Does God really care how we live now?

“The Parable of the Talents”

(Matthew 25:14-30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 17, 2008)

Matthew 25:14-30 ¹⁴ "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ 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.' ²¹ 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.' ²² 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.' ²³ 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.' ²⁴ 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, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' ²⁶ But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Introduction – “How long, O Lord?”

We have been considering together the exciting fact of a new resurrection age that will come with the return of the Jesus Christ. The people who first heard the words of Jesus and those who received their writings have long ago gone to be with the Lord. They faced the first of two very great events, their deaths. We are still waiting for the second event, the return of Christ, and the fulfillment of God’s perfect justice and mercy.

God gives us an informative passage in the Scriptures concerning those who gave their lives as a testimony of their faith. Though they are in a state which is “far better” than the present, they are eager for the second of those two great events, the return of Christ. This is what they say:

Revelation 6:10-11 ¹⁰ … "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" ¹¹ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

It will be like a man going on a journey… (14-15)

When our Lord was preparing to go to the cross, in his final days on earth, He told a story about a person of some means who was preparing to take a long journey. That journey has gone on for two millennia already, and it is good for us that it has. It will continue as long as needed for God’s plan to be completed. There is still time for more believers and even martyrs who have the privilege of serving the One who gave Himself for us. He is the man on a journey in this parable, and we are His servants. He has distributed His property to us. In the parable this is a weight of an unspecified metal that would amount to a substantial amount of money, many years worth of wages. The unit of measurement in Greek is “talanton” from which we get the English word “talent.” It is actually from the use of that word in this parable that we have come to use this word to talk about the abilities that we have been given. That seems to be the point here of this sum of money or property. We all have been given our lives, our abilities, our personalities, our heritage, our sorrows, our pain, all that we are and all that we have, all that comprises God’s providence in our lives, and this is what is represented here by the giving of various numbers of talents.

The variety of gifts given by the Master is something to think about. We should not be surprised that people are different. The Master distributed the property according to each man’s ability. We are not all the same, and it is a very good thing that we are not. We know that the abilities that we have today were distributed to us by God. We also know that He chooses our time and place. All of this works together to give each of us a variety of opportunities over the course of our brief lives. The Lord expects us to think of these things as His before they are ours. We need to use these things well, because the gifts and the fruit are all the property of our generous Master.

The story tells us that the Master went away. This refers to the ascension of our Lord. He did go away, but He is somehow with us and He will come back. We need to answer to Him for our lives.

What they did with what they were given (16-18)

As the story proceeds we see that two of the servants did what they were supposed to do. While one earned a surplus of five talents and the other two talents, that difference is to be expected because of what they were given and their various abilities to work with what they had. So far so good.

What is strange is the activity of the third servant. He takes the one talent, digs a hole, and buries the money. This seems an unusual thing to do, especially in contrast to the activities of the other two servants. This must refer to those who do not use what they have been given by God in an appropriate way. It may refer to our money, but it is about more than money. It is about all that makes us who we are. We are either using what God has given us or we are burying these gifts for some reason. We wait to hear this man’s explanation to try to understand why anyone would have done what he did.

After a long time… (19-28)

Our Lord is coming back, and the Master in the story returns. He returns after a long time, but He has not forgotten what He left behind and what He expected His servants to do in His absence. He came back to settle His accounts. The Lord will judge. We should care more about this than what anyone thinks of us. The first two servants speak as those who are aware that everything they have belongs to the Master. “You delivered to me whatever I have, and I now present to You all this and more, for it is all yours.” The response from Him is wonderful. These men were faithful over a little. Whatever we may have in this life, it is very little when compared with the resurrection age that is coming. The Lord will set these men over much. Better still, they will enter into the joy of their Master.

The story of the third man is so different. He begins by talking about the Master, but not in any way that anyone would want to be with him. A greedy man might want to be in the good graces of a Saddam Hussein or an Idi Amin, but he could never feel safe in their presence, no matter how much he received from their treasuries. They were brutal dictators who could turn on anyone in a moment. The third man treats the Master as if He were one of their number. He does not seem to like the Master. He says, “I knew you to be a hard man.” Is the Lord who gave His life for us a hard man? If He distributes us many gifts out of the everything that belongs to Him as Creator and Provider, and if He only asks that these would be used in accord with His good ways, should He have to face an accusation that He reaps where He did not sow? Back in the old days of Eastern Europe, the Russians reaped where they did not sow, and there have been many colonial powers that took advantage of other people by the force of their military might. Do we want to put Jesus Christ in that group? Does He gather where He has not scattered? This third servant says he was afraid of the Lord, and that was why he buried his talent. “Here, you have what is yours.”

