Jump Start # 591

Matthew 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’”

We continue our look this week at the times Jesus complimented. We are noticing in this the things that impressed the Lord. What often impresses us, doesn’t God. God is interested in the spiritual—faith, dedication and trust in Him.

Our passage today takes us to the parable of the talents. Notice the compliments here, “Well done…good…faithful.” Jesus was pleased with what happened. It was a job well done.

This parable is in a series about the judgment of Jesus. The master, Jesus, goes away for a time. He returns and an accounting of what was done with what they had takes place. There are three servants in this story. Each is given some talents. We tend to think of talent as ability– such as, some have a talent to sing. I missed that one. Actually, talent is a type of money. Each man was expected to use that money, talent, to generate more. Jesus said to one of the slaves, “You ought to put my money in the bank…” The principle and application would apply to our abilities and opportunities.

Jesus gave each slave differing amounts—based upon their abilities. One received five, another two and the last received one. The first two servants doubled their amounts. The last man buried his in the ground. Jesus never compared these men to each other. He never expected them to do as much as the other. He did expect them to do what they could. Doing nothing was not acceptable. It is easy for us to compare one to another. We do that. Preachers often do that. That kind of thinking often leads to jealousy, feeling inferior, or making us think we are big shots, when we are not. We are all simply servants in God’s kingdom. We need to be thankful for each other. It’d be tough if all the work fell upon one person. It doesn’t. We are all gifted by God in different ways. I’m glad for that. There are those who seem to know just what to say in that special way that touches a wounded heart and helps them out. There are those who are always reminding us to walk faithfully with God. There are those with great insights and others whose vision plans great things. Each busy in their own way. Each doing what they can for the kingdom. Don’t beat yourself up because you can’t do this or that. God made you the way you are. Find what you are good at and then get busy. Sometimes we don’t know what we are good at until we give something a try.

In our parable, the master was gone for a long time. He returned. The Lord judged each man separately. He was pleased with the first two. He uses the same words of compliment to them. Now, look at the compliment:

• WELL DONE: This comes from Jesus who did all things well. He was perfect in all things. He never missed an opportunity, He never spoke out of turn, He never had to apologize, He never had to ask for forgiveness. The praise is not for the amount, but for the dedication, the loyalty, the staying with it. Well done speaks to how the job was done. It was not sloppy. It was not poorly thought out. It was not ok. It was “well done.”
• GOOD: this describes character. This is a rare compliment in the Bible. There are only four people called good—a servant in the O.T. (2 Sam 18:27); Joseph, who buried Jesus in his tomb (Lk 23:50); Barnabas, the encourager (Acts 11:24); and Jesus (Lk 18:18-19). The servant was good. His heart was good. He did well because he is good within.
• FAITHFUL: this defines the type of servant that he was. He was faithful to his master. He was faithful to the job given to him. He stayed at it and with it and was devoted to what was before him. Verse 16 tells us that the one who received five talents “went immediately and traded them…” He went to work immediately. He put the Master’s interest first. Whatever he was doing, he stopped and went to do what the Master wanted. He didn’t put it off, like a term paper—only thinking of it the night before and when panic sets in, the job is just thrown together. Not this person. He’s good at heart and is faithful to the task. Some workers are like that. Give them a job and look out, they will pour every ounce of energy into it. They can be trusted and left alone. The others are not like that. Given a job, they’ll toss it on the desk and go about what they were doing. They’ll finish their conversations, their personal business and other things and when the boss is away, they often will use the opportunity to goof off even more. The servant in our story was faithful.

Faithful is what Christians ought to be. Faithful to God’s word. Faithful to the task given us.

Here in this simple parable, Jesus give us three wonderful descriptions of what disciples today ought to be doing. We need to be doing God’s work. Faithful to the task, good at heart and desiring to accomplish what He has set before us—this is what runs through the veins of disciples today. God’s work comes before our work. God’s work is eternal, life changing and can alter generations of families.

