Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Good morning, church family.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Let's try that again.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Good morning church family.
You guys are definitely more awake than first service. Would you guys stand and join us?
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Let's worship the king.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: When I'm in the roughest water, I won't go on I won't drown.
And when I'm in over my head, I know that you won't let me down.
When I'm broken in down the nothing.
I know that you are always is up to something good.
I know that you are always up to something good.
You'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Even through the deepest valley you go before me you are here for I know you never leave me. Your love surrounds me. I won't fear when I'm broken and down the nervous I know that you are always up to something good.
I know that you are always up to something good.
You'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Through the darkest night you are on my side.
You are always faithful. Through my fear and doubt you will leave me out.
You are always able.
Through the darkest night you are on my side.
You are always faithful. Through my fear and doubt you will lead me out.
You are always able, you are faithful.
I know that you are always up to something good.
I know that you are always up to something good.
You'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing you love I know.
I know that you are always up to something good.
You make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:04:20] Speaker D: You can have a seat here for a few minutes.
Welcome. We are so glad you're here. Happy Spring. I was trying to decide this morning if I should say Happy Spring or Happy March Madness. I wasn't sure which one would be less triggering. So welcome. I'm so glad that everybody came this morning came out to join us.
It's really such a gift to worship together. So I'm really glad that you're here. Hopefully you had a chance to to grab the sermon notes on your way in.
If not, those are also in your app. And one thing I just want to encourage you.
This is a big church, right? But we love to pray for each other and so if you have a prayer need, I would encourage you to either use the app or grab A connect card from the pew in front of you and share those prayer requests. You even have an option to put it on our church, our public prayer sheet that we have available. We have some very faithful prayer warriors here in this church. And I just think there, I have personally experienced what a blessing it is to know and even have some of you come up and ask how you know, how needs are being met. That's really a gift. So don't carry those burdens yourself. Please share those. Or you have the option to choose just the pastoral staff, and we pray over those, actually, as a whole staff here.
So definitely take some time to do that. Also, the other reason we use that connect card, if you are new, if you're visiting or maybe you've attended for a little while, and you just have not kind of dipped your toe in to get to know us a little better or introduced yourself to us, you can also fill out that connect card and take it out to our guest resources out here. We would just love to get to know you better. One thing that we offer for people who are new here is we have a new people party. And there's another one coming up, actually, the Sunday after Easter that takes place after our second service over in the refinery. And it's a wonderful way to get to know the staff and kind of hear a little bit more about how we work here and find maybe some places to get plugged in.
You can certainly come in and leave every week. But that is not what I think our church is intended to be. We're intended to be a body, a community, and there's so many great ways where you can get plugged in and get to know people.
So lots of really great things coming up. You know, Easter's in a couple of weeks, Palm Sunday next week. But we also have something else coming up that I'm excited for you to hear about this morning.
Go ahead and take a look at the screen.
What I want is less division and more unity in this country.
[00:07:09] Speaker E: I just want to be able to trust God completely.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: I'd really love clarity in this season.
[00:07:14] Speaker D: I think I just want a sense of calm.
[00:07:16] Speaker F: I just need a minute. Guests have just been feeling really exhausted.
[00:07:23] Speaker D: I think what I'm really longing for is peace.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Peace.
[00:07:32] Speaker E: Peace is something we all long for.
Yet in this world of broken relationships and unmet longings, there are things that weigh on us, keep us up at night and steal our peace. But the good news is that peace is possible. I am Lydia Carlino, and I am so excited to be your speaker. This year at the Thrive Women's Conference we are going to dive into Scripture and you are going to walk away not just with a hope for this peace, but the knowledge of how to get it. You will walk away with actionable items, with life changing lessons and practical tools not just for gaining this peace, but giving it to a broken world in Christ. Perfect peace in an imperfect world is possible and I can't wait to see you there as we dive into that.
[00:08:27] Speaker F: Good morning. If we have not met before, my name is Hillary and I head up the Westgate Women's Ministry and I want you to know women that you are invited to our all day women's conference on April 25th from 9am to 4pm and as you heard Lydia talking, we are going to talk about peace. Who doesn't need more peace? We all need it and we are going to be talking about peace with God, peace that we have within ourselves because of God and talking about peace with each other.
We're going to have biblical teaching, fellowship, we'll have worship, have prizes and giveaways and breakout sessions. Now the breakout sessions are going to be cool because one of the sessions is going to provide a peace tool that they'll help you learn a way to take home. And you'll get to learn how to seek and maintain peace using things like scripture, worship, prayer. And the other breakout session you get to choose is going to be a hands on breakout session where you'll get to make something. You'll make two somethings actually and the first one you are going to get to keep for yourself as a token to remind yourself of the peace of God in your own life. But the second thing you are going to prayerfully consider who God might want you to give that item to out beyond these walls.
We are praying that this conference will not just affect the 200ish women that come, but we are praying that there will be a ripple effect as we give out these items of peace to those in the Toledo area that many people will be impacted by the peace of God. So if that sounds like something you want to be a part of, I hope you do. Ladies, you can join us 9th graders all the way up. You are all welcome to come and you are going to want to register early so you get into your preferred breakout sessions. You can register using the QR code on the screen. You can go to westgatechapel.org to the events page to our app and then go to the Events tab. There many ways to register. The event just costs $30 for the whole day. That includes your lunch and the make it take it items and all the programming. Or if you're a student 9th grade up to 22 years old. It's only $10 but if you need financial assistance just contact me. These brochures are out in the cafe and on the back is my email address if you have any questions.
