Matthew (25): The End of the Age (in Parable, Backward) (I)

We are at Matthew chapter 25, and only about halfway through the Olivet Discourse. And that begs the question, what is Jesus going to cover now, in the second half of this discourse on His return at the end of the age? And the answer is going to be a little confusing, because Jesus is going to teach us everything that He's already taught us again, but now, in parable, BACKWARDS. Now, you probably heard about these parables or read them at some point in the past, and you are probably aware that people often disagree about what these parables mean.

Thankfully, the Lord has organized these parables and presented them in this chapter in a way that actually makes them easier to understand; He is going to present the parables on His second coming and on His coming for the church in a chiastic structure in the form of a chiasm.  Now, a chiasm is a literary form, a type of outline. But unlike the style of outline that we typically use, a chiasm organizes its points in a back-and-forth pattern, so each point in the narrative is covered once from beginning to end. But then the chiasm takes those same points the second time and covers them in reverse order. And the juncture where the order reverses is intended to draw our attention to the main point of the outline.

Now let’s take a look at the chiastic structure that Jesus uses in the Olivet discourse. The chiasm starts in Chapter 24 about verse 15, when Jesus begins describing His second coming at the end of the age, and then Jesus immediately follows that with a discussion about the judgment that will happen for all unbelievers who are on the earth at the time of His second coming.

Remember when Jesus was teaching on that in Chapter 24, He said that all the tribes of the Earth would look up and see Christ coming in His glory and they would mourn (which was a way of saying they will recognize that this is not a good thing for them, that the Lord they have rejected is now coming back). That was in verse 30 of Chapter 24.

Then the next thing you see in Chapter 24 is Jesus introducing this different type of return, which He called the coming of the Lord. And that is the Rapture and Coming of the Lord, which is very different from the second coming, as the former is going to be unpredictable, unannounced and sudden.

So all of those things we learned about for the Rapture were different than that for the second coming. Most importantly, we learned that the Coming of the Lord is a day only for believers, and in fact, unbelievers on earth at that time won't even know it's happening until after it's already finished.

Then we also learned at the very end of Chapter 24 that following the coming of the Lord, there is a believer's judgment, a judgment for those that Jesus has received from the Earth. It will be for our service to Him, and we will be rewarded for good service. If you notice the pattern already, just as there is a judgment for unbelievers after the second coming, there is likewise a judgment for believers after the Rapture. And of course, the Rapture comes first in the chronology of the end times. But that was the pattern in which Jesus presented it in Chapter 24, that is, with the Rapture being the last that He mentioned. 

Now, as we move into Chapter 25, we're going to find Jesus using parables to cover exactly the same material again. And because we see repetition now in the text, it alerts us to look for a chiastic structure. And when you map out the topics that we're going to see in Chapter 25 you notice that the chiasm’s most important feature is immediately evident. And the important key feature of chiasm is recognizing that as the reversal happens as you go back into the repetition, everything takes an opposite order. That means that the first parable of Chapter 25 will cover the same material as the last section of Chapter 24 and so on.

So why am I telling you this? Well, because it guides our interpretation, because we know our interpretation of the second half of the chiasm must line up with our interpretation of the last section of Chapter 24 and so on.

So number two at the start of Chapter 25 has to match your interpretation of number two at the end of Chapter 24. And that's how chiasm helps guide you. And it's also why you often find incorrect interpretations of this passage - if you don't recognize you're looking at a chiasm, you're not prepared for the reversal. And so you may make the mistake of assuming that the whole narrative of the Olivet Discourse simply proceeds chronologically as if everything you're reading happens one after another in the course of time.

But that's not the way it works at all. Jesus did not organize this chronologically. He organized it chiastically, which means there will be a turnaround at some point, and then you're going backward. Being aware of a chiasm at work here is important to the way we interpret the parables in that knowing which section we're looking at in Chapter 25 gives us a hint as to which section in Chapter 24 should give us the same interpretation. And that's the way we're going to study 25 - by looking back on 24 and matching them up. So let's go into Chapter 25 to the first parable. Jesus says:

Matt. 25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Matt. 25:2 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.

