Summer Stories - Week 10: The Parable of the Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27)

0:01 Good afternoon, everybody. Are you still awake? Good afternoon, everybody. It's caught in here, isn't it? My name is Jason. I'm sure maybe quite a few of you still don't know me very well. I'm Jason. My to Helen.

0:16 We have two boys, Ezra and Joshua, who are nine and six. And we've been coming to Glen Abbey for about three years now. And it's been such a blessing for us to be part of this church family for those three years. We joined Meadowview Home Group about a couple of years ago now, and that has been such a blessing to us as well. And particularly in the last few weeks for me, I lost my father about five weeks ago, and just the love and care and support that I've had from that home group has just been so good. So plug for home groups. There are going to be lots available to join again, I would imagine, in September, and especially tying in with the series that we're going to be teaching in. Don't miss out on the opportunity, not just to receive the blessing of being in a home group, but actually to be a blessing to someone else and to others by serving them and being in community with them in that way.

1:20 I'm also very grateful for the opportunity to share with you today. This is our penultimate installment of our Summer Stories series, looking at the parables of Jesus found in the Gospel of Luke. So we will dive right into our reading for today, which is found in Luke chapter 19, verses 11 to 27. And you can follow along on the screen behind me, or you can navigate or maybe actually turn an actual Bible to Luke chapter 19 this afternoon as we read this together. And it says, as they heard these things, he proceeded, obviously Jesus proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately. He said, therefore, a noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas and said to them, Engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us.

2:30 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him saying, Lord, your minna has made 10 minnas more. And he said to him, well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities. And the second came saying, Lord, your minna has made five minnas. And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. Then another came saying, Lord, here is your minna, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. For I was afraid of you because you are a severe man.

3:17 You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? And at my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, take the minna from him and give it to the one who has ten minnas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minnas. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given.

3:54 But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. Let me just pray a moment before we go any further. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Lord, as we turn our attention in these moments to this parable that you taught, I pray that you would give us eyes to see, that you would give us ears to hear, that you would give us hearts that are open and receptive. to your word and to your Holy Spirit. And we just invite you to have your way in each of us during this time.

4:47 And Lord, I pray that we would walk out from here more in awe of you, more in love with you, and more surrendered to your will and your purposes in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. I must begin this afternoon with a slight confession that when I was allocated this passage a number of months ago and began to read it, I was like, I don't really know this. I found myself that I was much, much more familiar with its more famous cousin in the gospel of Matthew, the parable of the talents. And while both of these parables do share a lot in common, there are a few things that are different. Now, both of them have obviously this theme of the master entrusting servants with resources and then later evaluating their stewardship. But there are some differences.

5:45 In Luke that we just read, everybody receives the same amount, a minute. But in Matthew, the master distributes things unequally depending on the servant's ability, giving each a different degree of responsibility. In both parables, faithful servants are commended and rewarded with greater responsibilities. However, the nature of the war rewards are slightly different. In Luke, they're given authority over cities. In Matthew, the rewards are described as entering into the joy of the master. Luke's account also includes at the end citizens who reject the noble man's authority, leading to their judgment upon his return. Matthew doesn't mention this bit at all.

6:33 These distinctions suggest that while both of these parables teach the importance of faithful stewardship, they may have been tailored to address different audiences, different theological emphasis. And some scholars would propose, and I think this makes absolute sense, that Jesus would have used and told these stories multiple times, multiple occasions, adapting them to convey different and specific lessons to the people who he was talking to. You can imagine Jesus as he travels from town to town, from village to village, from city to city, telling these stories many, many times, adapting and tweaking them for different contexts and different audiences. It's not like he told this once. Someone filmed it and it went viral on TikTok. He was a master of his craft. He knew exactly how to frame and tell a story for maximal impact in the situation that he was speaking to. But in our text today, Luke is very clear about why he records, why he is recording and what he is recording, and why Jesus specifically spoke this parable in this way at this time.

7:49 It says it right in the very first verse that we read. It says he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately. The first context is that Jesus, when he tells this parable, is approaching the pinnacle of his ministry. It's just before he is about to die on the cross and be resurrected again for our sins. And he's telling us to prepare his disciples for what's about to happen. The metaphor of the noble man leaving for a period of time is a clear nod to what is imminently about to happen. You see, even at this stage, some of Jesus' closest disciples did not realize his intentions. they did not realize that he was not here to overthrow the Romans

8:52 you know I suspect with this parable and with many many other things that Jesus taught them that it was only much much later on where they said ah that's what he was talking about then you know how often in our own lives have we completely misunderstood what God is doing how many times have we been believing and praying and petitioning God for something only to realize that he was up to something entirely different in our lives which was usually much much better you know I can think of so many occasions where I have been in a situation where I've been believing and praying for something or been in a situation that I'm completely confused by and don't know what's going on. But when you look back, you realize that God's hand was in control. Jesus was intentionally planting seeds for his disciples, teaching them truths that would only make sense in the future when they finally understood his mission and that his mission wasn't to overthrow the Romans, but it was to overthrow sin and death. not only was Jesus preparing them for an outcome they weren't expecting the second context here is that Jesus wanted his disciples to think beyond the immediate moment it says the kingdom of God wasn't going to appear right away Jesus needed his disciples to see beyond their immediate circumstances to understand that his plan was much much larger than again getting rid of these Romans. Jesus didn't want his disciples to have a short-term mentality. The master's coming back soon anyway, so I'm not going to bother doing anything with this minute. It's quite interesting actually to compare this with the parable that we studied a little earlier in the summer about the rich fool who was tearing down his barns, building bigger ones to fill them with grain.