But you can pick up a brochure if you're still thinking about it. But if you would like to get registered today, the sooner the better. But if you want any help or have any questions, we're also going to have Lindsay, one of our team members out at the table in the cafe for about 10ish minutes after service. So make sure to get out there quickly if you have any questions or would like to get registered soon. So ladies peace.
Join us on April 25th to learn and find out more and spread peace across our whole city.
At this time we are going to go ahead and meet and greet. You can stand up. Please look around for somebody you have never met before. Say hi and find out how long they've been at Westgate.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: I've seen the faithfulness of God still inside the store the promise of the
[00:12:26] Speaker A: shore
[00:12:29] Speaker C: I trust the power of your
[00:12:32] Speaker B: word
[00:12:36] Speaker C: enough to seek your kingdom first beyond the barren plagues beyond the ocean
[00:12:45] Speaker A: waves When I walk through the water
[00:12:50] Speaker C: I won't be overcome When I go
[00:12:54] Speaker A: through the rivers I will not be My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
[00:13:12] Speaker C: You keep the promises you made
[00:13:18] Speaker A: There
[00:13:18] Speaker C: isn't one that is delay so I will not lose heart here I will lift my arms.
Through the rivers I will not be
[00:13:59] Speaker A: d My God will make a way so I am not afraid When I
[00:14:07] Speaker C: am in the fire I will not
[00:14:10] Speaker A: feel the flame I'll stand before the
[00:14:14] Speaker C: giant declaring victory My God will make
[00:14:20] Speaker A: a way so I am not afraid before me, behind me, always beside me no shadow, no valley where you are find me no I am not afraid before me, behind me always beside me now no shadow, no valley where you are finding.
When I walk through the waters I won't be overcome When I go through
[00:15:14] Speaker C: the rivers I will not be drowned
[00:15:19] Speaker A: My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: When I am in the fire I
[00:15:28] Speaker A: will not feel afraid I'll stand before
[00:15:32] Speaker C: the giant declaring victory My God will
[00:15:38] Speaker A: make a way so I am gonna.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: In the darkness we were waiting without hope, without light Till from heaven you came running. There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the word From a throne of endless Glory to a cradle in the dirt.
Praise the Father.
Praise the Son.
Praise the Spirit.
Three in one.
God of glory.
Majesty.
Praise forever to the King of Kings.
To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost, to redeem the whole creation.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: You did not despise the cross, for
[00:17:47] Speaker C: even in your suffering you saw to the other side, knowing this was our salvation.
Jesus, us for sake you die.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Sea pr.
[00:18:43] Speaker C: All of heaven held its breath till that stone was moved for good.
For the Lamb had come, conquered death.
And the dead rose from their tombs. And the angels stood in awe. For the souls of all who'd come to the Father are restored.
And the church of Christ was born.
Then the Spirit lit the flame.
Now this gospel truth of old shall not yield, shall not faint. By his blood and in his name, in his freedom, I am free.
For the love of Jesus Christ who has resurrected me.
Praise the Father.
Praise the sun.
Praise the Spirit.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Three in one.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: God of glory.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Majesty.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: Praise forever to the King of Kings. O praise the Father.
Praise the Son.
[00:20:18] Speaker A: We praise the you, Spirit.
[00:20:21] Speaker C: Three in one.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: God of glory.
[00:20:31] Speaker C: Praise forever to the Kings of kings.
Praise forever to the King of Kings.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Thank you, Jesus.
God, I'm overwhelmed. Yeah, give praise to Jesus.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Thank you, Lord God, I'm overwhelmed by hearing your church sing your praises this morning.
You are good and you are worthy of it.
Thank you, Jesus. In your name. You can be seated. We're going to continue our worship this morning with our offerings. And so before we pass the buckets, before we pass them, I just want to pray over.
Over what we give this morning.
Dear Holy Father, thank you for your church, thank you for your people, and thank you for how they sacrificially give to your kingdom, not just as church, not just as staff, but to make you known and to spread the gospel throughout the nations. Lord Jesus, I pray that what is given this morning is multiplied in your name, Jesus. Amen. Go ahead and pass those buckets now.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Thanks, bro.
Appreciate it, sam.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: All right, I think we're all settled. Good morning, Westgate. How are you feeling this morning?
Feeling good? All right.
Glad you're here. Glad I'm here. My name is Dan. I'm the student ministries pastor here at Westgate. My main focus being on high school students. And it is always an honor and a privilege to be able to be up here and bring God's word to you this morning. I'm always humbled by it, and so I'm super thankful to be up here.
Who knows what sermon series we're in right now?
Oh, you Guys were way quicker than first service. And so good for you, right? The King is coming, right? That is the series that we're in and have been as we lead up to Easter Sunday, where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so this morning we're gonna be in Luke, chapter 19, verses 11 through 27. So if you got your Bible, I would encourage you open that up and get to where we're gonna be spending all the time this morning in this chapter.
And just so you know, this is a parable.
If you have a red letter Bible, what that means is when Jesus speaks, his words are read in your Bible. This whole parable, it's all Jesus speaking. So it's all red letters.
And what a parable is in its most basic form, right, is a story.
It's a story about real life situations, something that the people, like, the audience would be able to understand really well. So when Jesus was speaking, he spoke in parables all the time. He talked about farming and harvesting and empires and kingdoms and all things like that. Stuff that his audience would be able to understand and comprehend and connect with.
And those stories ultimately always had a deeper spiritual meaning. That was the point. Not just to tell them a fun story that they would understand, but to be like, hey, I'm trying to teach you something here, okay? And this is what Jesus is doing this morning with this parable. And so I'm going to read verse 11 because it's going to set the stage for even why he is bringing up this parable.
