Parable of the Pounds, #3 (Luke 19:11-27)

Introduction and Review of the Parable's Context and Initial Applications

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, December 9th, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 Now let us turn this morning to Luke chapter 19, Luke chapter 19, and follow please as I read for the third time, I read it twice last Lord's Day, I read it again this morning. The parable of the mina, or the pounds, I will use the word mina, your New King James Version gives that, and since pounds says nothing, it's easier to take the word mina, which is just a transliteration from the original, and seek to give its current equivalence in money. So we'll stick with the word mina, and we will translate the word servants as slaves. All right, verse 11, Luke 19, 11. And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear. He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called ten slaves of his, and gave them ten mina, and he said unto them, Trade till I come.

1:32 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, We will not that this man reign over us. And it came to pass, when he was come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these slaves, unto whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. And the first came before him, saying, Lord, Your mina has made ten minas more. And he said unto him, Well done, you good slave, because you were found faithful in a very little.

2:13 Have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Your mina, Lord, has made five minas. And he said unto him also, You be over five cities. And another, And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is your mina, which I kept laid up in a napkin.

2:37 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You take up that which you did not lay down, and you reap that which you did not sow. He said unto him, Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked slave. You knew that I am an austere man, taking up that which I laid not.

3:01 You knew that I am an austere man, taking up that which I laid not down, and reaping that which I did not sow. Then wherefore did you not give my money into the bank, that I at my coming should have required it with interest? And he said unto them that stood by, Take away from him the mina, and give it unto him that has the ten minas. And they said unto him, Lord, he has ten minas.

3:26 I say unto you, That unto everyone that has, shall be given. But from him that has not, even that which he has, shall be taken away from him. But these mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring them here, and slay them before me. Now let us again ask God for the help of his Holy Spirit, as we come to his word.

4:00 Our Father, we thank you again for the scriptures. We thank you for the gift, the Holy Spirit. And we pray that as we take the scriptures into our hands, and set the words before our eyes, and the concepts before our minds, that the very Holy Spirit who gave these words to us through the pen of Luke, would be present to open our eyes, to behold wondrous things out of your law. We read in your word that the word preached did not profit some, not being mixed with faith, and oh Lord, we would not have that said of us, but by your grace, we would embrace your words in faith, and with a disposition of readiness to go, to do, to be, whatever your word marks out for us, as your will. Speak to us then with grace and power we plead, in Jesus' name. Amen.

5:04 Be ye ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man, is coming. These words of our Lord Jesus, recorded in Matthew 24 and verse 44, are as crucial to us today, as they were to the disciples to whom Jesus spoke them on the Mount of Olives, nearly 2,000 years ago. This clear affirmation of our Lord, concerning his second coming in power and glory at the end of the age, became a dominant element, in the faith and experience, of the rank and file of the people of God, in the apostolic age. And in desiring to see that this truth of the Lord's return, have its rightful place in our faith, and in our experience, as 21st century believers, I preach some 20 sermons, in which I sought to open up the major lines of biblical truth, with respect, to the doctrine of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In those 20 sermons, I sought to answer the question, what does the Bible teach, concerning the return of our Lord Jesus? I then began, some seven messages ago, to answer the so what, of the Lord's return,

6:33 having sought to grapple with all the major lines of biblical truth, relative to the what, of our Lord's return. We are now concerned to answer the question, so what? What practical importance is there, in this grand and glorious doctrine of scripture? And I've suggested that we can answer the so what, under two major categories.

7:00 The first, that there are gracious consolations, derived from the truth of the Lord's return. And secondly, there are manifold motivations, rooted in the doctrine of the Lord's return. And in opening up the specific ways, in which the truth of the Lord's return, is meant to exert a powerful and constant motivational energy, upon the souls of the people of God, we have seen, number one, that the truth of the Lord's return is to motivate us to persevering faith. Secondly, it is to motivate us, to spiritually, to spiritual sobriety and watchfulness.

7:44 Thirdly, it is to motivate us, in the serious pursuit of personal holiness. And in the fourth place, and this is where we are in our study, the truth of the Lord's return is meant to motivate us, to the faithful use of our God-given gifts and opportunities. And in opening up this last line of biblical truth, we've been examining, two parables spoken by our Lord Jesus. The parable of the talents, as found in Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14 to 30.

8:21 And the parable of the mina, or the pounds, as recorded in Luke 19, 11 to 27. By way of a brief review, I quote again, the very accurate and helpful insights of William Arno, a Scottish preacher in the 19th century, who in introducing his exposition on the parable of the pounds or the mina, but conscious that he had opened up the parable of the talents from Matthew 25, he writes, it's necessary at the outset to indicate the relation which exists between this parable, the parable of the mina, and that of the talents. Although in many of their features they are the same, in others there is a decisive difference. They are sort of like fraternal twins. They share the same womb. They share many similar characteristics, having the same parents and coming out of the same gene pool, but they are not identical twins.