Jesus was impressed with the heart, work and job of these first two servants. We all have things we are doing in the kingdom. Some are busy helping with our worship. There are many things that go on behind the scenes. Lights have to light, sound has to go forth, recordings must record. There are song leaders, sermons, classes, prayers that are part of our worship to God. These can be thrown together and it comes off that way, or we can do the job well. Time, effort, energy put forth to make worship the best that we can make it. We can be satisfied with substandard work, or we can do the best that we can. I’ve seen both. I’ve been part of both. When everything is hitting on all cylinders, worship is up lifting, encouraging and awesome. When it’s a mess, how embarrassing and robbing of God, and shameful that we offered that to Him! But don’t limit these thoughts to only worship. It’s about all of our service to God.

Encouraging, serving, sharing, teaching—all of these can be done with the spirit of doing our best, or just doing it because we have to. Our attitude and spirit has as much to do with the success of something. Faithful—dedicated. Working not to please men, Paul told servants, but as to the Lord.

It’s an honor that God invites us and includes us in His work. I think if I was running things, I would only allow certain people to be involved. The rest of us will mess it up somehow. God doesn’t feel that way. The President doesn’t include me in his work. The governor doesn’t. But God does. He wants us busy in His work. How impressive that is. God trusts us and is counting on us to be His hands, feet and eyes. He works with us and through us. If you are going to do a job, do it right the first time. If you don’t, you’ll probably have to go back and do it again. Put effort, thought and energy into what you are doing. Pray about it. Think about it. Do your best. Make every sermon the best that you can make it. Teach every class the best that you can do. Lead every song…send every card…make every meal to be shared…do it with faithfulness and do it well.

What you do may not grab the headlines, but the spirit and manner in which you do it catches the eyes of God. Well done…what great words from our Savior!

Roger

Jump Start # 493

Matthew 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’”

  Our passage for today comes from the parable of the talents. Several  textual things need to be identified before we close in on our verse today.

 First, Matthew 25 is about the judgment that takes place when Christ comes. There are three parables illustrating different facets of the coming judgment. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins (1-13) telling us to be ready. The parable of the talents (15-30) illustrating that we will be accountable to God. The parable of the goats and sheep (31-46) illustrating that we will be judged by our nature and conduct. In the first two parables, Jesus leaves and He returns. He leaves as a groom and returns when the wedding is ready. He leaves as a master and returns to see what was done.

Second, a talent isn’t ability but a unit of weight and in this parable a form of money. Each servant was given so much money based upon their abilities. The money was to be used to bring in more money for the master. This was a business action.

  Third, the judgment was a final decision. The five foolish virgins who ran out of oil, knocked and knocked on the door but they were not allowed entrance. The one talent man was cast out. There are no appeals. There is no one higher than God. He is a righteous judge. His word is final. That’s it.

  Now to our verse for today. The master spoke this to the man who was given five talents. He doubled them into ten talents. The master was pleased.  The compliments flow freely from the master. He says, “well done.” He calls him, “good and faithful.” He puts him in charge of greater things. Then he invites him to celebrate with the master, “enter into the joy of the master.” The slave did what he was supposed to. It is fascinating to see all this joy and happiness for one who did what he was supposed to.

  These verses are interesting. The master represents Jesus. The slave represents us. The master who did everything perfectly, every time, calls us, “good and faithful.” Amazing.

  These verses show us the joy of God when we do what He wants. Other examples would be the angels rejoicing when a sinner repents, as found in Luke 15.

  God is not afraid of swelling our heads. He is not concerned that we’ll think more of our self than we should. He saw something noteworthy and He praised it. I like that. God is so generous. We could learn from God.

  Some are very stingy with compliments. Quick on the complaints. Fast to criticize but never to compliment. I’ve even heard one guy say, “I don’t want to give him a big head.” That didn’t seem to bother God. The Lord was pleased with a job well done and He made a big thing about it! This “wowed” God, and when that happens, the divine celebrations always take place.

  And generous…the compliments alone were enough. God seems to always go beyond when it comes to blessings. I think God loves to give. He rewards goodness, faithfulness and obedience. Another lesson we do well to learn. We tend to nickel and dime and be so tight with things that the generous spirit has drifted away from us. 

  When the master made a big deal over the faithful servant you know that just lifted his spirits and he could work even harder. Their relationship grew closer and the heart of the slave was even more committed to pleasing his master. Now false compliments, and artificial flattery is not what took place here. Some compliment only to get a compliment back. Some have selfish motives in what they do. Not here.