It says verse 11. While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.
So Jesus is nearing Jerusalem.
We're getting closer and closer to his death, to his resurrection, right? All this wild stuff. But a lot has to happen till we get there. And actually there's some things that have happened in between. Rob, what he taught last week, which. Who remembers what that was about?
What was like the story he used?
Oh, it's like Sunday morning with my high school students, the rich young ruler. I'm always like, ask him like, ah, they don't remember.
But the rich young ruler, right? And so there's a couple things that happened after that is right when he got done having that conversation in that moment, he went on to tell his disciples why they were going to Jerusalem.
We're going because I'm gonna be crucified. I'm gonna raise from the dead. Three days later, okay? And it says that they don't understand it. They can't comprehend it. And I imagine that's because what they're thinking in their minds, and this is why Jesus is giving this parable here, is that they're so stoked. They think the kingdom of God is coming right now. They think the heavenly armies are gonna come. Jesus is gonna walk into Jerusalem. He's gonna kick down the door and control Rome, right? Take all the back and, like, free the Israelites, okay? So they. Over their head. They miss it, all right?
And then he continues. He's nearing Jericho, and as he's on that road, there's a blind beggar yelling, jesus, the son of David. And he comes to him and heals this blind beggar. And then he gets into Jericho and he meets a man named Zacchaeus, right? Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree.
There you go. Awesome. Thank you, guys. We'll stop there.
But right. He meets Zacchaeus. We all know that song. We all know that story.
And that's where this parable is coming out of the end of the interaction.
Jesus said to him, with Zacchaeus and all his friends and peoples in the house with today, salvation has come to this house because this man, 2, is the son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.
And I imagine these people are like, man, Jesus is coming to save us. We're lost. We're under this Roman control. Like, they're really excited. They're pumped that Jesus is here. They think he's gonna go into Rome and do all these cool things.
And Jesus can sense this excitement, maybe this nervous jitters of, like, what's gonna happen next, man? Like, I cannot wait to see what he's gonna do.
And so what Jesus does, in classic Jesus form, is he tells him a parable, probably the last parable, honestly, that they want to hear. It is a parable about delay. It is a parable about responsibility.
It is not a parable of conquest and going and taking care of Rome once and for all, like they were hoping for.
Okay?
And this morning, right, with this parable, Jesus answers a really big question or maybe is correcting some of our thinking of, like, okay, what should I be doing? What should we be doing while we wait for Jesus to return?
Right? Will God find his people excited and faithfully living the mission out for him or not?
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning.
Thank you for your word, for your words. Thank you for your teachings.
Thank you that we get to be here together and dig a little bit into that. Holy Spirit, I just pray for the right words to say, keep me from saying things that I shouldn't. And Holy Spirit, I pray that you are moving throughout this congregation through these people hearts. This morning, Lord Jesus, may you remind them of something new, teach them something new, remind them of something that maybe they have forgotten about.
Lord Jesus, may you be honored and glorified and lifted high.
I pray that in your name, Jesus, Amen.
Amen.
All right, so we're going to continue in the parable, okay, so we're going to. In verse 12.
And Jesus just told us why he is giving this. He just told us why he is going to share this parable with the people that he is with, right? Because they need corrected in what they're thinking. They're thinking the kingdom of God is coming. He's gonna say, not yet.
So verse 12, he continues, actually starts his parable. He says, a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.
So he called 10 of his servants and gave them 10 minus.
Put this money to work, he said, until I come back.
But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, we don't want this man to be our king.
And so let's break this down a little bit because we talked about a parable is a story that is speaking to the audience. And so really, I don't believe we're the audience here.
We don't really have noblemen. We don't have people going away to get authority to kingdoms, servants and all that kind of stuff. Minas, that's not the world we live in right now. And so what is happening? What's going on?
What we see first off is that this nobleman, nobleman goes to receive a kingdom, all right? And so to them, that would make sense in those days, especially in the Roman occupied territories, you would go away to the higher power to like the main king to be appointed a king, maybe over a smaller area, okay? They could just appoint themselves, but they would be appointed by somebody else. They had to leave to gain their authority, right?
And it kind of sounds familiar, right? And I would say this nobleman, right, represents Jesus.
And once we read. We read Matthew 28:18, we see Jesus proclaims that now he has all the authority, okay?
He left his death. He had to leave and go away and come back, right? He now has authority over heaven and earth and death and sin. Right? He has been given authority over everything. He's making that known to everybody, right? He has the authority. And so he's connected, right, this nobleman, with himself.
This king went away and now he has authority over all these people, all these subjects, all of his servants, okay?
And then, right, he leaves servants with some money, with some mina, okay? What this equates to is roughly three months wages, all right? So a lot of money. Imagine your boss coming, say, hey, today you get three months up front. That's what I'm talking about, right? What would you do with that money? You'd have a good time, maybe go on a vacation, buy something new or whatever it might be.
But what we see is this nobleman says, put this money to work.
This money is not yours, it's mine. Do something with it in my name.
And the nobleman doesn't give a time frame, just like who doesn't give a time frame of his return.
Jesus says, I'm going to go away, but I will come back and I'm going to see with what you did, with what were responsible for, he will return.
And you expect something from what he has so graciously given to these servants.
And then the citizens reject this man, this master.
Again, this is a moment in history where the Jews would have connected with. There's a time where Herod's son was going to become king, and they didn't want that to happen. And so they sent a delegation saying, hey, we don't want this guy to rule over us. It doesn't. We don't like him. We don't want this to happen. And so they sent people ahead to say, don't let him be king over us. And so Jesus is sharing the story that they would, boom. It'd be in their mind, just like that. They would understand it. It would connect with them. They would get it right.
