Parable of Ten Minas (pounds)

If you are like me when you think of the word stewardship you think of Paul who was made a steward of the mystery which is Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. But our passage today speaks of stewardship that is very applicable to today.

Passover was coming, a time of remembrance of how God delivered the Hebrew people from the slavery, oppression of Egypt. It was a reminder to them right then of the oppression they were under the bondage of Rome maybe not as slaves but still a form of bondage. Oh they wanted their Deliverer, their Messiah to come and set up His kingdom and set them free from the oppression of Rome. There were the Zealot’s who were aggressive in trying to subvert the authority of Rome; the Herodians who wanted to compromise with Rome to keep the peace. Then there is the people, the crowd, who rejected those approaches and looked for the Messiah, the deliverer of Israel who was going to set up their kingdom again and David would sit on his throne again.

There is a story of FDR who grew weary of some of the long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really listened to what he said. He decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed through the line he told them “I just murdered my grandmother this morning.” well everyone would say “great” or “marvelous” until he got to the ambassador of Bolivia who listened to what he said, leaned in and said “I’m sure she had it coming.” the point of this is most people, the crowd was not listening to what was being said. That was a problem then and we don’t want it to be the problem today. Even when we have heard the parable lots of time, let’s tune in and not just be a part of the crowd, let’s be good stewards of God’s Words!

Just a little more ground work to give to you before we look at the parable. This is spoken at a time when the people would remember when Herod the great died (4BC) and left Judea to his son Archelaus who had to go to Rome to receive his inheritance, well the people, the crowd did not like it and did not want him to rule over them so they sent people to appeal to Augustus Caesar who did give the inheritance but not the title of king to Archelaus.

(Slide) Let’s turn to Story book, pgs. 113-4 and Bible to Lk19:11-28

What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you in this passage?

The Parable

Faithful Steward(s)

(Slide) A couple of questions to get us going

(Slide) What were they listening to (v.11)? - to know the answer to this question you have to look back in the scripture to see what was going on just before.

Conversion of Zaccheus

Purpose of Christ’s ministry

In the previous story we see a practical demonstration of the a converted life; today we will look at practical stewardship.

(Slide) What were they assuming (v.11)?

They were assuming the kingdom was going to appear immediately.

With the assumption that Jesus was coming to establish the kingdom, He is quick to bring in this parable to show that the kingdom is for a future date and they need to be faithful stewards today. Like the people here in the passage people today can have a few responses to the kingdom that is coming.

(Slide) The Faithfully obedient

(Slide) The unfaithful disobedient

(Slide) The outright rebellion

(Slide) How about the characters in the parable, can you pick them out?

(Slide) The nobleman (v.12)

(Slide) The slaves/servants (v.13)

(Slide) The citizens, people, crowd (v.14)

(Slide) The story itself

(Slide) What did the nobleman go to receive (v.12)?

(Slide) What were the instructions to the slaves (v.13)?

(Slide) That did the citizens think, do (v.14)?

It is always good to look at the entire story, then go back and pick out the details of it as we are doing today. You may be familiar with this story, may have read it 100 times but like many you may have this one confused with the parable of the talents (Mt25:14ff). They are different parables, different teachings, different focus. So keep your eyes open, your ears open as we go on, I will give you some comparisons later of the two parables.

II. Faithful Steward

(Slide) One question did not address in previous section, what was each man given (v.13)?

Each man was given 10 minas, a mina is a pound a pound is a one hundred drachma and one drachma is a day’s wages, so this would equal to about 3 months wages. Remember what they were told to do (v.13) use the money, work with it, make a profit with it until he returns. They were not instructed how to use it, they were his servants, and he trusted them, gave them stewardship over it and expected them to have good stewardship over it.

(Slide) We are told only what happens with 3 of the 10 servants. How many were faithful (v.16, 18)? - There are 2 out of 3 that are faithful, some will say one was fully faithful, one is partially faithful. I say they are faithful

(Slide) What did the first servant do? What was the response?

(Slide) What did the second servant do? What was the response?

One was praised, one was just given. Both were faithful and received more work to do, and more authority; with authority comes responsibility (10 cities/5 cities)

Oh I want to jump to the bottom line of this parable but that would not be right, we need to continue

III. The Unfaithful/Disobedient Servant

(Slide) What did the servant do, and why (v.20-21)?

(Slide) What was the response of the master (v.22)?

Each was given the same, each was given the same instructions, at least two used the money they were given stewardship following the limited instructions. The unfaithful servant did not. When we are given instructions by the Master on what we are to do, we need to do it or face the consequences and we will see that in just a couple of minutes.

(Slide) The unfaithful servant was motivated by fear of the master, the faithful were motivated by wanting to please the master. --The faithful were rewarded with more authority and responsibility and the unfaithful, well let’s look as the story continues.

Tozar says “nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God.” - the fear each Christian should have is of a respect a reverence for a loving father not a frightened slave.

IV. The Rebellious and disobedient

IV. The unfaithful and the rebellious

(Slide) What did the Master say to do about the unfaithful one (v.24)?

(Slide) Important to note, who is the master speaking to (v.24)?

Now, the unfaithful servant was not a bad guy, he did not spend the money, squander the money, he just did not do anything with the money, and for that the money was taken from him. Can you deduce what the money symbolizes by chance?

IV. The unfaithful

The minas, the pounds, the money represent gifts. We are all given gifts in accordance to God’s grace given. Gifts given to be used for the body. Gifts to be used in service to the Master who went off to receive His kingdom and will return one day.

(Slide) The parable of the talents and this parable are different

(Slide) Parable of pounds - same thing given, different rewards

(Slide) Parable of talents (Mt25:14ff) - different things given but same rewards

so the same thing given, is it same talents? Maybe it is the same Gospel and what we do with it. We have been made stewards of the mystery which is Jesus Christ.

(Slide) What is a steward? - a person left in charge or responsible for someone else’s things. It is not our kingdom it is the masters kingdom that He shares with us. He has left us to tend to it, to work it, to do business (v.13). The question arises what are we doing with our stewardship? Are we working it for the Master? Are we using the talents He has given us?

To finish this off since I started with stewardship.

We are stewards of our lives, are we living for Christ?

We are stewards of the mystery of God, are we sharing it?

As stewards we are responsible and will be held accountable

See the crowd, the people, the masses don’t want things Jesus way, they want things their own way, they want their own master not Jesus. and look at (v.27) what is the result

Luke 19:27 NASB95

“But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

To the faithful more will be given.

Lk19:

Luke 19:26 NASB95

“I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

So be a good and faithful steward with the gospel and with the gifts you have been given!

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