THE PARABLE OF THE FAITHFUL

The Comparisons

The first story deals with the professing Christian's absolute need for Spirit-fulness. The second deals equally with his need for faith-fulness. The former addresses the inward life of the disciple. The latter speaks to the outward. The foolishness of trying to be a bona fide believer without the Spirit of God is revealed in first analogy. The faithfulness of all genuine believers is displayed in the second.

The Complementation

The Lord moves swiftly from addressing His inner requirements to affirming His outer ones. The beginning anecdote shows clearly that without God's Spirit a person will not be included in the Second Coming of Christ. The follow-up teaching demonstrates that without godly service a person will likewise miss out. Interestingly, the one is necessary for the other. The presence of God's Spirit is the only ingredient that allows a believer to truly be faithful.

The Characters

The Master is of course Jesus, the servants are all who have come in contact with His word and the talents (sums of money) represent the opportunities of service available to those people.

The Circumstances

Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

A wealthy man has a lengthy trip that he has to take and he makes his workers his agents giving them money to be used by them in trade.

Matthew 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

The boss gives to his three employees different sums of money based on each man's ability. The talents therefore DO NOT represent our abilities, but rather the opportunities available to us in respect to our circumstances in this life. The person given five talents is not a better person than the one given two talents. The business man, as God, is sovereign in His ability to know each person's opportunities based on his own unique situation. The focus is not to be on "what we do," but rather on "what we do with what we've received." Without that distinction we make room for pride and a system of comparing ourselves with each other in God's kingdom. Faithfulness is not measured against what others do, but against what we've been given.

Until next time,

Chris

IT'S TOTALLY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Matthew 25:8-9 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.  

It is very important to see that no man could give the foolish oil. Each person was responsible to get it for himself. So often people are told they are Christian by a parent or pastor, but that is not enough. It is up to every person to examine themselves. 

This also confirms the fact that the all too common practice of trying to talk someone into believing they are saved is a great mistake. The only two people that know whether or not they truly have oil in their lamps is them and God. 

DO YOU KNOW HIM? 

Matthew 25:10-12 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 

Finally, there is a deadline. Without God's Spirit a person ultimately won't be with Jesus. Without the oil He does not know them. 

We find clearly in scripture that the Lord intimately knows only those that truly belong to Him: 

Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  

John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.  

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  

2 Timothy 2:19 The Lord knoweth them that are his.  

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

It's important to understand that knowing the Lord intimately is what being a Christian is all about. Eternal life is described above not as avoiding hell or getting to heaven, but rather as being in a relationship with God. There are many things that Christians do and don't do, but it all must stem from knowing Him. Paul told the Roman and Galatian Christians that having the Holy Spirit would cause them to call out to God saying, Abba, Father. "Abba" is a repetition of the term Father. The double emphasis reveals affection and endearment. It points to being up-close and personal with God. 

Many know their religion, but do you know God? 

Until next time,   

Chris

THEY LOOK THE SAME UNTIL TRAGEDY TIME.   

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.  

For those of us that live in a hurricane zone we know the tragedy of bad storms. We've seen houses taken out by the flooding from storm surge.   

Jesus is here teaching us that those who've truly believed have their houses/lives built on a solid foundation; His teachings. When heartbreak strikes we may look like any other person, but after the clouds have cleared we are still standing tall.   

On the other hand, those that are deceived will find that disasters are their undoing; that their faith is dead. It must be clear to every professing believer that a faith that cannot withstand suffering, confusion and even death is useless. The church attendee that folds under the pressure of disappointments, setbacks and not getting their way is in need of some serious soul-searching.   

John speaks directly to this point: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:19)   

Jesus' teaching in Matthew 7 is followed with:   

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.   

Are you also astonished with what Jesus taught? As you've seen He spoke with authority on this subject of true and false believers. Does it surprise you that there are definitive traits that separate those that truly belong to God from those that don't but have been misled into thinking they do?   

Satan is the deceiver. He wants you to believe you have no problem in eternity and therefore you won't look for an answer. Have you believed or been deceived?   

Until next time,    

Chris

THEY LOOK THE SAME UNTIL THE END OF TIME.

 Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

 The phrase "in that day" is handled by one commentator in the following way: "That is, in the last day, the day of judgment; the time when the principles of all pretenders to prophecy and piety shall be tried."

 The public deeds of the deceived are deceptive. In other words, not only are they deceived but we are misled also.