For some of us, maybe not right. And so he's giving them something that they can understand, make a real connection with. And then there's like this prophetic, spiritual moment where Jesus knows that their people are going to reject him. Ultimately, the Jews of that time, they're going to reject him. They're going to go and tell the authorities, we want this man taken care of, crucified.
Then ultimately, those who are going to reject him in this lifetime, right, not accept the free gift that he is offering up. And so citizens reject this. Nomen represent the rejection of Christ.
And so what's this first part of this parable? What can we take from it?
And the one thing is, I Think right off the bat is like, the king is coming back.
That is the name of our series, the king is coming back. I believe that's the main focus in my translation. It mentions it twice, saying, snowman, he's gonna leave. He's gonna return. Then he says, hey, I'm going to come back. It's very clear that this king is leaving, coming back. In Acts 1, verse 11, it says, this men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who's been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you've seen him go into heaven.
And so Scripture is very clear that Jesus is going to come back, but not right away.
There's a delay. And so the king is coming back.
What should we be doing until then?
What should we be doing? Let's go to verse 15.
It said, this nobleman was made king, however, so the delegation didn't get their way.
He was made king and returned home. So he came back. He did what he said he was going to do. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money in order to find out what they had gained with it.
And so the king expects faithfulness with what he has given while he is gone.
The king expects faithfulness with what he has given while he is gone. He had an expectation.
He came back asking for what he had given.
And so who in here had chores growing up? Raise your hand. Who had chores? Okay. A lot of you. Any students in here have chores right now? Like, you have chores you have to get done today?
A couple. Okay. Wait till the last minute. I love it.
What parents in here give chores?
They give it. They're happy about it. Yes.
Okay. So growing up, I had chores. We didn't have, like a chore board or anything in our fridge. It was just.
We were expected to help out around the house. Okay.
And so some things that we had to do were we had to clean our rooms.
We didn't have. We didn't use a broom in our rooms, but rice is to verify. We had to clean things in our rooms, not leave like burritos under our beds. I did that one time. My mom was upset with me.
I was saving it for later, but right then, there's other things. We had to unload the dishwasher, which was dangerous in our house. I had to start unloading the dishwasher when I was not tall enough to get to the cabinet. So my parents were cool with me climbing up there, opening it up, putting the stuff in. It was Very dangerous. Never made my sister do it. They cared about her a lot more.
Just kidding. They loved us. They're teaching us a lesson, right? And a lot of things. Right. Taking our dog on walks. I more so rollerbladed with him. My brother would be on a bike, and my dog would pull me. And then picking up dog poop and things like that in the yard. And so we had chores growing up that we were expected to do. And then ultimately, there's a time I think maybe happened to all of us where your parents would leave.
Going out of town, going on a date night, going to do something for the day, and they're like, hey, when we get back, we expect this to be done.
We expect you to be responsible and get your chores completed, okay? And so, like the responsible young man I was, every time they left, I would get to work right away and do the things that they asked.
First service laughed at that, too, right?
I would not do that, okay?
I was very much so. The opposite. As soon as they left, I'm like, whoo. Got some freedom, the house to myself. I'm gonna play video games. I'm gonna hang out with my buddies. I'm gonna eat some food, make some tacos, play some video games, do all this stuff. And then ultimately, I look at my watch and be like, oh, snap. I got 10 minutes before my parents are back.
What am I gonna do? And I'll ultimately get this, like, pit in my stomach, and I'd start to worry and dread, like, the walking through that door, because I know as soon as they walk in, they're gonna say, hey, did you get this done? Did you clean that up? And ultimately, I've to say, like, no, I didn't.
And they're gonna be disappointed. They're gonna be sad that I didn't listen to what they said and was responsible of what they had given me.
And instead of dreading, like, if I would have been responsible, right? I would have. I could have been excited for my parents to return. I could have been like, mom and dad, I can't wait for them to get here so I can show them all the things that I completed for them that they asked me to do. I would be excited for the return, and it'd be great. I wouldn't be worried, and I could show them what I had accomplished.
And so, until the king returns, children of the one true king, we have some chores that we're responsible for.
And I don't want you to sit there and think, oh, Dan. Sounds kind of legalistic right now. He's saying there's these things we gotta do to follow Jesus. There are chores. You gotta check him off the list.
That's not what I'm saying.
But clearly there is one thing. There's many things God calls us to do and calls us how to live. But it is the great commission, Matthew 28, 18, 20. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that we are supposed to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and helping them understand what it is to look like Jesus and live for Jesus.
It's very clear that that is a chore that our Father has left for us to do. Would you agree?
Yeah.
And then Second Peter, verse three, I mean, chapter three, verse nine, says the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Man, I just love that verse because it reminds us that it reminds of the heart of God, that He wants everyone that he has created to know him, to be in relationship with Him. He doesn't want you to reject Him. He doesn't want to be far from you. He wants to be with you. And he says, those who follow me, you have been given the responsibility to now go and round up as many as you can.
That's why I am slow in coming. That's why there is a delay, because I want as many as possible in glory with us.
And so the king comes back in this story, right? Well, the Novan comes back and he's king, and the first thing he does, right, is to see what his servants have done with what he had given them.
And so what have we been given?
We haven't been given a mina. We haven't been given three months in advance. That'd be great.
But I was thinking of what are some things that we've been given as followers of Jesus, as people that say, I claim to know Jesus and I will live my life for him.
One thing I thought was, we're all given time.
We are given 24 hours in a day.
And it's like, how are you using that 24 hours for Jesus?
Every single one of us in here are given that.
