Sermon: God Expects a Return on His Investment (Part One)
#1653
David F. Maas
Given 21-May-22; 67 minutes
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transcript:
In two weeks and one day, we will be keeping the Feast of First Fruits, also known as the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Harvest, Shavuot, or Pentecost (referencing Leviticus 23:15-17 and Numbers 28:26). The apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15:20-28 identifies those who have fallen asleep (in death, as sadly happened to many in our fellowship this past year) in Christ to be the select crop of firstfruits, who will join the First of the firstfruits (namely Jesus Christ), to be harvested well before the great millennial fall harvest (depicted by the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles, symbolizing the wonderful World Tomorrow, the Kingdom of God under the rule of Jesus Christ).
We are now going to turn over to a number of marching orders Jesus gave to His called out first fruits (then and now) on His last Passover as a human.
John 15:8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so, you will be My disciples."
We prove we are Christ’s disciples by doing righteous works empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, described by Herbert W. Armstrong as “God’s law in action.”
John 15:9-14 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
Remember that Jesus had instructed the inquisitive Pharisee that upon two commandments—loving God with all our heart and mind, encompassing the first four laws of the Decalogue, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, encompassing the last six laws of the Decalogue—hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40). The spiritual application of God’s law begins with the earnest payment of God’s Holy Spirit, sealed with the laying on of hands following our baptism (Ephesians 1:14), unleashing the crucially needed power to mortify our carnality or put off the old man (Romans 8:13 and Ephesians 4:22) as well as the incredible power to ultimately love our enemies as God the Father and Jesus Christ love us (referencing Matthew 5:44).
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
John Ritenbaugh, in his Bible study on Philippians (Part 6), warned us that, sadly, the entirety of American culture has been contaminated with a residue of a syrupy, Protestant-y mindset that grace has allegedly freed us from the irksome responsibility of keeping God’s holy law, insisting that attempting to do any works whatsoever is equivalent to trying to earn salvation (the old Protestant red herring), which allegedly militates against grace, requiring only belief on the name of Jesus Christ.
However, Ephesians 2:10 brings us back to spiritual reality, reminding us that we, indeed, are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
The concept of grace, to those called to be firstfruits, should never be a considered a final destination, but instead only the initial departure point for initiating works of repentance and righteousness, forged, or hammered out in a rigorous sanctification process lasting our entire mortal lifetime. Likewise, grace is not, as the majority of the Christian professing world believes, the termination of God’s holy and spiritual law, but instead grace is the beginning point, where God’s implanted Holy Spirit converts the letter of the law (which kills) into Spirit (which gives life) (II Corinthians 3:6).
We prove to be Christ’s work by executing righteous works empowered by God’s Holy Spirit—again God’s holy and spiritual law in action, emanating from the very core of our being where the law of the New Covenant is written on the tablets of our hearts, becoming an integral part of us for eternity (Hebrews 8:10, 10:16, quoted or derived from Jeremiah 31:31-33).
We need to be aware that the term “law” is multi-ordinal, signifying many different things simultaneously, including rules and regulations, the Mosaic rituals and sacrifices, the hideous tomes cranked out by Parliament and the current corrupt United States Congress (to grace way over half the members of the House of Representatives with the title “lawmaker” is a hideous abomination) as well as the judicial activist laws protecting abortion, sodomy, and genital mutilation, handed down by the ‘progressive’ anti-God liberal Supreme Court, and the lethal vaccine mandates of the criminal World Health Organization—the law of sin and death described by the apostle Paul in Romans 7:23, the myriad unseen forces such as gravity, electricity, magnetism, laws of thermo-dynamics and areo-dynamics, mathematical formulas, the principles of music, including harmony, rhythm, and tempo. All of these principles, incidentally, will still be in force in the spiritual realm where choruses of angels numbering in the multiple thousands will be singing praises before God’s throne, as we see in Revelation 5:8-13.
As God’s Spirit is impregnated into the human mind, blending with the spirit in man, God’s law refers to the newly-acquired super-human ability to love God the Father and our neighbor as ourselves, the ability to develop godly character, and the ability to glorify God—made available exclusively for those who demonstrate an ardent desire to establish a reciprocal relationship with Almighty God, which our Lord and Savior identified as the only portal to genuine, abundant, eternal life—learning to live as God lives (John 17:3). We are aware that God Almighty initiated the process, loving us, with, of course, His desire that we would reciprocate. But also, having given us human nature and free will, He is not forcing and will not force that choice upon us. We must ardently desire it for ourselves. The apostle John reminds us in I John 4:19 that “we [are prompted to] love Him because He first loved us.”
