Good morning. Our scripture reading today is from Luke chapter 19 verses 11 through 27, and it is located on page 1,040 in the Bibles under the seats in front of you. While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable because he was near Jerusalem and all the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said, a man of noble birth went on to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return, so he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas, 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. He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money in order to find out what they had gained with it. The first one came and said, sir, your menna has earned ten more. Well done, my good servant, his master replied, because you've been trustworthy in a very small matter. Take charge of ten cities. The second came and said, sir, your menna has earned five more. His master answered, you take charge of five cities. Then another servant came and said, sir, here is your menna. I have 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 did you put my money on deposit so that when I came back I could have collected it with interest. Then he said to those standing by, take this menna away from him and give it to the one who has ten menna's. Sir, they said, he already has ten. He replied, I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given. But as far as 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 in front of me. The word of the Lord. Thank you, Dean. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable and pleasing to your sight. In Jesus' name, amen. Now this morning I will be continuing the series, Dare to Be a Disciple, by looking at how we serve others. And if you look with me now in your worship guide, there is a sermon discussion guide. And inside that sermon discussion guide on page 2, you will see a message from Seth. And really what we've been doing, what Mike has been doing this fall, is he's going over the nine marks of a transform life. And these nine marks really kind of emphasize what a mature Christian looks like, what a disciple looks like. And you'll be hearing from me today on mark number seven, which is a mature Christian as someone who exercises his or her gifts and passions in all of life. And we are able to exercise our gifts and passions in all of life by doing three things. By first, knowing our strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, we serve in at least one area of the church and or community. And finally, we recognize that all of life is spiritual and engage in all aspects from a kingdom perspective. So I'll be emphasizing some of these points throughout my message this morning. But the main point of my sermon that I want to hit home to you is this, everyone who follows Jesus has been blessed with gifts. And by his grace is given opportunities to put these gifts to work. As we discuss this main point, I'll be highlighting two things in my message. The first is the interpretation of the parable. And the second is the application of the parable. Now look with me as we discuss the interpretation of the parable. The Angus read to you a long parable. In fact, some of you may be wondering, what does this mean? What do these, who do these figures represent? Well look with me in verse 12. Jesus says in verse 12 that a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten 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. Now first off, the man of noble birth who happens to end up being the master represents Jesus Christ. Jesus is telling his audience that he is the one who will go to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then he will return. This distant country that Jesus is referring to is that of heaven. And God the Father will actually give Jesus rulership over the entire universe. But while Jesus is gone at this distant country, he leaves his people with a gift that must be put to good use. Now secondly, I read to you that there was a group of people who hated this master and did not want this master to be king. Now if you look with me at Luke chapter 19 verse 1 through 10, you read about the story of Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and a chief center. And in this story of Zacchaeus, when he came to see Jesus face-to-face when Jesus was on this earth, Jesus saw Zacchaeus and said, Zacchaeus, come down from that tree that you're standing in and invite me over to dinner. So Zacchaeus immediately climbed down the tree and invited Jesus to dinner and look with me in verse 7 of chapter 19. Look at the people's response when Jesus did this. It says that all the people saw this and they began to mutter and they said this, he has gone to be the guest of a sinner. Oh my goodness. Jesus is associating himself with sinners and with people that are outcasts. Why should we associate ourselves with Jesus? Look what he's doing. And so in verse 14 of the parable, we learn that there are subjects who did not want Jesus to be king. And these subjects represent the Jewish citizens who hated Jesus. Now third, we also see that the master gives 10 minus to 10 servants, but then he really emphasizes just three of them. Now why does Jesus put in this parable that he gives his money to 10 servants? Why does he do that? Well Jesus does this on purpose because he wants his audience to know that he's