SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2024 8:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Responsibility We Receive”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
25:14-15
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.”
In my last SD I said that I would write about
whether or not that the number of talents given to each of the slaves would
have any significances in their ability or simply illustrate a wide range of
responsibilities, from the very high and demanding to the relatively low and
easy. I don’t think that it is any
secret that what Jesus is talking about here is the different gifts that are
given to believers in the church in order to cause the church to work in a way
that will bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul talks about this in a couple of his letters to different
churches. If memory serves me correct
the gifts of the Holy Spirit are seen in Romans 12; 1 Cor. 14; Ephesians 4; and
1 Peter 4. Now John MacArthur writes the
following to help us out in understanding this out: “It is significant, however, that the
responsibilities were given to each according to his own ability. The owner knew his slaves intimately, and he
entrusted each one only with the responsibility he reasonably could be expected
to handle.”
MacArthur
goes on to write “Used in a context such as this, talents always referred to
money, but the word itself simply represented a measure of weight. The value of a specific coin depended on its
weight and its composition. A talent of
gold, for example was extremely valuable, a talent of silver less valuable and
a talent of copper or bronze much less valuable still. But as with the number of talents given to
each man, the metal content of the coins, and therefore their actual worth is
irrelevant to Jesus’ point. He was
emphasizing common accountability for different levels of responsibility based
on individual ability.”
Earlier I mentioned that I believed that this
parable can illustrate spiritual gifts given to each believer once they have
been born-again into the family of God.
I also mentioned that there was one of these slaves who received talents
from the Owner who was not a true believer which illustrates what goes on in
the church as it is only the Spirit of God who knows who is a true believer
attending local churches. The truth is that
if a person attending a local church is not a true believer then they certainly
will not receive a spiritual gift. I
know a man in our church that I attend now who told his story about when he was
actually going to Bible school, that the Spirit of God worked in his heart to
show him that he was not a true believer, and so at that time he did accept Christ
as his Savior and Lord and after that when he got out of school he went on to
serve the Lord.
One
more quote and then I will be done with this Spiritual Diary. “Because the parable illustrates the kingdom
of heaven, the man in the story obviously represents Christ Himself, and the
going on a journey represents the time He is away from earth between His first
and His second advents. The slaves depict
professed believers, members of the Lord’s visible church whom He has entrusted
with various resources to use in His behalf until He returns.”
I
can say that my practice in going over the material that I put on my Spiritual
Diaries is to first of all listen to a sermon by John MacArthur, as long as he
has a sermon on the topic I am going over on my Spiritual Diaries, and then
read through the material from his commentaries, as long as he has material on
the subject. What I wrote at the
beginning of this SD in speaking about spiritual gifts seems to agree with what
MacArthur wrote in this last paragraph.
I like it when what I write agrees with what he writes, or what Warren
Wiersbe writes or other Pastors that I read or listen to writes or speaks.
3/6/2024 9:25 AM
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