“...let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

Luke 19:11-27

Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Therefore He said: 'A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come,' But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'

And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.' And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in very little, have authority over ten cities.' And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.' Likewise he said to him, ' You also be over five cities.'

Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow. And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that 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 him who has ten minas.' (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.') For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. But bring here those enemies of min, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'”

Matthew 25:14-30

For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he have five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he want on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went away and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents beside them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' But his lard answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

For everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

While these scriptures appear very similar, they are different. Steve Wiens spoke about them some years ago (around July 2007) when he first came to Open Door. Here is some of what I journaled about at the time he preached on it:

“In Luke 19, Jesus is referring to the king of the age. The Jews at the time were under Roman oppression. Everyone during that day was aware of the current ruler who slaughtered a group of people who did not want to receive him as king as he watched for his own enjoyment. Jesus makes reference to this to paint a picture of an oppressive king who exploits people for his own gain. In the story, he provides each of ten servants with ten minas to trade until he comes back. This represents a portion to invest but it was not an entrustment of his kingdom. When he comes back, he calls them all to account for their profit. The king in this parable didn’t care about how the profit was made (exploiting others), or about the servant himself, the king only cared about what gain was brought. He rewarded those who made a gain by putting them in greater charge and took away from the one who was not faithful to him.

As Steve Wiens mentioned in his sermon, the story of Zaccheus just prior to the parable lays a foundation for the current times when the parable was spoken. At that time resources were very limited so one person’s gain was at the expense of another’s. The oppression was heavy and people in charge exploited others to gain at the peasant’s expense. Zaccheus was a tax collector who made his money by charging the peasants who were already poor a tax and then exploited additional funds from them to support himself. In the same way, these servants were called to “do business” as Zaccheus, taking advantage of people for gain. The third servant (often viewed in this story as wicked and lazy) was actually refusing to exploit people selfishly for gain.

Zeccheus, upon repenting of these actions, offering to pay back those he wronged four times the amount, received salvation and entered the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom way is not one of shrewd gain or self-interest but one of self-sacrifice.

In Matthew 25, on the other hand, Jesus was referring to the kingdom of heaven. In this case, the king was “entrusting” the servants with his kingdom. He generously and lavishly invested in each servant based upon their ability to utilize what was given to them. According to Steve Wiens, this represents Jesus entrusting us with His entire kingdom on earth.

In this parable, the king invites the faithful servants to “enter the joy of their master.” The king was inviting these servants to partake of the kingdom rather than being advanced in success and authority to oppress others for the benefit of the king as in the parable in Luke. At the end of the parable, the “wicked servant” went into the outer darkness, where men “weep and gnash their teeth.”

Immediately following this parable in Matthew, Jesus discusses which of his servants will “share in the joy of his kingdom” and which will be “cast into outer darkness” (my own interjection here). He says that all nations will be gathered before him for final accountability of their stewardship on earth. “He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31b).

To those faithful stewards who invested their talents well, He invites to enter His kingdom and share in his joy, Matthew 25:34-40,

“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me…Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

To those who are unfaithful in investing their talents, He separates as outside His kingdom, as they bear no fruit, Matthew 25:41-46,

“Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me…. Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”’

In John 15:1-4, Jesus says,

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Ever branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit… Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless you abide in Me.”

Having a true relationship with Jesus is evidenced by the fruit that is born. Those who do not bear any of His fruit, therefore, are not of His kingdom.”

While the first scripture is coming from a place of oppression and a scarcity mentality, the second one is coming from a place of abundance. One was differentiating on the gain of one's profit and success in earning as being important while the other was differentiating those who were inside the kingdom and bearing fruit and those outside the kingdom – those who multiplied their talents were demonstrating they were included (bearing fruit) while those who did not, demonstrated by their lack that they were not part of the kingdom.

The focus in the second parable is on the servant entering the joy of their master and not about manipulating or driving others to gain a profit. Just a little earlier in Mathew Jesus differentiated between the faithful and wicked servant. Matthew 24:45-51 says, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler of his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In the case of the faithful servant, he was truly transformed and bearing fruit of the kingdom when the Lord came. In the second case, the servant knew of the 'master' but yet as there was a delay in the master's coming, he began to beat his fellow servants. What probably was going on was that this servant in the second case was conformed to look like the faithful servant, but when the pressure came, his lack of transformation became evident by his actions.

