"I still have your mina, Master," he said. "Here it is. The reason I didn't use it is that I don't think you deal fairly with people. You're a hard man and I'm afraid of you because you take unfair advantage of people and take things you didn't earn. Here is your mina back. I didn't do anything with it."

Most historians agree that he did it for money, though he may also have resented lack of further promotion. Whatever his motive, he regularly sent vital military information to the enemy and was well paid for it. His wife helped him, often acting as his messenger. It was the most notorious case of treason in U.S. history.

It had begun so differently. In the first years of the American Revolution, he was a brilliant and dashing general, highly respected for his service to the patriot cause. So anxious was he to get involved for his country that he ran away from home twice as a boy to join the colonial troops fighting in the French and Indian War. At 21 he settled in New Haven and in time became a prosperous merchant and a captain in the Connecticut militia. He had three sons by his first wife, and after she died he remarried and had four more sons and one daughter by a second wife. Yes, he did live a bit extravagantly, and yes, he did ultimately find himself badly strapped for cash. But he didn’t lack opportunity. In 1780 he was given command of West Point. By that time, however, he was already involved with the enemy. So deeply did his treason go that he even conspired to turn over the garrison at West Point the British. He met Major John Andre, a British spy and made the final plans. Unexpectedly, however, Andre was captured, and the papers he carried exposed the plot. The traitorous commander of West Point heard of the capture and fled to the British headquarters in New York City. There he was given a command and about L6,300. He served with the British for the rest of the war, leading troops on raids against his former countrymen in Virginia and Connecticut. After the war he lived with his family in England. He failed to obtain a regular commission in the British army and failed also in several business ventures, including land speculation in Canada. He died in London on June 14, 1801. His name, however, lives on in infamy: Benedict Arnold, an unfaithful servant of his country.

We aren't among those who desire to be unfaithful though, are we? We want to be faithful to our country and even more, we want to be faithful to our God. I'm convinced that you are here because you want to live faithfully for God, but that you, like the rest of us, need occasional help in to do so. With that aim in mind, in this message I want to pass along "Four Tips for Lifelong Faithfulness." These are inferred in the 19th chapter of Luke. Please meet me there in your own Bible and follow along as I read.

We’ll begin in verse 11, which describes a parable that Jesus told to some people who were present with him in the home of Zaccheus of Jerico. In the parable there are three servants described. Two of them are faithful, one of them is unfaithful. I might also point out that this is a different parable than the parable of the talents that is so well known. This is the parable of the minas (or pounds if you have the KJV).

(Read Luke 19:11-27)

There is a bit of information that you need to know in order to see in this parable what the hearers Jesus spoke to that day heard. You see, when they heard it, they thought they knew where he was going with it. Let me explain.

In the days when Jesus was growing up in Joseph and Mary's home, there was a man by the name of Herod Archelaus who became governor over the region that included Jerico. By the time Jesus spoke these words, Archelaus was very unpopular as a ruler with the people. They hated his being over them. As Jesus began to tell this parable, it sounded like the story of Archelaus. And since, as it says in verse 11, "they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately," they thought Jesus was going to tell them that He would overthrow Archelaus. You can see how that would rivet their attention to what He was saying.

Archelaus was one of the three sons of Herod the Great. When Herod died, the kingdom was divided between his sons, Antipater, Philip, and our man, Archelaus. As I already mentioned, the subjects of Archelaus didn't like him and didn't want him to rule over them. Verse 12 says that the Nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself. That is exactly what Archelaus did. He left his duties and some money in the hands of some of his subordinates and went to Rome to, among other things, "Receive A Kingdom." He Wanted To Be King Archelaus And Not Governor Archelaus. So he went to appeal to Caesar about it. Unknown to him until later, the Jews got word of it and sent a delegation of 50 of their own men to Caesar as well who came and stood before the emperor and told him that they did not want this man to rule over them. Caesar didn't really listen to them because, although he didn't become their king, Archelaus continued to be their governor. Of course, on his return, Archelaus did his best to make life miserable for those who had opposed him.