Matt. 25:3 “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,

Matt. 25:4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

Matt. 25:5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.

Matt. 25:6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

Matt. 25:7 “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.

Matt. 25:8 “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

Matt. 25:9 “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

Matt. 25:10 “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.

Matt. 25:11 “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ Matt. 25:12 “But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’

Matt. 25:13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

So, we know that this parable is teaching about the coming of the Lord. Why and how do we know that? Well, it’s because it's paired up with the topic that ended Chapter 24. But let's say, for argument's sake, you didn't recognize that there was a chiasm at work, or you’ve never even heard of chiasm. Nonetheless, you could still see clearly by the details of the parable that Jesus is describing the rapture. 

First, He says this parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven, which is a reference to the believers’ future life in the Kingdom. Secondly, He says this is a parable of a bride waiting for her groom to arrive for her on her wedding day. And you remember from our study of the Coming of the Lord, or the Rapture in Chapter 24 that Jesus uses exactly the same analogy in John 14, when He describes the Coming of the Lord.

Jesus said the Coming of the Lord would be like a groom, appearing suddenly to claim His bride and to take her away. So that's two reasons. And then there's a third one. Notice there are 10 women waiting to be married in this parable? The parable only mentions a single groom. Now you would expect 10 grooms for 10 brides, but in verse 1, verse 5, verse 6, and verses 10, 11 and 12. All of those verses reference only a single bridegroom.  And that tells us that this is a parable about the Bride of Christ, which is made up of many individuals waiting for our one groom, Christ at the Rapture. So all the details of the parable initially point us to a topic of the Rapture and that connection to the chiasm, and to the section of Chapter 24. Well, that just gives us added assurance and confirmation that we're on the right track.

So looking at the parable, Jesus refers to these 10 women as virgins, and our virgin is the Bible's term for a single woman of marrying age. And why is she called a virgin? Well, because a woman and a man, for that matter are to be expected to refrain from sexual relations prior to marriage. Sex outside of marriage is sin. So from the perspective of a God fearing culture, all unmarried women are virgins. Or they should be.

Meanwhile, these virgins have gone outside to wait for their bridegroom, which would indicate that the virgins are expecting that groom at any time, and they're eager to see him. But the exact arrival time of the groom is still unknown, and the virgins are simply waiting there, simply watching in anticipation. They're not sure when he's going to come, and because it's night, we're told that they have brought with them lamps, which would help light the way and would also help them see and find the groom when he arrives.

Now notice in verse 2 though, Jesus says half of these virgins are wise, but half are foolish, and the ones who are wise are wise because they brought oil for their lamps and ones were foolish have not. And when Jesus uses the term wise or foolish, He isn't just talking about their actions. That is a Bible way of speaking about the heart.

In Zechariah, Chapter four, we're told that oil in a lamp is the Bible's preferred picture for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in someone's life. And then Romans goes on to teach us that all who are saved, who are sons and daughters of God, are those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our seal of redemption.

So when Jesus uses the term wise for those who have oil and foolish for those who don't have oil, He is describing the state of their hearts. According to the Psalms, those who are wise are those who have received instruction from the Lord. They have hearts of understanding. The foolishness of those who have no fear of the Lord - they have hearts of wickedness and evil. So the wise virgins are those that possess a good spiritual nature. The foolish possess an evil, spiritual nature.

So simply put, if you have oil in your lamp, you have the Holy Spirit in your heart, which is a way of saying you are saved, you are believing. And if you lack oil, you lack the Holy spirit, you're not saved or not believing, you're evil.

And so here you have five believing virgins who are prepared for the Lord's return because they possess the light of the spirit, if you will, and they are ready to see their groom. And then you have unbelieving virgins who lack oil, which means they lack the Holy Spirit, and so, when the groom comes, they will not see him. 

