Matthew 25: Wise and Foolish (3)
Pray Psalm 126.5, 6.
Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
He who continually goes forth weeping,
Bearing seed for sowing,
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him.
Sing Psalm 126.6.
Truro: Shout, for the Blessed Jesus Reigns!
They who in tears of sorrow sow, and cast their seed on every hand,
with joy shall reach their heav’nly home, and bring the harvest of their land.
Read Matthew 25.1-23; meditate on verses 14-23.
What “talents” will you invest for the Lord today?
Prepare.
1. With what were the servants entrusted? What were they expected to do?
2. Why did the master commend these servants?
Meditate.
It’s interesting to see how much Jesus talks about His return in the light of His impending death. It shows us what He was thinking about. Dying on the cross was a necessity, but it wasn’t the end. The joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12.1, 2) was the joy of His coming Kingdom, both in time and at the end of time. Psalm 22 gives us a beautiful picture of this. We know Jesus was praying this psalm as He hanged on the cross, but that was to remind those looking on of what He was fulfilling (Ps. 22.1-21) and Himself of what lay ahead for Him and the glory of His Father (Ps. 22.21-31).
This is where Jesus wants us to be looking as well, eagerly waiting and preparing for His soon return. And this is a matter of stewardship. Like the servants in this parable, we have all been entrusted with certain skills, resources, opportunities, and the time within which to make the most of these for the Lord. He expects us to get busy and create a “return on investment” of what He has entrusted to us, receiving His grace each day and sharing gladly with our neighbors. Elsewhere He will say that He expects us to bear much abiding fruit from all that He has done for and entrusted to us (Jn. 15.16).
The two wise servants gave a positive account of their stewardship, and the master commended and blessed them accordingly. Notice that, while one servant created more return than the other—since he had more to begin with—still, they both received the same reward (vv. 21, 23)—“ruler over many things” and, beyond that, the joy of the Lord Himself. Jesus expects us to work to bring forth fruit, and what we’re able to produce will differ according to what the Lord has entrusted to us. But the reward will be the same for all: abounding blessings and opportunities to serve in the joy of King Jesus!
We need to be aware of all that the Lord has given us to serve Him. Our calling is daily to seek the progress of His Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, so that, when He returns, He will see the fruit of our labors, throughout our Personal Mission Field, and how that fruit has redounded to His glory.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Every one of God’s children can double the return on what we have been given.
Each one can be filled with the Holy Spirit:
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Lk. 11.13).
Each one can know and obey God’s Law:
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Ex.20.1-11; Matt. 22.37).
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Ex. 20.12-17; Matt. 22.39).
Each one can bear the fruits of the Spirit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5.22).
Each one can be holy as He is Holy:
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He Who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I AM holy’” (1 Pet. 1.13-16).
Babies take a while to grow up.
God gives His children time to grow up.
But grow up we must or we will be spiritually stunted.
That is exactly what happened to the servant who merely took and hid his talent.
Not only did it not multiply by two, it probably got moldy and musty. Kind of a stinky mess.
Abram, just by believing what God promised him, got a good accounting from Him.
As is recorded, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15.6).
And James adds that for believing “he was called the friend of God” (Jms. 2.23).
The traveling man in Jesus’ story, gave out the talents and immediately left to go on his journey—
depending on his faithful servants to multiply his capital ventures while he was away. “And after a long time
the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them” (Matt. 25.19).
God graciously gives us time to multiply by two His gifts to us; but God also warns against
spiritual lackadaisicalness—regarding those wasteful things that occupy our time:
“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it
in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12.36).
“He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Prov. 10.4).
The gifts were given to each one “according to his own ability” (Matt. 25.15).
Since gifts are given by God— “every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (Jms. 1.17), He knows exactly who we are and what we can do.
If He did not gift you with the skills of Handel, He does not expect musical compositions from you.
However, what He did gift you with, He expects back double from you.
(Except for your money, and He only expects ten percent of that).
The bottom line is this—we want to do everything we can to hear these words from 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” (Matt. 25.23).
Using your talents, receive your joy, from your Lord.
Reflect.
1. In your life, what qualifies as “talents”?
2. What are the keys in making sure those talents generate a return for the Lord and His glory?
3. How can you “invest” those talents to increase them and thus improve their use in glorifying God?
What then does the Master say? “Well done, good and faithful servant.” For it is good to see the neighbor’s benefit. “You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.” He means by this expression, enter into the realm of all blessedness. John Chrysostom (344-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 78.2
Pray Psalm 126.1-5.
Today is another day to work the Lord’s field and to advance His Kingdom. Pray for grace and strength, that you might sow faithfully, even though through tears.
Sing Psalm 126.1-5.
Truro: Shout, for the Blessed Jesus Reigns!
When God restored our fortunes all, we were like those who sweetly dream.
Our mouths with joy and laughter filled, made Him our constant song and theme.
Then the astonished nations said, “The LORD has done great things for them!”
Indeed, great things our God has done, Whose Name we praise, Amen, Amen!
Restore our fortunes, LORD our King! Let grace like flowing streams prevail.
All they with tears of joy shall sing who sow while yet they weep and wail.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast features excerpts from the book, Patrick: A Devotional History. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column continues our study of “Everyday Christianity”. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
