Until He Comes Luke 19:11-27 When the sun was a shimmering slice of orange peeking over brown bluffs beyond the Jordan, the Lord planned to leave the tall palms of Jericho behind them. The mountain road to Jerusalem was both difficult and dangerous. It was an exhausting, uphill climb through chalk white dust. The sun beat down mercilessly and reflected from every rock. The road was a serpentine maze of hairpin turns. And bandits crouched in the shadows of overhanging rocks and blind canyons. But for the multitude that followed the Savior it would be exciting. The Lord knew they would walk along buzzing with excitement. And with every step, the thrilled would grow....they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. Verse 11 Jesus had both preached messages and performed miracles all over Galilee. So the people were convinced He really was the Christ. And when He got to Jerusalem, He would rule as King. That was not a foolish fantasy, either. Jesus will indeed rule as King in Jerusalem one day. The people were simply out of sync with God s timing. But that was not all. Their thinking was also all wrong. They were thinking about an empire instead of evangelism, about power and prestige instead of piety. So before He left Jericho, Christ corrected them. Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. Verse 11 The Future Our Lord was one of a kind. Every other person born on this planet had human father. But Jesus did not. He alone was truly of royal blood. His Father was and is the Lord of Glory, the King of Creation, the Master of the Universe. Like the man in the Master s story, Jesus was of noble heritage. And as He told Pontus Pilate, He was born to be a King. You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, John 18:37 The Herods ruled as kings over Palestine. But the Caesar was the real sovereign. So each of the Herods, in turn, sailed to Rome. There, they crept into Caesar s throne room and petitioned that Roman ruler for the right to rule as kings back home. A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. Verse 12 That, Savior insisted, is what He would do. No, He would not immediately ascend to His rightful throne as Ruler of all the world. First, He would go to His eternal Father s great throne room in Heaven. Then sometime later, He would return to reign as King. And so it was. After Jesus was crucified, He was buried and rose again. Then after forty days, He rose up into the sky, returning to Heaven from whence He came. He rose up into the clouds over the Mount of Olives as a gentle Shepherd and a patient Teacher. He rose up as One who gave His back to whips and His hands to nails. But He will not return as He left. He will come back to this world as a conquering King.
Then no man will spit His face and dishonor His Name. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord of all. And His enemies, David wrote, will be His foot stool. But that is yet to come. Right now, we are in the meantime. We look to the sky, waiting for that grand and glorious day. And while we wait, we are to work. The Faithful The man in the Master s parable left as a nobleman. He returned a king. But before He left, he called some of his slaves....he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, Do business with this until I come back. Verse 13 The lord of the manor did not call strangers in off the street. Those he called were already in his service. That alone tells us the ten slaves stand for those who have already trusted Christ and committed their lives to Him. So the parable is primarily for believing Christians. Before he left, the nobleman gave the slaves some instructions. They were to do business in his name. But he not only gave them orders. He also gave them what they needed to carry out His instructions. He gave each of them an amount of money. A mina was worth about one hundred days wages. So we might think of it as five or six thousand dollars. In the same way, our Savior has given Christians absolutely everything they need to obey Him and honor His precious Name. He has given each of us a mind and a body. He has given us talents and abilities. He has even given us special spiritual abilities. But that is not all He has given those who trust in Him. Our loving Lord has also given us His own Holy Spirit. And that Spirit fills us with the character of Christ....the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; Galatians 5:22-23 God s Spirit also gives believers spiritual wisdom, insight and understanding. And we are commanded to work and work hard to grow the Spirit s gifts. That is what Paul told Timothy For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you... 2 Timothy 1:6 (ESV) In the Savior s story, months passed. Perhaps even years dragged by. Then one day when the servants least expected it, their lord suddenly returned. When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. Verse 15 In the same way, our Savior s return is sure. It is not a matter of if, but when. And when He does split the skies, He will call every Christian before His judgement seat....we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10 That does not mean those who trust in Christ s cross will be judged concerning sin and salvation. Heaven and hell will not hang in the balance. We have Jesus promise on that.
