Signs of the Times (38)

In my last article, I began a discussion of the parable of the talents that is found in Matthew 25:14-30. I made the point that the “talents” of the parable cannot refer to gifts and abilities (as we commonly use the term), for all men are not given these talents; they are limited to those who have a place in the church. They refer, therefore, to our God-given place in the church of Christ. Each one has such a place, some more responsible a place than others, but all a place.

 

Nor must we forget the main point of the parable. The parable answers the question of what we must do here on earth while we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to take us to heaven. Christ is now in heaven, but history continues as Christ, from heaven, gathers His church. Christ will not come back until every elect is born and brought to faith in Christ. So the point of the parable is that each member of the church, in his own place, must work on behalf of the church, for the welfare of the church, and to the glory of Christ to Whom the church belongs. The church belongs to Christ Who bought it with His blood and we all are servants of Christ in His church.

 

There are two kinds of servants in the church: those who are faithful servants and those who are unfaithful. The former are the true people of God who are regenerated and converted and who love the church. The latter are not true members of the church, but are members only outwardly. Their main interest in life is not the church, but something that belongs to the world. They do not use their place in Christ’s church for the welfare of the church.

 

The unfaithful servant, when the Lord returns, makes his excuse for not using his place in the church for its welfare: “I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: Lo, there thou hast that is thine.”

 

It was a clever excuse. He said to the Lord: “Lord, I confess that Thou art the sovereign King of Thy church. Thou art able to save Thy church by Thy own power. Thou hast no need of us, for Thou art able to do it all. I was afraid that my puny and weak efforts would do more harm than good to the church. But I did take care of Your talent. I hid it in the earth. Here it is; take what is Thine.”

 

That was an outwardly pious but hypocritical answer to hide his own sin, for what he said about the sovereignty of Christ was true. Christ can do it all if that is His will. But Christ’s will is also that we who belong to His church must work in it. If we do not work in and for His church, we are hypocrites, and the text makes clear that hypocrites go to hell.

 

I think this wicked servant’s excuse hid other sins. I think the most important one was that the wicked servant was not satisfied with only one talent – an apparently small and insignificant place in the church. He was a janitor and he wanted to be an elder. He was asked to do very little of the church’s Sunday worship, and he wanted to be chairman of the worship committee – if there is such a thing. He was crabby and a complaining member who always found something wrong with those who worked hard. And so he said, “I am ignored. No one recognizes my abilities. I sit here in my pew with nothing worthwhile to do. I’ll show them; I won’t do anything.” And so, when he is asked to lead a Bible study, he refuses and says, “Let someone else do it.” In other words, he thinks he is more important than the church, and his criticism is not of the church, but of Christ who gives to each his place; and does so with a wisdom we do not have.

   

Underneath it all, of course, is a desire to accomplish big things in the world that prompts him to set above the church his earthly pursuits and interests. He, as it were, says, “If the church does not recognize my abilities, I’ll show them what I can do by being successful in my job and business.”

 

The sin is terrible enough to warrant the punishment of hell.

 

But the faithful servant recognizes that his place in the church, no matter how unimportant by the standards of men’s measurements, makes him humbly thankful for a place in the church given him by unmerited favor (grace) and even though he is undeserving. And so, with joyful thanksgiving, he puts the church first in his life and does everything else in his daily occupation to seek the welfare of the church. He loves the church, sacrifices for it, gives of his bounties, prays for the church, does whatever he is called to do, and does it joyfully and thankfully knowing that Christ will presently come again to take His own church to heaven. In heaven we shall serve Christ in the glorified church and in the new creation perfectly.

 

I can think of nothing I prefer more than hearing my Lord say to me when He comes again, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Prof. Herman Hanko