The King’s Resources

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

Caleb did an excellent job last week with the story about Zacchaeus. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. When he finds them and saves them, they respond with tremendous gratitude. Zacchaeus is a remarkable story of grace and change.

But Luke follows it immediately with a grim parable—a sharp contrast of expectations and consequences. After witnessing the transformation of Zacchaeus, we find a story that challenges our response to grace and the King who gives it.

11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

Luke gives us the context to make sure we understand the purpose of this parable. Jesus is using it to correct our concept of God’s kingdom.

12 He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

13 Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’

A mina was a large sum of money, possibly a few months wages.

14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

Pause here for a moment. Imagine I started telling you a story about a former president. Some of the members of his administration broke into the offices of an opposing political party in a hotel to plant listening devices. But they were caught, and the president lost his job.

This should sound familiar to most of you, even if you weren’t alive at the time. This was the famous Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Most of the people listening to Jesus would have immediately associated the start of this parable with a specific historical event. 30 years prior, Archelaus (the son of Herod the Great) had to go to Rome (a far country) to claim his throne before Caesar.

But the Jews hated Archelaus and sent a delegation to argue against him becoming ruler. They mostly hated him because he had about 3,000 Jews killed on the first Passover after his father died. He also built a palace and an aqueduct in Jericho, which is where Jesus was, so it’s very obvious that Jesus meant for the people here to think of Archelaus.

But why? Why would Jesus use this as the background for his parable? The people had good cause to hate Archelaus. The man ruled by fear and violence. Jesus rules with grace and truth. Really the only thing Archelaus and Jesus had in common is that both kings faced rejection.

And at this moment, the people loved Jesus. But their love for him won’t last. The moment Jesus defied their expectations, they rejected him too. And so, Jesus uses this parable as a challenge to prepare his disciples for life in God’s kingdom.

What will you do if this doesn’t go the way you think? What will you do in my absence?

15 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.

It’s interesting that Jesus chooses to present the kingdom of God in business terms, something he does often. The implied question is obvious: will you be faithful with whatever God provides?

16 The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’

That’s an absurdly large profit! But notice that the servant recognizes that the mina never belonged to him. It always belonged to the king.

17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’

That’s an absurdly generous upgrade in responsibility!

18 And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’

Notice again… “your mina”. It belongs to the king.

19 And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

Do you see the pattern here? The king is generous, but there is a standard being set. Even though the reward is extremely gracious, it is given proportionate to the servant’s effort.

20 Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief;

21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

This verse is the key to understanding the parable. How does this servant excuse his lack of effort? He blames the king! He says, “I’m afraid of you.” And then he accuses the king of unfair expectations.

But the problem is not with the king. The problem is with the servant’s perception of the king. The instructions given by the king were simple: “Engage in business until I come.”

That’s actually an incredibly low expectation. Do something… anything… anything at all until I get back. There’s no threat attached to it. It’s just a simple instruction. Certainly the king has the right to tell his servants what to do with his own resources!

22 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?

23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

Even the most minimal effort would have been accepted. Just put it in the bank instead of holding it in your pocket! Jesus is not expecting perfect results here, just faithfulness of some kind. But this servant rejects the authority of his king by doing nothing and then blames his lack of effort on the king!

24 And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

25 And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’

26 ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

27 But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

I told you this was a grim parable. It’s not a happy ending. So, what do we do with it?

Well, remember the context. Luke tells us that Jesus uses this parable to correct our understanding of God’s kingdom. Is Jesus really my King? What if this doesn’t go the way I think it will? What will I do? How will I respond?

When Jesus gets to Jerusalem, things will not go the way people expect. Jesus will not start a political revolution. He will be betrayed, arrested, and crucified. His disciples will scatter.

And then, after the resurrection, Jesus physically left His disciples. He gave them gifts and instructions, promising to return in the future. Would they be faithful?

Is Jesus really my King? What if this doesn’t go the way I think it will? What will I do? How will I respond?

These are good questions for us to ask at the start of a New Year. It’s possible that 2025 will be a great year for you, full of unexpected blessing. It’s also possible that you will experience unimaginable suffering. Nothing may go as planned. Will Jesus still be your King? What will you do? How will you respond?

Jesus says, “Engage in business until I come.” The business, of course, is kingdom business… not just making money. It’s a bigger, broader principle. What will you do with whatever the King has given you? Your time? Your gifts and abilities? Your opportunities?

The greatest deposit Jesus entrusted to us is the Holy Spirit. And the greatest instruction He gave us was “go and make disciples”. Luke will make this plain at the beginning of Acts. But this principle extends further, because everything we have belongs to the King and has been entrusted to us for the sake of His kingdom.

The resources, gifts, and abilities that are given to us belong to Jesus and they exist for the benefit of the kingdom of God. Just as the minas did not really belong to the servants, none of these things really belong to us. They are given for God’s purpose and plan. We can and should enjoy them. But it all belongs to Him.

This has the potential to really change the way we think about our lives. We tend to compartmentalize the various things in our lives, and we typically break everything down into two major categories: spiritual and secular.

Church, Prayer, Bible Study, Works of Service and Mercy, etc.
Vs.
Work, School, Play, Art/Music, basically everything else we do…

But this is a false dichotomy. This is the way Satan wants us to think about religion. If we keep all the religious stuff over here and all the other stuff over there, then we can’t expect this to have much influence over that.

But every part of our lives is subject to the kingship of Christ, and because that is true there is a spiritual aspect to everything we do. Everything is meant be done for the glory of God.

We are meant to glorify and enjoy God not just on Sunday mornings, but in everything. You can play sports for the glory of God. You can make a good business deal to the glory of God. You can cook a delicious meal for the glory of God.

You’re not just a husband or a wife, a father or a mother, a son or a daughter, an employee or a student, an artist or a musician or an athlete, who happens to be a Christian. You’re a child of the King and you’ve been given gifts and abilities to use for the glory of the King and to spread the influence of His kingdom!

Another fun implication of this principle is that no jobs are better than others. The world places greater value on careers that earn the most income. But it doesn’t work that way in the kingdom of God. Carpenters are no less important in the kingdom of God than engineers. Janitors are no less important than doctors.

Kingdom business isn’t just church work; it’s any activity done in obedience to God and for His glory—whether parenting, serving your neighbor, or excelling in your career.

Are there areas where you compartmentalize your faith? What would it look like for Jesus to reign over those areas?

This is a different way of thinking about our life—in service to God and His kingdom. This is not a duty, or an obligation, so much as it is an act of gratitude. It is an act of joy from a heart that is overflowing with gratitude for what the King has done.

We follow a God who became a man, lived most of his life as an ordinary carpenter in a small town, and then after a brief ministry, He died on a cross for His people. Unless you recognize the spiritual significance of the work of Christ, his life looks absolutely meaningless.

The same is true of his followers. The world may not see the spiritual significance of your life as a Christian, but to God your life holds vast importance. And so let us not live our lives in fear of failure or insufficiency like the wicked servant in the parable. Let us live our lives in faithfulness, knowing that our life and everything we have belongs to King Jesus.

But I wouldn’t be doing the parable any justice if I didn’t end the way He does. There is a day of judgment coming, when those who have rejected the King will face His wrath.

But the King’s generosity is also on the table. Right now we have an opportunity to respond together to His grace… to respond together in repentance and faith as we come to the table of the King.