Remember we studied that when the Rapture comes, unbelievers won't even see that Jesus arrives. He stays in the clouds, and that's consistent here with the pictures of the parable. So if five of these virgins without oil are not believers, that begs the question, why are they being called virgins? Why are they part of the same group as those who have the oil?

And the answer is that it's common in parables  for there to be characters who turn out in the end to be impostors. That's a common feature in parables. So as the parable begins, the ten are all called virgins. They all appear to be the same. But later events in the parable will reveal that it is not all as it seems. Some of them are not who they think they are or who they claim to be. And in this case, Jesus is contrasting the future of those who are His by faith with the future of those who are not believing.

Moving into the parable again in verse five, Jesus says the groom doesn't come back as soon as the virgins expect. So as the virgins were waiting, they grew sleepy. So what we're learning is their vigilance is waning, and at some point later in the night, at midnight, they are awoken by a shout. The bridegroom is approaching.

Someone is announcing His arrival, and so now is the time. “Turn on those lamps”, “Get your light ready”, “Make sure you can see him and he can find  you”. But now the virgins who did not bring enough oil realize their light is going to go out. It won't be there long enough, it won't be strong enough.  Suddenly they aren’t prepared for the groom's return. And they're worried and they're desperate. So they asked the others to give them some of their oil so they can all do this together.

But the virgins with the oil say, “I'm sorry I can't help you. There is no way for us to do this. We don't have enough to give you. Go back to the source, go to the dealer, go to the place where oil comes from, get your own”. But at that point, it's too late. By the time they were to go find that oil purchase, get in their lamp, come back and all the rest, the groom would have come and gone.

The groom takes the five who are prepared and he enters into the bridal chamber. And then he closes the door. Now what's interesting at this point in the story is that the other five virgins don’t go get the oil and then come back and join in. They try to go in without the oil. They realized they don't have time. They realized that there's only a moment to spare, so they go straight to the door that's now closed. And they asked to be let in despite having no oil and the Lord responded to them saying, “I don't know you”. Which is a way of saying He doesn't recognize them now as His wife. They're not part of what is going on.

Now at that point, with all the detail laid out, it's easy to see how this story illustrates the day of the Rapture as we learned it back in Chapter 24. We learned then that when the Lord comes, He will instantly receive to Himself those who belong to Him by faith, the church. And we also learned those who are not with Him by faith are left behind because Jesus doesn't know them.

And when this moment comes, it comes so quickly, there will not be time for those who do not yet know Jesus to see the events unfolding and decide in that moment, “Oh, I guess I better believe now, too, since I don't want to miss out on this opportunity now”. That's not going to be possible. The event happened so suddenly and invisibly to the unbeliever that by the time those left behind realize what they've missed, the door, so to speak, will be shut.

So let's use our chiasm now just as a double check on our interpretive work. Because it was said earlier, what we're learning in this parable should match up to what we learned at the end of Chapter 24 in Jesus’ teaching.

Back in Matthew 24 verses 36 through 41, Jesus said the Coming of the Lord will be like the days of Noah. That is, people will be unaware that the return of Christ is near until one day there'd be two working in the field or two in the mill, and then one would be taken, one would be left. And after Noah entered the ark safely, we learned that he had the door closed by God. And then those who wish to enter after that point could not. The door was shut and no one could open it even if they had wanted to. And in all of those details, we find a perfect comparison to the parable.

In the parable, we have the sudden arrival of the groom. Some of the virgins were not ready, and were not expecting Him after He  arrived. How many of them were taken? Exactly half, just as we saw in Jesus’ teaching: two in the field, one remaining; two in the mill, one remaining. Half again. And then in the parable, the ones who were left behind want to get in. But they're told the door’s shut. It will not open again. All of these details line up and give us greater confirmation to know we're on the right track in our interpretation. 

So then we ask, what is the point now of the parable? Jesus gives us the point of the parable  at the end. In verse 13, He says, “Be on alert for the return of your Lord”. But given what we learned in the parable, what does it mean to be on alert in this case? Well, who was alert in the parable and who was not? Those five virgins who had oil were ready, while the five who lacked the oil in their lamps were unprepared for the return of their groom.

