By Pastor Greg...
Before you read any further, watch the attached video. It is an excellent example of what it means to have a servant's heart.
In the video, this young girl was confused; she thought
that by giving blood she was laying down her life for the sake of her
brother. Now that is one young lady who was willing to use all that God had
given her. She didn’t take and keep; she was a servant.
A Christian should view themselves
as a servant. What the Lord has given,
He expects to be used… to be used for His glory and in His service. Twenty-five years ago, the Lord reminded me
that what I thought was mine had, in reality, been given to me by the Lord; it
was given with the understanding that I
would use it for His glory. Everything I
thought I owned or every talent I thought was mine had been given to me by the Lord for this purpose: To
continue His work while He is away. In
God’s eyes, it wasn’t enough that I was saved; because of my salvation, the
Lord desired that I become His servant… a servant who recognized his responsibility.
Jesus tells an interesting story about three servants; it’s
designed to teach believers about their responsibility in the Kingdom of God. Many people wonder what they should be doing
once they accept Jesus as their Savior.
They wonder what they should be doing while they wait for the Lord’s
return. In Matthew 25 we read…
14 “Again, the Kingdom of
Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called
together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He
gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of
silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left
on his trip.
16 “The servant who
received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five
more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work
and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one
bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
19 “After a long time their
master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they
had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the
five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me
five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’
21 “The master was full of
praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in
handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities.
Let’s celebrate together!’
22 “The servant who had
received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two
bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’
23 “The master said, ‘Well
done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this
small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s
celebrate together!’
24 “Then the servant with
the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man,
harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I
was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is
your money back.’
26 “But the master replied,
‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and
gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my
money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take
the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of
silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an
abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be
taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ [1]
In the story, each servant is
entrusted with a portion of the Master’s wealth, and it is assumed that they
would invest that money (verse 20). In the same way, Christians are given gifts
by the Lord; He expects us to use them.
Peter says, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of
spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” [2]
(1 Peter 4:10). This is a biblical
truth: God equips Christians to do
His work. He gives Spiritual gifts, He
gives talents, and He gives abilities.
However, based on this story from Matthew, is it true that God gives us financial
blessings as well? Yes, even your money
has come from God; that biblical teaching is almost as old as the Bible itself
(compare Deuteronomy 8:18). Speaking of
our possessions, Paul writes, “Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for
food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your
righteousness” [3]
(2 Corinthians 9:10). Don’t miss that:
God provides the seed and the bread. All
that you have, including your finances, has come from God;
This makes us a little
uncomfortable, am I right? We’ve grown
up believing that we made us into the person we are; we don’t like the thought of
being a steward – a person who is entrusted with another’s wealth. We’ve worked hard and saved so we could
purchase the things we wanted; it’s our
home, our car, our money, and our
life. And if we surrender these things
to the Lord, He might just ask us to sell
it all and give it to the poor (see Luke 18:22). But see, that’s the fearful attitude found in
the third servant from our story. He was
so afraid of losing it, he hid it away, not realizing that it was the Master’s
money in the first place. The Master understood
the risk; if not, He never would have given away that much money to begin with.
Each bag of silver weighted between 58 and 80 pounds (about 20 years’
wages per bag).
So, to become a servant of the
Lord is to realize that our gifts, talents, skills, and wealth have been given
to us by the Lord so we might continue His work while He is away. But… there is another part to this story I
think we need to see.
The Lord makes it quite clear that
He expects us to use what He has given us, not tuck it away and save it for a
rainy day. Christian author Warren
Wiersbe writes, “What we do not use for
the Lord, we are in danger of losing.”[4] But, are we not also in danger of losing
these things if we exhaust ourselves or our resources? Not so, says the Lord. Look at what Jesus says in verse 29. Those who faithfully labor for the Master
while He is away will find an ample
supply of what they need to keep
serving. Those who use what they have
been given will be given even more so they might continue the work of the
Master until He returns.
And just what does Jesus expect us
to be doing; He expects us to rescue the
lost… those held hostage by sin; we are to help them find freedom from bondage
through Jesus.
The Lord expects us to be doing something.
While He is away, our Master has given us the task of continuing His work; He has given us what we need to
continue that work. And the real question is, are we using what
He has given us, or are we hiding it away? And, let’s be honest here; storing away our
gifts, abilities, and resources will only cause them to rot. By never becoming a faithful servant, we are
storing up treasures on earth where moth and rust (and a lousy economy) will
destroy (Matthew 6:20).
Some Christians never become
servants; they take what the Lord has given them and “hide it in the ground;” they
never use what the Master has given them. That’s not a servant; that’s a
thief! And some churches do the
same. They are given blessing after
blessing but never use it to continue the Lord’s work.
To become a Christian is to
surrender yourself to the Lord and to continue the work He began… which is, leading
people to Jesus.
The gifts and the finances we have
right now belong to the Lord; they are
not ours. And we must faithfully use our
talents and funds to help the lost, the
hurting, the outcast, and the lonely; we help them find forgiveness and freedom
in Jesus… this is the work He began and the work we must continue. This is our responsibility until the Lord
returns… what we must be doing until He comes again.
So, which of the three servants
best describes you or your church?
[1]
Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation
(Mt 25:14–30). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2]
Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation
(1 Pe 4:10). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[3]
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (2 Co 9:10).
Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary
(Vol. 1, p. 92). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
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