really discussing a wider range of people, not just his disciples but many people who he's sharing this story with. And so that's why he emphasizes the number 10. But why does he just use three? He uses three because he only needs three to get his point across. And so that's why we only have three servants mentioned instead of the other seven. But continue on with me in verse 15 as we interpret this parable. It says here that he was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money in order to find out what they had gained with it. Now right here, Jesus is talking about his second coming and he's talking about the day of judgment. That one day there will be a day of judgment. But as we move through the parable, we see that the first two servants are good stewards with their money. They're good stewards with their gifts. And as a result, they're considered believers. They're faithful followers of Jesus Christ. And as a result, the master rewards them with even more. But the third servant mentioned in this parable is one who is a non-believer. He's someone who doesn't really know his master that well. He's just a servant by name. In fact, he doesn't use his gifts for the Lord. And as a result, the master comes back and punishes this third servant. So this is kind of a picture of what this interpretation of the parable looks like. This is what the parable really looks like. But now that we know the interpretation of the parable, let's look at the application of the parable. How does it apply to us today? Well, I'm going to be addressing the application of the parable by looking at three questions. The first question is, what are the gifts that have been given to us? The second question is, what are we sent out to do with these gifts? And the third question is, what happens when we don't use our gifts? So let's look at the first question. What are the gifts that have been given to us? The first gift he gives us that I want to emphasize is that God has given us the gift of grace. Grace is defined as getting what we don't deserve. In other words, we need to cheer up because we are far more sinful than we ever imagined. But we are far more loved than we ever dared to dream. That is the reality of grace. And this profound truth of grace is that there is nothing I can do to cause God to love me anymore. And there's nothing I can do to cause God to love me any less. You see, because of Jesus Christ, when God looks at you, he no longer looks at you as a sinner, but he looks at you as righteous because of his son, Jesus Christ. When he sees you, if you believe in him, when he sees you, he sees his son in the blood that was shed on the cross for our sins. This is grace, and this is the profound gift that we have received by his blessing. But through his grace, he has given us all different kinds of gifts and abilities. And just to highlight a few, if you look with me in Romans, chapter 12 or in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, there's many different spiritual gifts that God gives us. I give you a few teaching, encouragement, wisdom, knowledge, faith, administration, service. All of these are gifts that God gives us. And everybody in this room has at least one of these gifts. I know that. But where do you use these gifts for the Lord? And let me just tell you that what makes the church the most effective, what makes the church the most effective, is when we all use our strengths and we help each other out with our weaknesses. The important thing I want us to understand is that when we talk about gifts, it is only by his grace that we are able to accomplish good things. In fact, it's not by our own effort, but it's by his grace and by his Holy Spirit who helps us that we are able to serve others and accomplish great things. So these are a number of gifts that he's given us. But we go to my next question. What are we sent out to do with these gifts? What are we sent out to do with these gifts? My first answer is we are sent out to share the truth to others. You see, because we have received this gift of grace. It should inspire us to serve. You know what, if anything ever gives you joy, if you see anything that you get excited about or you read something that you want to share with others, what do you do? You want to tell other people about it, right? Well, let me tell you about example that I've noticed recently in my life. My wife, Stephanie, she loves to look at wedding pictures. In fact, anytime a wedding is posted online, she would be the first to look at it. And you know what? She even looks at wedding pictures of people she doesn't even know. I'm wondering, why do you do that? But Stephanie gets so excited about it that anytime there's a new wedding that has just happened, she runs in the room and says, Seth, come check out these pictures. And I go in and I'll be honest with you. I really don't like doing it. I really, I'll be honest. But I go in and I see her excitement and we look at the pictures together and it's fun, sort of. But I will say, I give you this example because it's something that she's excited about. And it's something that she wants to share with me because this thing gets her excited and she wants me to be a part of it too. And I think what my wife does is a perfectly natural thing because we all do it. In fact, anytime we read something that we get passionate about or that