Faithful in Little

Matthew 25:14-17, 24-25, 28-29

Matthew 25 opens with the parable of the foolish virgins with no oil and the delayed bridegroom. If I preached the kingdom business in today's churches, it could be considered downright heretical. The faithful were rewarded when the door was shut. The bridegroom had no knowledge of the ten women who had been called. In case you did not like the message of the first, here is the message of the second stated in the word "again." Jesus preaches to all people. If you did not understand the lesson of personal relations at first, here is the financial lesson of stewardship. This was told not because Jesus is a businessman. Quite the opposite, he is indeed quite relational. The church cannot neglect the relationality of Christ, otherwise it does so to its' own detriment.

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

The text says that a man, not a nobleman nor even a skilled tradesman, went on a journey. The type of man did not matter; what mattered was that his servants had a relationship with him. The man went on the journey not for personal gain or for leisure but rather for kingdom business; This man is unlike President Obama of the United States who took many golfing trips whenever anything happened of any significance. In this passage the man entrusted his wealth. Everything the Father has in Christ Jesus is ours. He has given all things unto his Son and has made us a nation of kings and priests unto himself as in Revelation 1:6. This man trusted these servants to do the right thing; he entrusted them with the responsibility and the reckoning to come. The gifting was according to personal ability. Prior experience and skill determined the level of the gifting. The master had experience with his servants and he knew what each could handle. "A bruised reed he will not break and a smoking flax he will not put out," says Isaiah 42:3. The assignment placed on each servant was on the level of personal ability; what happened next was of supernatural ability.

The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.

Verses sixteen and seventeen speak of personal work combined with supernatural blessing to produce the result of additional blessing and responsibility. Five talents were given to one. That was the most he could handle. Yet he put his money to work and gained five more. He had twice the responsibility and twice the blessing. If the five was his natural ability to handle that thing, his faithfulness to the master's word blessed that. Supernatural ability was added to the natural.

Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

The one who did not do anything dug a hole and buried his treasure claiming the master was harsh and somewhat unjust. He did so because he did not understand how the master could possibly bless him when he could not even handle one talent. So he figured the best thing he could do was not to lose the one. By burying the talent, he signifies his fears, his lack of faith, and his lack of trust in the master's command. Furthermore, he doubts the master's character.

So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

This verse indicates the servant cursed those blessed because he viewed the master as a hard man who took what he did not do. In his complaining, he missed the blessing of the master who had the power to gather where he did not sow; see, the master gained a harvest by what was meant for destruction. Even the demons believe in Christ and tremble in James 2:19. While the servant is busy cursing out the master's power, he displays a lack of knowledge of the master's character. By this, he signifies he never knew him personally. What he fears the master for is actually a direct reflection of himself. The proper response to such an assignment was nothing less than taking the talent to the bank for interest to be gained. If nothing else, he should have operated in the spirit of the gifting, the blessing, and the divine assignment. This is how the other servants began and God blessed their faithfulness. The judgement came upon the master's return. This was not a judgment as if they were not his servants; this was the fate of the one with one talent. Rather, it was a reckoning where the servants who had maintained and gathered abundance reported to the master of their doings. An example of this reporting in the Heavenly kingdom occurred when the sons of God came before him, and Satan also came with them in Job 1:6. The story of God operates on the premise of a reckoning based on who believed God and who did not. The servants who believed the master's word gained blessings to be delivered to him; he then rewarded them with future blessings in the form of higher position, gifts, and abilities which would not be taken away. We see that this master would not leave again.

"'So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

The point of faith is declaring in the spiritual world to be true what is later worked out in the natural. As it is in heaven so it shall be on earth. The Lord's Prayer states let your will be done in heaven as it is on earth in Matthew 6:10; thus, the reverse is true. What has been declared in Heaven will be made apparent on earth. If the master takes more, he will give more and his servants will have an abundance. The lack precipates the giving. The servants became the master's equals through the process of the gifting. If you still do not have even after all of that, I question whether you really had the master Christ in the first place. The final point is this; what was the masters business on the journey that caused him to give his wealth to his servants? What the master does is he gets more abundance to come back to share with his servants he left behind. For if he is a master here, he is also a master elsewhere. That is where he went to the elsewhere until his business was concluded. Did they merge households? The text makes it clear they did in John 14:3. The master came back with charge of many things more than had been produced by the servants' own faithfulness. Revelation 1:6 and Revelation 5:10 indicate there is Scriptural basis for the disrespect in the first half of the chapter. The five foolish virgins, like the wicked servant who was afraid of the master, were also without wisdom. So if you have been betrothed as a virgin waiting a long time for the bridegroom or if he has chosen to know you in the other house, operate in the calling and the wisdom of God. For the master and bridegroom are one. Believe me, he is coming back for a church without spot, blemish, or wrinkle to receive them unto himself in the master's Heavenly house as in Ephesians 5:27.

By discussing "the law and the prophets," Matthew 5:17 indicates that understanding the former paves the way for the latter. Serving Christ became a generational experience. The text does not state how the master came by these servants nor how long they had been with him. In the case of the virgins, their wedding and their gifting was clearly planned. Principles of generational obedience versus generational disobedience are emphasized. In Revelation 3:2-3, we see the church who fell asleep, and Christ set himself upon them. Spiritual inexperience versus God's experience is borne out here. Before you have not so known Christ as in Ephesians 4:20. What happens if you find yourself in the other house knowing him now. Then, you will have always had him with you unlike those who needed him most in Matthew 26:11.