LOJ #208: ‘Accountable to Christ Pt. 3’
Andover Baptist Church-November 24th, 2013
Opening
A. Text for today is Luke 19:20-28 and our sermon is conclusion
of the series Accountable to Christ
B. Scripture NET:
1. Previous Weeks: Luke 19:11-19 (NET)
“11 While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.13 And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ 14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’ 15 When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. 16 So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’ 18 Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ 19 So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.”
2. This Week: Luke 19:20-28 (NET):
“20 Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth.21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ 24 And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’25 But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’26 ‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.27 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’” 28 After Jesus had said this, He continued on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.”
C. Introduction
1. Get a hanky (act as if I blow my nose in it)
2. Imagine that you were given an opportunity to take a
small investment given to you and use it to become rich
3. Would you take that opportunity or would you take that
investment and place it in a hanky and do nothing with
it?
a. You might say that is absurd, why would anyone
stash such an opportunity in a handkerchief and
do nothing with it?
b. Yet that is what billions and billions of people
throughout this world are doing at this moment
c. You in fact might be one of those people
4. You see God has given every person life, a deposit of
His grace
a. When it comes to the use of this life there are
three types of people
b. There are those who take this investment and use
it as it has been intended, for His kingdom
c. These people get what they don’t deserve in that
they are rewarded with even more responsibility
out of His grace
d. Then there are those who claim they know God
but by their actions they show they do not use
this investment for His kingdom
e. They get what they deserve by having this
investment taken from them and receiving in its
place His judgment
f. Then there are those who openly spurt God and
reject any responsibility to Him for the life they
have been given
g. They too will receive what they deserve in
judgment from God
5. Those of you who sit here today and know that an
accounting of your life will reveal that you have not
used your life for His glory should stop and shudder at
the thought of Jesus taking an account of your life
6. Friends you must understand that there is no middle
ground
a. You are either His slaves doing His business or
you are playing a dangerous game with a life you
are eternally responsible for
b. On that day when you stand before Christ, He
will be your Master regardless of your thoughts
of Him
c. And in that moment there will be no more time to
invest your life in His kingdom
d. That day will come like a thief to you and to me,
so we had best be ready for the Master to return
this very day
Sermon
READ: Luke 19:20, 21 (Scripture slide)
“20 Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth.21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’”
A. ‘Then another slave came’
1. This is the third slave called
2. Notice that this slave is not titled ‘the third slave’
3. No this is ‘another’ slave
a. It means unlike
b. ‘Of a different kind’
c. In comparison of the first two slaves this is
absolutely true, he is separated from their
faithfulness
B. He says to the Master, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away
for safekeeping in a piece of cloth’
1. At the opening of what he says he resembles the first
two slaves by addressing the Master as sir
2. Unlike the other two he had nothing to give the Master
other than the mina he was originally given
3. He explains that he kept it hidden away in ‘cloth’
a. The Greek word for this indicates it is a facecloth
b. You would use it for wiping perspiration, like a
towel or napkin
c. Very much like our handkerchief
4. In some of the teachings that we have of the rabbis the
keeping of money in a handkerchief is discussed
a. They speak of it as a place that is unsafe for such
usage
b. They exclaim that a person who does such is a
thoughtless and careless person
c. It really is a ridiculous place to keep something of
value
5. This is NOT the instruction he was given by the Master
a. He was told to take the mina and do business with
it until the Master returns
b. This slave was deaf to the instruction of the
Master
c. He just went on with life like there was no
responsibility, no cares in the world
d. What a lazy, wicked fool!
e. He might as well use his handkerchief for
something else, because there is no reason to
wipe your brow because if you don’t work there
is no sweat on your brow!
6. There was more to this than just simple disobedience:
This was outright mutiny! The slave had hedged his
bets that the Master would not be made king and
secretly in his heart was in league with the Master’s
enemies!