9:22 So, Mr. Arno says, there are many features of the same, but in others, a decisive difference. Both show that the Lord bestows privileges on His servants and demands faithfulness in return. Both show that the diligent are rewarded and the unprofitable are condemned.

9:44 But the one, Luke 19, the parable of the talents, supposes a case in which all the servants receive, I'm sorry, it's the parable of the pounds or the mina, both receive equal privileges and shows that even those of them who are faithful may be unequal as to the amount of their success. The other, the parable of the talents, supposes a case in which unequal privileges, five, two, and one, that unequal privileges are bestowed upon the servants and shows that when unequal gifts are employed with equal diligence, the approval is equal in the day of account. Both alike exhibit the grand fundamental distinction between the faithful and the faithless, but in pointing out also the diversities that exist among true disciples, they view the subject from opposite sides, each presenting that aspect of it which the other omits. The parable of the talents teaches that Christians differ from each other in the amount of gifts and opportunities that they receive. The parable of the pounds or the mina teaches that they differ from each other in the diligence with which they use the similar stewardship entrusted to them.

11:11 So for the benefit of those who have not been with us for the previous expositions, I hope that brief overview of a comparison and contrast of the two will be helpful to you. We are now studying the parable of the mina or the pounds. And last Lord's Day morning, I sought to highlight the historical setting in which these words were spoken. We saw that from Luke 9, 51 onward, Jesus is obsessed in the right sense of the word with making his way to Jerusalem.

11:48 And he knows that at Jerusalem he will be handed over to the Gentiles. He will be shamefully treated. He will be spat upon. He will be scourged.

11:59 And he will be killed. And the third day he will rise again from the dead. And with this focused commitment to make his way to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover and there to lay down his life a ransom for many, he is passing through Jericho. And on his way to Jerusalem, on the outskirts of Jericho, a blind beggar stops Jesus in his tracks with his cry, Son of David, have mercy.

12:31 And then as the Lord passes through, he sees an outcast from Jewish society, a publican, a tax collector, perched in a tree. And he passes his eye upon him and says, You are one of mine. Today I must go to your house, not for a meal, but to impart himself as Zacchaeus' Savior. And then in that setting, as he begins again to make his way to Jerusalem, the text says in Luke 19, he speaks this parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.

13:14 For Jesus, Jerusalem is rejection, suffering, spittle, scourging, and death. For his own disciples as well as for many of those who were following along in the milling crowd, Jerusalem in Jesus meant a cataclysmic introduction, a revolutionary intrusion of the kingdom of God in which Jesus will overthrow Roman rule and establish Jerusalem as the center of worldwide influence and give her a glory exceeded only by the glory of Solomon. And Jesus, conscious that that was their mindset, he speaks this parable of the nobleman who goes into a far country to receive his kingdom and then to return. Well, that's the historical setting and then I spent the rest of the time attempting to open up in your hearing the main elements and significance of the matters that are in the parable and then last Lord's Day evening we began to apply. And I gave two applications, I state them, then we move on to more this morning. Having opened up the passage, I then sought to identify what I call the abiding message of the parable.

14:35 First of all, it informs us that there would be a significant amount of time between the first and second coming of the Lord Jesus. They expect a coming in glory and power at Jerusalem in a few days. Jesus, knowing this, speaks this parable to correct such a notion and he says a certain nobleman went into a far country. It takes time to get to far countries by foot or by donkey or camel.

15:08 There was no Learjet waiting for the nobleman to carry him to the far country. And because the whole concept of trading and having sufficient time to bring returns from the investment that the nobleman makes in his slaves, our Lord is teaching a significant but indefinite amount of time would be present between the first and the second comings. And then secondly, we saw that this parable informs us that while the Lord Jesus delays his coming, we are to be faithful and diligent in the use of the common gifts, graces and privileges conveyed by the gospel. Unlike the parable of the talents where there is a disparity in the deposit, five talents, two talents, one. Here all ten servants receive exactly the same deposit. They all receive a mina worth about a hundred drachmas, equivalent to a laboring man's work for three or four months. A pittance compared to the value of the talents, but sufficient with which to do some serious trading.

16:22 And so our Lord is underscoring in this parable in conjunction with his return, that we his people, his servants must look upon those common gifts, graces and privileges conveyed by the gospel as commodities with which we are to trade and to seek to bring maximum returns that we may present back to our master when he returns. Now we come this morning to several more lines of truth that are contained in the parable. This first fifteen, seventeen minutes has been review. I'm very conscious when I see visitors they've not been with us.

17:05 Some of you who are here week by week, you bear with me. I'd love to plunge right in and do what a good rhetorical teacher would teach you to do. Unity of discourse. Start with the introduction.

17:15 Get to your subject. But I'm not here to reflect my sensitivity to classic rhetorical canons. I'm here to be an instrument of edification. And I know how I feel when I go to a church and we're in the midst of consecutive exposition and they don't tell me how they got there, where they're going, and I'm lost.

