Title: Now is the Time to be about the Father’s business
Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:14-19
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
The honor that God gives to us will be heavenly, eternal and beyond comprehension:
- Mansion
- Marriage Supper
- Rewards
Serving God is not an option but a command.
In the application of this parable, it is appropriate to see these talents as life resources – such as time, money, abilities, and authority.
Matthew chapter 24 and 25 contains:
- The Parable of the Unfruitful servant
- The Parable of the Ten Virgins
- The Parable of the Talents
Soon Jesus will be coming again appearing in the cloud and then appearing in power, enacting a stirring end time drama that will be unparalleled in any period in history.
We must understand that these end time events are not simply political, religious, physical happenings in our world. They are signs. They are spiritual signals of a much greater event: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
A master turns over his substance to these three stewards and leaves the country.
- He gives one man 5 talents
- He gives another man 2 talents
- He gives the third man 1 talent.
All are given talents
The Master returns and requires a stewardship report.
- The man with 5 talents gains 5 more and is rewarded
- The man with 2 talents has gained 2 more and is likewise rewarded.
- The man with one talent has wasted his and is punished.
In this parable of the talents, Jesus is the man ‘travelling into a far country.’
In the Parable of the Talents Jesus describes a master who gives instructions to his servants before departing on a long journey.
Implied in this Parable is YHWH’s immanence: quality of a deity exclusively existing within the universe. He knows what is happening on earth in individual lives
Faithful followers’ lives are not controlled by luck, chance, fate, but are directed by faith, by God!
Life is a gift with a purpose.
Human events, history are not haphazard but purposeful.
We are those servants, and as the Parable says, ‘His own’ and the talents represent our measure of grace and revelation of Jesus.
Proverbs 3:7 says, ‘Surely the LORD will do nothing but he revealeth His secrets unto his servants the prophets.
When God calls you, He will equip and prepare you to effectively complete your assignment on time. He will use every aspect of who you are and where you came from to bring about His will in your life. He factors in your background, your level of education, your past occupations and everything else you have accumulated from your life experience.
- It is Harvest Time
‘Say not in your heart, there are yet 4 months, then cometh harvest. I say unto you, open your eyes, look unto the field, for they are white already unto harvest.
There is coming a double Pentecost, ushering in a great harvest of souls.
Two out of three of the LORD’s servants will come to the judgement hall loaded with fruit and full of joy. They will not be cast down, depressed or dejected but rather they will have the joy of the LORD.
The Parable of the Talents proves that God will have a last day army here and abroad who will be out there in the harvest loaded with fruit, joyful and excited.
- The Willing Servant
Psalms 110:1-3
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Psalms 110 is a prophecy about the last day people of God and Psalm 110:3 says, ‘Thy people shall be wiling in the day of thy power.’ Martin Luther called this Psalm ‘a glorious prophecy concerning the Kingdom of Christ.’
The Holy Spirit will be so powerful and forceful that nobody, nothing can stop us from moving forward harvesting a great harvest of souls. We will become such a mighty force, powerful and forward marching.
Psalms 110:2 says, ‘there is a rod of strength out of Zion, a rod of power.’ This refers to Jesus who even now has all the power and authority.
There is prophesied one last great shaking in the book of Hebrew. It says, ‘Who voice then shook the earth, but now He hath promised saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only but the heaven. And in the shaking, God’s people will be willing in the day of His power.
Psalms 110:3 says, ‘Thou has the dew of thy youth.’ This means that the young converts will be as numerous as the drops of the morning dew.
We don’t’ often go to the province. But after a night of showers, if you are in the province, you go to the rice field, you will see the grass like millions of sparking diamonds.
- The unwilling servant
There will be a great number of Christians that will take to the hills simply to hide. They always think how wonderful it must be to live a quiet, secluded life and many of us can have those privileges
Let us study this man.
First, he was a servant who was controlled by a secret sin.
Jesus called him a wicked servant, which here denotes evil or something sinister
Although he is associated with a circle of servants who are busy, fruitful, and joyous, there is something hidden and unexposed in this man
The man with one talent says, ‘Thou art a hard man’. Which is another way of saying, ‘you expect too much from me. I cannot live up to your demands for serving.
He has a grudge against his master and therefore accused him of being unjust.
What did he do that was so wicked that cost him his salvation? It was this: ‘God does not need me to accomplish His purpose. I am just one of the members and my impact will not be felt
Why must Jesus be born in a woman’s womb, Mary. Because God chose to use human instrument to accomplish His task.
When the unwilling servant says his master is a hard man, the meaning of the word is ‘grasping, ungenerous, taking all to himself, offering no inducement to his servants.’
- The certainty of Christ’ return
Matthew 25:19 says, ‘After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.’
One thing that is very certain is that Jesus will return. In the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed, which is recited during the Lutheran and Anglican liturgies: ‘He (Jesus) shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; and His kingdom shall have no end.’
Peter says in 2 Peter 3: 3-4 that there will be those who scoff at Christ’s return. The New Living Bible says, “First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil they desire. This will be their argument: ‘Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is He? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created.’”
Charles Spurgeon in commenting on this verse says, ‘It is not “well done, thou good and brilliant servant,’ for perhaps the man never shone at all in the eyes of those who appreciate glare and glitter. It is not well done, thou great and distinguish servant, for it is possible he was never known beyond his village, his town his city.
When God says, ‘Enter into the joy of your Lord’, this has the echo of heaven in it. The idea is that there is a place of joy belonging to the master of these servants, and they are invited to join the master in their place. There is a sense of heaven about this destiny of the two faithful servants. We can say of the reward for the first two servants:
- They received praise from their master
- They received a promise of future blessing
- They received glory, ‘the joy of your Lord.’