10:56 Some might call that planning ahead. But the Lord's criticism of him is not about his success. It's not about him being fruitful. Jesus didn't say he shouldn't have been successful. He didn't even really say he shouldn't have built the barns. His criticism of the man was his heart. And his motivation. And about his presumption of the future.

11:23 And whose kingdom was he trying to build? He was laying up treasure for himself here on earth. instead of building it in God's kingdom. So, as we, as disciples of Jesus in 2025, approach this parable, these contexts are still very relevant to us. We must continue the daily, hourly, to be honest, battle of aligning our expectations, our desires, our wants, Taking all those and aligning them with the sovereign will and purpose of God. And not what we kind of would like him to do. We also, like the first disciples, must live in this liminal space where the master has left, but not yet returned. He, of course, will return.

12:20 We just don't know when. He could well come back tomorrow. But he might not. So we have to navigate the tension here of simultaneously living as if he is coming back tomorrow and living as if he isn't. Not so consumed with the future that we neglect the present and not so consumed with the present that we neglect the future. We can't be presumptuous about the future like the rich fool was. But like the servant that buried the minna, we also can't live every day like tomorrow isn't going to come. This is a bit of a silly example, but hopefully it illustrates the point.

13:13 If I knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow, I probably wouldn't cut my grass. In fact, there's probably quite a few things I wouldn't do. I might not even bother going to bed tonight. But if I live like that every day, it wouldn't be very long before not just my garden was a mess, but my entire life would be as well. Let me unpack that a little further. We often ask the question, if Jesus were to come back tomorrow, are we ready? That's a good question. it's an important question but we neglect the question if Jesus were to come back in 10 years time am I ready no no no not will I be ready in 10 years time am I ready today for him to come back in 10 years time that's not a word of prophecy by the way I'm not suggesting

14:19 But what are we doing today to prepare for his return in 10 years time? What are we sowing today, planting today, investing today, stewarding today for his kingdom? Or have we hidden it in a handkerchief? Hoping that in 10 years time we can blow it off, bring it out, and show it to the master. So in the basis of these contexts, and as I've meditated about how we can apply this to our lives, I found it useful to distill the core of this parable into three simple themes. And we'll spend the rest of our time on these. Now, there's a health warning with these to begin. Two of them I think you will like.

15:18 One of them, not so much. Okay, but here are the three themes that we're going to talk about that are in this parable. Number one, entrusted. Number two, empowered. Number three, evaluated. Let me put this in the sentence for you. As his disciples, Jesus has entrusted each of us with kingdom resources. He has empowered us to steward and invest them to build his kingdom.

15:59 And he will evaluate the results. Let's look at each of these in turn. Entrusted. Each of us have been entrusted with the resources of time, talent, and treasure. There are probably more, but they don't begin with tea. And we are called to steward each of these resources with diligence and with care for the kingdom of God. And honestly, I think time is our most precious of all of these resources that we have. I found these online, which somebody has done an analysis of how the average person who lives for the average length of 75 years spends those 75 years.

16:53 Okay, so here's how the average 75-year life goes. 26 years of sleeping. 16 years, one-six years of non-work-related screen time. Ten and a half years working. Eight and a half years shopping. That's not me. Seven years of lying awake. Four and a half years of eating.

17:22 Mine's a bit higher. Three years of washing clothes. One year deciding what to wear. 115 days of laughing. Five months of complaining. Some of us are a little higher. And here's my favorite one. It's the only one that is split by gender.

17:43 Woman, 136 days getting ready. Men, 46 days. The three to one ratio there, I think that's about right. Psalm 90 verse 12 says, so teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. You know, as I think of that archetypal deathbed scene, when you're reflecting on your life, I suspect the regrets will be a lot to do with how we've spent our time. I wish I'd spent more time with my family. I wish I'd spent more time worshiping, praying.

18:35 I wish I'd spent more time serving others, serving the church. I wish I'd spent more of my resource on serving the church. I'm pretty sure we won't lie there and say, I'm so glad I spent those 16 years doom scrolling Instagram and binge watching Netflix. We've been entrusted with the gift of time. Where are we investing it? We've each also been entrusted with talent. 1 Peter 4, verse 10 says, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. God has uniquely graced each of us with skills and abilities.