In his August 28, 2020 CGG Weekly article on “Reciprocity, Part One,” John Reiss shares the explanatory notes on Luke 6:28 from the New Spirit-Filled Life Study Bible, which introduces us to the universal law of divine reciprocity, which the Herbert Armstrong identified as the “way of give.” The explanatory note reads,
There is a law of divine reciprocity. You give; God gives in return. When you plant a seed, the ground yields a harvest. That is a reciprocal relationship. The ground can only give to you as you give to the ground. You put money in the bank, and the bank returns interest. That is reciprocity. Sadly, the unprofitable, lazy servant in the Parable of the Talents never learned or practiced this precious, valuable universal law.
John Reiss, later in his article, quotes Lord Robert Edmiston, a British theologian, who emphatically declares, “It is a principle. Don’t ask me how it works, but it does”—to which John Reiss replied,
Lord Edmiston may not know how it works, but we know because God has created it to act as a universal law [a law established to last for eternity, long after the last fleshly human being has been sanctified and glorified]. It is like a spiritual version of Newton’s Third Law of Motion; “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This principle or law of reciprocity is affirmed by abundant scriptural backing. Consider Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 11:1, reveals that “if we cast our bread upon the waters, we will find it after many days.” The Message Bible renders this passage: “Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns.” The Living Bible adds this insightful dimension: “Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later. Divide your gifts among many, for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.”
In Acts 20:35, the apostle Paul asks us to remember the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” John Reiss concludes that God’s way is the way of give, and true giving always receives an equitable return. Even God expects a return on His investments in us. Consequently, we should take time to reflect on how much He has done for us and then consider what we can do in return.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
However, if we remain in the vine in a state of perpetual dormancy, stubbornly refusing to bear fruit, refusing to keep His holy law, or refusing to produce works of repentance and righteousness, we are also in mortal danger.
John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me [that is, producing no fruit or producing no works of righteousness], he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
Mark 11:12-14 Now the next day, when they [that is Jesus and His disciples], had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”
Without the gift of God’s Holy Spirit enabling the nexus of physical examples with spiritual applications, some prominent, pompous, worldly philosophers have stumbled on this example, accusing Jesus Christ of being an impetuous, egotistic, spiteful, narcissist. Among them, Bertrand Russell, who, in his article, “Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects,” writes “This is a very curious story, because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects.”
In this same article, Bertrand Russell takes Jesus to task for needlessly and mercilessly drowning a herd of swine. This arrogant, but naïve appraisal is solidly countermanded in Dan Elmore’s insightful January 29, 2012 Forerunner article in which he cites an explanatory note in Clarke’s Commentary, stating that the phrase “the time of figs was not yet” would be better translated to emphasize that the time for gathering figs had not yet come. Clarke cites a similar phrase in Psalm 1:3 as support. He also indicates that the climate in the area of Jerusalem was such that figs could be found throughout the year, especially in March and April, making it not unreasonable to find fruit then [the fruit inevitably appears before the foliage].
However, figs are not usually harvested until after Passover— all the more reason to expect to find some on this tree. We learn that fruit tree growers know that ordinarily a small amount of fruit ripens prior to the main crop, designated as the first ripe fruit or the first fruits. Consequently, when Jesus approached the tree, He was aware that it was indeed time for the first fruits of figs, even though it was not yet time for the main harvest.
Dan Elmore, again citing Clarke’s Commentary, points out that this fig tree symbolized the sorry, pathetic state of the Jewish people, professing themselves to be the custodians of the true religion, considering themselves the special people of God, but proving themselves to be blatant hypocrites, having nothing of religion but the profession-an abundance of foliage, but absolutely no fruit, identified by Bill Onisick in his May 15, 2021 sermonette “All Leaves, No Fruit” as symbolizing “Pharisaical hypocrisy where works and talk are not in alignment. God judges a person by the fruit he bear—not by his good and benevolent intentions.” [Among others] Karl Marx once claimed that the way to hell is paved with good intentions.
