OWNED BY GOD

Luke 19: 11-27

INTRODUCTION

We are beginning this morning a four-week series examining some of what God has to say about money and our relationship to it.  As most of you know we are in the midst of a capital campaign to raise money to add on to our building on West Court St. for a permanent worship center in Janesville.  While the campaign has furnished the occasion for this series, my goal in examining these four passages is not to get us to give more money for the building program.  My goal is the same as it always is, to help you and I to find our joy in God and to forsake finding our joy in the pleasures of sin and of this world.  Frankly, as I’ve been preparing for this series I have felt that I have been remiss in my duty as your pastor in that I have rarely spoken about money and possessions.  I feel I’ve been lax in my duty for three reasons.  First, I had the hardest time deciding on what passages to explain because there are so many to choose from.  Randy Alcorn points out that the Bible talks more about money than it does about faith and prayer.  Jesus talked more about money than he did about heaven and hell.  15% of the verses spoken by Jesus refer in some way to money.  It’s disconcerting to discover that a subject that the Bible spends so much time talking about is a subject I have barely mentioned. 

The second reason I’ve been feeling negligent in my duty as your pastor is because I assumed that most Christians understood the Bible’s teaching about money.  However, as I have been reading, the facts indicate that most Christians in the U.S. do not have a correct view of money.  The amount of debt among Christians is not significantly different from the amount of debt among non-Christians.  George Barna reports that only 12% of Christians gave 10% of their income to the Lord’s work in 2000.  23% of Christians gave nothing in 2000.  The data on giving, spending, saving and debt among Christians shows that the majority of Christians either do not understand or are intentionally disregarding God’s instructions about money.  A third reason I’m concerned that I’ve been lax in my responsibility in speaking about what the Bible says about money is because I’m uncomfortable talking about it.  My lack of comfort is not due to a fear of offending you but over a fear of offending me.  I know that if I talk about money I’m going to have to give more attention to my own relationship to money and I’m a little afraid of what I might find out about myself.  If you’re uncomfortable about my spending four weeks talking about money, we can be uncomfortable together.

We’re going to begin our examination of what God says about money in Luke 19 and a parable that Jesus told.  In this parable, Jesus aims to convince us that the only rational way to live is to use all our resources: time, money, possessions, and abilities to further God’s work in the world.  As is usually the case, Jesus’ disciples and the crowds have their eyes fixed on the earth and life lived here while Jesus has his eyes fixed on heaven and the eternity that stretches out before every human being.  Therefore, he aims to persuade us that we have been given all that we’ve been given to use for the progress of God’s work in the world.  This morning we are going to look at four reasons Jesus gives to motivate us to use all that we have and are to expand God’s kingdom on earth.

MAIN POINT

You ought to invest all that you have to further the work of God in this world because…

I.  This isn’t heaven (vv. 11-12)

In verse 11 we are given the reason that Jesus tells this parable.  He tells this parable because his disciples and the crowds were convinced that he was the Messiah and that he was going to bring in God’s rule on the earth when he got to Jerusalem.  Due to the miraculous healings that he has performed and the authoritative teaching he has given, the people are convinced that Jesus is that descendant of David who was going to take the nation Israel to the top.  They fully expected that within the next few weeks Jesus would destroy the occupying Roman army, throw out the corrupt Jewish leaders and establish God’s kingdom on earth.  The disciples were anticipating that they were going to become the chief administrators of that kingdom, as they were closest to him.  These crowds of people are buzzing with excitement as rumors of Jesus’ impending military conquest stirs their imaginations with visions of grandeur for themselves and the nation of Israel.

