Maybe you’ve been in a church before The Orchard. What was their practice of communion? How often? What was it like?
How is communion important to you?
Jesus says to “Do this in remembrance of me…” On Sunday we talked about how Biblical remembrance means to be motivated to take action. Why do you think we struggle with this in the American church?
I tend to think that christians have great intentions… We intend to be followers of Christ, but intentions mean very little until they are put into action. I believe Jesus feels this way, also… And I think his Parable of the Ten Servants expresses the difference between our intentions and our actions.
“A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ 14 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’
-Jesus, Luke 19:12-27 NLT
15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. 16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’
17 “ ‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 “ ‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’
20 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. 21 I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’
22 “ ‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, 23 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
24 “Then, turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’
25 “ ‘But, master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’
26 “ ‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 27 And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.’ ”
In this story, who is the nobleman, and who are the servants?
What is Jesus saying about his kingdom? What is he saying about our role in that kingdom?
What are the nobleman’s expectations of the servants?
What do the nobleman’s actions in verse 13 tell us about God and how He interacts with us?
What do you think the 10 pounds of sliver, divided up between the servants represents?
What do you think is going on in verse 14? Who are these enemies?
What ends up happening with those enemies in verse 27?
How did each of the servants handle the silver given them?
The third servant claimed to know the nobleman (v. 20-22) . Based on what he said and did, do you think he really knew the nobleman as he claimed? Why or why not?
What kinds of misunderstandings of The Nobleman do we see in our church culture today?
Have you noticed that Jesus so often speaks of my place in the Kingdom in terms of servant and steward, responsible for producing a return on His investment, yet most modern teaching seems to speak of my place as co-heir, co-king? What is going on here?
I think our modern christian culture has built a church with good intentions, but very little action. What do you think?
How do you most struggle to live intentionally for Christ?
What does Jesus expect me to do with the gospel? How can you use your gifts to meet this expectation?