So the point is, make sure you have oil or in the literal sense of the meaning of the parable, make sure you have the Holy Spirit. That is, those who are ready for the Lord's return are those who are believing. Those who are saved are ready, wise and prudent. But those who are not saved at that moment will be found foolish and unprepared and left behind. Until you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, nothing else matters.

There is no Kingdom future for that person. There is no eternal glory. There is no reward possible. There's no use talking to that person about how to stop sin in their life if they are unbelieving. It's not possible, not in that state. It's also not of much value to talk to unbelievers about the signs of the end of the age. It's not going to change their heart, not by itself. There's no reason to encourage them to try serving the Lord. You can't serve a lord you don't know. There is nothing else to tell someone who does not know the Lord as savior except know the Lord as savior.

If you do not possess the Spirit, Jesus says He does not know you. And if He does not know you, He is not going to rescue you. And how do you get this oil? How do you get the Spirit? Well, you have to go to the source just like we learned in the parable, that is, you can't get it through someone else. You don't get what someone else has by association in this case, or by community. You don't hang around Christians so that you could become Christian. You're not going to get it through osmosis.  You can't attend church or small groups and think that, “Oh, I'm in the community, so I must be good to go now”. That in itself will not save you, and, I should add, your spouse might be Christian, but that won't save you. Your kids might be praying for you, but that's not going to save you. And you might be doing lots of good work. But that's not going to save you. None of those things are oil.

You have to go to the source. You have to go to Christ Himself. You have to understand that you are not okay by the way you are now without Jesus. And despite what you may have heard some people say, God does not love you and He does not have a wonderful plan for your life if you are not His. That is, the Bible says, the wrath of God rests on those who practice sin, and His plan for all those who reject Him is not wonderful, it's horrifying, it’s a future of eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of burning and torment. The Bible says it. It's the truth.

But here's the good news. Jesus is willing and able to save you from that eternal fate, if you place your faith in Him, if you trust Him to pay the price for you and as you place your faith in Him, you receive forgiveness for all your sin. You are washed clean and you received the Spirit, and because you have the Spirit or the oil as it was in the parable, then when He comes on that day, and that could happen at any moment, you will see Him and He will see you.

And you will be together with Him joyfully. And because you don't know when that day is coming, you cannot plan or assume that you can get right with God when the time comes for the Lord to return. You're going to be like those virgins who are caught off guard. By the time you figure out you need oil, it'll be too late. There is no better time to confess Jesus as Lord than right now, because you don't know if you have any time after now.  Salvation cannot wait for another day because there may not be another day. And that's the first lesson from this parable. 

And that leads us to the second parable. Verse 14, Jesus says 

Matt. 25:14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

Matt. 25:15 “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

Matt. 25:16 “Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.

Matt. 25:17 “In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.

Matt. 25:18 “But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

It’s a longer parable, so we're going to stop there just to get the introduction. And as we begin our study of this parable, let's take another look at our chiasm, our road map here. Now this parable is paired up with the chiasm with the teaching that Jesus did on the rewards judgment for believers back in Matthew 24 verse 42 through 51.

So that should tell us based on the way chiasm works, that we're now looking at a parable that is going to illustrate how believers are going to be judged after the Rapture, about how we will be evaluated for our service and how we will be rewarded for that service. Now here again, if you didn't know anything about chiasm, you could still understand that we were looking at a parable about eternal rewards simply by noting the details in the parable.

So let's look at the parable. We have a master now who gives his slave talents to reward this slave for his stewardship or to give him opportunity. Now, a talent is the largest unit of currency in Jesus’ day, and is equivalent to 6000 drachmas or denarii. And a denarius is a standard silver Roman coin that is equivalent to a day’s wage. So, 1 talent is a considerable amount of wealth, because it translates to 6000 days’ worth of salary.

