some enjoyment from “Do business while I’m coming” podcast on ageturners.com

Continuing our series of “enjoyment from the www.ageturners.com podcasts”, please find below some notes by sister Grace about podcast #16 “Do business while I’m coming” – download the mp3 or listen to it online. This podcast speaks about:

The Lord has given each of us a mina, a talent, but what are we doing with it? Are we merely preserving it, hiding it in the earth, or are we doing business with it, investing it with the “bankers”? In this podcast Brother Tom Goetz again discharges the burden that we would actively do business for the Lord by preaching the gospel.

There is an urgent need for us to do business while the Lord is coming. Two parables are mentioned in this podcast, one in Matthew, and one in Luke, concerning the matter of doing business. The one in Matthew 25:14-15 starts with:

For the kingdom of the heavens is just like a man about to go abroad, who called his own slaves and delivered to them his possessions. To one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability. And he went abroad.

In distributing gifts, the Lord gives each person a talent (or more) according to their own ability. This signifies their natural ability, constituted of God’s creation and our learning. It is according to our capacity that the Lord gives the gifts.

On the other hand, the parable in Luke 19:13 starts with:

And he called ten of his own slaves and gave them 10 minas, and he said to them, Do business until I come.

In Luke 19, each slave is given the same portion. The parable in Luke 19 conveys the equal portion of common salvation that the Lord has given us. We have been given a great thing, a talent, a mina. After our salvation, after we have believed, and have been baptised, we must be active for the Lord’s interest.

In Matthew 25, the one who had been given the five talents invested them and gained five more talents. The one who was given the two talents, gained two more talents. The one who was given the one talent dug into the earth and hid his master’s talent. This symbolizes the rendering of the Lord’s gift useless, lying in waste under the cloak of certain earthly excuses. It is easy for the person given the one talent to make excuses. This means that they are too involved in the world.

We need to do business. We cannot be passive or indifferent. We must not have a goal of preservation only. The Lord says “Do business until I come.” This increases the urgency because the Lord is on His way. We need to preach the gospel, shepherd the new ones, and be involved in the church life.

We must be active in the Lord’s interest. Eventually, the masters in both parables asked the slaves for an account. The slaves with one in both cases were afraid because their masters were harsh men. Their master were confused as to why they did not invest their talent or put it in a bank. What does it mean to invest our money? This means that we must preach the gospel. Everyone we meet or see in our lives, these are all “bankers.” By investing in these bankers what the Lord has given us, we will make a profit for the Lord. This is by contacting friends, classmates, and work colleagues and speaking to them something of the Lord.

The Lord has saved us, given us the eternal life, given us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we have been inwardly and outwardly filled with the Holy Spirit. We must not be passive. There are so many children and young people in the church life and they are all seeds of the gospel.

Being a gospel seed means that you are a container of life. We are not empty like so many young people on the earth. We are filled with Christ! We have the ability to multiply. We have been scattered by a sower, the Lord, and we have been sown into classes, colleges, and campuses all over the world, so we need to start to become active for the Lord.

The way to become active is not to do a lot of activities but to pray a lot. By praying, we will become active. This is the way to work for the Lord in His economy. Not to do first, but to pray. We must pray to work and we will work by praying. We can accomplish so much more by praying than by working. We must multiply and we must be active for the Lord.[guest post]