The Master does not accept this assessment and defense. The One who loved us so supremely through His death on the cross sees everything rightly. He is not the wicked one. He is not lazy or abusive. This man is an evil servant. He is covering over his laziness with a transparent story that does not hold up to scrutiny. The Master exposes the lie. If the servant thought that His Master was a hard and demanding man, then He should have at least kept the money with bankers where it would have earned interest. No, the servant was lazy and hateful. He did not want to serve the Master. Perhaps He thought that the Master might not return. Perhaps he did not want to see any gain coming from the Master’s resources, because he knew that any increase would go to the account of the One He did not like. Therefore, the talent he was given long ago that he thought so little of will now be given to the one who handled five talents so well.

An abundance (29-30)

To everyone who has, more will be given. They will have an abundance when the Master returns, but to the one who has treated His Master’s gifts as if they were nothing, even what he has will be taken away. The language of eternal punishment is again used at the close of this parable. The Master speaks of a place of outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He calls this third man a worthless servant.

This same Greek word translated “worthless” is used one other time in the New Testament. Jesus speaks about all of us being “unworthy servants” so that we understand that everything that we have from the Lord is by grace.

Luke 17:7-10 ⁷ "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

How could we be judged to be good servants? What makes for a truly excellent servant? The best servant would have the greatest ability, the greatest faith, the greatest purity, the greatest diligence, and would use it all to make the right offering to His Master. Jesus came as this greatest of all servants. When He did all that ever could have been asked of a good and faithful servant, He took the punishment of a worthless servant on the cross. His worthiness was so great that death could not hold Him. After His resurrection and ascension, He distributed His abundance to people like us. He had so much goodness that it could never run out. He did great things with what He had. He cares about what we do with what we have. You mean something to Him. If you do not know that, you will never see Him as the great God that He is. He only asks for your whole life, but He has so much for you when He returns.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why is Jesus telling a story about a man who went away on a journey, returning after a long time?

2. What could it mean that the ones who were faithful over a little will be set over much?

3. Where did the third servant go wrong?

4. What do we learn about the coming resurrection age from the conclusion of the parable?

Do I really want a Husband?

“The Parable of the Ten Virgins”

(Matthew 25:1-13, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 10, 2008)

Matthew 25:1-13 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' ⁷ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' ¹⁰ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. ¹¹ Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' ¹² But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' ¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Introduction – Marriage rituals

The remaining parables in Matthew’s gospel show the Lord as a Master and a King. In this one He is a bridegroom. The voice of a bride and a groom is a good thing in the Scriptures. If the prophets want to write about bad times, one of the things they talk about it is those voices being taken away. When they speak about the good life coming back they talk about the bride and groom being heard again. These are supposed to be voices of joy. When we read about marriage rituals in the Old and New Testaments, we try to explain them as well as we can. The story of Ruth’s courtship or the wedding where Jesus turned the water into wine give glimpses into worlds that we really don’t understand, and into an institution that we are not sure is all that happy at present.

There is no specific wedding ceremony given for us to follow in the Bible, but the concept and meaning of marriage are central to the plan of God. Listen to these words about the coming resurrection life from Isaiah 62:1-5:

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. 2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. 3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

In the New Testament we read in Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” The Lord wants us to think of Jesus Christ as our Husband who loves His bride sacrificially and passionately. What will the resurrection be like? It will be like everything that you ever wanted love to be.

Ten virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom (1)

The passage immediately before this is about wise and faithful servants of God at the end of the current age. We need to be aware of the time period in view here, since Matthew 25:1 refers to something that “will” take place “then.” When is “then?” It is the time of the coming of the completed resurrection temple at the return of the Lord. It is a good thing for us to think about what the kingdom of heaven will be like then, and this is a story that gives us something to consider, a story of a groom who is expected, and ten virgins who go out with torches to meet him.

Somehow this relates to particular customs that are not well understood by commentators today and apparently not essential to the point here. It seems possible that there was to be a procession of a bridegroom accompanied by friends of the bride who were to lead him to the home where the bride and the guests were waiting. Everything was ready to go, but there was no groom. He was not there. He was coming from some other place.

