Well done my good servant!

Luke 19:11-27

Key Verse 19:17

In this passage Jesus teaches us what we are to do while we wait for the second coming of Jesus, and why we must do what we are called to do. 

1. Compare what people expected concerning God’s kingdom in verse 11 and what Jesus said about it in verse 12. What do you think Jesus meant by: a) a man of noble birth;  b) [he] went to a distant country; c) to have himself appointed king; and d) to return? What is the difference between the time at which people expected God’s kingdom to come and the time Jesus said it would come? 

** a man of noble birth = Jesus

** It refers to Jesus going back to the Father.

** The one who appoints Jesus a king is God the Father.

** Jesus will come again. 

** His listeners thought God’s kingdom would come at once (in other words as soon as Jesus goes to Jerusalem.)

But Jesus said it  will come only after his servants having had their own time to prove themselves in obeying Jesus’ world mission command as in Matthew 28:18-20. 

2. Read verse 13. What does mina (or simply ‘money’) stand for? (1Pe 4:10) Who are the “ten servants”? What does “Put this money to work” mean? 

** It refers to the gospel and the gift(s) the Lord God is going to bless his servants with. Minas (Eze 45:12) 

** All Christians 

** It means what it says, that is, let the money to work. The point here is to emphasize the fact that God equips each person to do what he is called to do. God never asks anyone to do anything without first providing that person with the means by which to do what he or she is called to do.

God has already given us the gospel. He also gives us the Holy Spirit so as we put ourselves in service of the Lord, the Lord naturally will enable us to bear the kind of fruit God wants us to bear. The key then is to fully understand what God has empowered us to do, and make the full use of what God has equipped us with.  

Read Romans 12, 1Co 12; 1Pe 4:10,11

3. Think about “his subjects” described in verse 14.  Why wouldn’t they not want the man to be a king? Were they wise in not so wanting? (15,27)

** Most likely it is because they wanted to serve their own agenda. They hated the man of noble birth knowing that the man of noble birth means business in pursuing what is righteous (so that as they mean business in pursuing what is wicked, it is quite natural that they end up hating the man). 

** No, because in the first place the one who appoints the man as a king is not they but God. Indeed God has appointed Jesus as the king. Even Pilate testified to this truth. 

Plus, in the end when the king comes back the king is going to judge these people. 

4. Read verses 16-17. The secret of his success was to be “trustworthy in a very small matter.” What does it mean to be “trustworthy in a very small matter?” The master said, “Take charge of ten cities.” Apparently this new responsibility is related to the ten minas he earned. What does this indicate about the way the newly appointed king desires to run his kingdom business?

** What is great consists of a lot of all that are very small. Trustworthy means worthy of being given trust. Money (or minas) belongs to the master. Thus, if it is given to his servant, so the servant would manage it, the giver is giving the receiver not just money but trust. 

** Jesus wants to rule his kingdom together with those who prove themselves trustworthy.  The thing is that Jesus is not going to rule the kingdom all by himself. His name is love, and love desires to share what is good with others, and what is good includes the privilege and responsibility to rule the kingdom. 

5. Compare the second servant in verses 18-19 with the first servant in verses 16-17. Apparently the capital was the same (that is one mina) and yet the result was different. Why? 

** Again the expression “trustworthy in a very small matter” explains the difference. The more trustworthy, the more fruitful, the less trustworthy the less fruitful. 

6. Read verses 20-23. Verse 21 explains why the man laid away the mina. What does his words indicate about his relationship with  his master? Was he right in describing his master as a “hard” man? What about his accusation saying, “You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow”?

** He misunderstand the master. He did not know that the master was a man of true love. The man said, “I was afraid of you…” This indicates that he was not even born again; he is still ruled by the spirit of fear. Romans 8:5 He then understood the master in terms of his own unregenerate mind. 

** No. The master is a gentle, generous man. 

** Again his accusation was unfounded, for in the first place the money belongs to the master, so it was the master who “put in” and who “sowed” first.  

7. Read verses 24-26. What does verse 26 indicate about the master’s real intention in asking his servants to put the money to work?

** The master’s real intention (or motive) is quite the opposite of what the third servant believed. The third servant thought that the master was a hard man, but what verse 26 says that the master’s real intention is to make his servants to be as rich as God himself is. 

The end

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