Ignited by the Infinite, Con't

Heading back to the image of the throne room, and to a question I posed in the preceding post- when you eventually stand before Him, what will God say to you?

Sort of a terrifying thought, huh? The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 seems to actually bring this moment to life, and since it is quite long, I will give a synopsis before I reference some specific verses…

A master, departing from his three servants, leaves with them each a portion of “talents” (Greek talanton- a monetary unit worth about 20 years wages for a laborer). He entrusts the talents to the servants according to their own ability- to one servant, he gives five; to another, he gives 2; and to another, he gives 1. The first servant takes his five talents and uses them to trade, and so doubles his portion. The second servant takes his two talents, does the same, and so also doubles his portion. The third servant takes his one talent and buries it, leaving it to remain as is.

The master eventually returns to settle his accounts with each servant. To the first, the master says, “Well done good and faithful servant.” To the second, the master says, “Well done good and faithful servant.” To the third, the master says, “You wicked and slothful servant…you ought to have invested my money with bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest" (verses 21, 23, 26).

Considering this parable is found amongst several other parables and images concerning final judgment, it is easy to see that Jesus tells this story in order to explain what it will be like when we finally stand before the Master. We, as His servants, have each been entrusted with a certain amount of capital. According to this parable, it seems that we will be judged according to the way we have used that capital here on earth. If we use it well, we will hear God say to us, 'well done!' If we do not however, we should expect the same response received by the third servant- an accusation of evil and laziness.

So, the next question must be, what does it mean to use the capital well? According to the parable, in order for the Master to consider us well-users, there must be produced a demonstrable increase in the capital given. On that final day, we must be able to give back to the Master more than what was originally given us.

From this particular teaching of Jesus (and others like it), it seems we are expected to produce. Like Paul says,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10

To reiterate what I previously wrote in part one, referencing the words of another New Testament writer- we have not worked in order to merit salvation, and are certainly saved by grace. Once we are saved, however, we are expected to work. For Paul, genuine faith cannot be separated from tangible works- they are intrinsically and ontologically linked together. Quite simply, real faith produces good works.

If we mesh together Jesus’ and Paul’s words, we can gather that we have been given certain capital (time, energy, money, and opportunities) in order to complete the good works prepared for us to do. Different people, because they were created for different works, were given different capital. Therefore, the next question we must ask is about the very capital we have been given- what are we to do with our time, our energy, our money, and our opportunities?

As we seek to answer this question, and act according to it and the grace given us, let us remember the Parable of the Talents- there are only two options, either we use the capital well by increasing it, or we are deemed worthless and cast into the outer darkness (Matthew 25:30). In order that we avoid the latter, may we be ignited by the Infinite; set ablaze for good works by the very goodness of God.