17:32 Well, as you would that others do to you, oh, do also to them. So you folk bear with me. There is religious conviction behind my carefully crafted reviews and introductions. All right?

Application 3: Future Responsibility Determined by Present Diligence

17:45 It's part of my stewardship for which I'll give an account and I want to give a good account. All right, now we come. The third, or the first for this morning. This parable informs us that our specific sphere of responsibility and influence and service in the age to come, our own specific sphere of responsibility, influence, and service in the age to come will be determined by the degree of our diligence and faithfulness in the use of our common gifts of God and of grace in this present age.

18:28 You got it? What we're doing now with what the Master has given will determine what we do then when the Master returns. You got it? You may not remember the exact words, but I want you to see that.

18:45 The parable clearly teaches the nobleman goes off to a far country to receive a kingdom. We explained last week what that would have meant to these first century Jews in that setting with Roman rule. I can't go back and cover that territory again. But Jesus said the nobleman who goes away to receive his kingdom, having received his kingdom, he returns and the first thing he does in the text is to call his slaves into his presence that he might know what they had gained by trading.

19:23 That is, what had they done with the deposit that he gave? What was the fruit of their faithfulness and diligence in trading? That's what he told them to do. Trade until I come.

19:38 And when the servants come into his presence, first of all, the one who with his one minor made ten. What does he say to him? Because, verse 17, because you were found faithful in a very little. That is, you were faithful in the minor deposited when I left.

20:01 You took seriously my command, trade with it till I come because you were faithful in trading in the period of my absence. Now at my return, having received my kingdom, I assign to you this specific sphere of influence, of responsibility, of service, and of privilege, be over ten cities. What the servant did with the deposit in the master's absence determined what he'd be and do in the master's presence. Same thing with the second one.

20:41 Verse 18, And the second came, saying, Your minor lord has made five minor. And he said unto him also, Be thou also over five. Five cities. There is not as fulsome a commendation.

20:59 It doesn't mean that he may not have been given it. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us everything that might have been said. But it's obvious it is not quite as profuse a commendation as the one who with his one made ten. But nonetheless, he had traded.

21:15 He was left with one. When the Lord returns, he has five. And then the Lord says to him, Verse 19, And he said unto him also, Be thou also over five cities. What is the principle that is on the very surface of the parable?

21:33 The principle is that while the Lord is in the far country, there he's been exalted to his messianic throne. And he has deposited with his people these common gifts and graces and privileges of the gospel and told us to trade with them. And when he returns, our specific sphere of responsibility being over ten cities is no little task. Our specific sphere of influence being over ten cities means a large populace, our particular responsibility, influence, and service.

22:18 We are put over the cities in order to administer them to the glory of the king and to the good of all of his subjects throughout all of his realm. So then we are taught by our Lord Jesus that your specific sphere, my specific sphere of responsibility, influence, and service in the age to come will be determined by the degree of our diligence and faithfulness in the use of the common gifts and graces conveyed by the gospel in this present age. What you do now, you will receive then. What we do with what we have while the master is away determines what we will receive of the rewards of grace when the master returns. Do you see that principle in your own eyes, in your own Bible, without any strain? Do you see that if that is not taught here, I don't know where it could be taught.

23:27 Now you see the Bible teaches that there will be degrees of punishment in hell. It shall be more tolerable, Jesus said, for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you, Bethsaida, Chorazin. Degrees of punishment in hell. Everyone in hell will be perfectly, consummately miserable.

23:53 But some will have a greater capacity for misery than others. Just as surely as the misery of a large animal in the death throes of having been shot feels more than a little fruit fly that you squash with your finger. There will be differing capacities while there is equal misery. So likewise the Bible teaches that there will be differing capacities and functions in the age to come.

24:30 Every saint in glory will be perfectly fulfilled in Christ. Everyone in glory will be perfectly obsessed with the glory of God and of the Lamb. We shall all be perfectly happy. We shall all be perfectly holy.

24:50 But we shall have differing capacities in the age to come. For example, when one of the deacons fills this glass to the top I can say the glass is full. When the deacons fill the baptismal tank I can say the baptismal tank is full. Both are equally full but they don't have equal amounts.

25:11 Obviously this glass has a lesser capacity than the baptismal tank. But of both we can say the glass and the tank are full. There will be nothing but fullness in heaven. But according to this passage and the analogy of Scripture there will be degrees of capacity that will result in greater capacity for communion with God and the appreciation of His glory and having a place of responsibility influence and service.

25:45 Paul uses this very language as he is trying to break the back of the party spirit at Corinth. Some lining up behind Paul and some behind Peter and some behind Apollos. And he says, look, look, look, this is foolish. And he's going to give a theology of the foolishness of being gripped by a party spirit with respect to various servants of God.

