SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/2/2024 6:08 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Signs of Christ’s Coming—part 9”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
25:14-30
Message of the verses: “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. 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. 16 “Immediately the one who had received the five talents went
and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17 “In the same manner the
one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18 “But he
who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the
ground and hid his master’s money. 19 “Now after a long time the master of
those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 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.’ 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.’ 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.’ 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.’ 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.
25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you
have what is yours.’ 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. 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. 28 ‘Therefore
take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
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. 30“Throw out the worthless
slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.”
I did not have enough room in the heading to put the
actual name of this parable that Jesus is teaching here, but it is “The tragedy
of wasted opportunity,” as that is the theme of this parable, and this is the
second of two parables relating to the kingdom of heaven, and in particular, to
men’s readiness for Jesus’ coming to establish the kingdom at His second coming
as seen in Matthew 25:1 “"Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to
ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” Now in the parable of the ten virgins as
seen in verses 1-13 we see that it focused on readiness manifested in working,
as the five virgins had oil for their lamps which represented true believers
who possess saving grace; while the two faithful servants who invested their
talents represent believers who exhibit the serving life. So together the two parables depict the
balance of believers’ looking forward to His coming through faithful service
and I have to say that all of this can only be done through the power of the
Holy Spirit along with the Word of God to guide believers.
I
will conclude this SD with a quote from John MacArthur “Frequently, one or the
other of those precepts either is lost or overemphasized. Although believers are to rejoice continually
in the prospect of their Lord’s coming again, they are not to sit back in idleness
and do nothing. Saving faith is serving
faith. On the other hand, they are not
to become so caught up in serving the Lord that they forget to contemplate and
rejoice in His return. It was perhaps
because they thought the Lord was coming momentarily that some of the believers
at Thessalonica fell into undisciplined careless living and decided to do no
work at all. Consequently they become
busybodies who did nothing productive and even disrupted the church. Paul rebuked them severely and commanded them
‘to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.’ He then admonished the whole church nto to ‘grow
weary of doing good’ (2 Thess. 3:10-13).”
3/2/2024 6:27 PM
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