A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Wise Work
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A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Wise Work
A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Wise Work
The story today is a parable about work assignments.
How much work can each person do?
How will each person be judged for the results of their work?
What is the work assignment in God’s economy?
To do the will of the Father of Jesus.
Here is how we operate...
What is the cost and benefit, to myself,
for following Jesus?
I could just camp out here.
This is religion, this is the question all religions ask.
This is the question that all people ask.
And we ASK THIS QUESTION of GOD.
This is the CORE OF NEARLY ALL MODERN TEACHING.
Think about it. When you decided to follow Jesus, to become a Christian, how was it sold to you?
Get out of Hell free card?
Get into Heaven free card?
You were in turmoil and you were sold peace
You were in poverty and you were sold wealth
You were hungry and you were sold contentment
You were in fear and you were sold bravery
You were sick and you were sold healing
You were weak and you were sold strength
You were alone and you were sold friendship
Stop and think about this for a moment.
WHY DO YOU FOLLOW?
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
WHAT DOES GOD WANT?
This parable is going to answer this question
If SCRIPTURE IS NOT BENDING YOUR MIND, THEN YOU ARE NOT LISTENING.
IT WILL BE UNCOMFORTABLE
IT WILL BE OFFENSIVE
IT WILL BE HELPFUL…IF YOU HAVE EARS TO HEAR
While people were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable. They were, after all, getting close to Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.
What were they listening too?
The end of the story of Zaccheaus.
It follows the story of a wealthy chief tax collector who will give half of his money away and restore what he stole four times over. SALVATION came to this house today, he is a child of ABRAHAM!
IMPORTANT: Notice the mindset of the people who are following him.
THIS IS THE LAST TEACHING of Jesus before he enters Jerusalem for the LAST TIME.
They expect Jesus to institute the Kingdom of God.
It was going to appear.
JESUS IS GOING TO PUT THAT TO BED.
‘There was once a nobleman,’ he said, ‘who went into a country far away to be given royal authority and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves and gave them ten silver coins. “Do business with these”, he said, “until I come back.” His subjects, though, hated him, and sent a delegation after him to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.”
******There was once a nobleman...
There are two kingdoms at play.
First, where the nobleman is
Second, where the nobleman is going
Who does this sound like?
What have we learned about parables?
Is the Nobleman Jesus? We don’t know yet, but it sounds like him.
He has traveled from His Father’s kingdom to earth to establish his rule, and he will return to the Father.
So maybe, probably...
*******He summoned ten of his slaves...
TEN…NOTICE it is TEN
The language is offensive, but it is accurate.
The silver coin is a mina (100 days wages)
What does “do business with these” mean?
Live on it?
Give it away?
Make money with it?
And when “He comes back” what does he expect to have happened?
Notice, nothing is clearly defined.
The servants are ONE GROUP here...
*******His subjects, though, hated him...
Who are the subjects?
The subjects/citizens of the land he is leaving?
We will return to that.
The language is tricky...
‘So it happened that when he received the kingship and came back again, he gave orders to summon these slaves who had received the money, so that he could find out how they had got on with their business efforts.
Nobleman:
Goes into a country far away
Given royal authority
Then return
So, this even is taking place while the king is away (in heaven) receiving his kingship.
But, as it turns out, the king has returned to see how the slaves had done.
The first came forward and said, “Master, your money has made ten times its value!”
‘ “Well done, you splendid servant!” he said. “You’ve been trustworthy with something small; now you can take command of ten cities.”
MATH: TEN servants each received a single Mina (100 days wages)
The return is 1,000%
The payment to the slave is 10 cities to oversee.
What does that mean? We are not told.
‘The second came and said, “Master, your money has made five times its value!”
‘ “You too—you can take charge of five cities.”
So far so good, 500% return on the investment
The payment to the slave is 5 cities to oversee.
Again, what does take charge of mean?
Practically, we don’t know.
But, here is what we do know so far.
The king TRUSTS them.
He will ENTRUST his cities in the hands of these servants.
TWO DOWN, EIGHT TO GO! :-)
‘The other came and said, “Master, here is your money. I kept it wrapped in this handkerchief. You see, I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man: you profit where you made no investment, and you harvest what you didn’t sow.”
Uh oh...
Starting to get uncomfortable now.
I hid what was yours because you are a THEIF!
You steal the work of others.
BASED ON THE CITIES, IS THAT TRUE?
Is the King/Nobleman a SEVERE MAN?
We don’t know yet...
PAUSE…THIS IS TODAYS WESTERN WORK CULTURE.
I did all the work, you are just in it for the profit (marxism)
I did all the work, you just want to tax it away (republican)
How is this going to go over...
‘ “I’ll condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked scoundrel of a servant!” he replied. “So: you knew that I was a hard man, profiting where I didn’t invest and harvesting where I didn’t sow? So why didn’t you put my money with the bankers? Then I’d have had the interest when I got back!”
