Taking Care of Business
And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Do business with this until I come back.” Luke 19:13 NASB
Do Business – Yeshua spoke more about money than He did about heaven. He knew where we are most confused. Here Yeshua provides us with a startling parable about economic expectation. We know this story, but we rarely reflect on its dramatic conclusion. Yeshua tells us that the one who safeguarded what was entrusted to him but took no risks on behalf of the master is unworthy of even what was given. His assets will be forcibly taken from him and given to the one who risked the most.
Is that the way you handle God’s investment in you? Are you pushing the edge of the envelope, attempting to do all that you can with what you have been given in order that you may deliver the maximum return to the Master? Or are you afraid to fail and, consequently, risk averse.
Let’s not be confused about this. The Greek word here finds its root in pragma (something to be done). Our word (pragmateuomai) simply means, “taking care of business, to be occupied in trade.” This is not limited to spiritual gifts. This is about the daily give and take of the work-world. It’s about putting all that you have into service for the King while He is absent. The underlying assumption is this: It’s not yours to do with as you please. Your current assets, all of them, are on loan to you in order for you to maximize the return for the owner. That means your time, your natural talent and your treasure. Are you using all of it for His maximum gain?
Consider the fate of the poor servant who thought the goal was safekeeping. What reason does he give for doing nothing more than avoiding loss? He was afraid of the possible consequences. But his safety net collapsed. He was stripped of what he had and cast out of the kingdom as an unfaithful servant. He didn’t take risks. He didn’t venture forth. He didn’t trade to the max. He declined to be vulnerable. And he was severely judged for his cowardice. Who do you think God wants as a steward? The one who makes sure nothing bad can happen or the one who risks it all for the sake of the Kingdom? In God’s economics, failure is better than fear and trying is better than timidity.
Everyone is involved in pragmateuomai. We all have assets and we all interact with the world. We are all “traders.” But we are not all adventurers, venture capitalists, explorers, inventors or champions for the Kingdom. Far too many of us squander our assets on everything but return on investment. We spend our trading potential on items that have no serviceable use for the Kingdom. We think accumulating is the same as investing. We fear risk because we do not believe that God will provide. That kind of economics results in Luke 19:26 (“take even what he has”). Yeshua calls these people His enemies!
The greatest asset entrusted to you is relationship potential. It is an asset that can grow only through risk. It works only in the environment of vulnerability. Risk averse is the antithesis of relationship, and those who do not risk fail to be human.
Topical Index: business, risk, asset, relationship, vulnerability, Luke 19:13, pragma
Amen. Heaven risked everything it had for us. To partner with heaven, then, is to share that risk. Paul said he “counted all things as loss” in order to gain Christ, and that is the only way to meet Him Who did that to gain us. This is HOW we join His Body, which is where we find Him here.
I think this is why the church has always grown under persecution, for it is only when risk has been codified and clarified that we can recognize each other: we who have been called to forsake all; for it is only when we do that that we know who we really are. Bungee jumpers seek the thrill of free fall, and they are right to understand life to be found only at the extreme edge of risk, but jumping together? All at the same time? Isn’t this what we are supposed to be practicing? Um, ok, everybody, one, two, three….
“Far too many of us squander our assets on everything but return on investment.”
I think I will listen to “The Biblical Idea of Money” again today. Apparently, I have missed something significant.
I have occasionally speculated on this verse in this way: What if the one given one talent had in fact put it to work; risked it in a venture? What if the return on that risk was the total loss of the Master’s capital so the servant could not even return the original investment to the master? What if the servant had to stand before the master and say, “I took what you gave me and put it to work, but I’ve lost every penny.”
If, as I agree with Skip, the real point of this parable is risking failure and the person had indeed failed what would have been the reaction of the master?
Since it is speculation the correct answer is, I don’t know. The personal opinion I have come to is that the master would have taken the servant and placed him or her in an apprenticeship with one of the more successful servants and let them learn and grow. Then, at a point in the future given the servant who lost it all another round of seed capital. That to me is redemptive and in line with the character of God.
Excellent Daniel! That is exactly What God does.
When someone is unable for one reason or another to manage his own business he goes to work for someone else. This puts him in a position to have no choice but to do what the successful man requires. This is supposed to be a learning experience so that if that employee ever wishes to try his own business again he now has a successful model from which to work.
