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