I marvel sometimes at he ability of Jesus to capture the attention of those who heard him. Speaking in very contemporary language, he uses a current situation as a launching pad to teach them a lasting spiritual truth.

Of course, this parable had a different meaning than they were at first attaching to it, and that is where the lesson intersects with us.

We need to understand that this parable teaches that we are to be faithful servants until our Lord returns from the far country to which he has gone and already received His title as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As the chorus says, "He now rules in splendor from His glorious throne." It yet remains for Him to return and reward His faithful servants.

Watch this passage then for four tips that will help you be faithful until He returns.

The first tip comes from verse 13 where the Master called in his servants and gave them each a mina (which is a unit of money) and told them to "Do business with this until I come back." The tip is this:

1. Work with What Christ Has Given You until He Returns.

Notice that each servant was given the same amount to use: one mina. The amount isn't important to the parable. The fact that they all had the same opportunity to invest is. No one will be able to say on the Day of Judgment, "I wasn't given an opportunity to serve." There is work for all. If they did not serve it will be because they chose not to.

Notice too, that each one was charged to work with his mina. "Do business with this until I come back." Every servant of God holds in his or her hand a potential to gain an increase for the Lord by his or her their life. Do you know what your mina is? Are you using it for His cause or yours?

Don McCullough writes in Waking from the American Dream: "During World War II, England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Picadilly Circus after the war. First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea-lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Then would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky. "Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner's caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, ‘And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?’ And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, ‘We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.’"

Not all the jobs in a church are prominent and glamorous, but there is a job for everyone. One is as critical as the other in the Master's plan and every Christian has one.

Also, each was to continue doing business until the Nobleman returned. Sometimes we tend to work for the Lord when we're first converted, then go into a kind of "early retirement" as the newness wears off. I suspect some of you are in that state as I speak. There is no "retirement" from faithfulness. There is no slacking off until He returns.

This parable calls us to work with what Christ has given us until he returns.

Secondly, if you really want to stay faithful,

2. Learn To Love Your Lord and Allow Him To Rule Over You.

(Read v. 14)

There are certainly a lot of people in the world today who feel that way toward Christ. "We don't want Him to reign over us!"

More and more people today are in absolute rebellion against the authority of their Creator. "We don't want this One to reign over us!"

And so, we all suffer the consequences. For instance, there is a marked upswing in senseless violence. An innocent woman jogging along the road who is gunned down by passing teenagers who were just out having some fun with fully automatic weapons? A twelve-year-old girl who is brutally raped and then dismembered by a gang of thugs? A couple relaxing at home one evening open their front door at the ring of the doorbell and are accosted by a gun wielding man who ties them up, shoots each of them in the head, and gets away with $48 in cash? What's going on?

What we are seeing in the increase of violence are the results of a society that refuses to let the Creator rule over them. Like their counterparts of old in this parable, they are crying out "We do not want this One to rule over us!"

Sadly, too there are some in the church who, if they are pushed very hard about changing their lifestyle to fit His teaching, will say the same thing. They have the "Jerico" attitude. "We don't want this man to reign over us in this area or that area." Though they have confessed Jesus as their Lord and been immersed into His body, and will argue all day that they are Christians in good standing, they are unwilling to let him reign over every area of their lives.

Take the sanctity of marriage, for instance. God intends for us to be married for life and He only makes two exceptions to that: death and unfaithfulness. Yet over and over people who are supposed to be Christians surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ decide against all warning and all pleading to divorce their mates anyway. Just recently a preacher friend of mine decided that he is going to divorce is wife of more than 30 years. He refuses to back away from it. He has filed and in less than 90 days it will be final. He insists that God understands and sanctions his actions and that anyone who disagrees with him is "shooting the wounded" (his words). Of course if that is true, then the Holy Spirit was lying when He said in Malachi 2 that there is "no one who has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit."

Consider entertainment choices sometimes made among Christians. Some want to see what the want to see and they don't want to be made to feel guilty about it. So they sit in the theater watching an R-rated movie spew out every disgusting and imaginable filth that flies in the face of the teaching of their Lord. Then they're back in church on Sunday among those who are supposed to love being "pure in heart" singing about how much they love Jesus. What they are saying by their actions is "we don't want this man to reign over us in this area of our lives!"

