Main idea Every Person Will Be Judged By How They Have Responded To Jesus As The Christ.

IT S ALL ABOUT JESUS LUKE 19:11-27 Main idea Every Person Will Be Judged By How They Have Responded To Jesus As The Christ. 1. A DOSE OF REALITY (VS 11-13) JESUS WANTS TO GET HIS DISCIPLES READY FOR WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO HIM IN JERUSALEM. A. MISGUIDED EXPECTATIONS (11) B. AN EXAMPLE FROM THEIR RECENT HISTORY (12) C. EVERYONE GIVEN A CHANCE TO EXCEL (13) 2. JUDGMENT DAY IS A CERTAINTY (VS 14-15) AS CERTAIN AS JESUS DIED FOR OUR SALVATION, ROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN; HE WILL RETURN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. A. MANY PEOPLE THROUGHOUT HISTORY CONTINUE TO REJECT JESUS (14) B. THERE IS NO DOUBT AS TO WHO JESUS IS (15a) C. JESUS WILL RETURN TO JUDGE THE WORLD (15b) 3. JESUS WILL COME TO REWARD AND TO PUNISH (VS 16-27) JESUS WILL REWARD THOSE WHO HAVE SUBMITTED TO HIM WILLINGLY AND PUNISH THOSE WHO HAVE REJECTED HIM. A. REWARDS (16-19) B. INSULTS AND EXCUSES (20-23) C. PUNISHMENTS (24-27) Page 1

It s All About Jesus Luke 19:11-27 This is the last parable Jesus tells outside Jerusalem and before His final week of life. This is the next to last parable in Luke. This parable and the final parable have to do with the last days. In other words, these parables both deal with the final judgment. Since they deal with the end times, they are known as eschatological parables. It is important for us to keep this context in mind. Jesus has just left the city of Jericho where He healed and saved a blind man; and also converted a tax collector. These two people were granted entrance into God s Kingdom. Along this journey which started in Luke 9:51 and ends in Bethany at the Mount of Olives; Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom of God; how anyone could enter by placing their faith and trust in Him, and that the offer was available on the spot. This caused the disciples and His other followers to believe He was going to enter Jerusalem, defeat the Romans, and set up the Messianic Kingdom right then and there. Even though Jesus kept telling them that His current mission was to suffer and die for our sins, they didn t seem to get it. We also have to add to our context the time of year it was. The Passover season had begun. Jewish pilgrims from all around the world were making their way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. I m sure you all know that Passover is a celebration that recounts the events surrounding Israel s enslavement in Egypt. God raised up Moses to go and set the nation of Israel free, lead them to the Promised Land, and establish them as a nation with national borders. By the time Jesus arrives on the scene, the Israelites have been under the rule of several nations for almost 600 years. They had been ruled by the Babylonians, the Medes, Persians, Greeks, and at the time of Jesus, Rome. Every year at Passover, the atmosphere in Jerusalem became electric. With every year that passed, hopes that the Jewish Messiah would come grew. By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, the expectations reached fever pitch. The Zealots often rebelled against Rome and were often severely defeated and punished. Nevertheless, they would be there to stir the pot and work the rest of the Jews up into a Messianic frenzy. Add to all this, Jesus claimed to be the Promised Messiah and went around doing Messiah stuff; like giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to lepers, bleeders, and other sick people. He made the lame to walk, cast out demons, and even raised the dead to life. He performed all sorts of miracles. He restored people s relationships with God and forgave sinners of their sins. Next week, He will ride into Jerusalem as the Messiah. Jesus will tell this parable in hopes of correcting His followers false expectations of what His mission was at this time. We know He is headed to Jerusalem to suffer and die for our sins. Another form of this parable appears in Matthew 25:14-30. There are enough similarities between these two passages that cause scholars to ponder the source. There is not much agreement. Some say they had a common source and some say that Matthew was the original source while others say Luke was the primary source. Again, I m not smart enough to say what the case was. However, when I look at the parables of Jesus, He often uses common themes like farmers, seeds, landowners, kings, businessmen, slaves, money, Page 2