How are we using that time? Are we using 23 hours? I had to think of the time 23 hours and 50 minutes for ourselves.
And like, oh, I had 10 minutes with God in my quiet time. Do we think that's really enough?
You've been given talents, you've been Given gifts, things that you can use to honor and glorify God.
Every single person in this room has been given something.
Does it look different than somebody else? You better believe it 100%, because the body of God is unique.
And if we all look the same, we'd all just do what a left hand does and then nothing else would get done.
The body of Christ is beautiful, is that every single piece has a different unique purpose. And all of that is for the glory of God and to make his name great.
So we've all been given something, a talent or an ability or a spiritual gift.
You've all been given opportunities.
Some opportunities are great, some opportunities are small.
Neither are greater or lesser than the other. But I believe we all have the same opportunity, wherever that, whatever the opportunity is to engage or disengage in it.
We all have very different opportunities, but all the same opportunity to engage or disengage in them. And we've all been given the gospel.
Everyone that claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ has been given the good news of who Jesus is, and we are all responsible with that.
Matthew 28, 18:20. Right? He's very clear. There's no guessing.
And so servants were given a mina. We're all given something by God, and the question is, what are you doing with it?
And I have a question in there, and that's more so for reflection, maybe throughout this week, as you think about this, if you think about this, I'd encourage you to, is, what have you been given and what are you doing with it?
So maybe just start with that first one, like time.
What have I been doing with my time?
How do I spend it?
How do I use it? How have I been using my abilities and my gifts and my talents?
So let's move on. Let's take a look at what the servants did with what they were responsible for. So we know that we're responsible for something. Let's see how they did.
The first one came and said, sir, your Mina has earned 10 more.
Imagine him sounding very excited when he says that. Well done, my good servant. His master replied, because you've been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of 10 cities. The second came and said, sir, your mina has earned five more.
His master answered, you take charge of five cities.
And so when I read this, what I see is right. The king expects rewards, faithfulness.
He expects you to be faithful with what he has given you, whatever that is. There's lots of things, there's lots of people in here, lots of responsibility, gifts Talents and all that kind of stuff.
He expects faithfulness with that, and then he rewards it.
He rewards it.
The first thing, right, is faithfulness requires action.
We see that happen with the servants. The first servant, how many, how much return did he have?
What was the number?
10. Beautiful. What about the second one?
5. You guys are awesome. You got it right? And so 10. That's a lot. That's 10 times the return. Five. That's still good. That's five times the return.
It is clear that these two servants got to work with what their master had given them.
They heard the instructions.
They knew exactly what was asked of them.
Go put this money to work.
It was clear. We're not sure exactly how they did it, but they knew what their master had asked of them, and they stepped into it.
They didn't protect it.
They didn't put it away in their back pocket. They didn't put it under a pillow, right? They went and they invested it. And so, church. The question is that I was thinking of, like, what are we doing with what the Master has given us? And that connects with, right? What have you been given and what are you doing with it?
I believe this parable is very clear. It connects to the Great Commission. It connects to the heart of God. We don't have an excuse as to why we aren't talking about Jesus. We don't have an excuse as to why we aren't discipling somebody or a group of people. We don't have an excuse of being unsure of what God wants for our life.
A lot of times talking with students, like, unsure what to do with my future. What is God calling me to?
I do believe God has very specific callings in people's lives.
Callings to be a pastor, calling to be a missionary. Right? Calling to be. There's a lot of things, I believe that I was called to be a pastor, but also before I was a pastor, I had a very clear call in my life as a follower of Jesus, to share Jesus with everybody else, to make my life known that I follow Jesus.
You can't just sit idle waiting to like, oh, what does God have for me next? What is God calling to me next? Just be faithful with where you're at. We just talked about this in Sunday school a couple weeks ago.
Wherever you're at, whether you're a doctor, a garbage man, a theologian, a teacher, a therapist, whatever it is, he has you right where you are for a reason and for a purpose. And are you going to be faithful there?
Not looking for what's Next.
Maybe it's just little moments every single day, right? He's calling you to actively obey the Great Commission.
He's asking. He's not asking you. He's telling you to be a light, to be a glimpse of Jesus on earth and offer what he's offered you, salvation.
And if you do that, if your faithfulness, if you are acting in faithfulness with what he's given you and how he's called you to live your life and all that you have, faithfulness is rewarded.
And sometimes we feel weird about that.
Like, oh, I should just be serving God just because he is God. And I get that. We've been given so much.
We've been given salvation, which we do not deserve.
But our God loves us and cares for us.
And so how does this master respond to his servants?
He praises them. Well done, good servants.
He doesn't praise the amount they got. He praises them and how they were obedient with what they were given.
It looks like these servants were able to keep what they got, right? The guy that earned 10, it seems that he was able to keep that 10. And then what he got extra?
He got 10 cities that he was able to be responsible for. And in that time, owning land was a big deal. So he would have been really well off with that 10 extra, right?
But then he got even more.
How gracious of a God, right? That king could have came back and said, hey, you earned 10. Great, give it back. That's mine.
He says, I want you to have it because you're faithful.
I don't think God, sometimes I struggle with this. Like, I don't think God is keeping a tally of how many people we share the gospel with.
What I think he cares about is the amount of times we remain faithful to share the gospel with the opportunities that he has given us.
I missed an opportunity just a couple weeks ago.
We had a bowling night with some students. We had a great waiter. He was awesome.
It was actually a God thing. I remember I was leaving. Cause the gratuity was already added into whatever it was.
