Continuing in Matthew 25:24-30, “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Bible commentator Matthew Henry points out that Christ spoke of the giving talents of silver (approximately one year’s wages at that time). He gave to some more, to others less. When Divine Providence has made a difference in men and women’s ability, as to mind, body, estate, relation, and interest, divine grace dispenses spiritual gifts accordingly, but still the ability itself is from him. Observe, First, everyone had one talent at least. A soul of our own is the one talent that every one of us are entrusted with, and it will find us with work.
In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord Jesus, when He had given this commandment to His apostles, as one in haste to be gone, went to heaven.
Essentially, disciples make disciples by witnessing and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The ordinances of the gospel, and our opportunities of attending them, bibles, ministers, sabbaths, sacraments, must be improved for the end for which they were instituted. Communion with God kept up by them, and the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit must be exercised; and this is investing our talents. It is the duty of a man to render himself beneficial to those around him. He that is useful to others, may be reckoned a common good. Jesus came to seek and save the lost and there is no greater good for us than seeking and saving the souls of the lost in sin; to reduce the population of Hell and advancing the kingdom of God on earth. The hand of the diligent makes rich in graces, and comforts, and treasures of good works. There is a great deal to be got by productive industry in religion.
Matthew Henry adds that the stewards of the manifold grace of God must shortly give account of their stewardship. God’s good stewards have something to show for their diligence and integrity, for our comfort, in the day of account, will be according to our faithfulness, not according to our usefulness; our sincerity, not our success; according to the uprightness of our hearts, not according to the degree of our opportunities, and they that are found faithful, shall be called so; all their work and labor of love shall be rewarded. Good thought of God would beget love, and that love would make us diligent and faithful; but hard thoughts of God beget fear, and that fear makes us slothful and unfaithful.
Henry concurs with Dr. Sproul that all within the Christian church are given great gifts, great abilities, great advantages, and yet many do no good with them; they have not the wherewithal to do what they say they would, that when they have but one talent to take care about, they neglect that one. So it is in spiritual gifts; many have them, and make no use of them for the end for which they were given them. Whatever abilities and advantages we have, they are not our own, we are but stewards of them, and must give account to our Lord, whose goods they are. Slothful servants (like the third steward in the parable) are wicked servants, neglecting the good that God has commanded. Slothful servants will be reckoned with as unprofitable servants, who do nothing to the purpose of their coming into the world, nothing to answer the end of their birth or baptism, who are no way serviceable to the glory of God, the good of others, or the salvation of their own souls. Their doom is, to be cast into outer darkness. Outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth is, in Christ’s discourses, the common periphrasis of the miseries of the damned in hell; out from the light of heaven, out from the joy of their Lord, into which the faithful servants were admitted.
In John 4:34-36 Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.” Use your talents for the God’s good works, just as they were intended.
In Christ, Brian
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