Consequently, again according to Clarke, “Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree was intended as a stern warning of what was to come in the absence of repentance; the total destruction and final ruin of the Jewish state at the hands of the Romans.” Dan Elmore reminds us that “the cursing of the fig tree is a pointed exhortation from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ not to be found fruitless at His appearing because the dreaded Lake of Fire awaits those who taste of “the heavenly gift” of God and failing to grow, fall away (Hebrews 6:4-6; Revelation 20:15; 21:8). The peril of not bearing fruit is reinforced by the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree in Luke 13.
Luke 13:6-9 He [Jesus Christ] spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”
For those who insist on the cheap grace, no-works doctrine of eternal security, ‘once saved always saved,’ God’s patience and longsuffering is indeed long, but it is not endless, but it is always qualified by a terminal “until” like all good patience should be—only while it is proper and right, giving all transgressors of His holy law an opportunity to repent (Romans 2: 4), but will eventually exact the penalty that is deserved. Consider Moses’ appraisal of the goodness and severity of God in Exodus 34.
Exodus 34:7 [God, who is] keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression [but] by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generations.”
The Amplified renders this passage: “keeping mercy and lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].”
This fundamental concept of the goodness and severity of God is underscored in Nahum 1.
Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.
God thoroughly demonstrated His longsuffering during the days of Noah (I Peter 3:20). But His patience did not last forever. The Flood came right on schedule (II Peter 2:5) as will the horrendous “day of the Lord coming as a thief in night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (II Peter 3:10). In verse 11, Peter asks all of God’s chosen saints, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?”
Jesus used the incident of the cursing of the fig tree and the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree to teach His disciples, then and now, that outward appearance, or thick luxuriant foliage without fruit, does not count with God. Instead, what really counts is whether or not one produces godly fruit in his or her life (John 15: 8, 16; Galatians 5:22-23). Almighty God would certainly prove to be unjust to leave unpunished those who do not respond to His lovingkindness, forbearance, and patience. The Parable of the Talents or the Parable of the Minas further substantiates that the grace train carries no indolent passengers.
Matthew 25:14-30 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling 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 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.
“After a long time, the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So, he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you have delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents beside them.’ His lord said to him, ‘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.’
“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So, you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So, take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.”
Ironically and tragically, according to the press secretary of the current occupant of the Oval Office, the present administration has aspirations of doing just the opposite—taxing the productive to bankroll the indolent, calling it the best way of fighting inflation. But Jesus Christ has a contrary, but much more godly philosophy, insisting:
Matthew 25:29 ‘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.’
In Judy Ponio’s October 12, 2020 article, “The Meaning Behind the Parable of the Talents,” she explains that “in Jesus’ time, talent is used as a unit of weight equivalent to about 80 pounds. But when used as a currency, one talent is about 6,000 denarii—a standard Roman coin which is the usual payment for a day’s labor. So, during those times, one talent is equivalent to 16 years’ worth of labor.”
But factoring in inflation, the international price of gold was approximately $41,155.60 per kilogram. One gram would cost $38.00. At this price, a talent (33 Kg) or 106 pounds would be worth an incredible $1,400,116.57. Because the acquisition of money required a marketable skill, the term generalized, radiating out to include a natural aptitude or skill.
In biblical parlance, talents refer to all of the various gifts God has given us to use, embracing natural, spiritual, and material, including our natural abilities and resources—our health, education, possessions, money, opportunities, and life experiences. Traditionally, the Parable of the Talents is interpreted as an exhortation to Jesus’ disciples to use their God-given gifts in the service of God, taking risks for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
On March 14, 2013, Hugh Whelchel, senior fellow and founder of the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics and author of How Then Should We Work? Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Work, published an article in byFaith magazine (a Presbyterian publication) titled “Five Lessons for Our Lives from the Parable of the Talents.”
The first lesson that Whelchel suggests this parable teaches is that success is invariably a product of our work, reminding us that God originally placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it, to dress and keep it (Genesis 2:15). From the beginning of creation, mankind was placed here to work. Whelchel frequently expresses annoyance and frustration, witnessing the frightful, rapid deterioration of the “work ethic” in mainstream Christianity. At one point he complains, “Far too many evangelical Christians today see their salvation as simply a ‘bus ticket to heaven.’ They believe it doesn’t matter what they do while they wait for the bus.’
We were designed by Almighty God to work and be productive. “We have a mission,” insists Whelchel, “to accomplish in the here and now.” Sadly, the antinomian red herring that somehow any works militate salvation destroys one of mankind’s God-given major sources of joy and pleasure. We remember that David’s son Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2:24 said, “Nothing is better for a man than he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.”