Jesus calls the wicked servant a “hypocrite,” Strongs#G5273, hupokrites, which means to be a stage actor or pretender. [1] Another place it is used in is Matthew 23:13, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

While we do have control over our daily choices and what we do, ultimately, if God has got ahold of our hearts and we are willing to say yes to Him, He will work with us continually to bring us along this path of holiness where we begin to bear fruit. If He does not have hold of our hearts and we do not say yes to Him, we probably never really knew Him only of Him.

What is interesting is that it is hard (at least for me) to hear outside of the first worldly parable. We (speaking of me here) often see things the way of the world and do not have ears to really hear. This was a big problem in the days of Jesus and the reason He spoke in so many parables. We often hear out of our own frame of reference.

Francis Frangipane writes, “Long ago I realized that, often, when people study the Bible, instead of believing what they read, they only read what they already believe.” [2]

I see that I do this. I know God will not discard me when I fail because He is kind and faithful. But when I read the second parable, what is highlighted to me is this wicked and lazy servant who was unprofitable and not producing talents. It speaks to me of taking things in my own hands and working hard at being successful to 'earn my keep' in a sense.

Somewhere in my heart, I hold a 'produce or perish' framework of the business world deeply engrained in the way I think. I think to myself, “It is important to 'be' but we must also 'produce' and multiply what we have (being successful) or we (speaking of me here) will perish (be discarded).

God once spoke to me, “You don't have to work so hard to earn your keep in my kingdom.” Just this last weekend during service he spoke to me about a dream I had some time ago. In the dream I had a stack of books. During service I saw myself holding this large stack ob books and heard Him speak, “You study to show yourself approved by me (to get it right), and I have already approved of you.” He said that as I stood there very aware of some of my imperfections and feeling incredibly inadequate and unworthy.

I feel like God also spoke to me this past weekend was to be with my imperfections for awhile and have compassion on myself. I find it is much easier to have compassion on others than myself. And if I cannot have compassion on my own faults, how can I expect and receive others having mercy / compassion on me? What I often struggle with my shortcomings is thinking if others see them, I will be rejected or discarded. It creates a great deal of added stress in my life as I feel inadequate and worry about the rejection.

At work for example, when I see I made a mistake or overlook something, somewhere inside, I have a fear  I will be fired.  The result is that I become  more stressed. Ironically, then I dislike my job to an extent because of the stress.

I've noticed that when my focus is on producing results, I never produce enough. There is always more out there I could do to earn my keep and please Him (and sometimes others). Sometimes I actually turn away from relationship and being with Him for doing for Him.

Robert Mulholland Jr. writes in his book, “Shaped by the Word, that it is “the false self that imprisons and limits us. It debases that word that God is speaking us forth to be.” [3]

Paul says in Romans 12:2 (NLT), “Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

I think that reading books, working hard to get it right, and doing can sometimes be an escape for me from the desert – the real work God wants to do in me. I look to be approved by Him not by death to self, but by performing better. For example, in books I think I look for  some piece of information, technique, or accomplishment to take me further on my journey without the pain of death.

Mulholland writes, "We tend to look for some piece of information, some technique or method of spiritual formation that will take us from where we are to where we want to be with a minimum inconvenience, pain, or suffering... We have avoided the fact that in the gospel, Life comes out of death, not out of life.”[4]

It is our false self that looks to polish the outside and get it right so we look good to others rather than bring our sin to the light.  Mullholland notes, “This [false] self lives in a world of its own making in which its 'doings' are designed to maintain and control the facade, rather than be open and receptive to God's new order of being in Christ which is the matrix of true self and wholeness....

God seeks to create in us a whole new structure of habits, attitudes, and perceptions; of dynamics of personal and corporate relationships; of patterns of reaction and response to the world. This new structure is one of increasing Christlikeness. God is seeking to break the crust.” [5]

Lord, forgive me for the ways I use the worlds framework to see your world and kingdom.  Would you break us out of old patterns that conform to the world and set us more fully free to live in greater  Christlikeness and fullness of the true selves you created us to be.

1.  Strong's Concordance.  Located at : http://biblehub.com/greek/3084.htm.  Last Accessed: 12/16/13.

2.   Frangipane, Francis.  Becoming the Answer to Christ's Prayer.  Email Teaching. Unsure original date.


3-5. Mulholland, M. Robert Jr. Shaped by the Word: The Power of Scripture in Spiritual Formation. Upper Room Books, Nashville TN. 2000.