absence, and many others. It seems reasonable to me that Matthew and Luke are reporting two different tellings of this parable by Jesus. There are several differences that are worth noting. Matthew uses money that exceeds $14 million while Luke s is more modest; about $140 thousand in total. The main character in the Matthew account is a businessman. Luke s main character is a king. Even though they are both about the end times, it seems that Matthew s parable is primarily focused on stewardship. In other words, Matthew seems to focus on how the servants handle the money they were given charge of. Although Luke s account has some of this, the main idea seems to focus on the relationship between the king and his subjects. As you read through both accounts, Matthew s account seems a lot more positive than Luke s. Luke s account seems to have this pall that hangs over it. So my thought is that Jesus told this kind of parable more than once; often using the same types of characters to illustrate His point. At any rate, the main idea of this morning s text is this. EVERY PERSON WILL BE JUDGED BY HOW THEY HAVE RESPONDED TO JESUS AS THE CHRIST. Jesus had been constantly telling His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer but they never seemed to be able to process that information. They had been interpreting Jesus mission in ways they were comfortable with. We re like that, aren t we? We often interpret things according to our wishes and desires; often missing the real meaning and developing false expectations. One day while having breakfast, a wife said to her husband, I had the most wonderful dream last night. I dreamt that you gave me a diamond necklace. It was beautiful. What do you think it meant? He answered, You just wait. You ll find out tonight. And sure enough, that evening he gave her a book entitled, Interpreting Dreams. 1. A DOSE OF REALITY (VS 11-13) It s pretty clear that even though Jesus had been preparing them for what was about to come, they had developed some really wrong expectations. In verses 11-12, Jesus tries once again to give them a dose of reality. JESUS WANTS TO GET HIS DISCIPLES READY FOR WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO HIM IN JERUSALEM. In verse 11 we can see that Jesus knows they have misguided expectations. From the context, it appears that they have been walking for about 6 hours if they left Jericho and were now getting close to Jerusalem. If they are approaching Bethany where Jesus will make His very public entry to Jerusalem, then they are now about 1½ miles outside of Jerusalem. On the Christian Calendar, His next act will kick off Holy Week. This will be His last week of life as a human being. Sunday will be His Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem, Thursday He will celebrate Passover with His disciples, and Friday He will be executed and buried. We know from our vantage point in history that the disciples were not prepared for that. In this verse, Luke informs us that the reason Jesus told this parable was to prepare them for God s historical plan; not theirs. We have said through our study through Page 3

Luke and the other Gospels that the disciples and the other followers of Christ had a difficult time understanding the two roles and destinies of the Messiah. The Messiah would come and set up an earthly kingdom where evil would be punished and righteousness rewarded. Even though the suffering Messiah was clearly prophesied about in the Old Testament, they could never seem to reconcile the two missions. Christ is about to fulfill the role of Suffering Servant this time around, but He is also promising to come back and fulfill the Conquering King the next time around. One of the reasons I don t think the Matthew parable and the Luke parable are about the same thing is that in Luke s account, here in verse 12, Jesus used an example from their recent history. I don t want to spend too much time on this, but a little review concerning the Herods in the Bible is necessary. Herod the Great ruled Israel from about 40bc to 4bc. The Jews hated him even though he rebuilt the Jewish temple. It was a magnificent structure. Herod was paranoid and killed several of his family members and many Jewish rabbis. This is the Herod that killed all the babies in Bethlehem when Jesus was born because he wanted to eliminate all contenders for his throne. When Herod the Great died, he left his kingdom as an inheritance to his sons. He left the Syrian region to his son Herod Philip. He was not noteworthy except that he originally married Herodias. Herod Antipus ruled Galilee from 4bc to 39ad. He is the Herod that stole his brother Philip s wife and married her. This is the Herod that arrested John the Baptist and beheaded him. Just to see how perverted the Herods were, let me just give you an idea by Antipus marriage to Herodias. She was at the same time his niece, his sister-in-law, and his wife. He is also the Herod that interviewed Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate. But the Herod we are going to encounter this morning is Archelaus. He received Samaria and Judea as an inheritance from his father Herod the Great. He was also brutal. He ruled from 4bc to 6ad. He is the Herod that was in power when Jesus, Mary, and Joseph returned from Egypt. God warned Joseph to bypass Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Instead, Joseph took his family back to Galilee. In the system of Roman Government, even though Archelaus was the rightful heir of Herod the Great, he still had to travel to Rome in order to be approved. Augustus Caesar was the emperor at the time. Archelaus had massacred over 3,000 Jews during one Passover celebration. When he went to Rome in order to be installed as king of Judea and Samaria, the Jews sent a delegation of 50 men to Rome in order to persuade the emperor not to install him as king. Notwithstanding their plea, Augustus inaugurated him but withheld the title of king for a later date. The early Jewish historian Josephus said Archelaus was so brutal with the Jews and Samaritans, constant bitter complaints were made to Rome and constant threats of revolution existed. Rome finally removed Archelaus from office in 6ad. The point of the story was that even though his subjects hated him, he still managed to travel to Rome and become their official ruler. Think about how vengeful he would be on his return given how brutal he was before. That is the background for this parable. Most people in and around Jerusalem would be intimately and personally familiar with this incident. Page 4