26:13 And he says in 1 Corinthians 3, 7 neither he that planteth or he that waters anything but God who gives the increase now he who plants and he who waters are one but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. There is an explicit statement of this principle. Now in the context here it's speaking primarily of God's servants who labor in the same place. And because there are differing servants of God doing differing things with differing personalities and differing levels of gift these are never to be the occasion of a party spirit because the reward is not having people line up behind them now but having the master say to them then well done good and faithful servant each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Now some object to this reality. and say would that not leave some vulnerable to pride I'm over ten cities you got just five look at me. Remember where this is going to occur at the coming of our Lord Jesus we have seen in our previous studies of the what of his coming.

27:37 He's going to perfect us into his likeness. And being perfected into the moral likeness of Christ not only means ethical and moral perfection no evil deeds no evil deeds no evil thoughts but being made perfect in love. And because heaven is the realm of perfected love there is no room for a feeling of superiority no sense of pride the one over ten cities will look upon those for whom he has peculiar responsibilities and say what a privilege to be in a place to serve such wonderful people people committed in some sense to my responsibility and my service and the ones under the man who's over ten cities say what a privilege to be taking directions and being given guidance from one who so perfectly reflects the heart of our common savior. There'd be no room for jealousy there'd be no room for pride and superiority Christ will capture the heart's affection of us all and in reflecting the likeness of Christ we will be able to rejoice in the very things in which God rejoices and in which Christ rejoices at his return.

29:06 Remember in the talents enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and in that realm of perfect ethical uprightness perfect love and perfect joy some over ten some over five. But then there's a second objection that's raised won't such a notion that what I'm doing now in trading with my gospel privileges is going to bring me this reward or that reward won't that turn me into a mercenary? Well if so then the Lord encourages you to become a mercenary. Pastor Martin what are you saying?

29:44 Well listen Matthew chapter 5 verses 11 and 12 Blessed are you blessed are you blessed are you fulfilled happy you come into covenantal contentment blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for what's the next words? Great is your reward Jesus says I'll hold out the reward that you might bear nobly the opposition of the ungodly. Furthermore the Lord Jesus I can't help but think of it when I go for my water in Matthew 10 41 and 42 he's commissioning the twelve sending them out and he says whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward and then he goes on to say even the cup of cold water given in my name shall not fail of its reward. So the Lord says the Lord does not despise the reward motive and here in this passage spoken because they had misconceptions about the kingdom coming

31:14 Jesus said no after the nobleman's been in the far country and received his kingdom and returns he will call his slaves before him and he will give them a reward proportionate to their faithfulness and diligence in trading with these common gifts and graces of gospel privilege. You see Moses was drawn into a new dimension of his own experience and the element of reward was fundamental in that in Hebrews chapter 11 we read that when Moses was come to years he chose not he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter Hebrews 11 25 choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now what helped Moses when he stands before him he says I go this way it's reproach with God's people this way it's everything Egypt can offer me. The writer goes on to say accounting he did some spiritual reckoning he got out his account books reckoning the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He says if I go this way suffer affliction with God's people in the end I'm going to have more treasure

32:41 than if I go this way and am called son of Pharaoh's daughter. I want the most treasure I can get. It says for that respect or he looked to the recompense of reward that is not a sinfully mercenary motive to say I'm going to go the direction in which I get the most at the end of the road. That's what Moses said greater treasures going this way than going that way.

33:17 Only a fool would go that way when the choice is before him. So if you don't like the prophet motif you've got an argument with God. God unashamedly sets it before us. Again the comments of William Arno I thought I had them here but I don't so I bypass it but this is a vital principle taught here in this passage of the word of God that what we will receive that the master's coming will be determined what we do now with the master's deposit.

Application 4: Christ's Dealings are Suffused with Grace

33:58 So child of God would you have the expanded joy of rendering greater measures of service to your returning king in the age to come? If so trade diligently with the common gifts and graces that come with the gospel. But then there is another abiding lesson of the parable and it's this we're informed by this parable that every aspect of Christ's dealings with his servants is suffused with grace. Grace permeates it.

34:35 It's an awkward imagery but as the skunk's smell permeates a given area where he lets loose on those around him so this graciousness of Christ is just the atmosphere of this grace. And this grace is the grace of God and the grace of God and the grace of God and the grace of God and the grace of God and the grace of this parable. Verse 13, we read "...the nobleman called ten slaves gave them each an identical sum of money and then graciously commanded them to trade with it until he returned." I ask you was the nobleman under any constraint of the nature of the master-slave the king-servant relationship to give them anything other than shelter food? No, he had no obligation to them. When he called them in, either the whole of his servant's band or ten out of more, we don't know. All the text says is this nobleman calls

35:46 ten of his slaves, and when he calls them to him, they don't have any idea. Well, it's about time. You know, that scoundrel, he, no, no, he did not owe them anything. But that which any master owed his slave of treating them as he would be treated. So it was gracious for him to express trust in them, to give each of them this equivalent of three or four months of a common laborer's wages, and then to give them the privilege of trading with that which was not their own, that they might present it to their Lord when he returns. And the assumption is that during that time, he'll come back. Continue to feed them. Continue to clothe them. They'll still have a place to go. He