But notice, Jesus, using a story, explains what is actually about to happen.  He talks about a noble man who goes to a distant country to be made king and then to come back.  Before he leaves, he calls together his servants, gives them some money and tells them to use it to expand his business while he is gone.  This noble man is Jesus who is going to heaven to be made king of the universe by God his Father.  However, the way he’s going to do it is the opposite of how these people think it’s going to happen.  Jesus knows that when he gets to Jerusalem that while he will be initially received with wild enthusiasm, by the end of the week these same cheering crowds will be calling for his blood, his disciples will have forsaken him and he will be beaten and crucified.  He fully intends to bring God’s kingdom to earth but not right now and not in the way that the crowds think.  Rather, the kingdom of God will come through his death and resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand.  He is going to be made king but he will not be installed as the king right now.  Rather, the kingdom of God will come now through the work of the Holy Spirit conquering individual hearts.  It will start small like a mustard seed and will grow in an unnoticed way until the day he returns.  Then, at his second coming, the rule of God in saving his people and destroying his enemies will come to fullness, but not before then.

When the kingdom of God has come in fullness, then the battle is over and the journey is done.  These people, just like us, want the fight to be over.  They want their enemies defeated and the work to be at an end.  However, the point of the parable is that it isn’t over.  This isn’t heaven.  The work of God to seek and save the lost, to bring his people into their eternal rest is not completed.  There is work yet to be done because the end is not yet, this is not heaven.  Now is not the time to look for comfort and ease and the end of suffering.  Now is the time to work, to be about the master’s business.  Now is the time to invest all that he has given us in his business, to increase the fruitfulness of it.  What Jesus is saying in this parable is similar to what a dad says to his children on Saturday morning.  He stands before the cartoons on TV and tells his children that now is the time to clean the house.  When the house is cleaned, the whole family is going to see the new movie that has just been released.  Now is the time to clean.  Afterwards we will watch the movie.  If you don’t work now, there will be no movie for you later.  Then the dad assigns the tasks.  If one of the children does not do their work but instead turns on the TV to watch cartoons, will the dad be justified in refusing to take the child to the movie?  Of course he will.  In the same way, Jesus tells us that this is not heaven.  Now is the time to invest our resources in his business.  Heaven comes later, when we can rest and enjoy the pleasures of it.

Living in an affluent culture like ours it is easy to think that the battle is over, the work is done.  There are a lot of comforts to be had.  There are many ways to alleviate suffering and to enjoy security in our wealth.  It is easy to try to use the resources God has given us to try to create heaven on earth now.  However, Jesus would remind us that this isn’t heaven.  This isn’t the time to seek your comfort and security, that’s what heaven is for and that is still to come.  Therefore, invest the resources God has given you now to increase the display of his glory.  Until we get to heaven we are to be about our master’s business, investing the resources he has given us to expand it.

You ought to invest all that you have to further the work of God in this world because…

Ø      This isn’t heaven

Ø      And because…

II.  He owns you and everything you possess (vv. 13 & 15)

The word that is translated “servants” in the NIV ought to be translated “slaves”.  Simply by being a human being, we are slaves to God in the sense that he owns us.  He created us.  He has the right of ownership over us.  We are obligated to obey him as our master, as the lawgiver.  For the person who has trusted in Christ, we are slaves doubly so.  Paul says we were bought with a price.  We are now slaves of God.  Not only does he own us, but everything we have and are he has given to us.  Again the apostle Paul asks us, “What do you have that you did not receive?”  Whether you acknowledge it or not, God is your master and everything you have, he owns, he gave to you.  He gave it all to you for a purpose.  He wants you to use what he has given you to expand his business in the world.  He wants you to use the time, the money, the possessions, the body, the mind, everything that belongs to him that he has given to you to increase the size and profitability of his enterprise in the world.  That’s the mandate he has given us, “Put these things to work until I come back.”  What is God’s enterprise in the world?  That his name and his salvation be displayed to all the peoples of the world through us.

I just heard a report this last week about the national laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico.  The University of California has run the lab for the past fifty years.  However, this year the government is going to open the administration of the lab up to bidding from other institutions and companies.  The reason is because the University has done such a poor job of overseeing the lab.  Evidently a number of employees used the lab’s credit card to buy things for themselves, like snow blowers, cars and gambling vacations.  The government did not give credit cards to the employees so that they can buy things for themselves.  Rather, they have been given resources to use to run the lab better and to expand its research.  Not too long ago there was a report of an individual at the GM plant who used his ability to requisition tools and supplies for GM to set up his own body shop with tools and parts from GM.  This is another case of an employee using a resource that he was given to benefit his company that he used to benefit himself.  Companies give resources to their employees so the employees will use the resources to further the work of the business, not to further their own private agenda or to give themselves gifts.   