  I love to see brethren hugging, elders and preachers smiling at one another, the warmth of a genuine handshake and the appreciation for jobs well done. Think about this in the home. Compliments can be missing sometimes. We need them in marriage. We need them in parenting. Think about this within the church. We call this encouragement and that is oxygen to our souls. We need it. It’s easy to get beat up and get discouraged. Jobs well done need some praising. Often they need to be praised for all to hear.

  We can’t leave this without the thought that God will make a big deal about you someday. That’s hard to grasp. Me? What have I done? I didn’t build any arks…I didn’t write any epistles…I didn’t shed blood for Jesus…probably not. But if you did what you are supposed to, as this five talent man did, it pleases the Master. Everyday we walk by faith. Everyday we simply do what we can. Kindness here, compliments there, invite a friend to services, teach a class, clean the church building, give someone a ride, sit in the hospital waiting room with a friend, go to worship—just the things we ought to be doing…just like the faithful slave, and look at what God did for him.

  Have you ever had a surprise birthday party thrown in your honor? I hate them. My wife arranged two in the same year for me. The thing I don’t like is that I don’t know what is going on. She did. She was more excited than I was. She knew who was going to be there. I didn’t. She knew what was happening. I didn’t. In a similar way that’s the way Jesus is with us. He’s been to Heaven. He’s preparing a place for us. He’s excited. He knows what it’s like. We are unsure. But it will be wonderful. Everything God does is that way.

  Well done, good and faithful! To you…to me! Amazing! Generous! More than we deserve! That’s God. That’s our God.

Roger

Jump Start # 227

Matthew 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

  One consistent theme found throughout the entire Bible is thankfulness to God. We owe everything to God. Spiritually and physically God is literally our life. It doesn’t take much to understand that. Our worship services praise God, and rightly so.

  Is God thankful for us? Have you ever thought of that? Now, we must be careful with this. We are not preaching the gospel of self. That’s a popular message today. Church services, in too many places, are shaped after what the crowd wants rather than what the Bible teaches. Too much of self, gives us the swelled head and a heart full of pride. We are not going that direction. No.

  Our passage today, taken from the parable of the talents shows the response the Master had toward the servants that were good stewards of what was entrusted to them. Notice the words of praise towards the servants, “Well done,” “good,” “faithful.” The Master was pleased. At the end of the day he would be thankful to have such trusted people working for him.

  It is in this sense that God is thankful for us. When He can depend upon us to do what He wanted, when He can count upon us to be there and to stand for Him, God is thankful. When we are busy being busy in His kingdom, God is thankful.

  Thankful for us. Really? Hard to imagine. Can God count on you? Are you dependable? Are you one to worship God as He desires, or are you content to just give God a few Sundays here and there. Are you busy being busy for God?

  God’s people have always been busy people. Moses was busy when God called him. David was busy when God called him. Saul (Paul) was busy when God called him. These people weren’t sitting around idle. They had busy lives, just as we do. God called, and they made time for the Lord. They put God’s agenda at the top of their list.

  God is thankful for the men and women who really try to make a difference. After working all day, and coming home to be a busy parent, they stay up at nights looking over Bible lessons because they have chosen to teach Bible classes. It’s hard. They feel stretched. But they are doing what they can. God notices. God is thankful.

  God is thankful for the men and women who come to worship Him on a regular basis. With these folks, it’s not a hit or miss thing, but each week, and often during the week, they travel down to the church building to hear sermons, to sing praises, to pray and thank the Lord of Hosts. Often, they come with heavy hearts. Problems at home, problems in the world weigh on them, but they come. Others come and they don’t feel so hot. They ache in their legs. They are tired. But they come. They carry a smile and their Bible. They love the Lord and want to praise Him. God notices. He is thankful.

  God is thankful. Shouldn’t you try a bit harder? Shouldn’t take a deep breath and keep going? God is counting on you. He needs you to be that light in your family. He needs you to be the one who is true to Him. He needs you to be that source of strength and integrity. God is counting on you. Can He depend upon you?

  God is thankful. We especially ought to be thankful.

Roger