36:33 didn't say, take this and find for yourself a house. Find employment for yourself. You've got three weeks' notice if you use up the three months' wages. You've had it, nothing more. He didn't do that. Implicit in this is, I'll continue to feed me at the servant's table, feed you at the servant's table in my house. I'll continue to provide for you. What a gracious thing for the master. The nobleman to say, here's my stuff that I could take to the bank. And he knew about existing banks where you could put the money down and you would be promised a certain percentage of return. And then these guys were brokers and would invest it and get greater returns so they were getting a profit while you were getting a profit. Just like the system of banking in our day, a little less sophisticated. But he knew all about that. He could have

37:23 taken the amount of money distributed to these slaves while he went to the far country. And deposited it himself. But he didn't do that. It was gracious for him to impart that to which they had no claim. And furthermore, what becomes plain at his return, that he was scheming when he did that. He entrusted a minor to each of them. Not just so that he might get some return from his money. He was testing their character with a view to the future. He was testing their character with a view to the future. He was testing their character with a view to the future. He was testing their character with a view to giving them a totally disproportionate reward. You see that? Here's my minor. Trade

38:09 with it. And behind the scenes he's saying, now when I come back, I'm going to see what John and Jake and Joe are really made of. Because what they do with what I've put in their hands, with the clear command to trade with it, that will show me who of them, if you will, is more bigger and greater and more extensive responsibilities when I come back and set up my reign in their midst. That's grace. Grace. Grace upon grace. He gives that they might get more. You see that? I can't read you. You're looking at me. You're paying attention. One or two are struggling with going to sleep. But for the most part, you're hanging it. Do you see the graciousness in the initial deposit? In the unspoken intention

39:03 that is�� Validated when he returns.

39:07 And then we see what I call the exponentially enlarged privilege and responsibility that he gives in the affairs of his kingdom. When something is exponential, it increases in extraordinary proportions. You've been faithful in a little, a minor, a working man's wages of three or four months. Ten cities.

39:36 Five cities.

39:38 We're informed by this parable that every aspect of Christ's dealings with his servants is suffused with grace. And it's clear that the two faithful servants understood that grace was operative in producing their reward. Because notice, when they appear before him, what they say. We're back in the text now in Luke chapter 19.

40:05 When they're called into the presence, of the nobleman, now the king. Verse 16. The first came before him saying, Lord, I trafficked, I invested, I traded with the pound you gave me and it has...

40:24 No, no. Lord, your pound has made ten pounds. Your minor has gained ten minor. The second man comes and says the same thing.

40:34 Verse 18. Your minor, Lord, has made five minor. Totally distancing themselves from what happened. Lord, it was your minor.

40:45 And it's made ten. It was your minor. And it's made five. They understand that any of their involvement in all of this is out of the overflow of the grace and love of the nobleman.

41:01 And we're informed by that that every aspect of Christ's dealings with his servants is always suffused with grace. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. He's comparing his labors with the labors of the other apostles. And at one point, it sounds like he's indulging in a measure of carnal braggadocio.

41:27 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 9. I am the least of the apostles that am not meet or fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But, by, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And, his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all.

41:55 Now, if you saw that in someone's letter that had to be read on a Wednesday night. Dear brothers and sisters at Trinity, this is what's happening, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I want you to know that I've labored more than all of the men. I said, who in the world does this guy think he is?

42:09 But you don't stop there. You read right off. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Lord, your mind has gained ten.

42:23 Lord, your mind has gained five. The apostle says, my labor outstrips the others. But at the end of the day, it's not my labor and therefore not to my praise. It's God's grace in me and towards me.

42:39 He says a similar thing in Romans when he speaks, Speaking of his labors among the Gentiles, he says, I will not speak of that which Christ has wrought through me for the obedience of faith. As we read the record as we did this morning and see the indefatigable labors of this warrior, this stalwart, this one willing to spend and be spent, we say, what a man! And Paul no sooner hears our words, he says, no, what a gracious Savior. Here, everything you read about me, stamp over it, grace, grace, all of grace, the free, unmerited favor and considerateness of God.

Application 5: Wrong Conceptions of Christ Hinder Joyful Service

43:24 Well, we come then for this morning to a third part of the abiding message of this parable. We're not only informed that our sphere of responsibility, influence, and service in the age to come will be determined by what? What we've done with our common gifts, graces, and opportunities in this age, that every aspect of Christ's dealings with his servants is suffused with grace. But thirdly, we're informed by this parable that wrong conceptions of the disposition and the ways of Christ will make it impossible to render joyful service to Christ.

44:08 I give it to you again. We're informed by this parable that, wrong conceptions of the disposition and the ways of Christ will make it impossible to render joyful service to Christ. You remember, I trust, that that wicked and lazy servant in the parable of the talents used similar language to that which our Lord puts into the mouth of this unfaithful servant. The one with the talent returns, and says this to the master.

44:47 And he also that received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you. You're a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow, gathering where you did not scatter, and I was afraid, and went away, and hid your talent in the earth. He had been told to trade with his talent. He did not render service to his Lord.