Five and five (2-4)

These ten ladies are immediately noted as being either foolish or wise. The foolish ones have assumed that the groom was surely coming very soon according to their schedule, so they did not bring extra oil with them for their lamps. The wise took the precaution of bringing more oil in case the groom was delayed in coming. There were five foolish virgins and five wise virgins all waiting for one groom who was delayed. The ones who brought oil recognized that the groom was keeping his own good schedule. The rest expected the groom to keep their schedule.

Oil is central to this story, and we are not told what the oil stands for. It could be that we are not supposed to force it to stand for anything. It is just a detail in the story that does not specifically identify the spirit, or being spiritually alive. To be specific like that would just be guessing. What we can say is that having the extra oil means taking Jesus at His Word about the timing of His return. He said that we need to be ready, and that He would come at a time when He was not expected. Those who believe Him about that recognize that He might return later than everyone thinks, so they want to be prepared for that possibility. Others are presumptuous and are so sure that His return will be swift that they do not prepare for a wait that may be much longer than what everyone supposes. This is the best way to understand the meaning of the extra flasks of oil, rather than forcing this detail into some allegory.

“Here is the Bridegroom!” (5-7)

The bridegroom in the story did not come right away, and all the virgins fell asleep. Again we want to resist the temptation to analyze the parable too closely. There is no criticism necessarily in what they did. They were all drowsy. They all fell asleep. The only difference between the two groups is the matter of preparedness for a longer than expected waiting period before the arrival of the groom.

Finally at midnight, a very late time to have a wedding, the cry is heard everywhere, “Here is the bridegroom!” This is unmistakably similar to what Christ has been saying in Matthew’s gospel about His own return. These words are like the sound of the trumpet that calls everyone together for the wedding assembly. This is a very exciting moment. Though we have been warned that it will definitely happen, we would be shocked if right now were the midnight of God’s timing. Are you willing to think of the Lord as your loving husband? Are you ready for the groom’s arrival?

The marriage feast (8-12)

We know that some of those friends of the bride were not ready. They did not have the oil to go out into the darkness and to meet the approaching groom. They wanted to get oil from the others, but there would not have been enough for everyone. They had to go out at midnight to buy oil, but there was no time to make up for their lack of preparation. The groom arrived. Those who were ready lead him in procession to the feast, and the door was shut.

I know that all of this may seem silly to you. The story, like most parables, is not in the Bible as a cultural lesson or as literature. You need to feel the weight of it, the sadness of the door closing with any of us still on the wrong side of it, unprepared for His arrival. The imagery in this parable is about a marriage feast for you. Are you willing to be loved by a man who gave His life for you? The Lord’s love is the best and strongest love ever known. The God who died for your sins wants to be a husband to you. Do not be offended by Him, or put off by the intimacy of His proposal. He is the lover of your soul, your protector, your provider, and He will be your eternal companion.

Today the door is wide open for those who love the groom’s appearing, who love the resurrection marriage feast, and who want to be included in the number of those who belong to Christ. Just as there came a day when God shut the door to Noah’s ark, there will come a day when a person’s entreaties to the Lord will be too late. It is time to believe in the resurrection, not only of Jesus, but of the whole resurrection age that is coming. It is time to meditate upon Him and what that resurrection wedding will be like so that you will be prepared and useful, both in this life, and in the life to come. It is time to do whatever the Lord tells you to do now, so that you will never hear those horrible words, “I do not know you.”

Today is no time for you to reject Jesus. It is no time for you to stop serving Him and His people. When the Lord returns, the time for preparedness and for investing earth’s resources in heavenly treasures will be over. If you want this husband, remember these three things. 1. Live for the Lord and His return. 2. Think about the Lord and His return. 3. Talk about the Lord and His return; but talk to Him about these things more than you talk to anyone else about it. There is a code of silence that has swept across our region which insists that it is inappropriate to talk about knowing Jesus. It sounds too private. I understand that. You will never be able to break that code of silence until you develop the habit of talking to God first about the return of His Son and the coming resurrection age.

Are you ready for the resurrection? (13)

This is a story with a point, and the point is given to us in verse 13. It has to do with the fact that we do not know the day or the hour. You need to know the bridegroom, and you need to be looking for Him and be ready for Him. This groom is a great man. He is the only one in this age who has a resurrection body already. It may seem that two thousand years is an awfully long period of engagement, but God and His heavenly company will announce when the marriage is happening. Jesus died for His bride, and He will not be stopped from having the one for whom He shed His blood. He is coming. Any delay that we may feel must have a good purpose.

