In Matt. 25:14-30 the Lord likened Himself to a man going abroad and delivering His possessions to His slaves; we as the Lord’s slaves were entrusted with His possessions, we were given a gift according to our own ability, and we need to use our gift in our service to the Lord, being faithful in service to Him in His house.
In the aspect of life, we are like virgins waiting for the Lord as our Bridegroom and preparing ourselves for His return by gaining more of the Spirit in our soul, allowing the Lord to transform us in our soul so that we may gain more oil in our vessel. In the aspect of service, we are the slaves of God in His house, serving Him and doing business until He comes.
The Lord not only saved us; He saved us to serve Him, and the riches we enjoy of Him are not only for us to partake of but also to minister to those in His household, the church. Praise the Lord!
However, if we don’t enjoy the Lord and we’re not constituted with His word, what happens is that we may “beat our fellow slaves” by criticizing, condemning, and reviling the fellow believers, and we may end up “eating and drinking with the drunken” by keeping company with those in the world.
The Lord’s word concerning our service to Him in His house is such a warning to us, for if we are not faithful in service to Him in His household, we will suffer discipline at His return.
When the Lord as our Master comes, He wants to see what we have done for Him, how we have fed those in His household, how we have invested the talent He gave us, and how much we have gained for Him.
But if we criticize our fellow believers if we point out their faults, and if we condemn them, we mistreat our fellow slaves, and we will suffer punishment at the Lord’s return. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Even more, if we indulge in the pleasures and lusts of this world, if we keep company with the worldly people and enjoy the entertainment the world has to offer, we are being stupefied like they are, and we will not realize when the Lord comes, for we are drugged with this world; the result is that we will suffer discipline when the Lord returns. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May we flee youthful lusts, may we flee the pleasures and entertainment and lusts in this world, and may we pursue the Lord together with proper companions in the church life, enjoying the Lord together and giving others food at the proper time!
Our desire is to be the faithful and prudent slave in God’s house who will be rewarded with authority to rule in the manifestation of the kingdom. We do not want to be the evil slave who will be cut off from the glorious Christ and from His glorious presence in His kingdom.
The Lord Entrusted us with His Possessions: we need to be Faithful in Service to Him
In Matt. 25:14-15 the Lord Jesus likens Himself to a man about to go abroad (into the heavens) who delivered to His slaves His possessions for them to do business and gain a profit until He comes.
As the Lord’s slaves, we must be faithful in service in the Lord’s gifts to make a profit for Him so that we may enter into His joy at His return in the coming kingdom.
As believers in Christ, we are His slaves, and we are given a commission by the Lord; at the same time, we are given some talents, some gifts, so that we may do business for Him and gain profit for Him.
What are the Lord’s possessions which He entrusted us with? His possessions include the church (Eph. 1:18) with all the believers, which constitute God’s household (Matt. 24:45), and also His gospel, the truth, and even all the sinners, who all belong to Him.
We were all given spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4; 1 Pet. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:6).
The church is of God (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 1:2), the church is of Christ (Rom. 16:16), and the church is of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33); the church is the possession of all the saints, the believers in Christ.
We all have been gifted: Christ gave us the church, the believers, the gospel, and the truth, and we need to enjoy the Lord’s possessions and be faithful in service to Him.
In the aspect of service, we are slaves of God (1 Cor. 7:22-23; 2 Pet. 1:1; James 1:1; Rom. 1:1); the Lord gave us the gospel, the truth, the believers, and the church as His possessions, and the more we invest ourselves in these possessions, the more faithful we are in His service.
But if we don’t care for these things, we will not have any talents.
We shouldn’t wait indifferently for the Lord to give us something; rather, we must diligently seek the gospel and the truth, being eager to know concerning man’s fall, God’s redemption, man’s regeneration, God’s salvation, the cleansing of the blood of Christ, and the washing of the Spirit.
We need to know the full gospel of God, and we need to learn and experience the truth concerning the church, God’s eternal purpose, and God’s economy.
The more we know the truth and experience it, the more we enjoy and own God’s possessions, and the more we can speak of these to others.
The Lord’s possessions must become our talent; then, we need to pick up the burden to care for the saints, having a heart for them.
If we pray to the Lord to give us a heart for the sinners, the saints, and the church, we will be in the truth, we will know the gospel, and we will have a heart for the saints, being burdened for them.
May we not drop any burden that the Lord has given us but rather, realizing that He has a vast work, we should give ourselves to Him to be His slaves who are faithful in service until He comes.
The more we invest ourselves in the truth, the gospel, the saints, and the church, the more we are faithful in service to the Lord; but if we think that we have no talent or gift, and we bury our gift by not exercising it, we will suffer the Lord’s discipline at His return. How rich is the truth in the word of God!
How wonderful and full is the gospel of God! How excellent are all the saints, and how glorious is the church!
The more we pray over the gospel, the truth, the believers, and the church, the more we will have a burden to minister Christ as the gospel to the sinners, minister Christ as the truth to the saints, and speak in the meetings of the church for the building up of the church as the house of God!