45:10 He says, I was scared of you, because, and then he gives him his reasons. Notice the language of this particular slave. We find it in verse 20 and following. Another came saying, Lord, behold, here's your mina, which I kept laid up in a napkin for.

45:29 Before you can even ask me, why did I wrap it up in a napkin, stick it in the corner of a closet, under the bed, under the mattress, before you ask me, for I know you will. For you made it plain when you went away, when you returned, you'd want to know, what we gained by trading. That's the language of verse 15. So he's already got this rationalization all worked out, and he says, for I feared you, because you are an austere man.

46:02 I was scared of you, so scared that I was paralyzed at the thought of trading with that money. Oh, I know you told me to trade, but there are risks in trading, as though the nobleman doesn't know that better than the slave. But he's going to give him a little lesson, you see. There are risks, master, in trading, and because of what you are in your character, you are an austere man.

46:29 That's an assessment of the master's disposition. Harsh, forbidding, stern, unsympathetic in the face of failure, and unreasonable in your expectations. You have a narrow, and a restrained hand. You have neither compassion nor understanding.

46:51 You're an austere man. That's what he says to his face. Not, I perceived you to be, but he has the gall to say, I feared you because you are.

47:10 I was mistaken, master, but in my person I thought. No, no, he says, look, I'll tell you why. You're getting the miner wrapped in a napkin. No return.

47:22 No fruit. Trading. It's not my fault. It's yours because of who you are.

47:27 You're an austere man. That's his assessment of the master's disposition. Then he gives his assessment of his ways. I didn't know how else to describe that.

47:37 He's describing, then, his ways. This is what you do as a reflection of what you are. Verse 21. You take up that which you did not lay down.

47:48 You go by the bench, the table, where the bankers sit, making exchanges and when people come to deposit and then they come back later to receive interest, you go and you scoop up a pile of interest where you put no money down as a capital investment. That's the kind of man you are. You sweep up money where you didn't invest any. You take money where you didn't lay any down on the banker's table.

48:16 And furthermore, you reap where you never sow. You go buy fields, cut down to grains, you or your servants do it, and you never sow. You never invested in the seed. You never invested in the labor.

48:32 You reap where you didn't sow. You are an unprincipled scoundrel. You are a first century Ebenezer Scrooge. You squeeze the nickel on the buffalo till it bellows.

48:46 That's what you are. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, who's generally quite reserved in matters that really bristle. He captures it. Listen to his comment.

48:58 The slave expresses his real attitude to his royal lord. He professes he lived in constant fear of him. It's in an imperfect verb. I was continually afraid of you because you were.

49:09 He was in fear of him as being an austere or severe man. Instead of the manufactured, hypocritical fear, he had only some genuine fear of his mighty lord. He didn't fear to disobey him, to be faithless to the trust entrusted to him. We are shown how this fellow regarded the prince's order to his slaves to do business for him.

49:30 He regarded it as a low down grasping scheme to get what didn't rightfully belong to him, taking up what he did not lay down, sowing what he did not reap, where he did not, I'm sorry, I'm sowing what he did not reap, making his slaves slave for him in order to enrich himself with their profits. Not for one moment did he feel the honor that he, a slave, and nothing but a slave, should be entrusted with his great lord's wealth to handle it as if it were the lord himself. Not for one moment did he feel the nobleness of his lord in making him a trustee of his wealth and the still greater nobleness of his lord's intention that by this means to raise these slaves to royal participation in his own reign. Because that's what the nobleman did. He raised slaves to noble positions of royal participation. PARTICIPATION IN HIS OWN REIGN Jesus said to him that over cometh I will grant to sit down with me in my throne as I overcame and have sat down with my Father in His throne.

50:42 Christ enthronement.

50:49 Talk about grace folks. This character his conception of his masters disposition his assessment of his masters ways were such That it was impossible for him to even lose He played aIK CO' to render joyful service to such a master. And since Christ is the nobleman, here I say is the third abiding truth of the parable. We're informed in it that wrong conceptions of the disposition and ways of Christ will make it impossible to render joyful service to Christ.

The Self-Deception of the Unfaithful Servant

51:27 Now let's exercise our minds in a little sanctified imagination and turn inward for a few moments to think. To think.

51:39 Do you think that in such a situation as this, a slave who had lived under that master's care for some period of time, enough that the master would have singled him out of ten to be one of the three to get highlighted in the master's dealing. Do you think the servant really believed what he said to the master? Do you think he really believed he was austere? That he really was a heartless, ruthless, unscrupulous, money-grabbing, no-good, put all the adjectives you want.

52:20 Do you think he really believed it? No, I don't believe so. How could he, when he knew the masters don't ordinarily elevate slaves to stewards of their money, and he didn't? And he didn't.

52:34 And tell them, as the focus of their labor, to trade with money. Not go out and reap corn or grain in the field or dig ditches and do what we'd call coolie work.

