Luke 19:11-27
I believe the following to be a true statement: most who go
by the title of Christian have God in a box!
They have determined in their own thinker how God will act, what God
will do and some even have many years of studying the Scriptures, some have
titles, like pastor, priest, and professor, but most who have God in a box only
know what someone else has said about God.
As Jesus came near to Jerusalem, they, more than likely it
was the 12 disciples, but it may have been many others who followed Him, and
they were supposing that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. Now stop and think about what is happening,
Jesus is healing the blind, raising the dead, feeding thousands with only a few
fish and a few loafs of bread, and He is heading to Jerusalem, the place of the
temple, the place of power, and you left everything to follow Him, what box do
you have Jesus in? It seems they had Him
as the one who would restore and conquer the enemies of the Jews and at that
moment it was Rome.
Could that be one of the reasons the crowd was so intolerant
when Jesus stopped to help a blind man gain his sight, or a sinner like
Zacchaeus be restored to the title of a son of Abraham, and a follower of
Christ, Jesus was not in the box they had put Him in. Jesus tells the story of the ten minas, and I
would challenge you to take your focus off the ten servants he gave the ten
minas, and on to the master who went to the far country to receive for himself
a kingdom, and then return. Now this is
where the story of the master or nobleman may not fit in your box, for in this
far country something strange took place.
From the lips of Jesus; “But his citizens
hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to
reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these
servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know
what they had gained by doing business.
(Luke 19:14-15 ESV)
Is this story about a nobleman, yes the most nobleman who
ever put foot on planet earth, the apostle tells us all about in it in John
1:9-13, “The
true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in
the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He
came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did
receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of
God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man, but of God.”
Now I would encourage you to read Luke 19:11-27, for the
complete story, but the bottom line is most of the servants handled what was
given them in a proper way, but one who lived in fear of his master hid the
money in a safe place and gave it back with not any profit to his master for
what had been entrusted to him. And
Jesus called him a wicked servant, Jesus did not argue with the box the man had
put him in; it was not a box of fellowship but fear. Jesus’ words; “He said
to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew
that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did
not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I
might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by,
‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And
they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who
has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be
taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over
them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’” (Luke
19:22-27 ESV)
I’m willing to bet most of you have Jesus and the Father in
a box called (a good God who is like my Granddad) does this sound like your
granddad, “But as for these enemies of mine, who did not
want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’” Make no mistake, God is good, and God is just,
He is merciful, and loves beyond any of us created critters ability to grasp,
could it be you need to quit the box making and begin searching for truth.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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