It is the same with God.  We do not own anything.  He owns us and has given us everything we have for living to display his greatness and glory.  We reveal the glory of God by how we invest our time and money.  God does not simply own a portion of what we possess.  He owns it all.  All of our time, money, possessions and abilities are to be used by us to expand the display of God’s glory on earth.  Do you view yourself as being owned by God?  Do you view your salary, your house, your car, your clothes, your TV, everything you possess as belonging to God and given to you to invest so that his business prospers and increases in the world?  Do we spend our money and our time to increase the glory of God in the world or simply to increase our own pleasure in the world?  Are we using the resources God has given to increase his glory or to increase our comfort?

You ought to invest all that you have to further the work of God in this world because…

Ø      This isn’t heaven

Ø      He owns you and everything you possess

Ø      And because…

III.  When Jesus returns he is going to abundantly reward his faithful servants (vv. 15-19, 24-25)

Most of the parable is taken up with the evaluation session that takes place when the noble man returns home after he has been made king.  This is a clear reference to the return of Christ in power and glory as the reigning king of the universe.  Notice that he calls each of his servants into a personal performance review “to find out what they had gained with” the money he left them.  We are to live today in light of the fact that each of us will have to give an account to the king when he comes.  The first one he interviews tells the king that his mina has earned ten more.  That’s a 1000% rate of return.  If we were to put the “mina” into today’s monetary values the slave was given about $10,000 and through wise investment it became $100,000.  We are not told what he did; only that somehow he invested his master’s money so that it returned ten times, what he was given.  Look at how the master responded to this.  He enthusiastically commends him, calling him a good slave.  The adjective points to the fact that he has acted as a slave ought to act.  He has used his energy and the resources he was given to expand the master’s business.  He also says that he has been faithful.  Faithfulness refers to his work ethic.  He has been diligent to complete the assigned task.  He has not been distracted or used his time or resources foolishly.  He has done what he was told to do and he has done it well.  He believed he was a slave and that the resources he had belonged to his master, not to him.  Every day while the master was gone he had gotten up with this one thought burning in his mind: What can I do today to use my time and the resources my master left me to increase my master’s profit?

The main point to notice however is the reward that the slave obtains because of his faithfulness as a slave.  The king puts him in charge of ten cities.  Notice the comparison that the king makes.  Investing $10,000 wisely is called a little thing while being in charge of ten cities is a great thing.  It really is a remarkable reward for such a small thing.  He goes from managing a small business with a budget in the tens of thousands to managing ten cities with a budget in the hundreds of millions.  He goes from being a slave to ruling over hundreds of thousands of people.  He goes from selling clothes in a small retail shop to managing all the work it takes to keep ten cities going.  Imagine that you won employee of the month in your work place.  The day after you received the award the President called you up, told you he heard about your being the employee of the month, and congratulated you.  Then he told you that because of your good work he wanted you to be Secretary of State.  The point is that the reward for being a good and faithful slave far outweighs the cost.  Living as if you are God’s slave, using the resources you have been given not to increase your level of comfort in the world but to increase the glory of God in the world does cost us.  However, the rewards are so far beyond any cost we incur as to make the comparison ridiculous.  This is why the apostle Paul, who bore a greater cost than perhaps any other Christian, was able to say, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed to us.”

