Luke 19 (3)

Pray Psalm 123.2.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God,
Until He has mercy on us.

Sing Psalm 123.2.
(Darwall: Rejoice, the Lord is King)
As servants strain to see their earthly lord’s command,
so we would in Your Presence be and firmly stand!
Refrain v. 2
We look to You! Have mercy, Lord,
upon us by Your sovereign Word.

Read Luke 19.1-27; meditate on verses 15-27.

Preparation
1. How was each servant rewarded?

2. What happened to the nobleman’s enemies?

Meditation
Christians have the distinct advantage of knowing where everything is headed, what the outcome of time, history, our work, and our lives is going to be. In the parable of the minas, Jesus encouraged us to keep an eye on the future, on the fact that He, like the nobleman in His parable, is going to return. Then there will be an accounting for what we have done with the assets He has entrusted to us, whether we squandered them (vv. 20-23) or put them to use for the glory and honor of God (vv. 15-18).

We must live every moment as though we expect the Lord to return in the next. It’s easy, but unprofitable, to do nothing, or very little, to advance Christ’s rule of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Too many of us are hiding the Lord’s assets out of sight, rather than putting them to work in seeking and advancing His rule. Consequently, our Personal Mission Fields are overgrown with the tares of wrong-belief.

At the end of all things, when the Lord returns, we want to hear Him say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities” (v. 17). No matter the amount of assets God has given us, whether many or few, if we are faithful to invest them for His glory, to do everything to point to and honor our Lord, greater possibilities for stewardship will be granted us here and now as well as there and then.

But the fate of those who are fearful, lazy, or too distracted by worldly interests to seek the Kingdom of God in all they do will be not what they want to hear from our kind and loving Savior (vv. 22-26). But for the enemies of the Lord, who scorn the grace He shows them daily and refuse to acknowledge His Lordship, the worst of all fates—the fruit of their own choices—will be visited upon them (v. 27).

Live for the day as a living sacrifice to the Lord, and keep your eye on the horizon of time; because the Lord is returning soon.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Jesus Christ, the Master Teacher, reinforced everything He taught. Remember when He asked, When I return, will I “really find faith on the earth?”? (Lk. 18.8) Well, here He is describing the faith He will be looking for.

God, in His mercy and economy, has given assets to each believer to use for the Kingdom’s growth and benefit. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth…He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Is. 40.21, 22, 29).

And God, in His righteousness and justice, knows those whom He has blessed. And we as His people, know from Whom our blessings derive. As the nobleman said in Jesus’ parable, “You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow” (Lk. 19.22). We have been forewarned that accepting the asset and gift of salvation is not an easy road. But it is the most blessed road we could ever travel. Beware, it is not a road traversed safely by the lazy or ill-informed. Again, as the nobleman said, “Bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me” (Lk. 19.27).

We, like Peter, serve our risen Savior. Not like someone else serves Him, but only like we have been called to serve Him. With our own mina (Lk. 19.13). As Jesus told him concerning John, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me” (Jn. 21.22). One servant blossomed his mina into ten, one into five. The one who kept his mina hidden in a hanky, who merely preserved it, got even his sequestered one taken away. Clearly inactivity in the Kingdom is seen as faithless and unapproved behavior. As Paul wrote to Titus, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work” (Titus 1.15, 16).

Kingdom work consists of what we can do faithfully in the power of the Holy Spirit. Each Kingdom citizen has been given a different calling and a unique Mission Field. What, and how, we do what we have been called to do, is between the Nobleman and each individual servant. Because in the end, “when he returned…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” (Lk. 19.15).

“Will He really find faith on the earth?”

For reflection
1. What “assets” will you be using today for your work in the Kingdom? How should you prepare for using these?

2. What are some things that can keep us from exercising faithful Kingdom stewardship?

3. What can you do to improve the use you make of the Lord’s assets?

… the gifts of God (whether they belong to the mind, like knowledge and wisdom, or to the body, like health, beauty, fortitude, riches) are given for this purpose of God: that until Christ comes to judge the living and the dead, everyone may be occupied in increasing the riches of our Lord and to exercise faith and charity in themselves. Johannes Brenz (1499-1570), An Ecclesiasticall Exposition upon Saint Luke 19.3

Pray Psalm 123.1, 3, 4.
Which of the Lord’s assets will you invest for His Kingdom today? Commit your day and all your activities and opportunities to the Lord’s service, and yourself to Him as a living sacrifice.

Sing Psalm 123.1, 3, 4.
(Darwall: Rejoice, the Lord is King)
To You we lift our eyes, O God enthroned above!
With longing gaze and heaving sighs we plead Your love!
Refrain v. 2
We look to You! Have mercy, Lord,
upon us by Your sovereign Word.

Have mercy, Lord, we pray; our souls are weary, worn.
The wicked world condemns our way and heaps up scorn.
Refrain

Our souls are sore oppressed by this world’s ease and pride.
In You we would be healed and blessed, and in You hide.
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.