The King's Return
Notes
Transcript
We have been looking at the main subject of Jesus’s teaching
The kingdom of Heaven
First we looked at how the Kingdom of heaven is here, not as a political kingdom, but as a kingdom not of this world.
Then we explored what it looked like to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus described in the Sermon on the mount.
Then we looked at the kinds of people that enter the kingdom of heaven,
The People who like children are completely reliant on God’s mercy
And the past Couple weeks we looked into Jesus Parables, where he described the Kingdom a couple of ways,
As something that can bring rapid growth and affect the world around it,
and as something so valuable that God himself gave up everything to achieve it, and that we should also be willing to give up everything to attain it.
And it is a kingdom where the last are first and the first last, backwards or upside down compared to this world.
And through all of this we have been sitting in a The Kingdom of heaven is here, but the kingdom heaven is not fully here yet.
And we are left waiting for the fulness of God’s kingdom to come,
And Jesus explains what it will be like in a few final parables,
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
This is one of the last Parables that Jesus tells his disciples, we will look at all three of them.
And in the context of the passage Jesus is telling his disciples about the end times, and the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and the final judgement of the world.
And its very easy to look at this passage and see the division between those who are in the kingdom and those who are not, the wheat and the weeds from the previous parables,
And some people tie this to the idea of the rapture, when Jesus comes again, those who are saved will be caught up into heaven with him.
And yes this parable does seem to have that backdrop,
You need to make sure that you are ready, and have the oil - the Holy Spirit, in your lives.
But notice, the foolish virgins were originally invited to the feast, and they had a warning that the Bridegroom, Jesus, was coming, but they were not ready.
And the one’s who were ready were able to go in,
But they couldn’t share their oil with the others,
Church your faith is your faith, you cannot get another person into heaven by your faith in Jesus, they have to have it themselves.
Jesus follows this parable immediately with another one:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
A talent is 75 lbs of gold, or roughly 1.4 million dollars,
One servant is given 5 talents, Almost $7 million dollars, to take care of while the master is away
another servant is given 3 talents, a little over 4 Million,
and the third servant is given a single talent.
By any standard this is a lot of money
The first two servants invest the gold, put it to work, build businesses, and they both make a profit.
And the Master when he returns - Jesus - says “well done”
Enter into the joy of your master.
but the third servant basically takes the 75lbs of gold, and buries it.
He doesn’t lose any of it, but he doesn’t put it to work.
He is afraid to use what he was given in case he loses it, and instead he does nothing with it.
And when the master returns he is angry with the servant.
And he is thrown out.
Church, if we expect to stand before Jesus when he returns, at judgement day, and say “You gave me gifts, but i didn’t put them to use, for your kingdom” then don’t expect things to go well for you,
You cannot accept Christs gift of salvation by faith, but then never put it to use.
You have to grow in Christ, you have to let your faith produce works, the works do not save you, your faith saves you but your works show your faith.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Jesus follows these parables with a full explanation of judgement day.
Those who followed him on the right, those who didn’t on the left,
And to those who followed him, look at what he recognizes, You fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, welcomed the strangers, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, visited the prisoners.
Church these are all good works, and they reflect the nature of those in the Kingdom of Heaven.
If you ever need an example of something good you can do, read this passage, and find a way to do these things.
Heres some practical things: Pack a shoebox for operation Christmas child, visit someone who is sick or injured in the hospital, give a meal or a coat to one of the homeless people who sit by Walmart, or donate clothes to a shelter.
If you want to get really serious, talk with Sallye or John about volunteering for prison ministry
And he judges those who didn’t believe by those same actions, saying they failed to do these things.
But in case you dare think that it is purely by works that you will get into heaven, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Look at what these people said they did, look at the works they claimed: prophecy, casting out demons, performing miracles.
These are not atheists, these are not unspiritual people,
they are people trusting more in their works than their faith in Jesus.
And church, that is a dangerous place to be,
when you are part of a ministry where the Holy Spirit seems to move, and people prophecy and speak in tongues, and demons are cast out, and people are healed, but you get distracted by the mighty works that you fail to feed the hungry, you fail to clothe the poor, you fail to put your talents to use because you are holding to tightly to your own personal experience to be bothered with helping others.
It’s hiding your talent instead of putting it to work,
It’s trusting you have enough oil in the immediate experience of the power of the Holy Spirit, that you forget to bring extra.
It is getting to the very doorway of heaven and being told, “I never knew you.”
And church, I lived that life for many years,
Church three times on Sunday, Two morning services, and an evening service,
Christian school Monday through Friday,
Chapel Wednesday Morning,
Youth group Wednesday night,
young adult group Friday night,
home church or small group Saturday night.
Youth retreats three times a year
I was involved with the music and sometimes the teaching with all of it,
And I would play my guitar and feel the presence of god fill the room.
Most of the services were charismatic - that is they recognized miracles and speaking in tongues,
and they encouraged that.
And the Holy Spirit would move, in powerful ways, and everyone would feel connected with God, and it was intense and amazing and awesome,
But we would go home, and nothing was different,
nothing had changed
Those who seemed like the most spiritual turned away from the faith,
those who were prayer warriors in our groups started living in sin,
people we thought were role models turned out to be frauds, or abusers,
And at the end of the day i had not helped anyone come closer to Jesus.
But when you care for the least of these, when you give a hungry man food, or a cold person a coat, or tell a prisoner they have value, or send a shoebox full of toys to a kid halfway around the world, those are real lives changed,
and it didn’t take any prophecy, nor miracles, nor signs from heaven.
So what it comes down to church, If we are seeking to enter the Kingdom when it comes fully, then we need to do what Jesus told Nicodemus:
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Jesus says we must be born again.
Not a second birth, but a spiritual re-birth.
Becoming a new person,
going from being a goat, to a sheep,
from a foolish virgin to a wise one
from someone who hides his treasure, to one who puts it to use.
How?
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
I do not have time to discuss moses and the serpent here,
lets leave it as Moses one has to make a bronze snake and lift it up on a pole for people to be saved from snake bites, - its in the book of numbers
We are reborn by our faith In Jesus Christ.
We our saved by looking to Christ, who was lifted up on the cross, like the snake in the wilderness was lifted up, and trusting in his sacrifice.
And once we have that faith, then we go to work to make the world ready for when the Kingdom comes.
We build up our faith - making sure we are ready for when Jesus comes again,
We put our gifts and talents to use, sharing the gospel, helping the kingdom grow,
and we help those who need our help, changing the world through simple acts of kindness and goodness,
all the while looking to Jesus our King, and awaiting his return.
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
