The Parable of the 10 Minas

Introduction

A few years ago, Anderson Cooper wrote a book about his family, the Vanderbilts. In this book, he outlines how Cornelius Vanderbilt, the builder of one of the largest fortunes in the world at the time, passed away and left his entire inheritance to his family.

And over the course of almost 150 years of bad spending, lavish living, and poor investments, there is no money left from the Vanderbilt fortune.

Short sighted living squanders future opportunities.

Imagine of that money had been saved or invested correctly, what it could have yielded today.

Today, we are talking about the squandering of the goods of a Kingdom. And the application for us today is this - are you living with a short sighted view of eternity?

Read Luke 19:11-27.

Explanation

This parable is quite similar to the parable of the talents. The reason is interesting. Jesus says, “Many think that the Kingdom is near.” So the parable is about stewarding your gifts until Jesus appears.

The nobleman represents Jesus. The servants are followers of Jesus. The citizens are the crowd of people who did not want to follow Jesus.

Explain the parable.

Luke 19:11-14. This nobleman was to inherit a kingdom and eventually would return. He left the land under the stewardship of his servants. He gave each servant 10 minas - about 3 month wages. These minas represent the whole of your life - not just money or talents - but every aspect of your being that can be used to serve Jesus.

He left, received the Kingdom, and returned. Sound familiar? Jesus is alluding to his second coming - when he will return to consumate his kingdom.

The overarching theme of this text is Jesus return. He will undeniably return one day, and we do not know the day. But it is important to ask the question - what will he find us doing?

Luke 19:15-20. Three of the servants give a report for what they did with the minas given to them! The first said, “I made 10 minas with the minas you gave me.” The second said, “I made 5 minas with the minas you gave me.” The third said, “I kept your minas in a handkerchief. Here it is.” And this king responds to the first two, “Give 10 cities to the first servant and give 5 cities to the second servant.”

There was a great reward for his service. Don’t miss this!

We sometimes think that to live for the reward causes us to lose the altruistic nature of what we do for Jesus. Jesus will reward us for how we serve Him. There is nothing wrong with living with the future eternal reward on your mind.

Jonathan Edwards // “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.”

Luke 19:21-26. The final servant, however, is not rewarded. He wrapped the minas given to him in a handkerchief and kept it hidden. The Lord took it from Him.

His belief in his master’s harshness kept him from obeying the master.

Your gifts are not for you. They are for God. If you are smart, you are commanded to use it for the sake of the Kingdom. If you have a propensity to serve, use it for the sake of the Kingdom.

APPLICATION:

Our master invests in us!

Let’s not forget that in what God required, God gave!

God has given you both redeemed talents and spiritual gifts. You are able to use them in a beautiful variety of ways, but you are also supposed to use them for the Kingdom.

I love to read, and my ability to read greatly affects my success in my role here. Before I loved to read, my mom, an elementary school librarian, placed the perfect books in my hands so that I would find joy in reading. And slowly and steadily she cultivated in me a desire to read.

In the same way, our God knows exactly what we need.

And he has given us gifts and meticulously cultivated our lives so that we would use them in a unique and beautiful way.

Unless you start here, your service will always be guilt-ridden instead of joyful.

We are not responsible for the results, but we are responsible for the efforts we put into the Kingdom.

Jesus is not trying to turn all of us into entrepreneurs, leveraging what we have to desperately try to earn our spot in heaven with our efforts.

Pastor David Murray makes an excellent point on this passage. The point is not that we would see a return on investment BUT that we would engage in business until Jesus comes.

We can no more make someone come to know Jesus than we can change the rotation of the earth, but we are called to be faithfully obedient.

What’s so beautiful about this truth is that you are simply called to be obedient with what God gives you.

You are responsible for using what God has given you for the sake of the Kingdom.

Now, I want to be bold to this point, because I think it is very important. There is certainly an individual aspect of this command. You are consistently loving and caring for others. But, I want to talk a few minutes about engagement in the local church.

The local church is God’s “Plan A” for the redemption of the world. We walked through a sermon series last summer where we drilled this point consistently. Not a parachurch organization, not education, etc. They can be kingdom works, but they are kingdom works as they coordinate and move people towards the bride of Christ, the local church.

I want to challenge you - How is your involvement in your local faith family? Do you consistently serve in the local church, in this local church that you are attending?

I hear a lot of folks admiring what is happening here and excited about what is happening here. That’s a good thing! And I am thankful. God is working in mindblowing ways! However, I want to challenge you to move from admiring and excitment to involvement. Instead of admiring the work. I want you to join it.

Years ago, I heard a pastor talk about ministry involvement. And he challenged his people to be a part of church for three hours a week - one hour of worship, one hour of community, and one hour of service. That is a GREAT goal to set for yourself and your life.

Parents, studies have shown there is a big difference between selecting the right church for your children based off a bunch of criteria - the right music, the right ministries, etc. and being involved in the work. That will make the biggest difference on your children longterm. Will they remember where mom and dad poured their lives out for the sake of something bigger than themselves?

We have plenty of needs for preschool teachers, children’s teachers, sunday school teachers, greeters, security team, student ministry workers, etc. Find your place and serve.

I want to show you a video about a man who began to serve the local church and fell in love with it. I think it summarizes what I am trying to illustrate more perfectly than I can. A barrister (British terminology for a lawyer) to a barista.

Invitation

Jesus is not asking something that He did not do Himself. He came, and in the ultimate way, gave himself on the cross for our sins. Our lives belong to Him.

Give yourself to Him.