What Really Matters
is Knowing The Master
Matthew 25:14-30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his
servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold,
to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability.
Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went
at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the
one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one
bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants
returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags
of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five
bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’
he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold
came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you
have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was
afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs
to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So
you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not
scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the
bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to
the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will
have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken
from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I’ve done my best to hide it but I’m very much fashioned
challenged. I have to ask my wife or my
daughters if this shirt looks ok with these pants. Does this tie match? With a big barrel of mismatched socks at
home, I sometimes just grab a pair of those and sneak out of the house. I have to ask my wife because otherwise even
more, I just would not look right. Our
God is a God of order. He created things
to look right and be right. In Jesus’
parable about servants there is something that just doesn’t look right. Something in the response of one of the
servants that just doesn’t look right.
It doesn’t fit the master. The
other two servants know the master and knowing the master makes all the
difference.
Jesus tells the story of a man who went away on a journey. He put his servants in charge of his
finances. He gave one of his servants 5
bags of gold and another servant two bags of gold of gold and another 1 bag of
gold. Two of servants got busy right
away and put the master’s money to work.
They invested it. One of the
servants was a lazy servant. He buried
the bag of gold he had been given in the back yard.
Then the master came back home and asked his servants how things
had been going. The man who had been
entrusted with 5 bags of gold brought
the 5 more he had gained and the same with the man who had been given 2 bags of
gold to take care of. He brought 2
more. They heard the master’s praise ,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few
things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s
happiness!’
All three of the servants were entrusted with a lot of money, just
like God has entrusted us with many things.
The Lord is always serious about
how we manage what he entrusts to us. Seven times in the New Testament Jesus
repeated that hell is a place of eternal darkness and weeping and gnashing of
teeth for those who rebel and turn away from God. The wicked servant’s
rebellion was not dealing drugs with the master’s money or funding people who
do nasty stuff. It was doing nothing—not
using God’s gifts for God’s glory. His
rebellion was… “Leave me alone so I can do what I want!”
My little sinful mind likes to think that I’m the 5 bag of gold
guy or maybe the 2 bag guy- using the gifts God has given pretty well. But then I hear the lazy servant talk and I
hear his voice in my throat. Maybe it’s
that he is just kind of coming of with excuses for his laziness. I knew you were a hard man master. I didn’t want to mess it up and besides you
gave that other guys more money for investing- no wonder they did well.” If we have a nice place to live, a nice car
to drive, and maybe even a nice TV to watch, that’s not wrong or sinful at all.
Those are gifts from God, thank God for them, and take good care of what God
has given you. But also take inventory of every good thing he’s given you and
figure out the answer to this question: How much of what God has given you have
you buried in the ground of self-advancement or self-enjoyment rather than
directing every gift you’ve been given toward the glory of God and the good of
others? The first commandment that requires perfect love for God buries us in
guilt that goes way over our heads. The
excuses might be different but the fact remains. We haven’t, I haven’t always used God gifts
well and to his glory.
Here’s the thing about those two faithful servants. They weren’t
perfect. They were sinners, too. But their story started long before their
master went on a journey and entrusted them with bags of gold. There was something that was already firmly in
place, something that had
been created inside them, so that when they were given that money and the
master traveled abroad, the first and only thing they could think to do was to
devote themselves to activities and projects that would be pleasing to him when
he returned. What do you think that something
was? They knew their master cared about
them. That love drove them to devote
themselves so completely to working for him while he was gone. Of all the
things they could ever have had for themselves, hearing “well done” from him
was better than anything. The master’s great love was also what the wicked
servant was missing. Isn’t that
something that imperfect sinful servants like us know too?
The master showed his great loved for us when Jesus took our
place in the spot where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Before you were born and before he created
all things, God the Father had already made that choice of love. On Good Friday
he acted on that choice. The thick, unbreakable cords of perfect and eternal
love that bound the Father to the Son—God the Father sliced through those
cords, severed them, and dropped his beloved Son into the torturous, darkness
of God forsakenness. Even in that hell of hells, with the guilt of everyone
counted against him, Jesus did not gnash his teeth in anger against God. In
silent suffering he was condemned and died for you. Your Father in heaven kept you
and me … and cursed his Son. You know
the master’s love.
God has given us so many gifts and talents including the treasure
of his son worth far more than gold or silver.
As we try to use his gifts faithfully what really matters is knowing
the Master. Love is what’s in his heart for you. Let it be love that is in
your heart for him. Let it be that love
that love that moves us more and more to put God’s gifts to us to God’s glory. History people might know that on September
22, 1776, Captain Nathan Hale had been discovered and arrested as a spy, and he
was due to be hanged on a British gallows. The Captain rather famously stated,
“I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Knowing God’s
love for us isn’t that a good thing for us to have in our hearts? —It’s too bad
that I have only this one life that I can live for God!
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