Solomon repeats this appraisal in Ecclesiastes 3:22, “So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage.” The Germans have a Sprichwort or aphorism: “Die Arbeit macht das Leben suess.” Work makes life sweet! Sadly, the current progressive, woke generation with their victim and welfare mentalities, as well as the antinomian no-works theologians, have turned work into a dirty four-letter word.
But breaking into refreshing spiritual reality, Hugh Whelchel insists that “the Parable of the Talents teaches us what we are supposed to do while we await the return of our Lord, Savior, and King, namely Jesus Christ, the first of the First Fruits.” We have been commissioned to work in the here and now, using the talents that God has given us. We are required to work in the here and now, using the talents to glorify Almighty God, serve our spiritual siblings, and prepare for His coming Kingdom. Consequently, the essence of biblical success demands that we work in the here and now, using all the talents God has given to us to produce the return expected by the Master.
The second lesson from the Parable of the Talents highlighted by Hugh Whelchel is that God always gives us everything we need to do what He has called us to do. As stated previously in this message, one talent today (33 kilograms or 146 pounds) would be worth an incredible $1,400,116. Whelchel lamented that too many are tempted to feel sorry for the hapless servant who buried only one talent but, in reality, he received as much as a million and a half dollars from the master and buried it in his back yard.
The wicked, lazy servant had more than enough to meet the master’s expectations. Just as the master expected his servants to do more than passively preserve what the master entrusted to them, Almighty God expects us to generate an abundant return by using the talents He has bestowed upon us toward productive ends. As all the servants in this parable were given more than enough to produce or generate more, it is absolutely the same with the gifts God has given each of us. Remember, the apostle Paul has instructed us in Ephesians 2:10, “that we are His [God’s] workmanship, created in Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Although God appreciates genuine humility, He is clearly annoyed, and rightly so, by spiritual timidity.
Exodus 4:10-16 Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So, the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” But he said, “Oh my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.
So, the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is coming out to meet you . When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. So, he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.”
Another parallel example of temporary spiritual timidity is seen in the calling of the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Then said I: “Ah Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” But the LORD said to me: “Do not say, I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD. Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.” [In the words of the late commentator and prominent secular prophet, Rush Limbaugh, “Talent on loan from God.”] See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”
Spiritual timidity afflicts the greater church of God and most probably the Church of the Great God as well. One of my former students, Steve Myers, who currently serves as a presenter on the Beyond Today program and a United Church of God pastor, gave an insightful sermon during the Days of Unleavened Bread sermon on April 15, 2014, titled “Return on His Investment.” Focusing on the episode of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:21, when the disciples pleaded with Jesus to send the crowds away, He instead replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” [But…but … we have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,”]
Steve Myers reminds us that Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” As Christ’s disciples, then and now, it is our job. It is our responsibility. Christ did not say, “Let Me do this miracle and I’ll handle it.” Did you notice that? He said, “You, yes you, give them something to eat.” I think, Steve continues, that’s a lesson [a profound lesson on R.O.I.—Return on investment! God expects a return on investments. He expects us to do our jobs.”
Steve, at one point in his message, gives a potpourri of timid excuses typically heard throughout church of God congregations that members use to get out of what God has instructed them to do. He laments, “When God calls and He gives us a job to do, do we say ‘I don’t have what it takes. I don’t have enough to do this job, God. I can’t grow! I can’t accomplish that. I’m too old for that sort of thing. I’ve already done my time, God. I’ve already served. Well, God I’d love to, but, you know, I’ve got issues. I’d really like to, but God you know how busy I am. I just don’t have the time. Isn’t it somebody else’s turn to take care of that? Maybe we should let somebody older take care of that job. Or maybe somebody younger should take care of that job, because after all, I don’t know of I know that much about the Bible. It’s not my gift. It’s not my talent. Well, I’ve got way too much on my plate right now.”
And so, we can go down the list of excuses, like the disciples did [referring to the excuses that the disciples made about arranging for the feeding of the 5,000]. “We don’t have the money to run to town to buy bread. There’s no way; we can’t do it.” We see that Christ did not say, “Oh, okay. Well then just don’t worry about it.” No, He held them to the responsibility He gave them.
