A good and faithful servant

A good and faithful servant

Matthew 25:14-30

Key Verse 25:21

I am glad that we could gather here in a new mission field Bagio and have a Sunday worship service.

The Asian Directors' Conference is over. At the conference we received God's words. We chose to serve the Lord as at first. We are also ready to explore the Promised Land and take possession of it by faith. We also ask God for a double portion of Elijah's Spirit. Now in our mission field how can we practically serve the Lord and bear good fruit for him? Seven points deserve our attention: 

First, settling accounts

let us read v. 19. "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them." This passage refers to the judgment day to come. We do not know when Jesus will come back. But he will come back for sure. When he comes back, he will 'settle accounts' with all of us. He will take a look at what we have done with what he gave us.

Most of us here are seniors. Those who are senior have one common problem: no one asks him or her to do this or to do that. Because you are a senior, no one comes to say, "Hey, why don't you go out for fishing?" So we tend to relax. But we must remember that our Lord Jesus is our master. He will come and settle accounts. When we are aware of this day of reckoning, we cannot relax and goof around. And I think this is first and foremost important point for us to remember in living a fruitful life.

Second, using the time wisely

Look at v. 14. "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them." When we think about this passage together with v. 19, we can easily understand that we have a limited period of time to work for the Lord. Our Lord Jesus died and rose again more than 2000 years ago. We do not know when he will return. In the meantime as we wait for his return we have a limited time to work for the Lord.

As of this year, I am 63 years old. I realize that my time is more limited than the time all of you have. So I think I need to make the most use of the time. 

Third, using the resources the Lord gave us

In v. 14 we see the word property. In other verses we see the words 'talents', for some received more some less. But everyone received something. Most importantly we received the gospel. Gospel is the treasure of all treasures. It comes with all surpassing power that is from God. With the gospel we are called to use all of our other resources and work to save souls into the family of God.

What is important here is to know that at least God gave each of us something to work with, and God wants us to use what we have, not what we do not have.

Another point for us to consider here is that God wants us to use 'all' of our resources, not some of the resources. To some he gave 5 talents, some 3 some 1. The one who received 5 ought to use all 5, not just 4 or 3 or 2 or 1. We can understand this concept from the expression "according to his ability."

Some do not know what he or she is able. Some know what they are able, but due to their sin problems, they let their talents go idle. Either way, as one deeply repents and turns himself to God,  God fills him with His Spirit who in turn empowers him to do what he was otherwise unable.

Personally as I grow old, I used to think weak thoughts saying, "Oh, you are getting old. You cannot do things as well as you used to do." But as I prayed I realized that this idea is only a human thought. It is not a faithful thought. So I learn that daily I need to repent of my own human thoughts, and live by faith in Him, for the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Fourth, overcome the habit of procrastinating

Look at v. 15, "To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey." Let us take a note of the phrase 'at once'. This phrase reminds me of the loss I suffered during my journey to S. Africa then to the Philippines. Because of the bad habit of procrastination I suffered two important losses.

Each time I subscribe to a program on the Internet such as Dropbox.com utility, I know I need to write down the UserID and the password. But I procrastinate. Then when I try to log in next time, I do not remember. So I had to reset the ID or Password all over again. This happened so many times. So finally I prepared a small notebook where I wrote down all of my UserID and Passwords. Overtime the number of ID's and Passwords grew, so  more than two pages got filled up. Then, as I embarked on the  journey, I said to myself, "You must make a copy of the notes". Normally it would take a few minutes. But I procrastinated and procrastinated. Then I packed my bags where I put the notes containing all the UserId's and passwords. I put them in a file folder. And lo and behold. At the S. African Directors' Conf. Site, I lost the folder.

The same thing happened to me in regard to the note I took down at the S. African Directors' Conference. There after the regional directors' meetings, they came up with the programs. They put all the programs in a piece of paper and distributed. That night I had the urge to sit down and write a detailed journey report based on the information I wrote down on the paper. But I procrastinated, and procrastinated. Finally when I came to Dr. Paul Koh's UP UBF Bible center, I thought the time came for me to work on the report. It was last Tuesday. In the morning Dr. Paul went out to Manila to visit a sheep who is in a hospital. I was left by myself, and I sat down to work on a report. Then I looked, and looked. I looked everywhere, and the paper was gone. I lost it. I don't know where I put it. This is what happened when you procrastinate. You think now is not the right time to do God's work. You might think now is not the right time to go out fishing. Or now is not the right time to do any work of God. So you procrastinate, procrastinate, and procrastinate. Then by the time you think finally the time came, you know it is too late.