Consider the matter of finding a mate. Her is a person who has been alone for awhile who wants to get married but there is no one in his or her acquaintance who is a dedicated Christian. Finally, they start dating a non-Christian and then they want to get married. They somehow expect us to think it is O.K. for them to disobey in this area. They plead that God understands even if we don't but really, but again, aren't they just saying what is in verse 14: "We don't want this man to rule over us."

We could go on with the examples, but I think you understand the point.

My friends, the Christian life calls for some sacrifices - some self denial - some surrendering of our desires to fit His desires.

If you would be a faithful servant, learn to love your Lord and let Him rule over you. That even means learning to love some of those teachings that seem restrictive.

Of course, I want you to know that Jesus isn't an Archelaus. He will never require you to do something that is not for your own good in the long run. He will never call upon you to do anything He was unwilling to do on your behalf.

It was that kind of love on behalf of others that caused Dr. Albert Schwietzer, a man with whom we might not agree on every point of theology, but who loved Jesus, to leave his distinguished degrees and posts in America and to go to the jungles of Africa to work as a missionary/physician. We are told that when Schwietzer's patients awoke from the anesthetic of surgery in the little jungle hospital where he cared for them, the first words they heard were his as he said, "The reason you will have no more pain is because the Lord Jesus told me to come to the shores of your country." He let the Lord Jesus rule over him.

The reason Jesus came to the shores of our lives is that we might not have to face the pain of the second death. Now he calls upon us to accept His reign.

Every person has a decision to make about Jesus Christ: to let Him reign or not to let Him reign - to submit to His lordship or not to submit - to accept Him or reject him. Hopefully your choice has been to lovingly accept His lordship - to say, "Lord, I want you to reign over me." But there are those who, like the subjects of Archelaus who say, "No, we don't want this man to reign over us." There is a decision to make. Will we or will we not accept His lordship? Will we accept it all or will we in effect, by our partial submission, accept it not at all?

I plead with you today to make the decision to accept His lordship and make it once for all. You know, there is no one more miserable than someone who thinks, "Today, I'll serve Christ," and then tomorrow they have to rethink it because they really don't want to. Then the next day they say, "Well, maybe I should," and the next they back away from it. Make up your mind to serve Christ and then stand there! Stand there! Stand there!

If you wish to be a faithful servant, do business for Him until he returns, and learn to love Him and allow His rule in your life.

Thirdly, if you want to be a faithful servant,

3. Anticipate Your Reward.

There will be a reward and there will be an accounting of the way we have used our spiritual minas. I certainly hope it goes better for you and me than it did for the fellow who worked for a Duke and Duchess in Europe. The man was called in by the Duchess and asked, "James, how long have you been with us?" "Thirty years," was his reply. "According to my records," she said, "you were employed to look after the dog." "Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "James, the dog died 27 years ago!" "Yes, Ma'am, I've been meaning to ask what you would like me to do next."

You and I need to do better than that!

How can we be faithful servants? One way is to remember that our reward is coming. Our Lord will return. We will stand before Him. He will recognize and reward our efforts on His behalf. For those who have served Him diligently and faithfully, the rewards will be much greater than deserved. "You've gained 10 minas - here are ten cities."

Finally, anticipate your reward, yes, but,

4. Fear the Consequences of Misuse of The Master's Mina.

There are two groups of people represented in this parable who incurred the Master's displeasure when he called them to account.

There is first the unfaithful servant who did nothing with his Master's mina. He would correspond to those who claim to be Christians but they don't live like it.

Secondly, there were the Master's enemies. These would be those who make no pretense of following Christ. In fact, they are clearly against Him and they will tell you about it every chance they get. "We don't want Him to reign over us! We don't believe in Him!"