Last Sabbath, as Craig Sablich in his message “Fear of the Unknown” speculated that when the disciples realized that they had been drafted into the responsibility of become fishers of men, they may have felt terrified, overwhelmed, and anxious about carrying out their responsibilities, having absolutely no idea as to what was happening next. But when God gave His disciples, then and now, a job to do, He cautions them not to fear, promising that He would give them all the tools needed to do their jobs, including a sound mind from the gift of the Holy Spirit (II Timothy 1:7 and Philippians 4:6) and the promise to have their backs continually (Hebrews 13:5).
In my December 22, 2018 sermon titled, “Our Part in the Sanctification Process (Part One): Cultivating the Fruits of God’s Holy Spirit (Spiritual Sharecroppers),” I calculated that in the feeding of the 5,000, the ratio of human contribution (the disciples quota) to God’s contribution exceeds 1 to 10,000 or .00001%. When we re-evaluate this crude ratio to the true dimensions of God’s infinite power, our meager contribution becomes exponentially insignificant. As we learn from Luke 17:10, when we have done all those things we are commanded, we must declare, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” So, when God imbues us with His precious Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, then, and only then, does our work become profitable.
The third lesson Hugh Whelchel derives from the Parable of the Talents is that we are not all created equal, but we have different interdependent functions or responsibilities in the body of Christ. Furthermore, the master gives to each servant talents, “each according to his unique ability,” understanding that the one-talent servant was not capable of producing as much as the five-talent servant. Some may bitterly protest that this apparent inequality is patently unfair, but we know from our own experience that diversity is woven into the fabric of the entire creation.
The apostle Paul, using the body analogy in I Corinthians 12, beginning with verse 12, illustrates the diversity and interdependent unity in the body of Christ. Let us go there.
I Corinthians 12:12-19 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
Not to oversimplify but let us imagine the pastor to be the tongue or the mouth. What good is the body if it does not also have ears, shoulders, hands, a heart, etc.? In the body of Christ, every member must perform a vital interdependent role. After the split up of our previous fellowship, it is obvious that Jesus Christ gave many, many more opportunities to serve and edify one another.
Last Sabbath, Martin Collins in his sermon, “Without Me, Nothing! Part 2,” pointed out a simplistic assumption in our previous fellowship that the minister was to preach, and the rest of the congregation would simply pay and pray, making our precious calling a passive spectator sport. Martin assured all members of the Body of Christ that we all serve as “under-shepherds,” helping the pastor tend to the myriad needs of our spiritual siblings, using the spiritual gifts God has given each of us to edify and serve one another.
I Corinthians 12:20-27 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. But our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
The fourth lesson that Hugh Whelchel derives from the Parable of the Talents is that we work for the master, not our own selfish purposes. The money, talent, or skill is not our own. The wealth we earn from our abilities or skills belongs to the Master and is not ours to keep. We, as servants, are only stewards of our master’s investment, and it is the quality or our stewardship that the master seeks to measure. We are commissioned to develop our talents, not for our own self-centered purposes, but rather to honor God. Because we live in a fallen world under the curse of sin, our efforts and work will be increasingly difficult and unappreciated, but we should experience satisfaction and joy from doing our best with what God had given to us in the place and circumstances His providence has put us, desiring to succeed and show productivity in order to honor Him.
Finally, the fifth significant lesson we can learn from the Parable of the Talents is that we will be held accountable for the stewardship of all of our spiritual gifts—material, mental, and spiritual—how we use our work, skills, and abilities to fulfill our individual life calling. According to Whelchel, “The unfaithful steward in this parable didn’t so much as waste the master’s money—he wasted a precious opportunity to serve. Consequently, he was judged wicked and lazy. We are responsible for what we do for God with what we have been given, and one day we will be held responsible.”
Consider Ecclesiastes 12:13-14: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, when He gathers the sheep and goats for judgment, recorded in Matthew 25, reveals some concrete instructions about the dispersal of talents or spiritual gifts.
Matthew 25:31-40 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left. [How appropriate!]
"Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
To those on His left, who indeed had the resources, but did not help those in need, He assigned to eternal punishment, which we understand to be merciful oblivion rather than torment in an ever-burning Hell. Whether we have been blessed with the billions of Elon Musk or the widow’s two mites, we have a somber obligation to attend to the needs of our spiritual siblings and ultimately the entirety of mankind.
As we approach the Harvest of Weeks, First Fruits, or Pentecost, let us produce a bumper crop of spiritual fruit to nourish and edify the Body of Christ. In the next installment on July 2nd, I plan to, God willing, provide some strategies as to how we may identify and appraise the spiritual gifts outlined in Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12.
DFM/jjm/drm