Again, let me remind us that this is not an allegory where Jesus is Archelaus and we are not the subjects who hate Him and reject His rule. This is also not to be a comparison to the Jewish community at the time. Remember this is a parable. Jesus is emphasizing relationship here. In the parable Jesus set up, it seems as if a nobleman leaves his present country in order to travel to the capital in order to have himself appointed as king over the region he is presently living in. In verses 13, we can see that everyone was given a chance to excel. This is where the Luke and Matthew accounts differ radically. In this account, the nobleman called in 10 of his servants and gave them each $14,000. A mina is about the average of 4 months pay. Each servant received 10 minas. The total amount of money we are dealing with here is only about $140,000; a very modest sum as compared to Matthew s $14,000,000. Further, in Matthew s account only three servants are involved. In Luke s account 10 servants are involved even though at the end we only hear about 3 results. In Luke s passage, the nobleman instructs them to invest his money and make money. In Matthew s account, each servant was given an amount according to their abilities. In Luke, the 10 all receive an equal amount. Each one has an equal chance to excel in their mission. As for a stewardship theme goes, we can legitimately say that each of us have been given talents, gifts, abilities, and resources to use in the furtherance of God s Kingdom. But I think that is stretching the meaning here a bit. The main point so far in the story is this. A nobleman has gone to the capital city to be appointed officially as king of his region. He has given 10 servants a modest amount of money to do business for him during his absence. 2. JUDGMENT DAY IS A CERTAINTY (VS 14-15) Jesus is emphasizing that this nobleman is going to be gone for an undefined amount of time. JESUS WANTS TO GET HIS DISCIPLES READY FOR WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO HIM IN JERUSALEM. So far, this parable and the historical example it is based on, has to be confusing to the disciples and His other followers. It is about to become even more confusing. Verses 14-15 make one point clear; Judgment Day is a certainty. AS CERTAIN AS JESUS DIED FOR OUR SALVATION, ROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN; HE WILL RETURN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. Parables are meant to confuse us and throw us off track while the main point will hit us and catch us by surprise. I m sure Jesus followers are scratching their heads trying to figure this out. I am jumping ahead and no doubt outrunning the parable here but verse 14 reminds me that many people throughout history continue to reject Jesus. As we said earlier, when Archelaus went to Rome for his official appointment, he was so hated by everybody that his constituents sent a delegation to try and have him disqualified. Jesus words this verse in a Page 5