I also want you to notice the humility of this servant.  He doesn’t say to the king, “Look what I did by my shrewd investment and hard work.  Now pay me what you owe me.”  Rather he says, “Here is what your mina earned.”  In other words, he views himself as a slave and understands that all that he was able to do was the result of his master’s giving him the resources.  He would have done nothing if the master had not given him the resources to begin with.  There is no sense of demanding.  He does not speak as though the master now was obligated to pay him.  While we are not told this, it would not be hard to imagine this slave being completely overwhelmed by the complements and the staggering nature of the reward he was given.  Gratitude would have filled his breast, not self-congratulation.  I remember when I was about ten years old mowing my aunt Edna’s lawn.  She lived on a farm and had a very large yard.  However, she also had a riding lawn mower.  I was so excited to get to mow the lawn on a riding lawn mower.  It was complete joy.  The first time, after I finished, she gave me a big glass of ice-cold lemonade and paid me $5.00.  I was in shock.  I tried to give the money back.  I was overwhelmed to be paid so much money for doing something that was so fun.  It was a pleasure to do the work.  Being paid for it seemed like enormous generosity to me.  Every slave who receives the rewards of heaven is going to feel the same sense of gratitude and amazement only in infinitely greater ways.

But notice Jesus goes on to tell about one of the other ten slaves who also is good and faithful but to a lesser degree.  The second slave tells the king that his mina earned five minas.  The king tells him that he will be in charge of five cities.  The point Jesus is making here is that the authority we enjoy in heaven will be in proportion to the fruitfulness of our lives here.  The rewards the king will distribute when he returns will be determined by how effectively we invested his resources here.  Jesus is letting us know that there will be enormous rewards for those who have faithfully invested the resources he has given in extending the display of God’s glory in the world.  However, the extent of the reward will be in proportion to the effectiveness of our investments here.  What we do here is going to have an impact on what we will be doing for eternity.  Every day as we get up we should remind ourselves of this reality.  “How I invest my time and my money today is going to affect what happens to me forever.”  There is going to be an overwhelming reward for me if I will invest my life to increase the evidence of God’s glory on earth.

You ought to invest all that you have to further the work of God in this world because…

Ø      This isn’t heaven

Ø      He owns you and everything you possess

Ø      When Jesus returns he is going to abundantly reward his faithful servants

Ø      And because…

IV.  When Jesus returns he is going to punish all who are unfaithful to him or oppose him (vv. 14 & 20-27)

I wish that Jesus had ended the parable here by saying, “The king and his ten slaves lived happily ever after.”  However, he did not say that.  He went on to describe the king’s interview with a servant whom he calls “evil”.  In fact, Jesus spends more time considering what the “evil” slave did than he does considering what the “good” slaves did.  What the “evil” slave did was take the money the king gave him, tie it up in a handkerchief, put it in his dresser drawer, and forgot about it.  He did not invest the master’s money, he did not seek to increase his master’s profit or enlarge his business.  He hid the money and then used his time to do what he wanted to do.  He didn’t awaken each day thinking about how to increase his master’s business.  He got up each day and thought about how he wanted to spend his time.  His life was his own to do with as he pleased.

Why did he live this way?  He says the reason he did not invest the master’s money was that he feared the king.  He says that he knew the king was a hard or harsh man.  He takes out what he did not put in and he reaps what he did not sow.  In other words, this evil slave believes that the king is a crook.  He believes that the king is unjust and cannot be trusted.  He did not take any risks with the king’s resources because he feared what would happen to him.  If the business venture failed, then he knew the king would be mad at him and if it succeeded, he knew that the king would not reward him.  If he were a faithful servant, he would not get anything for his trouble except more trouble.  The evil servant did not invest the resources because he did not believe that the king could be trusted.  He expected the king to come back and knew he would have to give an account but he did not trust or love the king and so there was no way he was going to take any risks or go to any trouble.  There is impudence in his statement to the king.  There is no remorse or fear as he faces the king.  He feels justified in that he is returning what the king gave him and he has a good reason for not investing the king’s resources.

Let’s look at what the king says to him.  As I’ve mentioned he call’s him an evil or wicked slave.  He is evil because he did not do what he was told and he is evil because of why he did not do what he was told.  The king is no crook.  He is overwhelmingly generous to the other slaves.  They all trusted and loved their master.  There is no ground for him to think these things or to act this way.  The king tells him that he will judge him based upon his own words.  What the king is saying is this: “If I were as you say I am, then why didn’t you at least put the money in a bank so that I would have at least earned interest on my money?  Putting my money in the bank would have avoided all the risk to you and would have at least gained me something.  The reason you did not do anything with the money is because you do not view yourself as my slave and do not believe that I have any right to hold you accountable for your actions.  Your problem really is not that you feared me.  Your problem is that you had no concern for me and no understanding of who you truly are in relation to me.  You have acted just like my enemies.”

Therefore, the king takes away the mina that he had been given and he gives it to the one who has ten minas already.  The king’s attendants are amazed at this and protest the giving of the mina to the one who has ten.  The attendants do not protest taking the mina from the evil slave.  They know that is just.  What they protest is the giving of the mina to the one who has ten.  That is not fair, he already has ten minas.  They are protesting sovereign grace.  Who owns the minas?  The king does.  He can do with his money as he pleases.  What we discover is that the king did not confiscate the money the slaves earned.  He let them keep the money they earned and he gave them cities to rule.  He gives the evil slaves mina to the one with ten because he wants to be gracious to him, not because he earned it.  He is not being unjust to anyone.  He is treating the evil slave with perfect justice and he is being gracious to the good slave.

Verse 26 contains the principle of judgment that Jesus will use when he comes.  It is the principle that will determine what happens to each person who professes to be a slave of Jesus.  The principle is this: everyone who invests their life for the purpose of displaying the great love and trustworthiness of Jesus is going to receive eternal reward.  However, everyone who refuses to invest the life they’ve been given to display the greatness of Christ will have their life taken away from them when Jesus comes again.  Jesus is not saying that people earn their way into heaven.  He is describing what people do who believe in him, who trust him.  If you believe that Jesus Christ has gone away to be made king and that he is coming again to reward all of his good slaves and to punish all of the evil slaves, then you will invest your life to his glory.  You will view all you possess, your entire life as being owned by him, to be used for his glory.  If you believe that the rewards that will be given out on the last day are staggering in their graciousness then you will gladly invest your time, money, possessions and abilities to increase the glory of Christ on the earth.  However, if you do not trust him, then you will not invest your life in this great purpose.  When he comes again you will have your life, which he gave you, taken away from you.

Finally, notice that there is another group of people mentioned in this story.  In v. 14 we are told that the subjects of the noble man hated him and sent a delegation to protest his being made king.  In the context, this is referring to the Jewish nation and is a prediction of what is going to happen in the week following Jesus’ telling of this parable.  The nation of Israel is going to reject Jesus as the Messiah and have him put to death because they hate him and don’t want him to be their king.  When Jesus comes again he is going to punish all those who hate him with eternal judgment, not just Jewish people, but all who hate him.  King Jesus is coming back and everyone who is openly opposed to him will be slaughtered in front of him.  Everyone who professes to be his slave but who does not invest their lives in this great business of displaying his love and mercy to the world will also be punished.

What this parable tells us is that to say you believe in Jesus means that you are looking ahead to that eternal reward that will come to all who invest their lives for his glory.  We live now in light of the fact that the day is coming when King Jesus will return and then we will receive the reward of faithful service to him.  The reward does not come now but in the future.  You will not be a generous person without keeping your eyes fixed upon the glory to be revealed to us when Christ returns.  You will act as though the money you have is yours to do with as you please if you do not keep your mind fixed upon the coming judgment.  There is eternal joy coming for all who trust in this great king.  All who trust in King Jesus will get up each day and consider how they will invest all they’ve been given that day to increase the glory of Christ on the earth.  They will live in such a way that shows that their hope for happiness does not reside in getting their pleasure here and now but rather upon obtaining the eternal happiness that Jesus will pour out on all his good slaves when he comes.

You ought to invest all that you have to further the work of God in this world because…

Ø      This isn’t heaven

Ø      He owns you and everything you possess

Ø      When Jesus returns he is going to abundantly reward his faithful servants

Ø      When Jesus returns he is going to punish all who are unfaithful to him or oppose him