Experience TRUTH - #11

Looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the family? Why not a chicken? Stick a bow on top, put the chicken under the tree, and who knows, you may even have a couple eggs to fry up for breakfast Christmas morning.

Give the gift that keeps on clucking. A chicken. Okay, maybe it's not the perfect gift for your family, but it is the perfect gift for a poor family in Asia. A chicken can break the cycle of poverty for a poor family. Yes, a chicken.

A chicken's eggs provide food and nourishment for a family, and they can sell those eggs at the market for income. When you donate a chicken or any other animal through Gospel for Asia, 100% of what you give goes to the field. And the best gift of all, when Gospel for Asia gives a poor family an animal, it opens the door to the love of Jesus. So give the perfect gift for a family in Asia this Christmas. Give them a chicken.

Call 866-WINASIA or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to CritterCampaign.org. This is Sam from the Mask on Journey podcast, and our goal with the podcast has helped you to try to find your way in this difficult world. Your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. What are you doing with all that the Lord has entrusted you with? I'm Stu Epperson. Welcome to Experience Truth, a pretty intense parable today as we journey through the book of Luke. We dealt with a wee little man last time, and this time we're going to deal with a big, big parable from Jesus on all that God has entrusted us with. We're so glad you're with us on this journey with me as one of my mentors, a great man, a guy who's a national talk show host in his own right, and a grandfather, a father, a husband, Robbie Dilmore, the Christian car guy. Always fun. Always fun, Stu.

It's good to have you. We promise not to crack any tall jokes again this week or short jokes after our friend Zach. He has had a remarkable transformation. A wee little man. God can save a wee little man like him.

He can save a big, tall fellow like me and like Robbie. And so we're here with Luke 19, 11-27. We may break this up into a couple weeks like we did with Zacchaeus, but Robbie, go ahead and read the passage for us, will you? So the parable of the ten menas. As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell them a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was near immediately. He therefore said, A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten menas, and he 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. And when he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered the servants to whom he had given the money to be called into him that they might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, Lord, your mena has made ten menas more. And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in the very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, your mena has given me five menas.

And he said to him, And you are to be over five cities. Then another came, saying, Lord, here's your mena, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you because you're a severe man. 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 mena from him and give it to the one who has ten menas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten menas. 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.

But as far as these enemies of mine who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. So really a rough ending to quite a parable. And a parable that often gets confused with the parable of the talents in Matthew.

Those are different. Matthew was told from Jerusalem. That parable was, this was told from Jericho, about 70 miles away from Jerusalem, right after this encounter with Zacchaeus, the wee little man. Dr. Darrell Bock, I love how he breaks this down in three parts. He breaks it down into three basic sections. The reward for faithful stewards, rejection of false, fake believers, and then the judgment for openly rejecting rebels. But at the end of the day, Robbie, it comes down to what's God given you, and what are you doing with it? And so, a rich passage.

If you'll ask this first question, it'll get right into kind of what's happening in terms of the context. What led them to think, once again, that the kingdom would immediately appear? Yeah, so here Jesus Christ is coming, and he's getting into Jerusalem. And over and over again he said, I must go to Jerusalem. I must be betrayed. I must be beaten. I must be spit upon.

I must suffer, die, be raised from the dead. He's told disciples all over again, and it's just like that glossy look. It's almost like you're sharing the Lord with someone over and over again. It's grace, it's grace, it's grace.

And every time you talk to them, after two hours of really pouring your heart out, they say, okay, so if I've got to be a good person, well, I'm good. It's like the natural man doesn't show you the things of God. These natural disciples didn't get the supernatural Jesus was talking. And this parable, right in the middle of all this motion toward the climax of Christ's whole ministry in Jerusalem, this parable is very appropriate because this parable is talking about the long game. This parable is saying to you and me, the Christian life is not a sprint.

This isn't the quick whammo. This isn't the seed that goes in the soil and instantly it's eaten away, taken away. This is a long run. This is a harvest.

You've got to think of it like a farmer or an athlete who's training for a long race. And so right in the middle of all this comes a parable that Jesus is saying, look, the kingdom of God is coming, the kingdom of God is here. I am the king of the kingdom, but I'm not going to go conquer Herod, best the forces of Rome, set up my throne, and then it's all happening now. There is a long game here and I'm actually going to go away, but I'm going to send you the deposit of the Holy Spirit. You'll be more powerful with Him than you are with me here. And there's going to be a whole lot of, and we know looking back 2,000 years since He left, and we're looking for His return, but sometimes we get tired, don't we, Robbie? And the patience is going to kick in.

It's similar. David was anointed long before he was king, and these people knew that Jesus was anointed. I mean, they were around him, this guy's anointed.

And he's heading to Washington, D.C. as far as they're concerned. So, man, I mean, when the cheese come to Washington, it must be because this is coming. So that was somewhat of that type of anticipation. But as you say, there is a really large story going on, and part of what God's heart is for generations to come. And so as you look into the larger story, we often play a smaller part than we thought we did.

