We are currently in the midst of a series dealing with the Final Judgment of Jesus. We have previously considered that now is the time to receive God’s gracious offer of Salvation from condemnation, judgment, and wrath. When Jesus appeared first that is what he came bringing. When he appears again, he will bring condemnation, judgment, and wrath.
We have also previously considered that believers will also be judged. No, it will not be a judgment determining heaven or hell. It will be a judgment on what we have done with the life we’ve been given. In closing out this series we’re considering what exactly we do with the life we’ve been given. In this last sermon we looked at the concept of heart attachment to God. In this sermon we’ll consider producing fruit with the life we’ve been given. We’ve received eternal life (that begins now). Let’s be channels of that life to others: God and neighbor.
However, before we begin, we should consider the concept of risk in producing with the life Jesus has given us. Let’s turn to Matthew 25:14-30:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at one and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
“He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you out to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was mine with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (ESV).
This highly disturbing parable finds itself in the context of the Final Judgment Jesus will bring. So “it” in the first verse is speaking of the Final Judgment. Now in this parable three people receive pieces of money (unfortunately labeled talents) and are commanded to produce with them.
Which of these three servants was not faced with the concept of risk? Not a one. Risk was a major factor in all three servants’ endeavors. And all three took risks … well … sort of. The first two risked all they had in the open market and doubled their master’s money. The first two could have lost all of their master’s money. Yet they took risks. They became vulnerable. They were called the good and faithful servants.
The third servant also took a sort-of risk. No, he did not relinquish that to which he was entrusted. His risk came in deciding against following his master’s command. He did nothing with what he was given and is called “wicked and slothful.” This servant even calls his master “Master.” This is respect, right? Wrong. Why call him “Master” if he is only going to do what he personally wants to do anyway? The master calls this servant “wicked and slothful.”
Did the master celebrate the fact each of his three servants were given something by him? Well, mostly no. He did entrust each servant with his property according to each servant’s judged ability. So in one minor sense he did celebrate he servant in receiving from him, as master. Yet, he was in reality, by entrusting to each according to his ability, celebrating past performances with his property. Upon returning the master celebrates not that each was necessarily given something. Rather he celebrated what each of the first two did with what they had.
Since each was given his master’s property according each one’s ability, it is likely that each of the servants had made past mistakes in producing with his master’s property. Yet, notice that the master is not angry over this. In his wisdom he deals with each where he is at. He is not angry so much over past mistakes as he is over the one with the one talent doing nothing with that one talent. He is called slothful. Is it possible the reason the one with two is not called slothful, though is not able to handle five like the first, is because he is learning and growing in his ability to handle his master’s property?
We as Christians and we as groups of Christians, known as churches, have been entrusted with our Master’s property to produce with it for him. Are we willing to risk loss and vulnerability in producing for Jesus? Remember, mistakes are going to be made. What Jesus is concerned about, according to the flow of this parable is not so much the mistakes we make. Rather he is concerned about us getting “out there” and taking risks with his property to produce life for him in others. He is more concerned about us learning and growing in the grace of using his grace to produce life in others than he is about our never making mistakes.
When Jesus returned and found the one with one simply hiding what he had been given, he said that at the very least he should have put it with bankers. These bankers would have paid interest on the money. How many of us in the traditional church seek to hire the “professionals” to do the hard work of church for us? While this may seem noble and right, remember Jesus told that wicked servant this was the “least” he could have done. The bare minimum. Jesus expects far more from us as his people entrusted with his life.
With this parable and exposition as a backdrop, let’s turn over to James 1:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4; ESV).
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27; ESV).
While I want to hone in on the second quote from James, which ends chapter 2, I am using the first paragraph of James 1 as a backdrop from which to consider James’s understanding of “pure religion.”
James says that pure religion is that which produces; that which produces a clean moral life and that which walks with the needy, “the least of these,” in their affliction. Such a prospect is not fun. It can be terribly troubling at times. We, especially in the deep South, do not like to openly deal with messy stuff. The soap operas are for Hollywood. Not only do we intensely dislike being involved in the affliction of others, we especially intensely disdain having to go through it ourselves. Yet, if we consider the flow of James’s first chapter, we’ll find that suffering can be a gift from God through which he trains us for being effective producers of his life.
So, what exactly do we do with the eternal life we’ve been given by Jesus? We attach ourselves to the heart of God. We engage ourselves in ministering to people in need. We submit ourselves to his ways; we are people of his ways. And his way is not simply and merely and only spending our time celebrating the fact we’re going to heaven.