And so I was leaving and I was like, I probably should have gave him extra. He was so good. And I was leaving, I was like, oh, wow. I had like everything in there. I didn't bring anything out with me. It's kind of just a Dan move. I forget things sometimes. And so I walk back in to get all my stuff and I see him, like cleaning up the tables. And I gave him a little extra.
And it was like such a boom, like, awesome moment to share God with this kid.
And I missed it because I was thinking about other things. I was trying to get out, trying to get home, all these things. I was like, man, on the way home, I was like, God, forgive me for missing that opportunity you put right in front of me. Like, I thought about everything that happened up to me seeing him again. I was like, God, that was you. I didn't forget that on purpose.
And so there's things that we miss sometimes, but God knows our hearts, he knows our intentions.
And like I said earlier, we all have been given something, and God is more concerned with how we use them compared to the success in which we use them.
And so he's asking us to be faithful with the moments that he brings about every day.
I want to read a couple verses. Matthew 10:42 says this, and if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, who is my disciple, truly, I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
And then the next one, Hebrews 6:10, says, God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help him.
Nothing done. Even the small things that we do go unnoticed.
God is watching us and seeing what we're doing. And he's excited when we just give someone a of water.
But then this next piece, a couple verses that I love, is First Corinthians 3, chapter. I mean, chapter 3, verses 12 through 14. They say this. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. And the fire will test the quality of each person's work.
If what he has been built, if what he has built survives, the builder will receive a reward.
And the next verse says this, Matthew 25:21.
His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your Master's happiness.
I think that's a reward in and of itself.
Work done in the name of Jesus will be remembered like that's what matters.
There's a lot of times where I do something and it's like, just like a nice thing, and there's an opportunity to say the reason why I'm doing it. Kind of like connecting to my story with that waiter. I gave him a little extra. I could have said, the reason why I'm doing this, my man, is because I Love Jesus. He's given me so much. So I wanted to give you a little extra.
But instead, hey, I just wanted to bless you, man. And I walked out, right? Putting Jesus onto everything shows our true intent of why we're doing it. I do believe there's times when we can do something and they can see Jesus without us saying a word. I believe that can happen. But also, if there's ever an opportunity to say, this is why I'm doing it, we should take that 100% of the time.
And I'm convicted as I say it, as I don't always do it the best myself.
But our God wants to reward us.
The Scriptures are clear. This parable tells us that's what's happening, right? He is rooting for us, right? Imagine every time we get up in the morning, that Dan gets up in the morning, God is saying, dan, what are you gonna do with what I give you today, my man, I'm so excited. Cause I have so much planned that you don't know about. But I'm ready to see how you engage.
And a lot of times I feel like we don't have that thought of God being like in our corner. He's like, oh, kind of like, come on, man, I've given you this, I've given you that. We start to get this weird picture of how God sees us or views us. And I want you to know that he is rooting for you.
He wants to give you a reward.
And I'm not talking about money. Okay?
Just make that clear. Maybe he will. Maybe he will get some reward. Of that, I don't know. But what I'm talking about, it's clear. He's talking about a eternal reward in heaven, right? I believe that there's going to be increased responsibility when we get into glory, that he's going to give us things to take care of, to be responsible for. And through that, and in that, we get to bring glory and honor to his name while we are there for eternity.
And how he gives us this responsibility here is just a little glimpse of what it looks like to be in glory with Him. Every day is meant to.
To bring honor to his name, to glorify him with all the things that he has given us when we get to eternity, that's what we're doing. Everything is of him and from him. And all we do is just. It's for Him. It's not about me, it's not about you.
And that's what we should be doing here on Earth. And I know that Gets hard a lot of times.
Our reward is God's kingdom.
And so we see this positive example.
These servants were faithful. They were responsible. They earned a reward. They got more because of it.
But then there's a third servant.
Let's see what happens with him. Verses 20 through 23.
Then another servant came and said, sir, here is your mina.
I've kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.
His master replied, I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant. You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in and reaping what I did not sow. Why then didn't you put my money on deposit so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest.
And you notice his response is very different from the others.
He has a statement, but then he has an excuse right after it.
The others are just like, I did this for you.
This one says, I didn't. And this is why there's an excuse. And so unfaithfulness is rooted in wrong thinking and understanding.
Unfaithfulness is rooted in wrong thinking and understanding.
And so what we see here is that there's a very big disconnect from what the first servants did to what this guy did.
Would you guys agree?
Big difference. These guys went out, they did some things right. They're making money happen.
This guy doesn't seem to have. He didn't take the same approach.
Right? He didn't necessarily waste the mind, but he didn't do anything with it. It reminds me of that song growing up. Hide it under a bushel I'm gonna let it shine Hide it under a bushel I'm gonna let it shine.
I love that song.
That's Matthew 5:15, talking about man. What believers have been given. We should never hide that. We shouldn't put it under a bushel, or we shouldn't put it under a bowl. Like, we should make our light shine for everyone to see all the time.
We should not have it hidden. It should be intentional, out in the open.
And so this servant would lead him to hiding his mind and begins with his understanding of who his master is.
He starts by saying he was afraid of him, that he's a hard man, a harsh man, that he takes what is not his, what he didn't work for.
And with this understanding, it makes sense why he didn't do what the other guys did.
But I feel like because of the context and what we see this king do, that doesn't seem like the true characteristic of this king.
What happens to these servants? Right in the beginning, they're all given three months up front.
They get three months wages just like that. They say, hey, go do something with it. The king comes back and he praises him, hey, good job. That's awesome. You can keep my money.
You can keep the extra that you received with it. And guess what? I'm going to give you more because of how you're responsible and faithful with what I give you in the first place.
So we see that this master, that this king seems to be pretty generous, seems that he wants to give his servants recognition for what they have done.