This life is a pilgrimage that ends in a marriage. It is not a short journey. There are many obstacles. You will face weariness, sickness, opposition, and even death. You have to keep on going. You have to stretch forward. You do not get to the marriage part any faster or better by stopping the pilgrimage or by running away from God. The Lord who died for you has not forgotten you. You do not know the day or the hour of His coming, but you do know the fact that He is going to be at His own wedding. This current age has a midnight, and then a wedding day will come. May you have the oil of readiness for that new day when the Lord will rejoice over His bride with joyful songs.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. In what ways were the ten virgins the same? In what way were they different?

2. What happened to the bridegroom in the parable and how did the virgins react to that?

3. Why were the virgins who had the oil unwilling to share with those who did not have oil?

4. What does it mean that the Lord is a husband for the church, and why are we sometimes uncomfortable about that thought?

What will God do about abusive church leaders?

“The Master Servant”

(Matthew 24:45-51, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 3, 2008)

Matthew 24:45-51 ⁴⁵ "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Introduction – Beyond timing… Stay awake and be ready.

As we come to the close of this very informative chapter where our Lord uses the coming destruction of the building temple in Jerusalem to talk about the age of the gathering of His world-wide body temple which is just getting going, we have seen that this chapter is not all about the question of when Christ is to return. The only thing that it says about that question is that He will return at the end of the age.

We are told that we need to stay awake and to be ready, instructions that may sound very passive. We imagine someone sitting by the window, looking out into the night skies, and waiting for the sign of the Son of Man to appear in the heavens. That is not all bad. Would that we were all that aware of the coming age and eager for the resurrection of the dead that will immediately take place at the return of Christ. Yet a true awareness of the promises of the age of resurrection will move us forward in action, not star-gazing or date-guessing, but faithful service in accord with the Lord’s calling upon each of our lives individually and together as His church.

The passage before us speaks to us as the Lord’s servants in this age. It certainly has something to say to all the followers of Jesus Christ, since we all need to be aware and active. Yet the disciples that Jesus was physically speaking to that day would soon be commissioned as His apostles, the very first group of church leaders of the new era. It seems very likely that we are supposed to understand something in these verses about faithful church leaders, and particularly about those who are supposed to be ministers of the Word. The concept here is of a servant among servants. Yet the minister also speaks for Jesus Christ, and in that sense, the Master has set him over His household.

The topic of appropriate leadership within the church has already been addressed in this gospel, but it is now being reinforced in this last week prior to the cross. Jesus has been speaking to them about the nature of this temple-gathering age. The gospel is to be preached everywhere, and worshippers are to be brought together throughout the world in what will turn out to be many centuries of suffering love. What the Lord said about leaders earlier in His ministry still holds. The greatest people in His kingdom are not supposed to Lord it over others like people in powerful worldly positions do. This is to be something different, where the minister’s fellow-servants are sons of God in Christ together with him. This is not just a catchy slogan of fake humility, but a real description of people who would be known by the deliberately low title of minister or servant.

The Master and the servants (45-47)

Ministers have a job to do as servants to a King who died on a cross. Our King makes a distinction in these verses between a faithful and wise servant and a wicked servant. The faithful servant is to be aware of his job. What kind of good worker would be clueless about the requirements of his job? Ministers are supposed to feed people. There are others who feed them in terms of their physical needs. These servants of the Word are supposed to feed the Lord’s sheep in a different way. They feed souls with the food of the Word. In Luke’s gospel this is spoken of as giving the other servants their “portion of food at the proper time.” As they serve up the food to others, they get to eat as well, like oxen that are doing their work in the field without any muzzle over their mouths they can eat as much as they desire at any time they want. This feeding the children of the Lord with the Bread of Life from the Word is what our Lord was referring to when He spoke to Peter after His resurrection. He said, “Feed My sheep.”

They are to be serving up a good portion of the Word of God, in a way that it can be received. This means not only preaching the Word, but also reading it publicly, and helping and encouraging everyone to read the Word, to pray the Word, to hear the Word, to think about the Word, and to live the Word. Each of these good things should be done both individually and together, since we need a balanced diet and lots of exercise in order to keep all the muscles of our souls working. Christ should find His ministers doing this when He returns. If He does, He will set such people over all His possessions in the resurrection world that is coming. I don’t know what that will be like, but I know that it is a good thing, because it will be in an age without discord, weariness, mistakes, or sin.