So, you have three slaves here in this parable, each given differing amounts of wealth, and they're asked to manage it in the master's absence. Each of them has been given what they've received based on their ability, we're told in verse 15. So apparently the master knows something about his slaves. He recognizes they have differing levels of skill, and so he has assigned wealth based on what he expects they can handle.

But regardless of their different assignments here, each slave had the same expectation and that is to simply manage responsibly what they 've been given. That was the expectation even of the slave who received only one talent - remember, that's still a significant amount of wealth - and so it's no small thing to have even one talent to manage. So all of them are required and expected to give good service with their talents and with their opportunities. In verse 19, we are told what they did with what they were given:

Matt. 25:19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

Matt. 25:20 “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’

Matt. 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Matt. 25:22 “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’

Matt. 25:23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Matt. 25:24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

Matt. 25:25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

Matt. 25:26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

Matt. 25:27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

Matt. 25:28 ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

Matt. 25:29 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Matt. 25:30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So the master returns and, as you'd expect, he evaluates what the slaves did in his absence to see if they've been faithful in discharging their duties. The slave who’s given five talents, we're told, has doubled the master's money. So did the slave, who was given two talents. They both doubled their money.

Now, even though one of those slaves earned a lot more than the other one, they receive exactly the same commendation. In fact, it is word for word identical. They had different starting points, but that's because the master started them differently based on ability. But they both rendered faithful service with what they received, and therefore both received the same reward, which in this case was the right to maintain that wealth and manage it, as well as manage greater things. So the masters' rewards to the slaves were based on faithful service, not based on the magnitude of their achievements.

Then you have the third slave who only received a single talent, and that is presumably because he had a low potential to manage things well. And sure enough, he proves the master right because he mismanages even the one talent that he was given. He just put a hole in the ground and buried the talent, and when the master returns to evaluate him, he rebukes him for not having given faithful service. But the slave had an excuse. He says, “I feared you”.

Why does this third slave fear this master? “Because” he says, “You're so demanding. You're the kind of guy that would go into a field where you never even planted seed and you'd still expect to find a harvest in that field. That's pretty demanding. That's why I took no chances. I just buried it and gave it back to you”.

But notice in Verse 26, the master when he hears this excuse, does not buy it. He doesn't call the slave fearful or cautious. He calls him wicked and lazy, which means he knows that this slave was not truly concerned with fearing the master’s harsh judgment, etc. The slave was not afraid. He was lazy, and he was uninterested in serving the master.

The master says, “If you had truly been afraid of me and wanted to serve me, you would have at least put it in the bank”. Because putting money in the bank is equally safe as putting it in the hole in the ground, generally speaking. So, if his only concern was safety, that's what he would have done. No, the slave here demonstrates that he does not truly know the master. He did not understand that this is a master who not only is demanding, but he's also willing to reward good behavior. The slave doesn't know who he's serving, so as a result, the master takes this slave’s single talent and gives it to the other slaves who had shown the great potential to manage the master's business. So even what this slave thought he had, he never had.

And that third slave as, you see, at the very end, is ultimately consigned to outer darkness, to a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth which is the classic biblical way of referring to hell eternal punishment. And here again, you see that common feature in parables, the one where you find a character ultimately revealed to be an imposter at the end. That third slave lacked a true relationship with the master. So even though he's called a slave in the parable, he never was truly a servant to that master. He only knew him in a superficial way, as hard, as unreasonable. He never knew him for the loving, generous man that he was, who was willing to reward.

So like the virgins without oil, this slave is a man who was never a part of the master's house. And you can clearly see in this parable that Jesus is describing a reward system for believers. And that is exactly what our chiasm predicted. We’re now looking at the second part of two -  that is, the reward that follows the believer after Jesus comes for the church, and this pair of parables matches up perfectly with what we learned at the end of Chapter 24.

Jesus, our master, expects every believer to serve Him well. In His absence - He's gone on a journey, so to speak - and a talent in the parable then symbolizes a believer’s opportunity to serve the Lord faithfully in some important and challenging way meanwhile, and the way we're called to serve the Lord will vary from Christian to Christian, in keeping with our abilities and our station in life.

