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Isn't it amazing
how Jesus picked an analogy that we can immediately comprehend
2000 years later? He used the language of the nightly financial
report to encourage us to get in on the up side of the kingdom
economy. It is the nature of the working world to think about
the future. Business people plan, invest and work with capital
growth in mind. Taking that picture, Jesus encourages us to think
about investing the kingdom capital he has allotted each of us
with an eye toward the kingdom future.
Often at this point, Christians begin speaking about Christian stewardship and the subject of giving. That may be OK, but I am quite sure Jesus intended his illustration to have broader application than that. A basic message I see Jesus giving us in this Parable of the Talents is that he highly values and will ultimately reward our faithfulness in doing the "small things" which cause God's kingdom to expand and multiply.
So what are these "small things" anyway? And what makes them such profitable investments in the kingdom scenario? Well, if as Jesus said, the kingdom is within you (Luke 17:21), and if the kingdom is, as the Apostle Paul said, ". . . righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."(Romans 14:17), then the small things Jesus speaks of in the Matthew 25:14-30 parable, are the many little ways we allow God's kingdom presence in our lives to bubble up inside and overflow in expressions of his righteousness, peace and joy toward God and the people around us. It's similar to the message Jesus and Paul were giving when they referred to fruit in the Christian life (see John 15 and Galatians 5).
Here in Matthew 25, Jesus used the analogy of money and investing because he wanted us to understand that little things add up in his economy just as they do in the world's. If we can grasp this principle, and get into it, we can expect to see our seemingly insignificant but faithful acts for God and others, gradually add up and produce and reproduce, to where we can see exciting returns-multiplied righteousness, peace and joy in our own lives and in the lives of others. I believe the Apostle Paul was speaking in these terms when he wrote to Christians at Corinth, Greece, ". . . we work with you for your joy . . ."(2 Corinthians 1:24).
Every choice you or I make to serve God out of the spiritual capital he has entrusted to us (i.e. the good things he has put in our hearts by his Spirit, through knowing Jesus and through integrating His Word into our lives), is like a little investment we make that can add to that capital and help it grow.
This day and every day, this week and every
week, this month and every month, is another day, another week
and another month to invest the kingdom capital we've been allotted,
however insignificant it may seem, so our piece of the kingdom
can grow little by little until Jesus comes back.
-- Steve Wilson, Pastor