OUR FATHER WHO GAVE US HIS SPIRIT AND HIS POWER TO PROFIT HIS KINGDOM

The Lord Jesus, in Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 - 30, continuing to teach His followers about the kingdom of Heaven, used a parable to explain to them how to be profitable servants during his absence.

In the parable of the talents, Jesus told them of a man who was to travel to a distant country and so divided some of his holdings among his servants to take care of and then went on his way. When the man returned, he assessed the performance of each servant based on what they had done with the assets he had left them. 

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24 “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. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

26 “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. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 ‘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. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

In this parable, the man was Jesus Himself and His followers were the servants to whom the money was consigned. The money represented any deposit of the Spirit of God who supplied the spiritual gifts and power left in the charge those who followed Jesus.

This portion of the gifting and power of the kingdom of God given into our care consists of what is revealed to us as requirements in the kingdom of God for which we are also given unique abilities that we can use to attended to and fulfill them.

In the case of the first and second servants who was given five and two talents respectively, they traded and invested what was given to them and they were able to return double their masters original goods.

What does the trading and investing represent? In the corporeal world, if one were given an amount of cash to administer, one could buy a business or invest in projects that yielded dividends after a period. Carefully managing the portfolio would result in the growth of the value of the holding over time and when the owner of the asset called to draw upon the investment, the deposit would worth more than the initial fund.

Translating these principles into spiritual terms as they relate to the kingdom of God,  what is being proposed is that we handle our own revelations of the kingdom of God and the individual abilities and strengths that are bestowed on us as opportunities to invest in the growth of the kingdom of God with the understanding that what we have been given and how we steward them will be used to guage what we can be entrusted with in the kingdom to come.

In the parable, the third servant displeased his master because he was risk averse and decided to safely bury what he was given so that when the master returned, he could return to him exactly what he was given.

The master argued that if risk aversion was the operating principle, the third servant should have at least placed the money in a low-risk, interest-bearing savings account so that when the master returned, his money could have gained some interest instead of being static and perhaps suffering the ravages of inflation.

This suggestion by Jesus translates into the spiritual realm as an option to serve in other peopleˋs ventures and ministries to take advantage of their successful investments that more gifted people are able to manage and as a result, what was given to the servant would be put towards a growing investment and when Jesus returned, would find that the servant has contributed to another personˋs successfull efforts and would be able to realise interest on His investment.

The third servant, in effect, was given an investment of gifts and power in his life and what he returned to his master was himself alone. The expectation, however, was that each person, having been given a deposit of the Spirit of God, would be able to present other people to his Lord who had been won over to the kingdom of God by the investment of their time and gifts and even if the person could not directly win over souls, could at least join in to help the fishers of men who were successfully netting the souls of men for the kingdom.

Have mercy on us O God.

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