want Him gone. They do not want to make Him ruler of their lives; they want to live as they please and do what is right in their own eyes. Yet, unlike the parable, we were like these men. We were once enemies of the cross of Christ, and we didn't serve Him as we ought. Christ is King, no matter what men may say or do. This is like the parable. They send a delegation after this nobleman and say, "We will not have this man reign over us," but he still becomes King. Unlike the parable, Christ has not come only to condemn but to redeem. To shed His grace on even citizens who would become bondservants before His return.

Reward

Continuing through the passage, we see that the master divvies out the rewards for cities based on the amount they have traded for. In the first one, the master exclaims in joy over the work of the faithful servant. God loves our good works. For parents or teachers in the room, do you remember when you showed your child how to do something, and they did it masterfully? Or what about when they had done the right thing when it was unpopular? I'm sure that made you swell up with joy and gladness for that child. Do you think the Father does not do the same for us? We seek the approval of our parents because we think highly of their opinion, even to our detriment at times. How often do you think that when you do something great for God's glory, He rejoices and is glad in your work? God doesn't just say, "Well, yeah, that's what I expected from you." What an excellent opportunity for us. We ought to seek the praise of our Heavenly Father so that we should hear Him say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Ephesians 2 states that not only are we saved by faith through grace, but we are also saved for good works that God has prepared for us beforehand. We can even see this in David's life. In Sunday School, sometimes we get this picture of David, who had just gotten to the camp of the Israelites and said, "I'm going to fight Goliath," without ever being in a fight. When Saul objects to David because of his lack of experience, David responds, "Your servant was tending his Father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, I went out after it and attacked it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I grabbed it by its mane and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." God had prepared David for this fight. David was a man after God's own heart way back when he was a shepherd boy. Like the parable, the man was faithful with little and then faithful with much.

If this parable talks about salvation, how can we be faithful and have more of it? Can we be more saved? No, but we can get to know God more. God doesn't necessarily reward us with earthly gifts and positions for our faithfulness, but there is knowledge and an understanding of God that you only get from walking with God faithfully for a long time. When I read about the faith of martyrs, the reformers, and the saints of the past, I can see a depth of knowledge of God that I have not yet attained. While there is head knowledge, you know this wisdom and trust that comes with time. Those of us who have been married for a long time see this with our spouses. You know, by the time we get married, we have figured things out. Now, 20-30 plus years later, you know your spouse in a way you've never known anyone else. This example is why God has a multi-generational church. There is wisdom in time with God that young men and women cannot obtain but can witness in others.

We must be faithful to the salvation we have been given by Christ. We must seek to share it with the lost and help encourage the believers to our left and right.

Rebuke

Finishing the passage, the master rebukes the unfaithful servant for his laziness. The wicked servant feared for his life instead of investing it. He kept the excellent gift he was given by his master to himself. He didn't share because he knew the master was a severe man. The Matthew passage adds lazy as an adjective that is absent here. Lack of activity was not the problem, but it seemed to be his view of the master. The master judges him based on the servant's view of the master and does not act on it with integrity. He either didn't know it and said he did, or the servant didn't care enough to do something about with the mina. A good phrase that we would use in the modern day is that in the servant's head, he knew that statement to be accurate, but he didn't know it in his heart or soul. It didn't create action. While in some translations, the wording makes it somewhat confusing, if the wicked servant was a member of the enemies of the nobleman, I would consider it yes. The Matthew parable also casts the wicked servant into the outer "darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In most translations, the idea seems to be that he is included in the judgment.

Before I came to saving faith, I knew I was in that place where I knew all the answers to the Sunday School questions and children's time but had not submitted to Christ. That may be one of you sitting here in the pew. To those of you who are in the pew, I warn you that faith without works is dead. You cannot get into heaven without a changed life. You are the wicked servant if you are openly sinning and seeking sin. You have been given God's grace but will be cast out like the others. Do not misunderstand me; if you are in Christ, you cannot be taken away from Him, but if you are able to do wicked deeds with no remorse, then you show that you were never a member of Christ's body, just like the evil servant was found to be an enemy. You can see that at the end of the text, the master took his mina and gave it to the one who was faithful and would give more. Just like David was given Saul's Kingdom.

The enemies of God will face judgment, and it isn't pretty. There's no nice way to talk about God's judgment. He is swift and just, and no enemies of His will prevail against Him.

Wrap-up

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us work hard for the one we love. Let us not work as if it were ourselves, but Christ is working through us. This is not a faith that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We are here to encourage each other for good works and help you be the best steward you can be. We ought to make the most of this day by rejoicing in Him. Let us all engage in God's business until He comes.

There is good news for those who are afraid of the judgement. God has spared us another day. God has graced you with another morning to repent and believe. All you need to do is turn your life to Him. away from where you are going. Trust in Him alone for your salvation. Though His judgment may be swift, His grace is overflowing.

Let us bow and pray.

Oh, Lord, please guide us in our walk. Let us walk by faith. Though we seek to do good works to bring You glory, may we be reminded that we are only saved by Your grace. May we be found to be good and faithful servants of Your name, and may we seek ways to make Your name known. Thank You for bringing us here today, and to all who are here and hearing the gospel who don't know You, may they see You as they ought. We pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.