inspires us or anytime we see a movie that just motivates us, we want other people to watch that movie with us, right? But let me say something to this. How much more excited should we be about Jesus Christ? How much more excited should we be about Him? We have all heard the news and we must proclaim it. You see, all of us here are sent on a mission. And that mission is to share the love of Jesus Christ to others. We have experienced grace and we must share this grace to others. I think William Hendrickson really put it in a good way. He said, with that pound or mine from this parable, each of these servants must do business. Those who have heard the gospel must proclaim it. They must conduct themselves in such a manner that through their word and example, sinners are brought to the Lord. Believers are strengthened in the faith. They themselves grow in every Christian virtue and every sphere, whether it be social, economic, political or educational. All of that is brought under the influence of the gospel and all this for the glory of God. You see, we should share this message to others because we've experienced it and it brings us and fills us with great joy. So one way we use our gifts is to share it with others. The second way we do it is to serve our community. Now in this parable, the master comes back and we, if you're a believer in Christ here today, we believe that one day he will come back and he will wipe away every tear. There will no longer be any sin, no longer any sadness or hurt or pain. He will make everything new and he will judge justly. Now Christians know that until Jesus returns, until he comes, there's going to still be sin on this earth. And because of that, we don't try to form a utopian society where we believe that justice will be completely restored through a political, economic, or a military program. Justice will only be completely restored when Jesus Christ comes back in his fullness. But we just prayed a few minutes ago that the Lord's prayer and in that prayer, Jesus says, that I kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You see, even though the world will not be perfect until Christ comes, God still calls us to pour ourselves into fighting disease, to fighting poverty and fighting injustice wherever we can. For those of you who know me well, you'll get to know me more obviously through the years, but I love American history. In fact, I really love studying our founding fathers, just about who they are and who they were and what they believed. And the majority of our founding fathers were Christians and you can see it in their writings. But I've been reading a book called The 5,000 Year Leap. It's excellent. And really, it talks about how the founding fathers had a deep concern for the poor and the needy. And they came up with the formula called calculated compassion. And here are just a few insights from it. They said to give the poor the satisfaction of earned achievement instead of rewarding them without achievement. This is all practical stuff. To allow the poor to climb the appreciation ladder, going from tents to cabins, cabins to cottages, cottages to comfortable houses. And then they said to strictly enforce the scale of fixed responsibility. And what they mean by fixed responsibility is the first and foremost responsibility is with the individual himself. The second is with the family, then the church, next to the community, and then the government. Now, as I begin to study this fixed responsibility idea more, you see here that if the individual cannot take care of him or herself, then it goes to the family. And if the family can't take responsibility, then it goes to the church. Now, as I read this, I can't help but think that not only do the founders have a high regard for the church, but they also knew that the church would step up in a time of need. And let me just say this, we are living in tough times with a bad economic state. Many people are suffering. Many people are without jobs. In fact, I hear it weekly of someone in our church who has lost their jobs. Many people are hurting. And this is the time. This is the time where the church of Jesus Christ can really make a difference. We've seen this time and time again through our church. Matt Limber came up and just shared with you what Man and Ministry is all about. They've been meeting for I think a little over 10 years and they've met every single Saturday and served the homeless of East Orlando. Next week, you're going to hear from an organization called Christian Help. And Christian Help is an organization that prevents homelessness by helping people find jobs while providing for them materially and spiritually. And let me just say that in the past 18 years, Christian Help has given away almost $18 million in services. They have saved taxpayers over $172 million. And they've connected almost 72,000 people with jobs. I give you these statistics because the churches are stepping up. And we have seen the church take action time and time again throughout history when other organizations or the government could not. The church has stepped up. And you know what? We must not stop. We must not let up. Because until Christ comes back, we must be good stewards of our gifts and be a blessing to others. So we bless others by sharing our faith and by serving our community. And you know, we don't do this because