Jesus calls some believers to bear greater burdens in service, and He calls some believers to make greater sacrifices, and as such, managing more talents if you are in those circumstances. Nevertheless, we are all His servants. We all have an expectation of serving Him. We all have equal opportunity for reward. Your reward will not depend on the magnitude of your effort, or the magnitude of the outcome of your success or where your starting point is.

Because you're not Martin Luther or Billy Graham doesn't mean you have less opportunity for reward. You may be starting in a different place than they did, but because of where they started, they had much higher expectations that go along with it. We all are put in our place with a certain opportunity, and it's equal, in that sense, equal opportunity. The key is your faithfulness to serve.

So how will we be rewarded? What does the reward look like? Can we gain any insight from the parable? Well, this is what we have to be careful about. You can't draw conclusions from a parable’s details if it's not being made clear to us that that detail is relevant. For example, in the parable, the slaves are rewarded by being able to hold on to their talents, even given more talents as taken from the slave who did nothing. But in our case, we can't say exactly what that means. We can't say what our material rewards will look like in the Kingdom. We can't say it's going to be 100 and 30 pounds of silver, for example. That's just a feature of the parable.

But we can say this based on what we know from other Scripture. There are material rewards involved that are a kind of wealth assigned to us in the kingdom. Jesus tells us this plainly elsewhere in Luke, He says that there is material reward for the believer in the Kingdom who serves him well. Now in Luke, Chapter 16, Verse 10, Jesus says this to the church: 

Luke 16:10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

Luke 16:11 “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?

Luke 16:12 “And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

So when Jesus talks here about being faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, He's not talking about money that you come onto through some kind of illicit means. He's just talking about the money of this world. All the money on Earth is unrighteous wealth because it's a sinful place. And in contrast to that, He says, “Who will entrust true riches to you?”

The true riches are the wealth of the Kingdom, and what Jesus's saying is that what you do now with what you have here, will determine what Christ thinks you're capable of handling in the Kingdom. If you aren't faithful with what you have here, why would you expect Him to entrust true riches to you in the Kingdom?

That clearly tells us that we are in a current state of internship or assessment where what we do now is going to be evaluated, and it will be the basis for which Christ uses to do more for us in the Kingdom. So there is wealth in the Kingdom, just like there is wealth here in this world. But knowing that, which of the two should we be investing in? Should we be investing in the wealth of this world, which we know burns up, or should we be storing it up in heaven?

That's the sense of what Jesus means when He says to store up treasure in heaven. He's saying, live life now so that you might be judged worthy of greater riches in the Kingdom. So we have to choose whether we want to serve the interests of this world or whether we want to serve Christ's interests and not just in wealth, but in every area of our life, because you can't serve both, Jesus says. That's why Paul tells us in Colossians. In Colossians Chapter three, Verse 23. 

Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 

Col. 3:24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

That is your motivation. Do everything you do now as if you're doing it for Christ, not for whoever you're serving on Earth, because in the end, it'll be Christ who gives you the reward that lasts.  And you want Him to be pleased with your service more so than anyone here. We don't know what our reward will be exactly, but it doesn't really matter because we know we can trust Jesus to do what is good and what is right and fair. 

Meanwhile, we have our incentive to do our best at all times because we don't know when He's coming back and we want to be ready. So now what's the point of this second parable? The point of the second parable is that believers need to be ready for Jesus’ return and we get ready by being found doing what Jesus asked us to do. And He has asked us to serve Him. He's asked us to go out into the nations and to bring believers into the church through baptism and then teach them to obey Christ. And we each do our own part in our own way toward that end.