Let me share with you the story of Byung Cheol Lee the founder of Sam Sung Company. He died at the age of 77. At the age of 75 he contracted a cancer. So he was hospitalized. He saw the time for him to die down the road. So he pulled out a piece of paper and there he wrote down 24 questions in life. The questions included: 'Does God exist? If God exists why does he not reveal himself? If indeed God exists why does he allow so many problems like cancer or death in this world? The Bible says, it is harder for a rich person to go to heaven than a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Is it evil to be rich?" He neatly wrote down the 24 questions in five pages of letter size. He handed over the notes to his secretary asking him to deliver the notes to a Catholic priest, so he could answer the questions. The priest was pleased to see the questions. So he worked on each of them. Then he could have contacted the chairman earlier than ever. But he procrastinated, and procrastinated. Finally after two years, he was ready and he set up an appointment with the chairperson. But two hours before the time of appointment the chairman died at the hospital. He died without having the opportunity to hear the gospel.  

Fifth, being faithful with a few things

Look at v. 21. "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!'

Here, the expression 'a few things' is the key. It has been said, "small thing is not small"; in fact all that are great consist of a number of small things. God does everything well for he is faithful to what is truly truly small.

As I sit at the Dr. Paul Koh's Bible center, I saw a lot of ants crawling up and down. And these ants are truly small. As I thought about them I realize that they are truly diligent. They are hard workers. They work hard. Compared with what they do I realized that I am a fat lazy person. I am so called a human being the crown of creation. Yet, when I go lazy, doing nothing with what God has given, what good is my life?

So I repented and started writing a sunday message that after noon. Then Dr. Paul Koh came back from the trip. Then all of sudden outside at the unit next to the Dr. Paul Koh's Bible house, students gathered and started making noise. Then, Dr. Paul Koh asked me to share with them the ball pens the gifts Downey UBF coworkers gave. I stopped working on the message, went out and asked each of them if they want to have a Bible study. All of them said, "Yes." Then I gave them ball pens. They are all UP students. And I took a picture with them.

Sixth, understanding master's happiness

In v. 21, after commending the good work for the good and faithful servant, the master said, "Come and share your master's happiness.ness!" This is the reward of all rewards. Salvation of one lost soul is the source of true happiness. We see the same joy of the father of a prodigal son. When the prodigal son came back the father was so joyful that immediately he opened a banquet. Similarly in Luke 15:10 Jesus says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." So the Lord God wants to save one lost soul. And no joy is greater than the joy the Father has in saving one lost soul.

Seventh, overcoming fear of loss

Last, but not least point in living a fruitful life is to overcome the fear of loss. Look at vs. 24-25  "Then the man who had received the one talent 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 talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'" In this passage the lazy and wicked servant made many excuses. But the real problem he had seems to be the fear of loss. He did not want to lose. So he hid it.

This fear of loss expresses itself in many different ways. One is the fear of failure. In Downey we have a Bible center. At first it was a Greek Restaurant. The owner was a Greek. He defaulted on the loan. The lender was not a bank but a lawyer. The man foreclosed on the property. A lot of people wanted to buy the property for the price and location were all good. But, not all could make an offer, for even after you open an escrow, put up a deposit, still you need to stand in line with other bidders. And if any one with bidding a higher bid shows up, you lose the whole deal. Then by faith I put up a deposit, and stood in line. Then the day of auction came. Then no one showed up to compete with me. So we could acquire the title.

The same is true with fishing sheep or going out to a mission field by faith. Personally I thank God for the missionaries operating in the Philippines. This mission field comes with lots of difficulties. So not many people make a move. But by faith some missionaries came to this land. May the Lord bless them to share the gospel and build the ministry of God thirty times, sixty times and even a hundred times.

One word: good and faithful servantA good and faithful servant