“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 gathered 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 and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’....‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’....‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Jesus here talks about what will happen when He returns. There will be a time of judgement. Just as in the previous story, when the master returned and the servants had to give an account, Jesus says that when He returns there will be a time of accounting. A surprising time; it seems that the main question Jesus will be wanting answered is not about theological correctness. He will not ask which denomination I was a part of or where I stood on eternal security or even His sovereignty. He will not care whether I was Reformed or Armenian or Charismatic. The question of tongues will never come up and neither will the doctrine of election. The burning question -the one that must be answered -the one thing Jesus says that He will use to judge me and determine whether I belong to Him or not concerns how I treated "the least of these."
I believe that when Jesus is judging me, He will likely never ask, "How much do you know?" On the other hand, He very well might ask, "Where is your heart?"
I know that this makes many people mad. Christians tend to think that Jesus must not actually mean what He is suggesting. We want it all to be about whether we said "the prayer," whether we were baptized, how we take communion, and where we go to church. It is not that those things are unimportant to how we live and relate to God here and now. There is no excuse, since we have Scripture readily available in dozens of translations, to not read His Word and know what it teaches and hold the best theology were are capable of understanding. But Jesus, whom I believe to be God incarnate, said very clearly that I will be judged not by my theological understanding and knowledge; rather, by whether I visited those in prison, fed the poor, and cared for the hurting.
Lord Jesus, help me to love those that You love in the way that You love them.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Matthew 25:14-30 "Investing Wisely"
“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. 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.
“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 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.’
“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!’
“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.’
“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!’
“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. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
“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, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 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. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"
What strikes me in this story is that everyone was given something to invest. Some were given more than others, but everyone was given a measure. The Bible tells us that God gives every Believer spiritual gifts to invest in the Kingdom. Some people seem to have stronger, more visible giftings. Some can preach or sing or exercise other high-profile talents and gifts, while others have subtler gifts like the ability to listen compassionately or pray or serve others.
God's expectation for how our gifts are used correspond directly to the gifts He has given. He only expects us to use what we have been given -we are not responsible for what we have not been given.
In this story, the one servant who does not invest what he has been given and thereby displeases his master, has the same problem that many of us have. We often let our fears paralyze us and keep us from doing what we know we ought. We allow fearful, negative thinking to consume us. We allow all kinds of "what if" scenarios to play out in our minds. The end result is that our gifts go unused. What God could have done in and through us never gets accomplished. And worse yet, we never learn to trust Father -which means no intimacy.
Here is the deal: we all have fears. Everyone. But if we want to be used of God, we must confront our fears in Jesus name. We must step up. We must find ways to use and exercise the spiritual giftings that Father has given us. There is a definite "use it or lose it" principle at work. On the other hand, gifts that get used, grow. Whatever talents and abilities (no matter how small) that get exercised, increase.
Father, teach me to use what You have given me wisely and effectively so that Your Kingdom may grow and I may grow more in love with You. Amen.
“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 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.’
“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!’
“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.’
“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!’
“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. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
“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, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 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. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"
What strikes me in this story is that everyone was given something to invest. Some were given more than others, but everyone was given a measure. The Bible tells us that God gives every Believer spiritual gifts to invest in the Kingdom. Some people seem to have stronger, more visible giftings. Some can preach or sing or exercise other high-profile talents and gifts, while others have subtler gifts like the ability to listen compassionately or pray or serve others.
God's expectation for how our gifts are used correspond directly to the gifts He has given. He only expects us to use what we have been given -we are not responsible for what we have not been given.
In this story, the one servant who does not invest what he has been given and thereby displeases his master, has the same problem that many of us have. We often let our fears paralyze us and keep us from doing what we know we ought. We allow fearful, negative thinking to consume us. We allow all kinds of "what if" scenarios to play out in our minds. The end result is that our gifts go unused. What God could have done in and through us never gets accomplished. And worse yet, we never learn to trust Father -which means no intimacy.
Here is the deal: we all have fears. Everyone. But if we want to be used of God, we must confront our fears in Jesus name. We must step up. We must find ways to use and exercise the spiritual giftings that Father has given us. There is a definite "use it or lose it" principle at work. On the other hand, gifts that get used, grow. Whatever talents and abilities (no matter how small) that get exercised, increase.
Father, teach me to use what You have given me wisely and effectively so that Your Kingdom may grow and I may grow more in love with You. Amen.
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