Maybe you've heard about the young man who was looking for work and saw this beautiful home as he was out driving around. He was a handyman and thought to himself that maybe he might be able to get a job with the owner of the place. He knocked on the door and when the owner answered, he asked him if there might be something he could do to earn some money. The man thought for a moment and then said, "Yeah, as a matter of fact, there is. I'd like to have you paint my porch. If you'll go out into the garage, you'll find some greet porch paint on the workbench. Go ahead and paint the porch and I'd be glad to pay you for it." The man said "thank you," and was gone a couple of hours, and when he came back for his pay the owner was making small talk as he wrote out a check for $50. He handed the man the check and said, "Well, I see you got the porch painted." "Yes I did, sir," he replied. And as he pocketed his money he added, "Oh, by the way sir, that's not a Porsche, it's a Ferrari."

This man with the green paint was in a little bit different kind of fix than the unfaithful servant in the story. At least he had made an effort, though it turned out to be a stupid mistake. The unfaithful servant had made a calculated, intentional mistake."

"I still have your mina, Master," he said. "Here it is. The reason I didn't use it is that I don't think you deal fairly with people. You're a hard man and I'm afraid of you because you take unfair advantage of people and take things you didn't earn. Here is your mina back. I didn't do anything with it."

Now realize that the Master in the parable (God) wasn't really the way the unfaithful servant described him. In fact, as you can see from his response to His faithful servants, He was really generous with what He had. This unfaithful servant is doing what so many disobedient servants do when they are exposed: he was trying to shift the blame onto someone else and off himself. But it didn't work.

There are many people alive today who are ignoring God's orders about the use of what He has given them, just like that unfaithful servant was. They think that when they face God, they'll have enough objections about what they consider as God's inequities that they'll get off the hook. But it won't work any better than it worked in this parable. Though God is not unjust as they accuse, He will probably say to them what he said in verse 22: "Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Then you should at least have put your mina in the bank so I could collect it with interest." The idea is that they could have done something, so there is no excuse.

And what about the enemies of the Master who didn't want Him to reign over them? It's in verse 27: "But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."

There will be the time when all those who have rejected the call of God on their lives will be brought to judgment and their fate will be the same as the devil they have served in their selfishness. The Bible calls it the "second death," or the "lake of fire." There in that miserable sea of hate, they will spend eternity, apart from the love of the God who made them.

Our understanding of the truth of these coming consequences can spur us on to faithfulness to the Master. Fear the consequences of misuse of the Master's mina.

Conclusion

During the Civil War a man was sitting on a park bench across from the White House, crying. People walked by. No one paid much attention. Once in awhile someone would slow down and look at him, but then move on. As the tears coursed down the man's cheeks, he suddenly felt a tug at his sleeve. As he turned, there was a little boy. "Mister, what is wrong?" The man began to tell his story. "Son, I've come to see the President but I can't get through the White House gate. My only son is a soldier in the Union Army. A few months ago, under great distress, he deserted his post in battle. He was unfaithful to his country. Now he is awaiting execution by firing squad. I really believed that if I could just get in and see the President and plead with him, he might pardon him, but I can't get through the gate." The little boy listened and then tugged on the man's sleeve again. "Come with me," he said. The man got up and followed the boy over to the White House gate. As he neared the gate, the boy looked up at one of the guards and said, "It's all right. He's with me." The man was amazed as he followed the boy through the gates, and right into a side door of the White House. Soon they both entered into a room where Abraham Lincoln was meeting with his cabinet. Lincoln's top military advisors were there along with several other top officials. The little boy let go of the man's hand and went over and climbed up on the President's lap. "Daddy," he said, "there's a man here who really needs to talk with you. I hope you'll help him." So the business of the United States of America stopped for just a moment as the man told his story. After he was finished, the President signed a pardon for the man's son.

As you consider that story this morning, perhaps you are like that son who deserted his post. Perhaps you have been an unfaithful servant. Two thousand years ago, Another Father who had the power of forgiveness sent his Son to reach out to you and offer you a pardon. The similarity of the story ends there, however, because that Son had to die to make your pardon possible.

You could bring your unfaithfulness to an end today if you would reach out to Him and receive what He offers. He's not an unreasonable Master. He loves you and wants to help you. But you must respond to Him. You must receive the pardon and then take the responsibility to use the mina He has invested in you. Will you do that?

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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