30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
LUKE 19 11-27 TO EVERYONE WHO HAS, WILL BE GIVEN 03 God’s investment into each of us
📖 Luke 19:11-27
11Dec2020 - *God’s investment into each of us* - _Luke 19:11-27_ - TO EVERYONE WHO HAS, WILL BE GIVEN 3 – Bible reading: _Matthew 25:14-15_
_Luke 19:12-13 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. (13) So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, *'Do business till I come.'*_
Yesterday, we understood that Jesus has received His kingdom from the Father and He will soon return to set up the full expression of His kingdom, which is an everlasting kingdom.
We are already citizens of His kingdom and we are in the habitat of God.
Till the time the king returns to set up His kingdom, He is preparing us, His co-rulers, the church, who are trained and prepared to take on roles and responsibilities in the kingdom, which He will set up.
In order to test, train and prepare us, He gives us resources and He wants us to occupy His resources and enlarge His resources for His glory. He will then evaluate us to know if we have been faithful and effective with the resources that He had placed in our hands.
_Luke 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, *Occupy till I come*. (KJV)_
_Matthew 25:14-15 “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. (15) And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey._
The rendering of the parable in Matthew and Luke is slightly different in its substance from each other, but the principle that is being taught through both the parables is the same. The minas in Luke and the talents in Matthew is money. This is the capital that God has given us. God wants us to consider our life from a business point of view.
The nobleman gave not just the minas to the ten servants but as we see from the parallel passage, He gave His goods to them and also the money. God has placed all of His resources at our disposal.
What do we understand?
God has placed all of Himself at our disposal. He is available for us to plug into Him and draw from His limitless resource. He has given each of us specific and a definite amount of capital, which we need to use by combining the resource that God has given us with His never-ending resource and build it for His kingdom purposes.
What is the capital that we have received from God?
The capital that we have received from God includes our talents, our inbuilt potentials and capabilities, upbringing, education, experience, context, opportunities, relationships, influence, careers, business, our responsibilities, time, and all the resources of creation and the environment. All of these along with our intimate relationship with God and the enablement of the Holy Spirit. God has given Himself to us, for us to draw all that we need from Him. This is the capital that we have received from God.
God has invested this capital into each of us and He is asking us to occupy till He comes back. When He returns, He will take an account of what we have done with the capital investment that He has advanced in our lives.
The word occupy connects us with the creation mandate.
_Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; *fill the earth (replenish the earth)* and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."_
We live and work with the understanding that we are workers of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God has already begun, which will come into full effect when the Messiah returns. We too will be assigned roles and responsibilities in the everlasting kingdom that Jesus will set up, based upon our performance here on earth, with the capital that God has invested in each of us.
We understand this very easily from the way our organisations and institutions are administered but when it comes to our walk with God, we live as though we are not answerable to God.
If we do not perform as per our organisation’s expectations of us, we know very well what will be the consequence but when it comes to our account with God, we expect Him to skim over our non-productivity.
_We are citizens of the kingdom of God here on earth, redeemed and reconciled back to God, through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, fulfilling His work, with the capital that He has entrusted us with, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit.
We prayerfully await the Messiah to return, to set up the fullness of His kingdom, and to rule alongside with Him._
*Thought to ponder*
```God has blessed us to be productive.```