52:48 Did he really believe this master, whom he saw in this setting, confer ten cities to one of his buddies for trading with his mina? Five cities to his other buddy? Do you think that he really believed this? Was an austere man?

53:08 He then saw what a man to the first tooth. At least he should have had the decency to say, up until today, master, I thought you were austere, and I thought you were unscrupulous. But I mean a manifestation of your grace and your kindness. Master, forgive me that I've spent this time living under misconceptions of who you are and how you operate.

53:38 Now, he didn't really believe the master was austere. He didn't really believe he was the scoundrel. He described, this is what happened, using imagination. I can't prove this from the text.

53:52 He lived the scene. The servants are called in. They don't know what they're called in for. And then the master tells them, the nobleman tells them, I'm going to a far country to receive a kingdom.

54:02 When I return, I'll call you in to see what you've gained by trading. For you, John, here's your mina. For you, Henry, here's your mina. And for you, Jake, here's your mina.

54:18 Trade with it till I return. No definite time, two weeks, a month, six months. He goes to bed that night. Let's suppose the transaction occurred toward the end of the day.

54:30 As he's going off to sleep, he said, now my whole identity is being altered. I can hardly believe it. I got to pinch myself. I'll check with the other two guys.

54:39 Did that really happen? Did the master actually give us a mina and say, trade with this. This is your task till I come back. What a wonderful thing.

54:49 He gets up the next morning, and the master's words are ringing in his ears. Trade with this till I come. And he said, but you know, I've got some other plans for the day. Yeah, trading can wait.

55:02 I've got some other things that I think are important on my scale of values. So he doesn't do what the master told him. His conscience screams at him. No one likes to live with a screaming conscience.

55:14 And we get relief from a screaming conscience either by repenting, and seeking cleansing and forgiveness in the blood of Christ, or by a process of telling lies to ourselves. Oh, that thing concerning which my conscience might, it's really not sin. I'm being overly strict with myself. And the Bible does speak about self-deception.

55:39 Let no man deceive himself. This character, if we can get inside his psyche, this could have been the process. He began a process of self-deception. Where in the beginning, his refusal to trade with his master's mina smote his conscience, made him feel guilty.

55:58 No one likes to live with a smiting conscience and guilt. So he begins to alter his mind. But you know, really, really, when you think about it, for him to say, trade with it, I mean, doesn't he know I'm just a slave? I don't have a lot of business experience.

56:15 Only a man who is unreasonable and austere would tell me to do something for which I have no previous training, no previous experience. You know, that apparent act of kindness and consideration and graciousness, that was all a smokescreen. Down underneath, he's a hard, austere man. And the more he feeds his mind on his own deception about the master's character and how the master operates, he comes as close as one can come to believe his own lie, all in an effort to ease his conscience of the smarting accusation, you are a faithless, disobedient slave. And he comes so close to believing it that when he appears in the master's presence, he dares to spout this stuff out. And the master says, all right, I'll answer the fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own words. His own conceits.

57:25 I'll take his very words and listen to what the master says. Verse 22. Out of your own mouth I'll judge you. You wicked servant.

57:35 Suddenly conscience leaps into life again. He hears the word wicked servant. You knew that I'm an austere man. That's what you say I am.

57:46 How do austere men act? They expect that people will at least fulfill the minimal duties laid upon them. And you would then, if you knew me to be such a hard-driving businessman, you would have at least put that mina not in a handkerchief to hide away in the cupboard, but you would have put it on the table of the traders and filled out whatever forms validated that you had deposited a mina and you were going to get back 10% or 5% over a course. Whatever it was, if I were what you say you believe I am, this is what you would have done, not what you did do.

58:26 He pulls the mask off and he stands self-condemned. And then he goes off the scene, unlike the faithless slave with the talent who is cast into outer darkness, explicitly banished. There is no record that he is banished, but by the analogy of scripture, listen to what happened. The master then says, take his mina and give it to him who has 10.

58:55 After the day, what did that third servant have left of the common gifts and graces of the gospel? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

59:07 Does that mean you can be saved in loss? No. It means if you're truly saved, there will be some measure of return from the Lord's gracious investments in you and in me. But as long as he has this assessment of the master's character, he could not serve him.

Pastoral Appeal: Rejecting False Views of Christ

59:33 May I say in my concluding application this morning, and I've pleaded with God, that he would help me to rightly represent my dear Lord Jesus. The reason some of you sit here this morning, children, young people, young adults, older people, you are not Christ's willing slave. You are not one who sees in him the one of whom John spoke. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

60:01 We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. You judge Christ to be a hard master. You know to be a Christian that you're going to have to turn from certain things and certain relationships and certain goals and certain desires that your conscience knows as it echoes the truth of Scripture. These are things, these are things forbidden to a follower of Christ.

60:35 And in your heart you say the only reason Christ would say you can't trade with that and you must trade in this. He's an austere master. And who wants to serve an austere master that wants to rob me of my joy, rob me of having life with a capital L. My dear friend, may I bend all of my powers to try to dissuade you that that's not the Lord Jesus.