we have to. We do it because we want to. We are a people who are sent on a mission by God to use our gifts wisely. And this is exactly what we see these first two servants do. The master, master gives them a task. And he says, go and invest money. Do with this. Do with this money to please me. And what they did was they were faithful in their money. They invested it with a money lender. And because of their success through his grace, Jesus then tells them, well done my good servant. And he put them in charge of many more things. Now, we are uncertain about the kinds of rewards that we will receive when we go to heaven. Because if you really start looking into this parable, you begin to wonder, is he talking about receiving these rewards in heaven? And many of you may have that question, what kinds of rewards will we get in heaven for the work that we've done here on earth? And you know what? I'll be the first to say I really have no idea. We do know from Scripture that we will receive a crown of righteousness and a crown of life, but I don't really know what that looks like. But what I do know is that when we get to heaven, there's no longer be any, there's no longer going to be any sin or sadness or suffering. Those are rewards. And the biggest reward is that we're going to see Jesus face to face. But our motivation should not be to build up rewards in heaven. It could spur us on a little bit. But our motion, our motivation should be because he has shown us his grace. And the more we embrace this gift of Jesus Christ and of grace that has been given to us, the more we will desire to be a blessing to others. Now I get to my third question. What happens when we don't use our gifts? As I mentioned, God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others. He never calls you in for intimacy without then sending you out in service. He fills you up so that you can then offer services to others. I recently heard a sermon by a guy named Tim Keller. Many of you have heard him before. He's a pastor in New York City. And he said that God's blessing has to be shared or it wroughts. He gives an example of a New York research center that does studies on children and families. In May of 2007, there was research done for children and families who made between 75 and $160,000 a year. Over the last 20 years, there has been escalating psychological problems and teen suicides have doubled in this group. Now, why is this? Well, the study showed that the trends that seemed to be taking place were complete financial security, excessive freedom to learn and explore, provision of a very wide range of interesting opportunities for recreation, education, and entertainment. You see, these trends lead to api and apathy, laziness, and inability to commit to goals, attitudes of entitlement, indecisiveness, moodiness, irritability without provocation, low self-confidence, and insecurity. In other words, what this is saying is this, if you pile your kids high with blessing, if you pile your kids high with affirmation and prosperity, and they are never taught to sacrificially serve some cause, infinitely more important than their own happiness they rot. Now, here is the hard reality of life. If we are simply taking in God's blessings, but not giving it out, we will rot. Every Christian who experiences the blessing of God must be a person who is on a mission for him. And you know, we see this happen with the third servant. Instead of using his gifts to serve others, he kept it hidden away in a piece of cloth, and he was afraid of his master, and he did nothing with his gifts. And it mentions how the servant was fearful of his master. And let me say this, a lot of times when we don't want to serve, it's because we're afraid. It's the issue of fear. The primary reason we bury our gifts is fear, and there are two fears that we often come across, and the first fear is the fear of failure or taking a risk. You know, we can be afraid of taking a risk for fear of what might happen. In fact, Timothy in the New Testament, Timothy was timid of sharing his faith at one moment in his life. He was afraid of sharing his faith. He was very timid and shy. And Paul, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 6 and 7 says, Timothy, for this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying out of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but he gave us a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline. Now, some of us are hesitant in using our gifts because we're afraid, we might mess up or we might not meet people's standards. But you know what? When you take a step of faith and you go out and serve, you might get in a situation where you're a little uncomfortable and where it might be a little awkward. But this awkwardness helps you improve as you discover what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. But see, God is the one who gives us a spirit of power, not of timidity. And because of that, as we serve, remember that God is with you. It's not you that's doing it. He's going to help you through it. The second fear that we encounter is that of the fear of commitment. I hear it a lot, but we are in a busy world, but a lot of times we say, I'm just too busy. I can't commit to something else. And sometimes we just say, I don't even know my gifts because if you say, I don't know my gifts, then you get laid off