7. How terrible it is to take what the Lord gives and hoard
it in a hanky!
a. Imagine saying these word to the Master: ‘I took
what you gave me Master and I kept it in a
snotrag!’
b. Do you think that the Master would be proud?
c. This ‘another’ type of supposed Christian
d. They come to church, they say the right words,
they may fit in well with those who are truly
faithful to Christ
e. Even the other 11 disciples were shocked and
unable to comprehend how one of them would
betray Jesus
f. They doubted themselves, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’
before they would doubt any of the others
g. And yet in their midst sat Judas, a false follower
of Christ, as unfaithful as they could come,
willing to sell the Master for a pathetic paycheck
h. The other 11 were oblivious to Judas’
faithlessness, but not Christ for He said, ‘Have I
not chosen you, the twelve and yet one of you is
a devil?’
i. Oh friend if this is you, let me say you have us
fooled, but Christ knows fully and completely
your betrayal just as surely as He knew that on
that road to Jerusalem that Judas was His enemy
1. He knows that you do not care that His
business is done in the world
2. He knows that you claim Him when
convenient but are ashamed of Him
otherwise
3. In Jesus’ eyes there is no nominal
Christian who is sold to the world and yet
claims Him
4. You are either a faithful slave of Christ
or you are not and are therefore nothing
more than His enemy
5. If you truly knew Jesus, if you truly knew
Him as your Lord you would be about His
business!
6. If you sit here today and you claim that
you are a follower of Jesus, you claim the
salvation that He brings, but your life
shows that you could really care less about
the One you claim, your faith is as
worthless as dried up sinus dripping in an
old, discarded hanky!
C. The faithless slave goes on to give his reasoning for
disobeying: ‘For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe
man’
1. Surprise, surprise guess Who is supposed to be to blame
for his faithfulness? The Master!
a. If this sounds familiar it should
b. Way back in the Garden of Eden both Adam and
Eve blamed God for their sin!
c. The wicked of the world today exclaim that they
reject God because of the evil in the world,
ironically evil that stems from the freedom of
men and women like them!
2. He states that it was fear of the Master that made him
disobey
a. He uses the Greek word ‘phobeo’ from which we
get the English word phobia
b. Literally he has a phobia of the Master!
3. Why did he fear the Master? Because he claims that the
Master is a ‘severe man’
a. You could substitute a number of words in place
of this to get a picture of how the slave felt about
the Master
b. Hard, harsh, exacting
c. Comes from the word for ‘dried up’ and linked to
blowing wind that is hard and dry
d. In the eyes of this slave the Master is too strict,
unrelaxed, uncompromising and uncharitable
1. He believed that the Master would be a
harsh inspector of his work
2. Possibly that if he invested the money and
lost it the Master would make him
reimburse it
3. Either way he saw the master as not a
Giver of grace but an unrelenting, hard
task master
4. But this slave is not done in his assessment of the
Master
D. The slave continues saying, ‘You withdraw what you did not
deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
1. In his eyes the Master withdrawals money in a
commercial sense that He does not make, in other words
He steals the money of others
2. On top of this the slave states that the Master cuts down
and gathers crops of others that He did not plant, in
other words He steals the crops of others
3. ‘Master you want something for nothing and you take
what you do not have rights to’
4. Literally calling the Master a criminal, a thief!
a. In certain societies in the Middle East such
statements could be seen as a compliment
b. But not in the Jewish context
c. This is not saying that the Master is a Master at
making a buck, but that the Master is wicked and
wrong in how He does things!
d. ‘Why should I work so hard for you, because if I
did you would unfairly take it?’
e. ‘There is no gain in working for You, it’s a
killjoy to do your business, it is better to live the
way I want than to live for You’
f. This wicked slave is confused thinking that the
Master’s mina is really is his own, and that the
Master has no rights to it!
E. This slave really does not know really know the King for Who
He is!
1. God is not unfaithful and unkind to His people!
Psalm 9:10 (NET) “Your loyal followers trust in You, for You, Lord, do not abandon those who seek Your help.”
2. The response of the Master to the two faithful slaves
shows that He is gracious and not a tyrant, which is the
exact opposite of what this evil slave believes!
3. The person like this is unfamiliar with the love of God
that sent His Son to purchase us from our sins!
4. To the true children of Christ, He is the bringer of grace
Romans 8:15 (NET) “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”
2 Timothy 1:7 (NET) “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
1 John 4:18 (NET) “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love.”
5. In fact the child of God knows that He gives us every
good gift (and we should be thankful everyday)
James 1:17 (NET) “All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.”