 Of all the disciples, including Judas, we read he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. (Matthew 10:1) And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. (Mark 6:12-13)

 After reading that is there any doubt that Judas was completely deceived? Certainly as he exercised power over demons and healed the sick, he believed in his heart that only a heaven-bound Christian could do such wonderful works. And the deception ran so deep that this unrepentant man even preached that men should repent!

 Let's think this thing through: Jesus Himself sends out 12 miracle workers to preach the good news of their day AND ONE OF THEM IS NOT A TRUE BELIEVER! If a person can be close enough to the Lord to have tasted of the heavenly gift and the good word of God and to partner with the Holy Ghost (Hebrews 6:4-5) and remain blind to his true spiritual condition, every professing Christian would be wise to inspect themselves.

 Two principles become very clear as you examine this passage: ONE, words are not enough. The spiritually deluded call Him "Lord." TWO, works are not enough.  Their lives are filled with effort. It is for these reasons and others that Paul exhorts his followers to examine themselves.

 Until next time,

 Chris

 THEY LOOK THE SAME UNTIL NECESSITY TIME. 

 Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  

  The difference is just under the surface. Tough times will bring their self serving desires to the forefront.  

  When money came up regarding the potential sale of a box of ointment that had been poured on Jesus, Judas thought it was wasted on the Lord. Can anything given to Christ really be a waste?  

  Additionally, when the chief priests offered Judas silver for the capturing of Jesus, he readily accepted it. As a matter of fact, he actually said, what will ye give me?  

  When you are in need and facing tough times, what comes to the surface? Is life all of sudden all about you? We all know it's easy to give a dollar away when you have several thousand in the bank, but what about when you only have one? Do you remember the praise the Lord showered on the widow that cast in her last pennies?  

 THEY LOOK THE SAME UNTIL HARVEST TIME. 

 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

  17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

  18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

  19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

  20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.  

  Fruit is a result. The fruit of a plant is the outcome of that plant's existence.  The long and short-term result of the deceived person's life is not good.  

  First, their eventual influence on people is ultimately negative. What a blessing (or curse) it is to live long enough to see the concluding impact of certain religious doctrines and ministry methods on people's lives. Often what sounded good turned out to be bad, very bad.  

  At a later time Jesus referred to these people as blind leaders of the blind. And sadly if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.  

  Secondly, the short-term result of a person's beliefs can be seen in their attitude towards others. Paul unashamedly reveals what these will be in the life of a true believer in Galatians 5:22-23. He wrote the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.  

  Judas looked good to the other disciples until they saw the result of his thinking; betrayal, depression and suicide. During his life he was a respected member of Jesus' associates, but today his name is only associated with being a thief and a traitor.  

  What is your attitude toward people, all people? And what is the ultimate impact of your actions on their daily lives? These standards separate those in the true vine and those not.

  Until next time,

  Chris

  The lynchpin of Satan's deception is that you stubbornly believe you are right; the more dogmatic, the more easily deceived. The person who's open to accepting they're wrong is very hard to lead down the path of spiritual falsehood.

  Among many professing Christians examining or questioning one's own salvation is taboo. You just don't do it, because if you're truly saved you can't or won't have any doubts. I believe that approach would put someone into the "more dogmatic, more easily deceived" category.

  As we read earlier, Paul encouraged church members to examine their faith, but he was not the only one. Jesus continually challenged the sincerity of those that heard him. Yet even after years of hearing the Lord qualify true faith, one of his own followers turned out not to be a believer; Judas. In light of that, isn't it likely that there are unbelievers in all churches even among those who adamantly claim to be saved and stubbornly refuse to examine themselves?

  Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, pointed out fundamental differences between those who truly believed and those sadly deceived. AND in each case you can see how Judas fit the profile of the deceived.    

FIRST, THEY LOOK THE SAME UNTIL POPULARITY TIME.  

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:    

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

  The deceived ultimately follow the crowd; go the popular way. They even need it. Remember that Judas had a larger, more popular, political goal of freeing Israel from Rome. The idea of enduring hardship and a life of sacrifice was not the approach he adhered to.

  Additionally, Judas talked a good game. The eleven were unaware of his lack of faith as I'm fairly certain he himself was. If you're reading this you very likely talk-the-talk, but do you walk-the-walk? Can you describe your life choices as sacrificial? Do you understand suffering as a necessary ingredient for Christian living? Are you willing to give up all your earthly comforts to be faithful to your God, your family and your church if it becomes necessary? These are certainly unpopular ideas and there are only a "few" that will truly ascribe to them.

  Until next time,

  Chris