In this way we exercise our gift for the church, doing business until the Lord comes, and we are faithful in service to Him.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for entrusting us with Your possessions for us to do business and gain profit for You before You return. We want to be faithful in service and serve You faithfully in Your house, so that we may gain the reward at Your return. Thank You, Lord, for the gospel, the truth in Your word, the believers in Christ, and the church. We want to get into the truth, know the gospel, love all the believers, and serve You faithfully in the church. Give us a heart for the saints so that we may take care of them and bear their burdens; our heart is for the saints and the church! Amen, dear Master, we love You and we love the church, and we want to be those faithful in service to You, doing business until You come!
Exercising our Spiritual Gift in Resurrection for our Service to the Lord in the Church Life
The Lord as our Master has given us all spiritual gifts; to some, He has given five talents, to another two, and to another one (Matt. 25:15).
To each one of us, the Lord has given according to our own ability. Talents signify spiritual gifts – spiritual skills and abilities (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4; 1 Pet. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:6).
We don’t serve the Lord without a supply or with something of ourselves; He gave us some gifts, some abilities.
According to Rom. 12:6, we were all given grace; the more we enjoy the Lord, the bigger is our portion of grace, and the more gifts are given to us.
Grace was given to us according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
This can be likened to the amount of blood that flows into different members of our body according to the need and according to their function; the shoulder, for example, gets more blood than the fingers, for it needs more blood and supply for its greater function.
The more we enjoy the Lord as grace, the more our gift will increase, and grace will be given to us according to the measure of the gift.
All the members of the Body of Christ are gifted, and all the members are gifts to the Body (Rom. 12:6; Eph. 4:7-8).
As long as we are a member of the Body, we have a gift; all the slaves of God have been given a gift, and we need to realize that it is the enemy’s tactics and lies that tell us that we have no gift or no talent.
The gift given to us by God is according to our own ability; this signifies our natural ability, which is constituted of God’s creation and our learning (Matt. 25:15; cf. Acts 7:22).
In His sovereignty and according to His wisdom, God arranged us where and how to be born, how to be raised up, what kind of education and abilities we have; all these constitute our ability, and they are forming our ability.
However, just because we are born of a low and poor origin, not being able to go to school and develop it, doesn’t mean that we have no ability. No!
It all depends upon our learning. Someone may come of poor origin, of a poor family, but he may be diligent in learning many things, so he can become a great gift to the Body.
If we have the opportunity to learn great skills, like Saul of Tarsus did, we shouldn’t rely on this but rather, bring it all to the Lord and use it in resurrection for Him.
Our natural strength and our natural ability become useful to the Lord only in resurrection; these are useful for our service to the Lord in order to make us both pillars and pillar builders for the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose (see 1 Cor. 15:10, 58; cf. 2 Cor. 6:1-2; 1 Kings 7:13-22 with footnotes; Eph. 4:8, 11-12, 16; Gal. 2:9; Rev. 3:12).
We all need to be perfected and dealt with, and the Lord is faithful to give us the experiences we need for our natural strength and ability to pass through death and enter into resurrection to be useful to Him in service; when we exercise our resurrected ability, we are faithful in service to the Lord.
We need to be transferred from the natural realm into the realm of resurrection; for us to build up the church and exercise our function for building and service, we need to go through death and resurrection.
Both Moses, Peter, and Paul had to go through death and resurrection with their natural ability so that they would be useful to the Lord in service.
Moses, Peter, and Paul’s natural ability passed through the cross and came up in resurrection to be used by the Lord for the building up of His Body.
Moses was trained in all the skills and knowledge of Egypt, he was smart and capable, and he was used by God to a great extent; however, his usefulness to God in service was only after his natural ability passed through death and entered into resurrection.
Peter was a fisherman with not much education but a lot of skills; he was absolute when the Lord called him, but he had to pass through much dealing for the cross to be applied to him and have our ability useful in resurrection.
Similarly, Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the top teacher at that time, and he was very capable and smart; so he had to be stripped, humbled, broken down, and experience the cross for his ability to become resurrected.
One of the biggest problems in the church life is that there are some talented ones, but their talent has never passed through death and resurrection, so their natural talent becomes a big problem. Oh, Lord!
May we be those faithful in service to the Lord by allowing Him to deal with our natural ability and strength so that we may be useful to Him in resurrection! On one hand, we should not despise our function; on the other hand, our ability has to go through death and resurrection to be useful to the Lord.
Hallelujah, all the members of the Body are gifted, and every member is a gift to the Body! Amen, Lord, we want to exercise our spiritual gift for the building up of the Body. May our natural strength and ability pass through death to become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to be useful to You in service; we want to be faithful in service to You for the building up of the church. May we not neglect our talent but rather, invest our resurrected ability for our service to God in the church!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,” lsn. 20, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 4, Being Faithful in Service.
- Hymns on this topic:
– For His servants Christ will come / And reward each faithful one; / Slothful ones will be undone— / Serve in time! / Make your single talent count, / All self’s problems now surmount, / Serve with Christ, the living fount— / Serve in time! (Hymns #1304)
– Holding Christ, as members growing, / Each his function must observe; / Christ receiving, Christ partaking, / To His Body Christ we serve. (Hymns #912)
– Soon our Lord will come His servants to reward; / Those who love Him then the crown will share. / Watchful we must be and treasure not the world, / Love and serve the Lord, His burden bear. (Hymns #956)
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