The Master is delayed (48-49)

Sadly, not every minister is good. This is a great surprise in a way. It is a feature of this age that Satan, the Lord’s fallen angelic adversary, sows weeds among the wheat, and some of those weeds end up bearing the title “minister.” The key to their bad behavior is the simple phrase of their hearts recorded in verse 48, “My master is delayed.” Think about this idea. It does suggest the passage of a considerable period of time. We saw this same point in some of the phrases in the earlier verses of this chapter. It takes time for the “birth pains” that Christ predicts. Nations rise and fall over decades and even centuries. It takes many years for false religious movements to come and go. We do not know the length of labor before the full arrival of the resurrection kingdom, but we do know from this and other passages that some of the Lord’s servants will begin to think of His return as “delayed.”

What does it mean to say that the Master is delayed? It means that the wicked minister thinks of the Master as far away, rather than near. How close do you think Jesus is when one of His ministers abuses someone? Though He may be very far from the life of the soul of that pastor, I think that He is very close to the whole situation. I think He weeps at the shame of it, not because He can’t do anything about it, but because it is such a disgrace, and he knows that the man who does such things will be called to account. I think He cares about the victims of abuse, and He is preparing an answer of glorious goodness for them that will heal them for eternity.

The man who says, “My master is delayed,” may mean, “My master is far away,” and then, “My master is dead,” and finally with a shrug of the shoulders, “What master? I am my own master. I can do with these people and these things what I want. I am the master.” If a man begins to forget the nearness of the real Master, won’t he soon forget his duty to the Master’s children? He certainly won’t be feeding them good food. He may beat them with their failures over and over again, adding rules that God never even spoke of. The man who beats the others around him in the church has forgotten what it feels like to be a fellow servant. He eats and drinks with drunkards, filling his life with the next temporary pleasure. He will never have the courage to go to war for anything, because what could be worth dying for. He has become a man dedicated to purposeless living, with no awareness of the life to come. This kind of behavior by a minister of the gospel is the most heinous kind of sin. Much was given to him, especially the precious treasure of serving Christ’s Word to His beloved. Naturally much is required of him as well.

The Master will come (50-51)

God will not stand for abusive ministers. The Master is alive and near. Some ministers may forget that, but they will remember one day. He will come. His arrival will be at an unexpected time. What will He do to wicked pastors? He will cut them in pieces. He will put them with the hypocrites. We all know what is being talked about here. There is a place in hell reserved for abusive and faithless religious leaders, just as there is place reserved for fallen angels who attack the elect just for the fun of watching them hurt. Beings like this will not be in the coming resurrection temple of God, no matter how impressive their many other achievements may seem to be.

The Master’s weeping and gnashing of teeth for you (51)

I don’t like talking about hell. Sometimes I think we say too much about it, and sometimes I think we say things that we don’t really know. Is this one of those times? Why am I so sure that the Lord is talking about hell here? Could it just be suffering or death in this age? Maybe these ministers will die here in this age for what they have done, but they will still be found in Christ in the life to come. The reason why that seems impossible is in verse 51. If you examine the places in this gospel where Jesus talks about weeping and gnashing of teeth, you will see that He is talking about eternal punishment. He’s talking about what we deserve for our sins. You and I deserve hell.

A person who abuses people weaker than him is not acting as a true servant of Jesus Christ. The faithful minister would rather take abuse than give it. In living that way, he is following Christ as the Master Servant. Jesus took much abuse from men for us. What was the cross like? I don’t think that we will every really know, because you and I are not going to hell if we have truly called upon the Name of the Lord. We may be very, very weak, and quite pitiful in the way that we have treated others. Nonetheless, He is the Master. He is very near, and what He says goes. He came that we might have abundant life. So be it. In order for that to happen, He needed to suffer the pains of hell for His servants. Whatever that weeping and gnashing of teeth is that will come upon unrepentant and abusive ministers, Jesus suffered that weeping and gnashing of teeth in His body and soul for you on the cross.

What will God do about abusive church leaders? I think we have some idea, and we turn our eyes away and weep. But what will God do for weak repentant sinners, though abused by men and angels, who trust Him? He died for them. He will not abandon them. There is a new day coming. The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). The Lord will set faithful and good fellow-servants over all his possessions.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What are the indications within this passage that the Lord is especially addressing those in church leadership?

2. What image is used to talk about what these servants should be doing? What is your interpretation of this image?

3. What do you make of the phrase, “My master is delayed?”

4. What is the warning given here? Why is it significant that our Lord is the One giving this warning?