Do you serve the king?

He’s King and he’s returning so serve faithfully

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sometimes things take longer than you expect - Playmobil hospital

Working our way through Jesus’ story as told by Luke

The crowds who have seen Jesus teach and work his miracles increasingly see Jesus as Messiah, God’s promised, chosen deliverer - and his disciples certainly have ID’d him this way. As a result, because of what’s taught and thought about this messiah at the time, they expect Jesus to begin his rule as king when he arrives in Jerusalem. They’re thinking when he reaches his destination - just a few miles away as we pick up the story - right away he’ll start the job of restoring the place of God’s people, people who right now are under the thumb of the Romans.

They’re right that Jesus, the messiah-king will defeat all the enemies of God’s people - but it’s going to take a whole lot longer than they expect.

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READING: Lk 19:11-27

The story Jesus tells us here is about someone who is becoming King. He tells us how their servants and their subjects behave while it’s happening, and what the results will be for each of them.

I think this passage asks us three big questions, and the first is

1. Do you accept he’s King?

In the story, there’s this guy going off to another country to be appointed king - Jesus is talking about himself, knowing what’s coming next for him. When he arrives in Jerusalem, he’s not going to declare himself king, pick up a big sword, and start smiting the Romans. Instead, to the dismay of his followers, he’s going to die - to die a terrible death, a criminal’s death. But that won’t be the end of the story - the people who think they can put and end to him are completely wrong. Instead, he’ll rise again three days later, ascend to heaven, and be appointed king. And then, one day, he’ll returning victorious and mighty, to judge. It’ll be like he’s gone to another country first, to be made king, and then he’ll come back. See how it connects to the story Jesus is telling?

So when he speaks about servants while the king is away, he’s telling us about how his people, servants of God, should conduct ourselves while he’s away, before he returns.

And let’s be honest, it can seem like it doesn’t matter what we do while the king is away - particularly when he’s been gone for a long time. I mean it’s 2020 - it’s been two thousand years.

Picture kids in a classroom when their teacher has gone to the office for something - all is calm for, what, twenty seconds - and then it begins. Someone says something. Someone throws something. And then it’s all-out mayhem! Now imagine their teacher’s been gone for two thousand years! There’s not going to be much classroom left!

Do you ever wonder, if God is real, how come all the people who ignore him, who reject him, even who are rude about him, how they are all still doing just fine? Well Jesus pictures that for us here. The king-to-be’s subjects object violently to him. Look at v14 - they hate him; they reject him as king. “We don’t want this man to be our king”.

People get to object. People get to act like there is no king. For a time. But it doesn’t change the truth: see that in v14 “his subjects hated him” - much as they didn’t want him as king, in the end that doesn’t make any difference. They are still his subjects.

It’s like objecting to gravity, declaring you are not under it’s power, and stepping out of a plane. Things might look like they are going your way for a while - but then you realise there’s something coming your way instead! That ground which seemed so far away at first does seem to be coming up pretty fast...

The Bible tells us God, as creator of everything, is it’s rightful ruler. He made it - it’s his to do with as he pleases. And he has given all power and authority to Jesus - he’s made Jesus king. Do you accept that? This king has the right to rule over you, and he has a way he wants you to live. Well, whether you accept it or not, it doesn’t change the truth. You might be able to ignore the truth for a while

But that ground sure is coming up fast - because one day this king will return - and Jesus’ story doesn’t mince words in speaking of how he’ll respond to those who hated and rejected him. I bet v27 does’t get a picture page in many children’s bibles.