He could have came back and he could have taken all that, but he didn't.
What he did is he graciously gave it all away. And that does not sound like our servant's king.
He doesn't really know who his master is.
So, Church, do you know who your master is?
Do you understand who your God is?
Because that changes how you live for him.
If your view of God is that he is harsh and cruel and unfair and distant and doesn't really know you, doesn't want to have a relationship with you, then you are not going to engage in the mission that he has asked you to, that he has called you to, to that he has commanded us to. If you see God as good and beautiful and compassionate and grace and rich in mercy, you're going to engage.
You're going to want to serve him and have him find you faithful when he returns.
But I know a lot of times life can begin to shape how we view our God.
The hard things, the loss, the hurt, the broken relationships, the jobs, the boss, the diagnosis, right, all those things can start to shape how we see and experience our God. And my encouragement to you this morning, church is, if that is happening in your life, is to pick up your Bible, open it up and read about who God says he is.
Cause he'll tell you who he is.
And in Psalm 145, 7 through 9, I love how this explains our God. It says they celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all he has made.
Amen.
If this is your view of who our God is, why wouldn't you want to faithfully live out his mission?
Why wouldn't you want to wake up every day and say, God, this day is yours.
And why wouldn't you want everyone else to experience a God like that?
And so again, church, I'm going to ask you, are you investing your faith or are you hiding it?
Are you at work and does anyone know you follow Jesus?
Are you at school? Does anyone know you love Jesus?
Are you using your gifts or just sitting on them or what I did for a long time use them for my own glory.
I used to love when people say, dan, you're good at this, or that was awesome how you did that. I would love it and I would never give God the glory. Part of it was I wasn't following Jesus, so I used to the way he blessed me and gifted me for myself.
Are we doing that?
And the next one, are you engaged in the mission or are you just attending Sunday mornings, coming to church and sitting in pews for an hour and 15 minutes?
I don't believe that's going to be rewarded.
If your faith starts and ends on a Sunday morning. I don't think you have a clear understanding of who your master is, is yet right. Being neutral isn't just being neutral. I believe it's being unfaithful because you're actually not acting on what God has called you to with your life and what he has given you. Jesus is very clear that he says, I will spit those out who are lukewarm. He wants you to be on fire for him and for his mission.
It's so easy to forget the purpose of our life in what God has given us.
These servants, they understood that what they were given was not theirs. They understood that mine, that three months wage they did not earn, that they didn't deserve it, they got it. And that they were responsible to do something with it. Cause the king asked them to. That's the same for us. Everything that we've been given on this earth in this lifetime is from God. Our friends, our family, our money, our jobs, our abilities, our talents, our minds, our strengths, all of it. It is his.
And he's asked us to do something with it.
It's all his.
And so what happens with this third servant then? Let's see what happens with this unfaithful servant. Verses 24 through 27. This is where we'll end. Then he said to those standing by, take his Mina away from him and give it to the one who has. Who has 10 Minas. Sir, they said, he already has 10.
They weren't happy about this. He replied, I tell you that to everyone who has more, more will be given. But as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them before me.
And so ultimately, right, what we know is that the king will judge all people.
The king will judge all people, those who are faithful, those who are unfaithful, and those who reject him will all be judged one day, either when Jesus comes back or when we meet him in heaven because we've passed away.
And so, first, right, the unfaithful lose what they had.
And this is hard.
I don't think Jesus is talking about losing your salvation.
I read this and I think, okay, the servant is the servant of a master. He's serving the master. He was entrusted to something valuable from the master.
And so I don't think this is about how someone loses salvation.
We see that he didn't reject the master outright like the others did in the beginning of the passage. What he did is he failed to act on what God asked him to be responsible for.
This king said, hey, I'm giving you this right? Go do something. He said, go make more money with it. And he didn't do that.
And so if that is the reason of how we lose salvation, then we're in trouble, folks. Because how many of us are unresponsible, unfaithful with the moments that come around us every single day? I just told you of one with that kid from the bowling alley.
So I don't believe it is about losing your salvation. But what I do think it is, is missing out on the beautiful extra that God has for your life.
The beautiful extra. The things like seeing someone say yes to Jesus for the first time and giving their life to him. Someone being freed from sin and walking into the light. Students or someone that has know God very well, growing in their knowledge and their understanding of how good and awesome their God is and all these beautiful things that it is to do what God has asked us to. So it's probably not going to be money. I think about Paul's life. His life was hard. It was difficult, I would say. He would say it was worth it because he got to witness and experience the power and majesty of how God works and moves in broken people's lives.
That a reward worth living for.
If you're like this third servant, you're going to miss opportunities that the Lord has placed in front of you.
You're not going to be responsibly using your gifts to bring God glory and make his name known.
But if you are being faithful, the opposite is true. The faithful receive more to everyone who has more will be given.
Faithfulness to God is going to increase your opportunity to serve him more faithfully here on earth. And when you get to heaven, your eyes will be open in wanting more responsibility to serve your king.
This kind of life is building a reward in heaven, not just on earth.
And so what has God placed in your hand?
We talked about that a lot this morning.
The time, the talents, the abilities.
What are you doing with it?
Are you using it for his kingdom or your kingdom?
And now we come to the end.
Those who reject the king will lose the most.
The king says, bring them here and kill them before me.
This is really hard.
Got this great passage. Then we end with this. But ultimately, I believe this is justice.
It points to final judgment when Christ returns and all are going to be judged with how they lived their life.
But the same Jesus, the same king that will judge sin and establish his righteousness is also the same Jesus who is on his way to the cross right now.
