In His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25, the next group of people that Jesus talks about, that will be impacted by His coming are the servants who were given talents. The parable relates to how the master divided the money among his servants according to each of their abilities.
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own personal ability; and immediately he went on a journey.
Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his Lord’s money (Matthew 25:14-19).
One man received five talents, another two, and a third received one. No one received more or less than he could handle and each was free to invest or not to invest. There was no compulsion from the giver of the talents. God does not give to any believer either more or less than he is able to use effectively.
The servant who got five talents went at once and invested the five talents and got five more, the one with two got two, and each of these were commended of having done a good job: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord (Mathew 25: 19-21).
The Lord also assessed the faithfulness of the servants mentioned in Matt. 25:14-30, not by their net gain but their percentage increase. The servant who gained five talents was not considered more faithful than the servant who had gained two talents although he gained more talents.
It is on their faithfulness, as expressed in the percentage increase achieved, that their judgment is based. Whether one man originally received five talents and another one two, this was not the basis on which their faithfulness is assessed. Rather, each of these servants was considered equally faithful because each had achieved the same increase.
God Did Not Call Us to Win
If you choose to become a person who is deeply committed to a cause, the world won’t understand you; you will be alone. Noah built the ark and voyaged alone except for his family. He preached 120 years and never had a convert, and yet he did not get discouraged.
Don Wildmon, the founder of the American Family Association (AFA) stood boldly against the increasing immorality in our society for years, until his resignation in 2010. The sad thing is that he often reported that some of his main critics came from within Christianity and many of them were pastors!
He said the typical letter he got from pastors read something like this: Don, you are wasting your time. Evil has greatly multiplied since you began speaking out about it. You need to face up to the fact that you are losing the battle. Don responded by saying:
God did not call me to win. He called me to stand. We will not win until Jesus returns.
The third servant according to Jesus dug a hole and buried his talent in the ground. He forgot that all he had belonged to the Lord, he was just a steward. In this parable of the talents the third servant hid the one talent he had received and later brought it back to his master in exactly the same way or condition in which he had received it. For doing this he did not receive any reward and worse still he was totally rejected and cast out from his master’s presence.
It was Charles Finney who wrote,
The Church is filled with hypocrites because people were never made to see that they must make an entire consecration of everything to Christ. All their time, all their talents, and all their influence must be given or they will never get to heaven. Many think they can be Christians, yet dream through life using all their time and property for themselves.
The lesson from this third servant is that laziness is wickedness. “You wicked, lazy servant….. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:26-30).
There are some things that the Lord hates and one of them is irresponsibly squandering our God-given abilities. Jesus not only called the third servant lazy and wicked, but He condemned the man to eternal damnation. He also took the servant’s one talent and gave it to the one who had the ten. So if at all you don’t use your talent, you will lose it, but if we risk and use it, we will get more.
Gifts and Talents
What are these gifts and talents that the Lord is talking about? In order to discover these gifts we have to briefly go back to the Bible and look at the book of Romans, 1 Corinthians and the book of Ephesians. In the book of Romans the Bible says:
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:6-8).
In the Bible we are told to pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy, because he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men ….he who prophesies also edifies the church (1 Corinthians 14:1-5).
Throughout the Bible prophesying is to strengthen, exhort, edify, comfort and encourage. Prophets give courage, confidence, hope, reassurance, inspiration, support and they promote. Prophecy is forth telling, speaking it out. The prophets are seers; they get prophetic dreams and visions.
The Bible says we are to use the prophecy in proportion to our faith. Then there is a gift of service—servers are faithful and loyal, they have a natural desire to see things done. The gift of teaching is passing on wisdom, knowledge, and experience that you’ve gained to those who are unlearned.
The gift of encouragement is to motivate others to be whatever God has called them to be. The gift of giving or contributing to the needs of others includes people who are generous and trustworthy. The gift of leadership involves good organizational and management skills.
The gift of mercy involves showing kindness and compassion to people who are hurting. You will lay down your life for others to see they are restored and redeemed.
We should Abound in the Work of the Lord
When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the rapture, he concluded with an important admonition:
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord, knowing and becoming continually aware that your labour is not futile it is never wasted or to no purpose” (1 Corinthians 15:58 AMP).
Jesus says, “the servants were to put his money to work until their master returned.” In other words His disciples are to continue in faithful and wise service even though He might be gone a long time (see Matthew 24:45).
And most importantly we will not be like that wicked lazy servant who buried his talent rather than use it for someone else’s benefit, especially his master whom he regarded as hard to expect making a profit out of him. This man who has one talent convinces himself that there is nothing much he can accomplish.
Unfortunately he was rejected and cast into outer darkness where he can meditate on his wasted opportunities with weeping and gnashing of teeth. In the parable of the minas recorded in Luke 19, Jesus also makes it clear that we are to do business stay until He returns.
In this parable ten servants are mentioned and they all received the same amount: one mina each, but only three are described in detail. Of the three servants whose cases are described, the first gained five minas, the second gained five minas, and the third just like in parable of talents, hid and kept laid up in the handkerchief. He eventually brought it back in the same condition in which he had received it.
These servants all possessed equal ability, since all of them received the same amount committed to them. However, they were not equally faithful. The first made ten additional minas. The second made five more minas. Both of these servants were rewarded with authority over ten and five cities respectively. Their rewards were in exact proportion to the increase each one had achieved.
The rewards for serving Christ faithfully in this present age will consist in positions of authority and responsibility in the Kingdom of God. For those who love Christ and are compelled to serve Him faithfully and with the right motive in this age, this privilege will be extended throughout eternity.
The Motivation is Love
Love for Jesus Christ should be our motive and everything is ultimately measured by motivation. The whole question of serving Christ springs from knowing and loving Him intimately.
As one missionary said, “The need can get you there, but only the love of Christ can keep you there.”If we serve Christ with any motivation other than Christ’s love, we will get disillusioned. The love of Christ is a higher, nobler motivation for service than the potential reward of faithfulness.
In his famous chapters on love in I Corinthians, Paul says we are to be inspired by God’s love for and in us in utilizing the spiritual gifts. Chapter 12 is about spiritual gifts by themselves; chapter 13 is about spiritual gifts without love; and chapter 14 is about the true, excellent way: spiritual gifts with love.
Thus, the more we love Christ, the more love we will show to others for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (see Romans 5:5).
Therefore, we should not be drawn to do any kind of work or service in the hopes of wealth or fame, but rather out of love and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul again explains, it’s the love of Christ that compels us:
For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that if One died for all, then all died; And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
“If you major on knowing God,” A.W.Tozer once wrote, and cultivate a sense of His presence in your daily life, and do what Brother Lawrence advises, “Practicing the presence of God” daily and seek to know the Holy Scriptures, you will go a long way in serving your generation for God. No man (or woman) has any right to die until he/she has served God in his/her generation.
The Psalmist declares:
Yes, even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, but keep me alive until I have declared Your mighty strength to this generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come (Psalm 71:18 AMP).
Indeed, what we do in life echoes in eternity.