19:34 And the question we can ask ourselves this morning, especially in light of what Keith has shared and what over the last couple of weeks we've heard from our youth and kids ministries, The question we can ask ourselves this morning is, am I prioritizing the investment of my gifts and of my talents in God's kingdom, in the church, in building relationships, serving others, or am I using them primarily to build bigger barns to fill with grain for me? I've been entrusted. with talent. And we've each been entrusted with treasure. Each of us, to varying degrees, have all been entrusted with wealth from God. There's a spectrum in this room, for sure. But if we take ourselves in the context of everyone who currently lives on planet Earth and everyone who has ever lived on planet earth, we are very, very wealthy.

20:51 Jesus says in Matthew chapter six, he says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I find that last sentence very interesting. The order in which those things come. Your heart will follow your treasure, not the other way around. Where we put our treasure is a conscious act of our will.

21:46 It's a decision that we make. And the result is our heart will follow it. If the focus and attention of my treasure is in God's kingdom, God's church, serving God's people, serving missions and the furtherance of the gospel, then my heart will follow it there. if the focus of my treasure is the stock market or my new car or my pension and investments my heart will follow it there too we've been entrusted we've also been empowered we have been empowered to steward and invest what we have been entrusted with to build his kingdom. Jesus, again, preparing his disciples for his departure in John chapter 16 says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, the Holy Spirit, will not come to you.

23:01 But if I go, I will send him to you. And then right before the risen Jesus ascends to heaven, he promises in Acts chapter one, he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth. It's so, so, so key to understand that everything that Jesus taught and asked his disciples to do, Everything he has taught and asked us to do, the stewarding and the investing of what he is entrusted with, we have to understand that we cannot do it in our own strength. The degree to which we will be successful in building God's kingdom will be proportional to the degree that we are surrendered to him. I must decrease and he must increase. No matter what gifts, talents, resources, skills, and work ethic I have, if it is born of striving and only human effort, if it doesn't have the power, the hand, the blessing, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, then we're just chasing after the wind. It's only when all that we have been entrusted with is also on the altar of surrender to God that we will be kingdom successful. It says in Zechariah 4 verse 6, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

24:59 We have been entrusted. We have been empowered. But we'll also be evaluated. Each of us will give an account for what we have and haven't done and be rewarded accordingly. This is a very sobering and challenging thought for all of us. It's not a nice, easy little talk to give on a hot Sunday afternoon. It certainly has been challenging me deeply as I've prepared. But it is the truth of what Jesus is teaching here.

25:49 Now, let me emphasize that this is not about salvation. as Jamie shared with us last week the only way that we can approach God is through his mercy and his grace through the blood of Jesus and the unmerited favor of God it's the only way we can be assured of our salvation but look what Paul says in Romans chapter 12 he says therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy, in view of God's grace, in view of God's salvation, in view of God's love, in view of God's acceptance, then what? Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. This is not about earning salvation, but it is about expressing salvation through faithfulness. It's not about earning salvation, but it is about expressing salvation through faithfulness. Let me share just two more scriptures from Paul.

27:10 These convey the seriousness and the weight of this and express the truth much better than I could say it. First one's in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 10. Paul says, according to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled, excuse me, master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it. Because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

28:21 And then Romans 14, we read, For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. The servants that Jesus condemned in this parable weren't condemned because they had lost or misplaced what was entrusted to them. They hadn't mistreated it or damaged it. In fact, they'd kept it very safe. But they didn't use it. They didn't invest it. They didn't grow it in the furtherance of his kingdom.

29:21 Each of us who are Christians, saved, redeemed, blood washed, spirit filled, beloved children of God, will one day stand before him and give an account for what we have done with what he's entrusted to us. Trusted, empowered, evaluated. And if you're his disciple, Jesus has entrusted you with kingdom resources. He has empowered you to steward and invest them to build his kingdom.

30:07 And he will evaluate the results. I'm just going to invite the band to come back. And while they do that, I want us to take a moment to respond to whatever it is that the Holy Spirit is placing in each of our hearts right now. I always find it interesting in these parables, the perspective of the servants who hid or buried what the master had given them. Their view of the master was that of a severe man. An angry man.

31:05 But God says his perfect love casts out all fear. And this is not a moment or a message or a day of condemnation. It is a moment or a message or a day of calling. Of the Holy Spirit calling each of us to partner afresh with him. To take what he has entrusted to us. To allow the Holy Spirit to empower us. So that one day we can stand before him. And hear those words.

31:52 Well done. My good and faithful servant. will you stand with me for a minute and I just think before we sing that each of us should just in a moment of silence take some time before the Lord and if he's speaking to you today do not harden your heart if he's not speaking that's fine if he's speaking to you today don't harden your heart take a moment now and confess whatever we need to confess Lord we confess when our hearts have followed our treasure into places that it shouldn't have gone Lord we confess when we have a wrong view of you Lord I pray that you would heal those broken places where we need to know that you are love and that you love us.

33:01 Lord, help us not to be afraid. Just take a moment now with you and God in the silence. Lord, we thank you for your presence. presence with us this afternoon. And I just pray for each of us that we'd be able to make those difficult decisions to die to self, to put that living sacrifice back on the altar, and to surrender all to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

34:09 Amen.