Parable of the Talents Sermon

Luke 19:11-27 Sermon Text

“Be faithful with the deposit”

11-”near to jerusalem, and because they supposed kingdom was to appear immediately”

• Jerusalem-not where Jesus would be crowned with an earthly crown, but where he would receive the crown of thorns
• Not where He would go to receive, but it would be to the Father that He would go to receive it.
• Jesus would further establish it by ransoming Himself and disarming Satan, but it would not play out as they expect it
• Immediately, Jesus is going to further His kingdom, physically it would be look like defeat, but spiritually it would be the defining moment of His kingdom
  • Philippians 2:5-11- “who though He was in the form of God…”
    • The kingdom would be established, but through His physical death and resurrection for our sakes
• Jesus explains it via this parable

12-”went to a far country to receive a kingdom”

• This is how kings of territories received their kingdom, by going to Rome
• Again, Jesus is not going to Rome or Jerusalem to receive His kingdom, but to the Father
• “Then return”
  • Again, Jesus is returning with all power, but they thought it immediate

13- 10 servants “His followers”

13- He gave them

13- 10 minas- about 3 months salary, lets call it 5k

13- Engage in Business until I come- verb, use this to make gains, get busy with this, use this money to make money, buy sell and trade using this to make a profit, be fruitful using this

• This is the key part of the text I want us to focus on today
• We are His followers and the minas that the nobleman gave his servants represents the deposit of the Spirit that God has given us and the charge He has given us to be fruitful

*1* What does the minas represent?

• God has given each of His servants something more valuable than money, he has given us His spirit
  • 2 corinthians 1:21-22 – spirit as a guarantee
  • Ephesians 1:13-14 – inheritance
  • John 14:15-17- spirit of truth
• So just as the nobleman gave his servants a deposit (which would later become kingdoms) the Lord has given us His spirit, His divine nature, God himself as deposit to reside in us until later when He returns and gives us places in His kingdom and new glorified bodies!
• Somebody say “thank you lord for giving me your spirit!”
• Tell the people that God is living in you! (1 corinthians 6:19 your body is the temple of the holy spirit)
• Read vs 13

**2** What is the business that we are to engage in with Holy Spirit God has given us?

• Being His witnesses and doing His work both at home and outside powered by the Spirit
• Lets talk about being His witnesses primarily today
  • Acts 1:8-what do witnesses do?  They speak or testify about what they know and have seen
    • Am I engaging in the business of witnessing by the power of the deposit?  
    • When was the last time I witnessed at home?
    • When was the last time I witnessed outside at my job or with friends?
    • Pray to God that He by His Spirit would give you the boldness and conviction to witness!
    • Practically-just witness, it may sound like this “for me, Jesus has done this, Jesus has helped me do that, I know and believe that God does this or that”  
      • I often start dialogue by, “ as a Christian, or you know me, I’m a believer so…”
      • Take the stand for Jesus!
  • 2 corinthians 5:18-20
    • “Who through christ reconciled us to himself”
      • First we must understand the gospel so that we can share it!
      • God and man were far apart, because of the chasm of sin
      • God not accepting man because of this sin and man enduring the suffering and suffocation of life without God
      • Christ reconciled us by ransoming himself, simultaneously satisfying the debt to God and creating the bridge to God
      • Now we have the fullness of God in our life if we repent, believe and follow!
      • This is the message!
      • Practically speaking we may say things like: God saved my life after I believed in Jesus!
      • My life was a wreck until I was introduced to Jesus
      • I knew I was missing something, what I was missing was God
      • I don’t know how I would manage without God in my life
      • These statements are the bridge to deeper theological discourses, some may be intimidated about sharing their faith because they believe what if I say it wrong, start with these type of bridge statements and trust in the Lord to help with the rest
        • This is the beauty  of it…we are only responsible to give the message!  The Lord will do with it what he will because He knows who are His!
    • Ministry of reconciliation which is share with people the “message of reconciliation”
    • God make His appeal through us, this is the work that we are entrusted with, this is the business of the minas that we have!
• God has  called us to this business first in our homes and also outside our homes, again empowered by the deposit!
  • In other words, its not enough to just conduct this business at home with your family and not speak it outside
  • Its not enough to speak it outside, but not live it at home
  • You are an ambassador and what we see later is that we will be held accountable to this

***3***We will give an account to God about how we were His witnesses and ambassadors

15-read

• “Called to Him”
• This will happen for us when we stand before the Lord in judgement at the end of the age

16-19  Hear is the criteria…God is looking for faithfulness!  

• God is looking for us to do what we are hearing today!
• Remember, He is empowering us to do it, so we can do it
• Remember, His spirit does the work of drawing and saving, but He has entrusted us the message
• He is looking for your faithfulness and obedience to this task.
• If you are willing to give God your faithfulness say Amen!  

Read vs 26

• The more faithful we are with being Jesus’ witness by the power of His Spirit, the more He will empower us to do it
• In other words, the more we are His witnesses and ambassadors, the better witnesses and ambassadors He will make us
• John 15:1-2, 8
  • Your witness and faithfulness as an ambassador is fruit powered by the holy spirit
  • The Father will make you more fruitful by refining you more and more into the image of Jesus
  • 8-your fruitfulness is a mark or evidence that you are truly a disciple
    • Your obedience and faithfulness in the matter we discussed today is what can be expected if you are truly His and again, He is giving you power to do it.

14-hated him and sent a delegation

• Go to rome and lodge a complaint, kind of like going down to springfield
• This represented the religious rulers of Jerusalem who rejected Jesus and wanted to kill him and didn’t recognize Jesus to be the messiah
• This also represents unbelievers
  • Those that have the sentiment “we don’t want Jesus to reign over us.”
    • Those that want to reign over their own life, or perhaps are a part of another religion…
    • This also represents even those that claim to be Christians, but haven’t embraced or accepted Jesus reign and authority over them