the hook because nobody can ask you to do anything. But let me make the statement, if you really don't know your gifts and abilities, ask someone in your family or ask your closest friend what your gifts are and use them for his glory. Now, if you know your gifts and you're scared about a commitment, just up front, tell whichever ministry team you're going to get on to or whichever service organization you'll get with, tell them, hey, I'll commit one year. And then we'll see after that year, if I want to continue on. Or if that, if it years too much, say, you know what, I'll give two hours a week for six months. So it's just simple. But just one thing I wanted to mention too, and this is going on my soapbox. But I see this a lot where people overwhelm themselves. Some of you are serving on six ministry teams. And I would say focus on one and do it well. Don't overwhelm yourself or burden yourself out. So this is the idea, instead of fearing commitment, be realistic in your goals up front. And in our worship guide this morning, as we've talked about, there are several ways where you can serve our church. But I also want to emphasize, you don't have to just serve the church, you can also serve the community. I met with a guy this week who goes to this church. He was in the first service. And he is a nurse and neccessist, think that's how you say it. But what this guy did was when he got the job, he told the hospital, he told his manager, he said, look, if you need me, and if I'm off the clock, and you need me, call me and I'll come in. And I asked him, I said, why would you do that? Nobody goes an overtime to work without pay. And he says, you know what Seth, I do it because I love what I do, but I also do it because I get to be with people. I get to interact with people. And I get to show him the love of Christ in my job. So whether it be in church, in the community, or even working overtime without pay in your job, I would encourage you to use your gifts for the Lord and don't be afraid of commitment. You know what, every single time that I serve, it gets me really happy. But it doesn't make me happy or it doesn't just make me feel worthwhile, that's not why I do it. But it makes me feel like I was able to share the blessing with others that God has shared with me. You see, when you break through the fears of failure or commitment, you step and deliberate a joy where you no longer fear using your gifts, but you serve with confidence. I close with this. From this passage, we know that the third servant is a non-believer. We know this because look with me in verse 22. The master says, 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. Why didn't he do this? You see, what the master is saying here is that if the man had really believed in what he was saying and if he really knew who his master was, he would have invested his money. He would have been good stewards with his gifts. But you see, the servant does not know who his master is and he doesn't have faith. And because of that, when the master comes back, the servant is punished. It seems like the master in this parable gives the third servant a harsh punishment, doesn't it? Well, he does. In fact, on the day of judgment, all of us, every single one of us in this room, will have to account for our sins. But the difference is this, for the nonbeliever, the third servant in the parable, God will see him on judgment day and say, I never knew you and that nonbeliever will be thrown into hell for eternity, separated from God for eternal for eternity. However, for those of you who have repented of your sins and still do so, and you believe in Jesus Christ and trust in him as the only way to heaven, not through Muhammad or anything else, but you trust in Jesus as the only way to heaven. On judgment day, when God sees you, he's going to say, well done, my good and faithful servant. And he's going to say that not because of anything we've done, but because of his son. Now, if you're a nonchristian here today, I want to say this, I'm not saying this stuff to scare you, but I'm giving you the reality of the situation. I'm giving you the reality of life. If you've never put your trust in Jesus Christ before, I urge you to do so. I urge you to confess your sins and believe in him and in him alone. You know what? Tell Jesus that you are no longer, you no longer want to live in fear, but you want to trust in him with your entire life. And at the end of the service today, we're going to give you an opportunity to pray with people at the side windows at the foot of the cross. And if you want to believe in Jesus Christ, you can do so today. But if you're a Christian here today, remember the blessing that God has given us through his son. Remember that blessing. Embrace it and share it with others. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you have given us this gift of grace. And it is just a profound mystery. Why you did what you did. But we are grateful for that. And we thank you for loving us. And for dying on the cross for our sins, God, we don't deserve what you've given us. But you constantly shower us with your blessings as we are assured and knowing that one day we will be with you face to face because of what your son did for us on the cross. May you inspire us to serve. Thank you for blessing us and may we be a blessing to others. In Jesus' name, amen.