Well Done, My Good Servant?
Luke 19:11 – 27
Introduction – The story is told of President Franklin Roosevelt, that he often wearied during the often-long receiving lines at White House events. He complained that no really paid any attention what was said. Well, one day during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand he muttered, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like; “Marvelous, Keep up the good work,” or “We’re proud of you, keep up the good work.” No one seemed to be listening. It was not until the end of the line while greeting the ambassador of Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. With only a slightly surprised look on his face, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming.”
Don’t be like so many and say, “I’ve heard this before, and know what’s going to be said, so I don’t have to bother to listen. You might be surprised. God may have some He wants to say to you.
Context of the Passage: Luke 19 begins with Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus at Jericho. Crowds were coming to Jesus wherever He traveled. Some were even saying that this man could possibly be the Messiah. Zacchaeus was one such person. When he followed the crowd the see Jesus, conversion was probably the last thing on his mind. (Isn’t it wonderful to know that even when we think nothing of Jesus, He can’t get us off His mind)? At the time of his conversion, with a great number of others observing, Zacchaeus immediately demonstrated the complete change that had come over him by offering to return four times to anyone that he had ever cheated. This was no idle boast, and there were probably plenty there who were ready to take him up on his offer.
With this as the backdrop, Jesus shares an important parable with the crowd that was gathered around Zacchaeus’ house...
The Parable of the Ten Minas — Luke 19:11 - 27
Note: This teaching is during the last week of Jesus’ life prior to His crucifixion, so it must be important—and we should treat it as such.
I. In this parable Jesus speaks of people with three very distinctive life-styles, and life goals 1) the nobleman, 2) his citizens, and 3) his servants.
First, let’s talk about the citizens.
They are the people who say, “I want everything to be my way.” Their attitude is that they don’t want this man to be their king. They have some plans of their own, and they don’t include having a king over them.
This is very much a timely parable that Jesus shares. King Herod Antipas had just died and his son had traveled to Rome to make a claim for the kingdom. At the same time, Herod’s subjects had sent a delegation to Caesar to say, “This man is not acceptable as king. We don’t want him and we will not accept him as our king.” So this was something that was very familiar to those Jesus spoke to.
The nobleman
This man was king by birth, and regardless of the desires of the people he was the rightful king. (Kind of reminds me of the Prince Charles debate in England).
The king presents his servants with control over portions of his wealth and gives them the responsibility to oversee it until he returned.
The amount given to each of the servants is not
important, what is, is that he entrusted them with the
responsibility of stewardship. According to what I read in the scriptures he gives no specific instructions, simply saying that they should put
it to work until he returned.
The servants
There are ten servants that were included in this distribution, yet the parable focus’s on the activity of only three of them. So I think it’s fair to say that each of these servants represent something that Jesus was trying to teach the multitude.
These three servants each choose a different method of
investment of there master’s resource.
One was very aggressive, and saw an aggressive return.
One was moderately active, and saw a moderate return.
One was extremely conservative as to the point of not
risking anything for fear of losing it.
The important thing that we need to remember here is that each of the servants knew that they would be required to give an account of their handling of this responsibility.
II. Application for our lives today
There are those (both with and without Christ) who regularly debate and deny the right Christ’s lordship.
Some are simply not willing to live life on His terms. They want their own way and that’s the only thing that will satisfy them.
Others are not willing to obey His commands. They’re not going to have anyone tell them what to do. We can debate that all we want, but the bottom line is that
Jesus is Lord. End of debate.
Christ has given to every believer equally of the blessing of a relationship with Him.
We all share equally in salvation. There is not one of us that is more or less saved than someone else. God offers all a salvation that is complete in every way.
We all share equally as recipients of spiritual gifts. You do see those who seem to be more gifted, but in reality what you see is someone who is more willing to use that gift than others are.
We all share equally in opportunity to be fruitful in the exercise of those gifts.
The lesson of the servants. Jesus seems to be implying that there are really two (2) types of people: fruitful and unfruitful.
There is a powerful message that we are to leave more
behind than we found. Not to do so is poor stewardship.
Our stewardship
We are stewards of all that we have. Let’s get past the monetary issues though. Read 1 Corinthians 4:1.
The secret things of God are perhaps our greatest
treasure. These mysteries of God speak to His motivation to love and forgive us. What could be of greater worth than that?
We are stewards of us, and our life’s witness. We may look frail and imperfect on the outside, but there is a treasure in this earthen vessel. We are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God. We are the pinnacle of God’s creative genius and, I think
that all of creation is waiting to see if we will live up to our privilege as the children of God.
We are stewards of the church—the Body of Christ. We call ourselves a family, and each member of the
family is responsible for and to each other. Hopefully we are investing in each other through our
love, care, support, and involvement with others in this congregation.
We are stewards of the world. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” It wasn’t for the church alone that Jesus died—it was for
the world. Because we are good stewards the world should be different. We have to ask ourselves, “Is there more justice, more compassion, more peace, more love in the world because we have lived?” If we are really fruitful, we will be more tomorrow than we are
today. More personally, more as members of the Body of Christ, more as God’s servants in the world.
Conclusion – May our aim always be to hear the words of commendation that Jesus offered in verse 17, “Well done, my good servant.”