61:04 Look in this very context. Here he carries on his back the weight of what it will be at Jerusalem to be rejected, to be handed over to the Gentiles, to be scourged, to be mocked, and then to die under the frown of his Father as he who knew no sin becomes sin for us. In Luke 18, 31 to 34, he became very explicit. We're going to Jerusalem, fellows.

61:37 And at Jerusalem, this is what's going to happen to me. At the end of this parable, and when he had done thus speaking, he went on before, going up to Jerusalem. To do what? To die as the Lamb of God, as the true Passover Lamb.

61:57 And on the way, what happens? He's coming into Jericho, and there's a blind beggar that begins to cry out. And people tell him, shush up, he's got no time for you. And some of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture, Luke 18, 38, and he cried, saying, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

62:17 They that went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace, but he cried out the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped Jesus on his way to fulfill his life's mission. A poor blind who could give Christ nothing, but who could receive from Christ all that he needed. That's the Christ who imparts the blessings and the privileges of gospel grace and says trade with them.

62:56 He's not austere. He's not an unscrupulous, hard-driving master. He's the gracious Savior who stops at the cross in the cry of a blind beggar. And on into chapter 19, he's passing through Jericho.

63:15 He's on his way to Jerusalem. Mark tells us he was so obsessed that even his disciples were afraid. They saw a resoluteness in his countenance, a stridency in his strength that caused fear. And with that fixation, with that focus, he's on his way.

63:36 He sees a man up in the tree, among his fellow Israelites, a polluted, defiled tax collector, in cahoots with Rome, hobnobbing with Roman goyim, the Gentile... An outcast is perched on the limb of a sycamore tree.

63:56 The Son of God on his way to die says, Zacchaeus, come on down. I got business to do at your house today. You know what his business was? To save him.

64:07 To save him. To cleanse him of all of his sins. To hear Zacchaeus' confession. If I have taken anything wrongfully, I restore it fourfold.

64:17 The half of my goods I give to feed the poor. Jesus said, The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. I'm both grieved and angered that you cooperate with the father of lies in the lies you tell yourself about the character and the ways of Jesus. That's why some of you say, That's why some of you sit with your mina wrapped in a napkin in the cupboard.

64:47 You're not like the citizens. We're going to take up the citizens next week, God willing. You don't openly defy him saying, I will not have Christ to rule over me. But what you do with all your gospel privileges, you've wrapped them in a napkin, put them in the closet.

65:04 There is no fruit of daily repentance, daily faith, sorrow for sin, hunger for Christ, study of the Word. Citizens who say, I will not have him to reign over me. And we want him to know it. But you're not trading with your pound, with your mina.

65:26 Some of you dear children, all of the privileges that have been showered upon you. What returns is Jesus getting? The Jesus who stops and hears the cry of blind beggars, who looks up in a tree and sees an outcast whom no one else wants. Who wants to be identified, who's a kosher Jew.

65:52 And he said, I'm going to eat in your house. I won't save you from a distance, Zacchaeus. I'll save you up close. I'll come into your house and eat with you.

66:04 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him, and he with me. My dear unconverted friends, you faithless slaves, you've had the mina of gospel privilege, gospel light set before you. No one could tell you apart from the true servants of Christ at this point.

66:33 But when the master returns, unless you get serious with God and with the gospel and with the issues of repentance and faith and the new birth and a life of holiness and a life focused in Christ, you'll have nothing but a napkin wrapped around your mina. And the Lord will say, take it from him. Take it from him. And you'll join the other faithless, professed servants of Christ.

67:08 I close by reminding you of what this Jesus did, not only on his way into Jericho and on his way out, but with the same page in my Bible open. Verse 41 of Luke 19, when he drew nigh and saw the city, he wept over it. And the Greek word for weeping is not that of gentle sobbing. It's used in John chapter 11.

67:30 Jesus wept. This literally means to wail. Uncontrollable weeping. And it grieves me that you think my Savior, who uncontrollably weeps over the very city that's going to put him to death, is an austere man.

67:52 He says, I am meek and gentle in heart. Come to me. You'll find what? A hard driving insensitive, calloused, indifferent.

68:04 No. You shall find rest to your soul. Rest to your soul. Oh, that I could entice you to go to him.

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

68:14 Our Father, how we thank you for ever sending your only begotten Son into the world, that he would come and take such wretched treatment from us. Lord Jesus, we thank you. Many of us thank you that you did not cut us off in our sins, but you bore with our horrible, evil lies that we entertained about you. We thank you that by your Spirit you've overcome our blindness and the efforts of the devil to embrace his lies as well as ours. And we pray that you would do that mighty work in many hearts here this morning. We pray for those of us who are your children, that you will stir us up afresh, with a holy ambition, that we shall have as large a sphere of service and opportunity and access to you as is possible for us to have to your praise and to your glory as we diligently trade with that which you have given us. Seal your word to our hearts, we pray.

69:37 May it bear fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen.