Trading for the Kingdom
Dr. Roberto Miranda
(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY: This sermon is about trading for the Kingdom, which means approaching Christian work with a business mindset and negotiating for the Kingdom. The parable of the nobleman going to a far country to receive a kingdom and return is used to emphasize the seriousness of preaching the Gospel and the importance of evangelizing. The parable is saturated with a business atmosphere, emphasizing the need for effort and making a profit through investments and business efforts. The parable also reveals a severe image of Jesus Christ, who is a judge and king in his second coming. Believers will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to determine what kind of rewards they will receive in the coming Kingdom of God.
The coming Kingdom of God is going to be a place of tremendous activity and effort without the edge that work has in this fallen world. In this parable, Jesus tells his disciples that the Kingdom of God is going to take time and there will be drama in between. He gives each believer a mine, a potential that God has infused into their life, and it is up to them to use it to advance His Kingdom. The instruction that Jesus gives is to negotiate, to work diligently and invest great energy and effort in order to produce effective results. Start where you can, do what you can, and be faithful to the Lord, and He will bless and multiply your gift, using it on a larger scale.
The head of a corporation in a parable told his servants to negotiate while he is away. The word "negotiate" in the original Greek means to conduct business diligently and effectively. The church of Jesus Christ should reflect excellence, efficiency, organization, discipline, and purpose. Every believer should live with a sense of duty and privilege, using the endowment of power, love, and a sound mind given by God. Christians can either proceed with a mentality of sufficiency or insufficiency, either serving as a facilitator or an obstacle to the Kingdom of God. The joy of the Lord comes from giving ourselves to Him and advancing His Kingdom.
Serving the Lord brings joy and blessings. It is a sacred and glorious business that is a tremendous privilege and obligation. We should trade for the Kingdom of God and grow in our service to Him.
The coming Kingdom of God is going to be a place of tremendous activity and effort without the edge that work has in this fallen world. In this parable, Jesus tells his disciples that the Kingdom of God is going to take time and there will be drama in between. He gives each believer a mine, a potential that God has infused into their life, and it is up to them to use it to advance His Kingdom. The instruction that Jesus gives is to negotiate, to work diligently and invest great energy and effort in order to produce effective results. Start where you can, do what you can, and be faithful to the Lord, and He will bless and multiply your gift, using it on a larger scale.
The head of a corporation in a parable told his servants to negotiate while he is away. The word "negotiate" in the original Greek means to conduct business diligently and effectively. The church of Jesus Christ should reflect excellence, efficiency, organization, discipline, and purpose. Every believer should live with a sense of duty and privilege, using the endowment of power, love, and a sound mind given by God. Christians can either proceed with a mentality of sufficiency or insufficiency, either serving as a facilitator or an obstacle to the Kingdom of God. The joy of the Lord comes from giving ourselves to Him and advancing His Kingdom.
Serving the Lord brings joy and blessings. It is a sacred and glorious business that is a tremendous privilege and obligation. We should trade for the Kingdom of God and grow in our service to Him.
I want to talk about trading for the Kingdom, how to trade for the Kingdom. The keyword in this message is business, negotiate. I say this intentionally. We refer to a position, an attitude that we must have when we approach Christian work, negotiating for the Kingdom.
This passage also reminds us that preaching the Gospel is something serious, it is something that has to do with life or death. It's a tremendously deliberate thing. And I am going to read the parable that the Lord spoke regarding this aspect of the Kingdom and remember that we are in this series of sermons that has to do with the call to evangelize. What I want to do and achieve through this series of sermons is to sharpen your awareness of the importance of preaching the Gospel, of seeing this as a serious responsibility, as a privileged burden that we have, the commitment as a believer, the fact that our identity as believers resides in that evangelistic activity, in that call to share with others what Christ has done in our lives and what Christ means to us.
This passage also reminds us that preaching the Gospel is something serious, it is something that has to do with life or death. It's a tremendously deliberate thing. And I am going to read the parable that the Lord spoke regarding this aspect of the Kingdom and remember that we are in this series of sermons that has to do with the call to evangelize. What I want to do and achieve through this series of sermons is to sharpen your awareness of the importance of preaching the Gospel, of seeing this as a serious responsibility, as a privileged burden that we have, the commitment as a believer, the fact that our identity as believers resides in that evangelistic activity, in that call to share with others what Christ has done in our lives and what Christ means to us.