So it's easy to be like, oh, that's kind of cruel. But you don't understand. This king is saying, I'm giving you an opportunity. I'm giving you a chance to have salvation.
Those who have made Jesus their king will be covered by him on the day of judgment.
And those who reject him will stand alone.
And I hope you see the beauty in this passage.
Like the king who will judge because he's perfect and sin must be dealt with is also the same king who in a few days will go to the cross.
He offers us salvation.
He offers us redemption.
Our sins will be covered by the amazing blood of Jesus Christ. So on Judgment day, we don't have to stand by ourselves. He doesn't want you to stand by yourself. Our king, our Jesus, wants to stand in front of you.
He died on the cross so he can do that, that you can go in heaven. And when God looks at you, he no longer seems a decrepit, disgusting, pitiful sinner. What he sees is his Son, righteous and holy, standing in front of you.
You don't have to fear his return because he wants to stand in front of you.
You can be excited. You don't have to be like me, fearing my parents coming back home because I got nothing done. You can be like Jesus. I'm so excited. When you see him coming in the clouds, I'm sure it'll be terrifying in a lot of different ways. But also, he's back. He's here I'm so excited to show him what I have been up to in the name of Jesus.
And so I want to offer an invitation to accept Jesus this morning.
Like, if you want to serve that King, Psalm 145, 7, 9, that talks about him being righteous and compassionate and slow to anger and rich in love.
Like, that is the king that we serve, the King that wants to love you and reward you for following him and living your life for him.
Also, there's a king, right, that will judge sin.
So if you enter into eternity without him, there is destruction, there's a separation from him.
And I want everyone in this room and then outside of this room to know Jesus. And so. So it's really simple, actually. This part is. The next part is actually really difficult because now it's giving your life to the king and serving him.
But it's, Jesus, be king of my life.
Jesus, be the master of everything. I lay it all down to you. I know you lived and you died and you rose again.
I need you.
That's all it is.
And then you open this up every day and you learn what it looks like to follow him.
And maybe there's some of you that just need to recommit to this mission. Like, all right, I've been missing it for a little bit. I've been a little unfaithful.
I want to go back to being faithful. I want to encourage you to do that this morning as I pray for us. Jesus, thank you for your words.
They are good and they are true and they are trustworthy.
Thank you that we get to read them together and learn more about you, Jesus. I just pray this morning for those who don't know you, who are sitting out there thinking, do I want this?
Holy Spirit, draw them to you.
May they realize how much they need you and how worth it is to live for such a gracious king and gracious master.
And for those that have been on the fence for a while or maybe have walked away or have been unfaithful. Lord Jesus, may they step forward and recompense. Commit to this amazing life that you've called believers to living. For the King who will indeed come back.
May he come back and may he find us faithful and passionate and excited in telling everyone that we know and their mother about you. In your name, Jesus. Amen.
[01:13:08] Speaker C: There is a day coming.
When the old will pass away.
[01:13:18] Speaker A: Day,
[01:13:22] Speaker C: every wrong will be made right.
No darkness, no night.
The sun will light the way.
There is a king coming,
[01:13:41] Speaker A: The one
[01:13:42] Speaker C: who conquered death and grave.
No more pain and no more sorrow.
This hope for tomorrow is our hope for today.
[01:14:02] Speaker A: He who was he who is
[01:14:08] Speaker C: he
[01:14:09] Speaker A: who
[01:14:12] Speaker C: he who is he who is to come?
Christ the Son of man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon his head.
Every eye will see him with the nail scars in his hands.
[01:14:35] Speaker A: Hallelujah.
[01:14:38] Speaker C: Hallelujah.
[01:14:53] Speaker A: There's only one word.
All glory and all grace.
All wealth and all honor, strength, wisdom
[01:15:11] Speaker C: and power to the Lamb that was slain.
[01:15:20] Speaker A: He who is to come rise the the Son of Man Riding on the clouds with the crown upon his head.
Every eye was seen the name Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
[01:16:19] Speaker C: All this tension growing stronger it's just a sign he's getting closer.
He's already on the move.
Though the story has been written
[01:16:39] Speaker A: we all know how it ends.
My future has My eyes are on the Savior.
He's coming back again.
You forever shall come to the holy CR.
The Son of man Riding on the clouds with the crown upon his head.
Every eye will see him with the nail scars in his hands. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
He who is to come Christ the Son of man.
Every eye will see.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
[01:19:05] Speaker F: Amen.
[01:19:08] Speaker B: Amen. Amen.
Church this morning, if you need prayer or if you accepted Jesus in your life for the very first time, I would encourage you to come up and get some prayer. Just talk about what does it look like next. We would love to be with you on this journey of following Jesus Church this week.
Grab your broom, whatever cleaning device and be responsible with the chores that God has given us.
Be ready and willing to engage in the opportunities that he puts in front of you every day while you are living out your talents and your abilities and how God has gifted you and where he has placed you.
I'm excited for how we can as a church. Just imagine if all of us actually went out and did that. How Toledo. Maybe the world could be changed.
That's so cool. So I'm thankful for this morning. We actually have a really great segue into how to actually do that personally is this Saturday at 9 o' clock we have our neighboring trip and so we're going to meet in the refinery. It's a spot over here. It's an opportunity we us as the church Westgate Chapel are going to go into our community and pass out door hangers to invite people back to church on Easter to hear about the good news of Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation that he offers them. And so I'm praying for beautiful warm weather so while we're all out there, we can have lots of opportunities to engage and telling people, hey, why you out here doing this? Let me tell you why. Love you, church. Thank you for being here. Have an awesome week serving Jesus. Love you all.