So that’s the first question this passage has for us: do you accept he’s king? Because he’s coming. The second question it asks us is do you really know the king

2. Do you really know the King?

You see, there are different people pictured as servants of the king in Jesus’ story - v13 ten servants - each one entrusted with a mina. A mina’s an amount of money - about 100 days’ wages, so quite a lot, but not earth-shattering. In fact, the king will later describe this as “a very small matter”. Each servant is entrusted with the same dosh, and then each servant is given the same unmistakably clear marching orders “put this money to work.” v13.

same money, same orders, but very different responses. We only get to see three servants up close but they show us everything we need to see to understand the point of this story. Two get busy trading, so it seems. They take what’s been entrusted to them and manage to make more. One makes ten times as much - would like him working with my pension. Another makes five times as much. Still ok with that.

How do you make money with money? Back in the day I imagine you could lend it to a trader so they could buy more while they were away on their travels - in order to have more to sell at a profit when they got back. Or lend it to a baker so they can buy more ingredients each day, and have more bread to sell at a profit each morning. But in each of those things, there’s a measure of risk. What if they can’t sell it all? What if they’re robbed on the way? I think those servants making money would be taking some risks, particularly if they’re making big money.

But this third one we see takes a radically different approach. And to begin with it might even seem like quite an admirable approach. He’s not taking any risks. He wraps up that money and hides it away. None of the king’s money will be lost. But the problem is that’s not what he’s been asked to do. It’s hardly putting this money to work, is it? It’s putting that money to rest!

When the king comes back, he’s delighted with the first two servants - and he gives each of them a vast promotion; you made ten mina? nice job - take charge of ten cities! Bet there’s so much more than ten minas going through his hands each day now! You made five? nice job - take charge of five cities! But this third one - he’s in for a right royal roasting.

This third guy explains what he did in v20 “I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth” - and then he explains why “I was afraid of you because you are a hard man.” Maybe he’s so afraid of losing any of the king’s money that he dare not take any risk with it at all.

But when he calls the king a hard man, that’s not in the sense of the guy with shaven head and tattoos you’d expect to find in prison shortly, but someone who’s super-demanding. A difficult boss. Someone who expects 60 hours when they pay for 40. A teacher who demands you spend six hours on your art homework no matter what else you’ve got on. Perhaps - just perhaps - this servant is even daring to suggest the king is a cheat, a fraud: “you take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow” - some commentators I read suggest these terms describe law-breaking theft.

Is he right about the King? Would you want to serve a king like that? But then, think about this: if you did actually have a king like that, would you dare not to serve him? If you knew he was a hard, demanding master, would you really just sit on what he’d entrusted to you, and ignore his command to put it to work? I think you’re more likely to run away, or to at least try and do something, not just sit on it.

And that’s precisely the point the master makes back to the servant. Did you really think I was like that? If you did, surely you would have done something with my money, not nothing.

So what’s up with this third servant? Did he really think the king was so harsh and demanding? That doesn’t seem to make sense of his actions. But he didn’t blow the money either. Or run away. He just sat on it. It doesn’t seem to make any sense. His actions don’t seem to follow any logic. He doesn’t seem to have followed through on what he says he believed.

Whatever, the king’s not letting him off with his disobedience. No cities for him to take charge of. And no mina of money to manage either. It’s taken away and given to the one who has ten - and ten cities to look after. He’s a servant no more - left with nothing - in fact, oddly, he’s described as the one who “has nothing” - even before his mina is taken away - v26 “the one who has nothing.”

Things could have been so different - if only he’d obeyed the king. But he doesn’t really know the king. That’s what it seems to have come down to in the end: to whether these servants really knew the king or not. He “has nothing” in that he didn’t ever understand who his king was. Not a harsh man who takes what isn’t his, but a wonderfully generous king who entrusts us with what’s not ours, leaves us with what’s been gained - see the servant who made ten still has them when he’s given one more - and then gives us even more! That’s hardly harsh, grabbing mastering, taking out what he didn’t put in.

So do you really know the king? That’s the second question this passage asks us. What sort of king do you think you have? How do you picture God? If there was a God, what sort of God do you imagine he might be?

Is he harsh, taking away what’s not really his, making more and more demands of us for his own benefit? Does he take out what he did not put in? Does he reap what he did not sow? Is that your picture of God? Is his big plan just to spoil all your fun? To say “no” to a long list of things which would bring joy into your life? To give you an impossible to-do list and then berate you when you don’t deliver? To demand you dance to his tune every single day, faster, faster, faster? Is the God you imagine all commandments and rules and law?

Perhaps that is how you picture God. I think it’s surprisingly easy to have that sort of picture of God - particularly if you’ve spent some time around church.

But if there were a God like that, how would you have to live? Busting a gut for him. Pushing and pushing to tick every single one of his boxes. Living your life in fear. Do you really live that way? Or does the way you actually live make no sense given what you say you believe about God? Is your life illogical like this third servant?

The problem with having your head in the sand like that is that the king is coming back. And this third servant was judged by his own words. If you believe in a God who makes demands like that, are you ready to meet him?

The wonderfully good news of the Christian gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is that you don’t have to meet your king that way. The response of the king to these other servants pictures another kind of king for us, the kind of king Jesus is. The kind of king who says “well done”. The kind of king who lets us keep what’s rightfully his - like this servant kept the ten minas he’d earned with the king’s money (v24). The kind of king who gives us so much more than we deserve if we will only truly come to know him - like this king gave his servants cities in place of small change.

One last question for us in this passage: “will you join this King?” See, Jesus tells this parable to correct people’s expectations for what’s going to happen in Jersualem - but he also tells it to a crowd who have just seen him eat with Zacchaeus and declare he came “to seek and save the lost” (v10, just before today’s passage)

3. Will you join the King?

Jesus isn’t some harsh, demanding king who cracks the whip to drive us faster, faster and always demands a perfect 10. He’s the king who became a servant, the king who came as a commoner, the king who came to people who hated him, and the king who came not with a sword, to destroy them, but who came to seek and save the lost. He’s the king who will lay down his life for his people - in Jerusalem, just days from now.

Think about this story, where the king entrusts the same thing to each of his servants while he’s away. What does that picture? What does he consistently entrust to each one of his followers? What is it that can be multiplied when it’s put to work?

Well, we’re not all equally resourced financially, are we? So it’s not simply money or resources.

And we’re not all equally gifted, are we? I mean there are people who can do lots and lots of things which I can’t. And for every single thing I can do, there are people who can do it better too! So it’s not gifting or talent either.

And it’s not simply being alive, having the opportunity which comes from that - because all of the king’s subjects are alive, not just the servants he entrusts his money to.

It’s the message about this king, a king who came as a servant to seek and save the lost. A king who would give his life for nobodies like us. A king filled with grace and love, not with harshness. That’s why this third servant, the one who hid what was entrusted him in the story, is described as “one who has nothing” v26. Because he doesn’t have the true message about our king, king Jesus.

And the message about Jesus is wonderful in that it can be multiplied. When we take a risk to share it, when we dare to expose to others the message we’ve been gifted, it can become their message too.

So here’s where we close today: will you join the king? If you know him, truly know him, you’ve been given something with amazing potential to multiply. You’ve been given a message about who he really is, what kind of king our God is. And although it’ll take some risk and some guts, that’s a message worth sharing because it’s a message which can liberate others - particularly people who see him as harsh, as a hard man.

We have a message worth sharing, a hope worth sharing. Make this the year you put that message to work. Share your hope.

Want to get practical, to challenge and support one another in sharing this message? Then join our evening gatherings when they start back up in a few weeks. There we share stories of how we’re pursuing this goal, of where we win, and where we lose. There, in our small groups, each week we challenge and support one other in putting the message we’ve been given to work. Come and get engaged. Commit to spurring one another on. Yep, it will take up some more of your Sunday. And yeah you might not find it easy. I don’t think there are many who do. But this is the big work of our lives, this is the main thing the king has entrusted us with. Why wouldn’t you give it everything you’ve got?