This is the idea behind the 7th year Sabbath. When you set your servant free you are to send him away with everything he needs to start over. He has been in your service for a number of years and should know how to conduct business by then.
I have found that in knowing and understanding that all that I have in possession is not mine but His , frees me to where I am today in order to be more free from the material world than ever.
If all is giving over to HIM now… I will not lose anything as I have nothing to lose but to find IN HIM meaning of what true gain is.
This is where I am in the faith of the Son of GOD.
I am aware that I am not glorified yet but the promise is there that whatever is given over to HIM in faith… He is the Rewarder in my Fellowship with HIM.
Risking! Life is about risking. Our lives in God’s future merged reality of Earth and Heaven, the New Creation, could well be a reflection of our willingness to risk in His present reality, the reality of ‘today’, on His good Earth. Which brings me to what I call ‘turtle Christians’. A ‘turtle’ believer can best be described as one who has said the prayer, claims acceptance of Yeshua as Lord and then retreats to the ‘safety’ of his or her ‘shell’, like a turtle protecting itself. They stick their head out, raise their flipper, grab their insurance policy for ‘life after death’ and retreat to the cozy warmth and perceived protection of their personal turtle shell, their personal salvation. And they wait and they wait and they wait for death to make its’ appearance. For them life is about waiting and admiring their ‘gift’. Nothing else is required of them for their salvation. Done deal! Really? I don’t believe God got a copy of that memo and He sure isn’t the author of such thinking, at least not in my Bible. Yeshua rejects such nonsense and gives the boot to those thinking that way. We are His good creation and we were created to risk and to risk now, in the present, that we might live without end in the future New Creation. I like turtles, but I am a Human made in God’s image. And that image requires that I risk and work for the Kingdom now. We have been saved for a purpose and that purpose is not to be transformed into a ‘turtle Christian’.
I appreciate what you had to share David.
It is true that many a turtle is still found in and on the beach and does not know that the water awaits it off shore.
Well said!!
If I understand skip, my best asset is to risk building relationships so I may draw people to Yeshua. Thus doing Matt 28:18-20.
Want comments.
That last paragraph on risk, really got me. I’ve been playing it safe, unable to be vulnerable in every relationship including the one with Yeshua for far too long.
Saints, Sons, Stewards, Soldiers
All of the above. “Every good gift- every perfect gift is from Above.” God is the Source of all things good, – including life itself. He opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. [Therefore] We may rightly conclude ~[as did the Shepherd-King], ~let everything that has breath praise the LORD! ~ [Praise the LORD!]
David I think it is required from all to at some stage be a turtle christian – to take stock of ones life and relationship first with others as this will reveal our relationship with God… As what we experience is what God provides for us to learn from.
Now the greatest thing about risking love is that it is multiplied even though never returned… 9 out of the ten did not even thank Him. But still the testimony of the one beared more fruit than the deed of healing done to all ten…
We cannot fail by risking love, but we can fail by risking arrogance, violence etc…
And for this reason we have been called into a new covenant of love.
Teach me Godly love so that I can risk more of it. As it is Agape – as I understand the sole direction of caring for the concerns and trouble of others… Our as Jesus instructed “Go and do ye likewise.”
Be a neighbour in caring for others injuries, blindness, hunger etc concerning the will of God.
And as pointed out in a previous discussion by I recall David. Do not pray for their salvation introduce it… Rather than donating for a new church hall.
May I say to become part of the life giving soul instead of just being a living soul…
My point is that, in my experience in church-world, the vast majority, no, the overwhelming majority of Christians, simply do nothing, except for a Sunday worship service attendance. To them, faith is a noun not a verb. They are spectators rather then participants. They bury the masters money. They never attempt to plunge into the ocean or leave the shore. It’s too much work. Besides, who said I ‘had to do that; isn’t it a free gift with nothing required of me’, so they think. And now, with live streaming of church services, they really don’t even have to leave the confines of their shell. How cool is that!
Unfortunately, your assessment seems correct. But I think most of it is the result of ignorance and anti-Semitic theology. We have the task of sharing a different paradigm with those who truly wish to serve the Father regardless of their lack of real education in the matter.