This is the 17th post as
I attempt to visit everything (pretty much!) Jesus said about money in the
gospels over 2 weeks. In order to do this I will be putting up around two posts
each day. This is coinciding with a 2-week preaching series that we are going
through at Community Church Putney- Jesus On Money.
“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…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!’
“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. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground.
See, here is what belongs to you.’
“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? 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.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it
to the one who has ten bags. 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. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…” (Matthew 25:23-30)
The parable to the
‘talents’ makes it clear that God gives each of us different levels of resources
and capacities that He expects us to put to the use of His glory. To the extent
that we do this we will gain reward or suffer loss.
The parable is purposeful
in using of money as its illustration. Money is a very powerful tool that can
be used for the Kingdom of God.
One ‘talent’ was equivalent to about 20 years’ wages for a laborer. In approximate
modern equivalents that’s around £400,000.
Let’s be very motivated
as we realise that our use of money can have a ‘double whammy’: we get to see
the things we love being done- the church resourced and the Kingdom extended;
and we are promised rewards in eternity.
Jesus on money teaches
us to go after the things that will really make us happy as we use the
resources and capacities that God has given us; C.S.
Lewis says it like this,
"The New Testament
has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in
itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that
we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately
find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern
minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the
enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from
Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we
consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the
rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires
not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with
drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us...We are far too
easily pleased." (Weight of
glory. Page 25-26)
Take a moment to ask God to search you:
How much has God
entrusted you with? Are you putting it to ‘good use’?
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