And in order to help us be ready for that and be equipped for that, Jesus has given us direction in our life, opportunity, a place, a time to live, and He's given us gifts and He's given us the expectation of faithful service. And some of us will bear greater burdens. And as a result, we're managing more talents, so to speak. But we all have something to do according to our ability, and we're all going to be measured according to some scale of faithfulness, and therefore we all have the same opportunity for reward. So it doesn't matter what you do necessarily or how hard it is or how much you achieve, it’s about whether you're pleasing Christ. The writer of Hebrews has this to say, in Hebrews 11 Verse 6 :

Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

You realize that the definition of faith is believing first, that Jesus is Lord. Knowing that Christ is Lord. But then he says, if you want to please him, you have to have a certain kind of faith to please your master. It starts with knowing He is Lord, but it goes on from there. You also have to be aware that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. What he's saying is this, unless you understand there is a reward system for the believer, you will not be well positioned to please your master.

You may have the faith to know Him, but that's the first part. The second part is knowing He is prepared to reward you so that you'll be motivated to serve Him. Why is motivation so critical to the definition of pleasing faith? Because there is already a motivator inside you that is destined to cause you not to please Jesus. And so the Lord has created another motivator to compensate to offset that inward motivation you already have.

We’re talking about sin. Because love is not always enough to motivate our good behavior, because sin is also present to play a role in our motivation, and if we're not careful, we will play to the strengths of our sin rather than letting the Lord lead us, and that's the battle of the flesh versus the spirit. And here's the thing to show you how much God loves you - He has not only saved you apart from your works by grace alone, He has also prepared a reward for you to help motivate the good behavior that He asks us to give Him, the pleasing service that He is looking for. He isn't simply relying on our love factor to do it, because He knows that won't always be enough. So inside every one of us is the motivation to act in an unloving way.

And now we learn that Christ is prepared to reward those He has saved to give us motivation to overcome that negative instinct and do the right thing in selfless service to Christ, and He is not only asked us to do it and giving us a reward to do it, He's also given us the power to do it. Inside us are the resources we need: the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the word of God and spiritual strength and spiritual abilities that He has given us for the purpose of service.

So you cannot please Him if you do not have faith in Him - we learned that from the first parable. And now you're learning that if you want to please Him, you must also seek for the rewards He offers to those who serve Him well. Those who have faith who go after the opportunities Christ gives will serve Him in three principal ways.

We will serve him in our time, our talent and our treasure. 

First, you have to give time to Jesus in service. And time is perhaps our most precious commodity, at least in these days. In the modern age, the enemy has been particularly focused on taking away our available time. It’s interesting how in this age many of us have plenty of treasure, and many of us have talents. What none of us seem to have anymore is time because we filled our days with things – new and different things. I suggest to us all that a lot of our life is still wrapped up in serving the cause of ourselves in the pursuit of this world. Shift time away from those worldly pursuits and toward eternal concerns, and you will be pleasing your master. 

Secondly, how do you use your talent, your natural and supernatural abilities? We've all been equipped by God with natural born abilities. And when you came to faith, you received a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit. So, are you using those abilities? Are you putting them to work in some way? If you have a gift to pray, are you praying you have a gift to teach? Are you teaching? If you have a gift of leadership, are you leading? If you have gifts of encouragement or help or giving or whatever, is it buried or is it put to work? If you want to be ready for the Lord's return, be sure to be found using what He gave you when He comes. Your assigned spiritually gift, whatever that is, is probably your best indicator of where and how you should be serving in some capacity. So learn what your gift is. Step out in some area of service and make use of it, and you'll please the master. 

And then finally, we are called by Scripture to be generous with our treasure for the sake of the Kingdom. Now, Jesus said here, clearly, you can't serve wealth and serve God at the same time. But you know what? You can use your wealth to serve God. You just need to approach your treasure the same way that you approach your time and your talent. When it comes to your wealth, you should concern yourself with pleasing Jesus, not yourself. And on the other hand, if you bury your wealth, that is, if you are hoarding your money or spending it on your own interests, even if it’s saving it up for your estate, whatever you think is important, you're not pleasing the master. You're being unfaithful with what He gave you.

Remember there is eternal reward for those who serve Him well. We should look forward to the day that we see our groom coming. And when that day comes, may we have no regrets, and eager to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” We can all hear those words, if we're ready.