way that indicates most if not all of the king s subjects hated him and tried to sabotage his appointment. I m once again going to jump ahead of the parable and say that many people hated Jesus. In fact, most of the Jewish religious leaders hated Him, rejected Him, and would plot and carry out His death. For His disciples, it would appear to them that the whole world hated Jesus. Jesus would be arrested at the instigation of their own religious leaders. He would be tried and convicted in a religious kangaroo court. He would be handed over to the Roman authorities who would publicly humiliate, torture, and crucify Him. There would be nobody to stand up for Jesus and defend Him. There would be nobody to save Him from this outcome. We can see in our modern day culture that to insult Jesus and Christians is not only acceptable but desirable. Throughout history people have tried to eliminate Christians and destroy the Bible. Our world is daily becoming more and more AntiChrist. Historically, the Jews and Samaritans had good cause to hate Archelaus and try and have him removed from office. We don t know anything about the nobleman in Jesus parable but we do know that Jesus was God in the flesh and only came to earth to do good for us. In the first half of verse 15, there may have been some doubt as to whether or not the nobleman would be made king but there is no doubt as to Who Jesus is. As history went and as Jesus told the parable, even though people hated the nobleman and tried to sabotage his appointment and installation, he was made king and returned home. Jesus did not need to be made king by anyone. When Jesus came to earth and took on human flesh, He was already the legitimate King; not only of Judea, but of the entire world and entire universe. Jesus came already as King over all that exists. Even though Jesus came as the Suffering Servant Messiah; He was nonetheless the King of kings and Lord of lords. The people who plotted His death, the people who humiliated Him, spit in His face, tortured Him, punched Him in the face, mocked Him and killed Him, now know exactly Who He is. As history had it, and as Jesus told it in the parable, the second half of verse 15 reminds us that Jesus will return to judge the world. Archelaus was installed. He came back to Judea and Samaria and made the people pay. While listening to Jesus parable, we are anticipating that this newly appointed king is going to return home and deal with everyone who hated him and tried to defeat him. I can t help but think that if I were listening to this story as Jesus told it, I would be totally confused as to why Jesus was telling this story. I would be thinking that this king, who I am assuming is bad because of his historical type, is going to come and wreak havoc on his people and make them pay for every unkind thing they said or did. How can we not expect that? As his first order of business, the king called in all the servants he left money with to see how much he made during his absence. As we read and study through the Gospels, we are so caught up with the love, grace, mercy, and compassion Jesus has for us; that we often forget that He is God and He will judge all of humanity one day. Each human being who has ever lived will one day have to stand before Page 6

Jesus and give an account of His life. We will have to give an explanation of our relationship with Jesus to Jesus. In other words, did we receive and love Jesus as our Lord and Savior while we journeyed through life on earth; or did we reject Him or ignore Him? There will only be two possible answers; either we served Him as Lord or we didn t. I still don t see how anyone present could have understood the meaning of this parable yet. But for us we know this. AS CERTAIN AS JESUS DIED FOR OUR SALVATION, ROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN; HE WILL RETURN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. 3. JESUS WILL COME TO REWARD AND TO PUNISH (VS 16-27) So far, there have been no surprises in the parable. It has followed the historical events closely. The king is back and about to hand out rewards and punishments. Verses 16-27 remind us that Jesus will come to reward and to punish on the last day. JESUS WILL REWARD THOSE WHO HAVE SUBMITTED TO HIM WILLINGLY AND PUNISH THOSE WHO HAVE REJECTED HIM. Verses 16-19 show the king handing out rewards. It becomes clear as the parable goes on that the first servant gained the largest profit for the king. He doubled his money. The king is obviously pleased. He said, Well done, my good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of 10 cities. The second servant is brought in and it is revealed that he made a 50% return on the investment. The king rewarded him in direct proportion to his work. He was put in charge of 5 cities. We could say that this has to do with stewardship but I think it s much more than that. I think that this has to do with faithfulness and loyalty to the king. The reason I say this is because of the smallness of the money given to them. This was not a large sum of money and there was no way they could have anticipated the reward they were about to receive. The one guy made $14,000 and the other made $7,000. They are servants. The most they could have expected was to perhaps get a better room in the servant s quarters. They could have done just enough to make a little profit. But it seems as if they took their job seriously and did well. The reward goes way beyond what they deserved or earned. They were not rewarded for the money they earned. They were rewarded for their faithfulness and loyalty to the king. We also have to keep in mind that they were operating in an atmosphere that was poison. Many of the people hated the king. They had to make a decision whether to follow the crowd or follow the king. Here there are a lot of similarities to the way God s Kingdom operates. The ruling principle in our judgment has to do with our response to Jesus. We are invited to submit to and follow Jesus. Jesus freely forgives us of all our sins and cleanses us from all our iniquity. We receive this as a gift. Further, Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us, guide us, empower us, and comfort us. Along with this, He gives us gifts, talents, fruits, resources, and the church. We live in a hostile world. The world in general is under the control of Satan and not many people follow Christ. Compared to the riches of heaven, what He has Page 7

