Matthew 25:21 - His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Matthew 25:23 - His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Luke 19:11-28 – Parable of the Pounds
Will God say this to us? We like to believe he will, but
will he? What are the qualifications of a faithful servant? Are we doing what
God expects of us? Note there are only two things that are said in that day
– (1) – Well done, and (2) cast the unprofitable servant into outer
darkness.
(1) Well Done.
There is coming a day of judgment – a day when all the
saved will stand before God and give account for the things they have done in
these bodies, whether it be good or whether it be bad. Luke 8:17 – "For
nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid,
that shall not be known and come abroad."
1. Use the talent God has given me. A talent is: a sum of
money. A valuable commodity. That which is worthwhile. We think of a talent as
a gift (or skill), such as singing, playing an instrument, speaking, some
ability to easily perform a task.
2. When we use whatever God has given to us, we don’t use
it up and it is gone. Therefore, the Bible isn’t talking about gambling, or
taking a chance with what God has given us. The Bible is talking about using
it, yet retaining it. In the parable of the talents and the pounds, none of
the servants loses any talents or pounds. They are all judged on what they
gain, not on how little they lost.
3. Therefore when we serve God, we always gain, some more,
some less. We never lose when we serve God. We lose only when we forsake him.
4. Notice Matthew 25:14-30, the middle parable, right
after Matt 24, where Christ gives a warning concerning faithfulness.
Some might believe this parable applies only to Israel, but the context
plainly is not speaking only to Israel.
5. Notice also Revelation 2:18-29 – the letter to
the church at Thyatira, especially verses 25-27. Christ said the
"overcomer" would receive rule over the nations with a rod of iron,
the same kind of rule Christ will have. This ties in with Matthew 25:21,which
states those that have an increase of talent will rule "…over
many things..."
6. Rev. 3:26 – How can I be an
"overcomer"? Note the words "…keepeth my works…"
Christ does not say, "keep my words." What is the work of Christ? John
6:28-29 states, "Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that
we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." So the
work of God is simply believing what he said.
7. Note: There is nothing said about what we make others
believe, or what we produce in others. Everything revolves around whether we
believe Christ or not, whether we obey Christ or not, whether we do what God
said. Nothing is said about how big a church we pastor, or how important a
position we have in that church, how many souls we win, or any of that. This
is talking solely and completely about personal growth and personal
accomplishment. The person that comes from a terrible background and the
person that comes from a Christian home are on the same level. Both
"compete" with themselves, not with others. Compare this with the
overcomers in Revelation 2 and 3. It is not what is around the overcomes they
are judged by, but rather what is in them. Therefore every person can be
faithful in whatever circumstances they find themselves. If there is more
faithfulness in our circumstances, there can be a "show" of more
faithfulness on our part, but in reality, that is not our faithfulness, it
just makes it easier for us to be faithful.
8. Revelation 2 and 3 is written to the seven
churches of Asia. There are overcomers in every church, and also those in
every church that do not overcome, but fail to be faithful. God wants us to
look to him, not to those around us. In the day of judgment, we will not be
able to use the excuse that we would have been more faithful if those around
us had been more faithful. We will not be able to tell God we failed because
he put us in such a bad place that we could not be faithful.
9. It must be noted there are those within the kingdom of
God who will lose all their rewards, because they did not use what God gave
them, but hid those gifts for whatever reason.