We see ourselves right in there, like instantly as a hero, but Jesus is the hero, but He gives us a part, and that's a cool thing. So verse 11, He comes right out and says, As they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. So He's using this parable to quell their thoughts, to kind of help them think longer term, and He goes right into it. For He said, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. Now this first question, Robbie, gets right into this picture. Who are the characters of the parable, and how do they reflect?

Right. How is the king in the parable a picture of Jesus? Yeah, so clearly this nobleman... Yeah, there's different things, and you never want to press these parables so concretely, but Jesus is a picture of this nobleman. He has been given a kingdom, and to return. He's also a picture of the son that is sent later. But He calls ten of His servants, delivers them ten minas.

This is really fascinating. He says to them, Do business until I come. Another version says, the King James, I believe, says, Occupy till I come. And this is a, by the way, a mina is a good chunk of change. Minas stand for God-given gifts, talents. Many scholars believe that the mina is the gospel itself, entrusted for us to invest wisely into the hearts of others.

Basically, a mina equals 100 drachma, which is about 100 days, or three months, wages. So it's a good chunk of change, and it's given to these guys equally. Now it's interesting.

This is another way it's different from the parable of the stewards, or the talents that we see in Matthew, because they're all given the same amount. So it comes down to what are they going to do with what they're given, and how are they going to occupy or do business. So guess where we are right now. We are to be occupying. We are to be actively taking what God has given us, in terms of our talent, our time, our treasure, all those things, and occupy. That's a great verse right there. Be busy until I come.

Get going. So what do they do? Well, the citizens, by the way, verse 14, hated him. And they sent a delegation after him saying, we will not have this man reign over us. So the citizens weren't happy. Well, how did the world? He came to his own and received him not.

The world did not want. How many times do they say this? We will not have this king reign over us, over and over again, all the way up to the cross where they said, we have no king but Caesar. Crucify him. So when he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

So he wanted to call account. How have you done with each of the servants? So the first one, master, your mina has earned 10 minas. He said, well done.

You were faithful in a very little. Now you have authority over 10 cities. Second one came, master, your mina has earned 5 minas.

The third one, you have authority now over 5 cities. He said, same thing, well done. Then another came, master, here's your mina, which I've kept away in a handkerchief. So this guy took it and he buried it in a safe place where no one would get it, Robbie. He played it cool. He played it safe.

And I guess the question is, I'll let you ask it, Robbie, because this is kind of where a lot of us are living. What was wrong with a servant hiding his mina, or mina, depending on whether you're stew or me, from playing it safe? How was his view of the master misguided? Okay, so he played it safe. He just kicked back. I don't know, you know it's interesting you say he played it safe, but actually he played it scared. I mean, I don't trust this guy.

And there's not a lot of faith there. He said, I feared you. You were an austere man.

Right. And so I wouldn't say he played it safe, he played it scared. And when you go hiding, anytime you go hiding, like Adam and Eve, things are going to be hard on you.

Because God is a risky guy and he likes people that will risk. They used fig leaves, he used a handkerchief. Before there were handkerchiefs, there were fig leaves.

So somewhere in there, you have that. Very, very fascinating. I also think it's fascinating, just to throw this out there, is that there were 10, which to the Jews, 10 is a significant number. It represents your congregation.

In order to have what they considered a congregation, you had to have 10 people. So I find that fascinating that that was the number that he chose. So this was an actual force, a lot different than the parable of talents. Now you've got 100 minas, or minas, depending on what you want to say, that are actually out there being invested. That's exactly right.

And they're producing fruit, and they're growing, and they're compounding, and they're multiplying. What's fascinating, they're compounding, but what's interesting, Robbie, about all of this is the fate of this guy didn't go so well. But back to his misguided view of the Master, his complete, erroneous view of God.

A.W. Tozer said, you can define a person, or everyone is summarized by what their view of God is, and how we all live on this earth. Either that's complete ignorance, either that's not wanting anything to do with God, a fear of God, a wrong kind of fear of God, a healthy fear of God, a reverence for God, every single person. Now we're out of time, but when we come back next time, we're going to hear what happens to all these guys, and we're going to hear about risk. Why don't we take more risk as believers? God doesn't sell lazy boys.

He sells risky boys. Oh wow. Okay, well we're out of time with that. Great word there, Robbie.

Thank you. And study this word, guys, for yourself. I'm going to leave you with this quote from my friend Kent Hughes. He said, God has given the same investment capital for the Christian life to Joe Christian and Jill Christian. We all receive the same gospel of grace as the Apostle Paul, John Calvin, and Billy Graham. We all have the same command to put our God-given investment to work until He comes. Back to the first question. What are you doing with what God has given you?

I'm Stu Everson. This is Experience Truth. Thanks for joining us. We'll be here next time, this same time, and this same place to share more from the Book of Luke with you on Experience Truth. This is the Truth Network.