entrusted us with is very little. We are not judged based on results because God is responsible for the results. It would never be appropriate for us to say we led a particular number of people to Christ. The Holy Spirit is responsible for the salvation of souls. We do invest our assets but God accomplishes the work. However, Jesus talked a lot about the rewards we will receive in heaven. He talks about our ruling with Him in heaven as does the rest of the New Testament. The comparison is this. We don t really deserve any rewards and we can never say that we have earned and are entitled to rewards. However the fact is that we will receive undeserved rewards that are immeasurably beyond what we have earned. But the point is how much we love Jesus. If we love Jesus, we will indeed invest all we have been given. If we love Jesus, we will choose to reject the world and serve Him alone. It s all about love, faithfulness, and loyalty. We will do our best to serve Him faithfully as King, as Lord, and as Savior. So maybe Jesus was preparing His followers with the idea that they would be tested as to where their loyalties were. When Jesus was publicly humiliated, tortured, and killed, would they stand with Jesus against what seemed to be the whole world and would they continue to love Him? Those who reject Jesus have all sorts of excuses and reasons they refuse to submit. In verses 20-23, one of the servants offered up insults and excuses to the king in the parable. As we read through this section, let s remember that Jesus offered and continues to offer salvation to all who will receive Him. When called to give an account of how he did, the third servant merely gives the king back the $14,000 he was given. He took the coin out of his handkerchief and gave it back to the king. He returned exactly what he received. At least he didn t lose any money. But look at his statement, I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow. He really betrays his feelings for the king. He doesn t like the king and he has no respect for the king. He is clearly in league with those who hated the king. There is no relationship of love with his king. Whether he likes it or not, this nobleman is now king. Even if the guy was not sure how to invest the money, he could have deposited the money in the bank and collected interest. Even if the bank only ended up paying him 1 mina interest, he would have been given one city to rule. Look at how the master judges the servant. He says if you think that s how I am, then I will judge you like that. Look how stupid this servant was. If indeed the king was ruthless and evil, then he should have been frightened enough to make at least a little profit. On the other hand, if the king wasn t like that and if the king were really kind, then the servant is insulting the king. Either way, the servant has condemned himself with his own words. When I look at the life and commands of Jesus, I can t figure out why people hate Him so much. What has Jesus done or taught that would make people reject Him? It seems to me that if I weren t sure if there was a God or which one to serve, the life and message of Jesus would appeal to me as the kind of God I would want to serve and worship. Page 8

Nevertheless, the majority of people throughout history has rejected and continues to reject Jesus as the One and Only true and living God. Verses 24-27 describe the punishments given out by the king in the parable. One of the strange quirks of this parable is that the punishment of the wicked servant turns out to be a further reward to the most talented faithful servant. The king ordered that the $14,000 be taken away from this wicked servant and given to the servant who now had $28,000 and rule over 10 cities. If things go as they have, this faithful servant now has $42,000 and rule over 11 cities. That s not bad. We don t know how the other 7 servants made out but we have the judgment template. Those who loved the king and were faithful and loyal to him were rewarded. Verse 27 gives us the fate of those who rejected the king, hated him, and refused to serve him. The king ordered those who were his enemies brought out before him, and killed in front of him. I don t think we remind ourselves of this part of Jesus often enough. Jesus will be the Judge at the final judgment. He will reward those who chose to follow Him in life. He will welcome them to receive their full inheritance in heaven. That is a day in which we believers look forward to. However, Jesus will send to eternal hell those who have failed to receive Him and follow Him through this life on earth. Jesus was as clear about hell as He was about heaven. JESUS WILL REWARD THOSE WHO HAVE SUBMITTED TO HIM WILLINGLY AND PUNISH THOSE WHO HAVE REJECTED HIM. Even as I have studied through this parable and have now preached it, I have to confess that I m confused as to how this parable was preparing His disciples into understanding that the Kingdom of God was not going to appear immediately when they entered Jerusalem. But from the benefit of reading and studying the entire Bible, Jesus has reinforced this thought for us. EVERY PERSON WILL BE JUDGED BY HOW THEY HAVE RESPONDED TO JESUS AS THE CHRIST. In other words, Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He will come one day to judge the living and the dead. We will be judged solely on the basis of how we have responded to Jesus offer to come into our lives and receive Him as Lord and Savior. If you are hearing this message or reading it, then you still have time. Please do not mistake Jesus humble love with lack of power. Listen to what the Apostle Paul said about Jesus: 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11 / TNIV). There will come a time when every person who has ever lived will bow down before Jesus and admit that He indeed is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Some will do it willingly others will be forced. The fact remains He is God. The only question for us who are now living is will we submit to Him now willingly and receive rewards in heaven at the judgment or will we reject Him now and be forced to submit at the judgment; right before He sends us to hell? Page 9