I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24 However, like the servants in our Savior s parable, we will be required to give an account. We will have to explain what we have done with all our Lord gave us. Two of the nobleman s servants did well. They had good reports for their lord. The first appeared, saying, Master, your mina has made ten minas more. And he said to him, Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities. The second came, saying, Your mina, master, has made five minas. And he said to him also, And you are to be over five cities. Verses 16-19 One man invested the mina his master gave him and earned ten more. The other man made five more. But neither man took credit for what he had done. It was the master s money that produced positive results, not their effort and intelligence. They were both definite about that. In the same way, we are never to boast about anything we might have done that brings honor and glory to Christ s name. If we are successful in any measure at all, it is only because of the gifts our God gave us. It is also important to note that if we use that which our Savior gives us, we will produce more of the same. If we exercise our faith, God will give us more faith. If we love selflessly and sacrificially, He will give us more love. That is an unshakeable spiritual principle. What we use inevitably increases. I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Verse 26 Like that which the slaves earned, the increase in God s gifts will not taken away from us. They are forever ours. But that was not true of the unfaithful servant. His money was taken away. Likewise, what we do not use we will lose But the increase itself was not the reward for their faithfulness. No, they were allowed to serve their lord in greater ways. And so it is with faithful Christians. If we use and increase the gifts God gives us, He will give us the greatest of all honors. He will let us serve Him in even greater ways. The Failure Two of the slaves presented positive reports. But one man did not. He stood before his lord with a knotted cloth in his hand. Another came, saying, Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow. Verses 20-21 That man s problem was not a lack of ambition or aptitude. He failed because he did not know his master as the others did. They knew their lord was kind, compassionate and forgiving. But the other man s concepts were warped by his own wickedness. He charged that his master was harsh and hard, unfeeling, unreasonable and unkind. He believed his master demanded what no servant could deliver and was dissatisfied with what a
servant could. He charged the man was unjust, demanding a harvest he did not plant, fattening himself on grain stored by the sweat of other men s brows. There are those today who also think the Lord is like that. They see God through eyes twisted and warped by their own sinfulness. They have never met the Master who loves them so much He laid down His very life for them. So they imagine God cannot be pleased and does not deserve to be served. Therefore, any worship or work they offer is both bitter and begrudging. In the end, whether our service for God is a delight or drudgery and whether we are to be commended or criticized depends entirely on how well we know our God. Yes, some saints fail simply because they do not know God as He really is. However, the slave who failed had yet another problem. And Jesus highlighted it with biting sarcasm. Afraid he would lose his master s money, the man tied it up in a cloth and buried it. The cloth he used was a sweat rag. He had no use for that cloth, because he had no intention of working hard. Our Lord is and ever shall be a God of goodness and grace. He faithfully supplies all we need to live victorious lives here on earth. His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3 Yes, God s Spirit does supply all need to be faithful to Christ and bring honor to His blessed Name. But the Spirit never subsidizes lethargy or smiles on laziness. Paul never felt worthy to serve his Savior. He also knew he was only able to serve Christ by gifts of God s grace. But that does not mean the great missionary felt he did not have to work hard. I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 The servant failed because he did not put out any effort to obey his lord s commands. And if are like him, we will fail too. Grace is never an excuse for laziness. The Faithless Before the nobleman went away, he was aware that a rebellion was brewing. While he was gone, it became overt and obvious. And rebellion festered into outright opposition. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us. Verse 14 There is no middle ground. Savior divided all men into two groups: servants and enemies. There were slaves who loved and served the nobleman. And there were subjects who hated him. The people who lived in the towns and villages around the master s manor did not consider themselves his subjects. But they were. That made them hate him all the more. And they probably did not even believe he would ever return, much less be their king. People today do not believejesus will return and reign as King of all creation, either. But that will not keep Him back. They not only refuse to trust in the Redeemer and serve Him out of love and love alone. They seethe with hatred for Him.
They oppose Him and persecute His followers. That has always been the case. In fact, Jesus warned us that men will hate us. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. John 15:19-20 Those who reject and rebel against our Lord laugh at the very idea that He will return to this earth one day. And the subjects in the Savior s story probably did too. But just as those who reject Christ as King, they were wrong. The nobleman did return. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence. Verse 27 Christ will surely return to this earth one day. And He will come as a Judge. On that day there will be no escape for those who would not have Christ as their King. A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; the Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Nahum 1:2-3 God s own Son paid the full penalty of blood and death for our sins. And if we confess our sins, God will gladly cleanse us of all our guilt. So we do not have to be punished for our sins when Christ comes back. We do not have to be condemned subjects. We can be committed servants.