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.” (Matthew 25:29–30 (ESV)
In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus was not teaching a true believer in Christ could lose their salvation. Rather, He instructed His disciples, then and now, about the importance of perseverance. True believers will watch for Christ’s return and will work as citizens of the kingdom of heaven until Christ’s return or their homecoming to heaven. They will not be idle, irresponsible and lazy.
Jesus continued to teach those who were faithful in little would become faithful in much. He would give them more, and greater, ministry responsibilities since they proved faithful. A pastor, for instance, who began a faithful preaching and teaching ministry with Jr. High boys in a church furnace room or a utility closet became a Christian High school teacher, a children’s pastor, then a youth pastor and eventually a senior pastor. Following the conclusion of his local church ministry, the Lord providentially placed him in an evangelical seminary ministry of pastoring pastors, while also teaching the Bible to some of the institution’s college students. This is my story. Perhaps you can relate.
However, Jesus also gave a stern warning to professing believers who begin serving but later become apostates. The Lord will judge them as the unprofitable and wicked servants they truly are.
“The recipients of divine grace inherit immeasurable blessings in addition to eternal life and the favor of God (cf. Rom. 8:32). But those who despise the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering (Rom. 2:4), burying them in the ground and clinging instead to the paltry and transient goods of this world, will ultimately lose everything they have (cf. Matt. 6:19; John 12:25),” explains Dr. John MacArthur.
Theologian J.C. Ryle states, “We learn, in the first place, from this parable, that all professing Christians have received something from God. We are all God’s “servants.” We have all “talents” entrusted to our charge. We learn in the second place, that many make a bad use of the privileges and mercies they receive from God. We are told in the parable of one who “dug in the earth and hid his Lord’s money.” That man represents a large class of mankind. We learn in the third place, that all professing Christians must one day have a reckoning with God. The parable tells us that “after a long time the master of those servants came, and reckoned with them.” We learn, in the fourth place, that true Christians will receive an abundant reward in the great day of reckoning. The parable tells us that the servants who had used their Lord’s money well, were commended as “good and faithful,” and told to “enter into the joy of their Lord.” We learn in the last place, that all unfruitful members of Christ’s Church will be condemned and cast away in the Day of Judgment. The parable tells us that the servant who buried his master’s money, was condemned as “wicked,” “slothful,” and “unprofitable,” and cast into “outer darkness.” And our Lord adds the solemn words, “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
May each of us make every effort to evidence our true conversion in Christ, by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Our faith in Christ is not produced by our good works. Rather, our faith in Christ is evidenced by our good works (James 2:14-26).
Soli deo Gloria!
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