The THIRD servant of the TEN is not doing well...
That word bankers is the literal word for table.
In other words he could have been a lender of the money and received some interest.
Can I tell you what I think might have happened?
SPECULATION:
We don’t know how long the king was gone.
They had enough for 100 days.
That means they have made enough for the return and to live (eat, shelter, clothing, etc.)
How did they do that? We are not told are we.
BUT, WHAT IF...
This servant never touched the masters money, INSTEAD, he made his own money
BECAUSE…WHAT IS MINE IS MINE
AND…WHAT IS GOD’s IS GOD’s
So here is your money back.
I did what I did with my own money.
What will the king do?
‘ “Take the money from him,” he said to the bystanders, “and give it to the man who’s got it ten times over!” (“Master,” they said to him, “he’s got ten times that already!”)
THAT IS NOT FAIR!!!
Isn’t it? Whose mina is it?
Who does the wealth belong too? The King.
Who do the “bystanders” (Read: The CROWD) think it belongs to?
The servants.
So, according to the bystanders, CATCH THIS...
The SERVANTS KEEP the MONEY and THEY OVERSEE CITIES. Probably using the funds to OVERSEE the CITIES.
But is it theirs? No
What do we know about the FIRST TWO servants.
They are FAITHFUL, TRUSTWORTHY, LOYAL.
What have we learned about the MASTER, NOBLEMAN, KING?
He will entrust his treasure with those who will use it to get a return.
What is the King’s response?
‘Let me tell you: everyone who has will be given more; but if someone has nothing, even what he has will be taken away from him.
ARE WE TALING ABOUT MONEY in this parable?
IS THIS ABOUT MONEY?
What does it take to make money with someone else’s money?
WISDOM
You only HAVE SOMETHING if it is given by the King
When you are loyal to the King he will entrust you with more
This sounds HARSH and UNCOMFORTABLE...
BUT...
DO YOU TAKE YOUR RICHES WITH YOU WHEN YOU DIE?
Where are we to STORE TREASURE?
In HEAVEN.
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Luke 12:32–34 (BE:NT)
Don’t be afraid, little flock. Your father is delighted to give you the kingdom.
‘Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Make yourselves purses that don’t wear out, a treasure in heaven that lasts for ever, where the thief doesn’t come near and the moth doesn’t destroy. Yes: where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.’
BUT…we have other CHARACTERS:
The DELEGATION that DOES NOT WANT HIM AS KING (this KING who is DELIGHTED to give them the Kingdom)
What about THEM?
And where did the other SEVEN go?
There were TEN, THREE APPEARED, SEVEN DID NOT EVEN SHOW UP!!!
Did they just steal it? We are not told...
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’ ”
Okay, it is going to get very uncomfortable…if we read this and understand the enemies as humans.
What have I told you?
Scripture is a TALE OF TWO KINGDOMS
Babylon/Hermon/Earth/satan
Jerusalem/Zion/Heaven/Jesus
*******Bring them here and slaughter....
Let’s use some logic...
The servant who returns only the Mina, what happens to him?
What about the other seven servants? Apparently nothing.
Pay really close attention to the language:
They think the Kingdom of God will appear.
What/who will appear with that? Angels/Demons?
Hasn’t Jesus been casting out unclean spirits throughout Luke?
His ‘subjects/citizens’
His ‘enemies’ those who HATE him, at WAR with him.
The subjects are from His Kingdom.
They are in rebellion to the King.
They are enemies of the King.
They are at war with the King.
Who does that sound like?
When Paul talks about war in Ephesians 6, are we at war with other humans?
No.
We are at war with the spiritual forces of darkness.
Who is the King at war with?
So what is the message.
Spiritual evil will be destroyed
That is good news, but it is still hard to live here today
But, something important to REMEMBER...
The human being approaches every situation with the SATANIC QUESTION,
“What’s in it for me?”
The king’s investment is not MEASURED in something you can count.
It is only God, the Judge, who can assess whether or not his investment has paid off.
Therefore...
Make wise decisions
with what God gave you.
We want to WORK OUT the COST/BENEFIT of following JESUS
We want to know how we benefit
And if it is not valuable enough to us, then we won’t invest the time.
SECOND, the servants had to wait until the King returned to find out how they did.
There is no way of measuring ourselves
There is no way of measuring others
Just be better today than you were yesterday
LASTLY, let go of the lie
Following Jesus may be a physical benefit to you
It may not be a benefit to others.
Following Jesus is not meant to bring you glory
Following Jesus is meant to bring God glory
The story of the parable of the talents is to work God’s field with the heavy investment of his ordinances until he returns.
Not to bury it, but to work it and expand it to all nations and the four corners of the earth.