We continue this series based on 2 Corinthians 9:8, “Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.” (ISV)
In order for us to reach this state of overflowing blessings in our lives, each of us must have a proper understanding of who God is. Many people today do not really know the God whom they worship. It is important that we know who this God is, what his character is, the things that He loves and the things that He hates.
This is David’s understanding of God as found in 2 Samuel 22:27, “In the company of the pure you demonstrate your purity. In the company of the perverted you will appear to be perverse.”(ISV)
There are people who say that in spite of them asking God, He has done nothing for them. The reason is they have an improper understanding of God. If we read the above mentioned verse we realize that God is pure to the ones who are pure, but shows Himself perverse to those who are crooked or perverted in their ways.
Peter and Judas Iscariot
Peter and Judas Iscariot the two disciples of Jesus are good examples of the above mentioned verse. Both of them were with Jesus, they walked with Jesus, saw all the miracles that Jesus did but while Peter denied Jesus three times, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
The reason Judas betrayed Jesus was that Jesus did not understand who Jesus really was. He failed to perceive that Jesus could forgive him and be gracious to him. Judas did not realize that Jesus could accept the sinner, take the broken ones, and make them whole. No wonder Judas went far away from the Lord Jesus. Some may argue on behalf of Judas that the Lord Jesus should not have let go of Judas because he was with Jesus for three and half years, and also was in charge of the money bag. The Lord did not forsake Jesus, but Judas decided to walk away from Jesus. However, Peter also committed a terrible sin by denying Jesus, but he knew that the loving Lord Jesus would take him back.
The problem we see is not with Jesus, but with us. Only when we recognize and perceive who this God is will our lives be blessed with an overflowing abundance.
Let me give you a few examples and that will help us understand this better.
Many people perceive that God is an angry God, and in order to appease Him they will try to do various things. Often fasting or giving is done so that God is gratified, and thereby they can escape His anger. Observe the way some people pray. They cry and plead in prayer hoping that God would soften His stance toward them. Let me remind you that God is loving and mindful of us. If we are walking in obedience to the Lord there is no need to fear.
When Jesus was baptized, and came out of the water, the voice of the Father from heaven declared that, ‘Jesus was His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased.’ That’s the same pleasure and delight Jesus shows towards us, and there is therefore no need to walk in fear.
There are some people who teach that God is angry with them, and thereby create a sense of fear in the hearts of people. If the Lord out of His abounding love gave His life for us, why would He be angry with us? If we read the bible carefully we will understand that we are God’s beloved.
Some others think that God is a hard God. In order to have themselves heard they feel they have to weep much to be heard. Think about our children, when they are hungry, they never come to us crying and pleading for food. If they did, I am sure all of us as parents would be annoyed that our children have not understood that we love them, and would do all it takes to take care of their needs. Instead of crying and begging God, if only we can realize who our God is, we will come to Him with confidence knowing that He will answer our prayers.
As the Israelites journeyed through the wilderness, they were at a point where they did not have water to drink. We all know that water is a basic necessity for our survival. God told Moses to smite the rock, and when Moses smote the rock, water gushed out of the rock. The next time they had such a need for water, God told Moses to speak to the rock. Right there in the Old Testament God could send water when Moses simply spoke, and as New Testament believers we can be certain that when we ask God He will surely answer us. Let us declare that our God is a good God, and His grace is sufficient for us always. Observe the way the Lord revealed Himself to Moses as we read in Exodus 34:6, That is, the LORD passed in front of Moses and said, "YAHWEH, the LORD, is a kind and merciful God. He is slow to become angry. He is full of great love. He can be trusted. (ERV)
When we don’t have a proper understanding of God, our thoughts, words, prayers, actions and consequences all come out erroneous. If we talk to God, He will hear and grant us our requests. As Jesus taught His disciples to pray He asked them to simply say, ‘give us this day our daily bread.’ There is no pleading or begging with God as He is a loving Father who gives joyfully to His children when they ask of Him.
The master entrusts to his own resources to his servants
We read in Matthew 25:14, "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone.” (NLT)
Here the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a man who is going on a long journey. There are four parts of this verse I wish to highlight; The Kingdom of Heaven, His servants, His money, He entrusted to them.
We realize that the Lord has called us to be His children, and entrusted His resources to us.
The master entrusts differently
In Matthew 25:15, we read, He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. (NLT)
This man gave each of his servants something, and there was no one who was not given anything. Each one was given according to their own abilities. To illustrate this let me explain it this way. When our children are really young we will give them less money because that’s all they can handle at that age. However, when they grow up, and are in their teens we will entrust more money because we know that they are capable of handling it. Think about our children when they enter university, we may even give them the entire fees that has to be paid, because they have the wisdom and capability to handle the same.
There may be those who think, and maybe even question God as to why they were given so little and others were given so much. If we have less and others have less that won’t be a problem, but the problem is when we have less and others have more.
The master would certainly return and take account
There are three servants, one was given 5 bags of silver to one, 2 bags of silver to another and one bag of silver to another. Two things were a surety, one was that the master would come back and secondly He would ask for account of all that was entrusted to them.
Let us also bear in mind that the Lord Jesus will surely return, and He will ask us to give account. There was no need for the Lord to entrust us with His riches, but the Lord has given it to us anyways.
If you are wondering as to what are the resources that God has bestowed on us here’s a list that I would like to share.
1. The breath in our nostrils – think about the number of people who passed away in the past few years. Many of them were healthier and better off than we were. If we have breath and life it is God’s gift to us.
2. The clothes we wear
3. The ability to speak
4. The finances that God has entrusted to us be it little or much
5. All of us have the same amount of time every day – there are those who are so busy they feel they have no time while others have so much time at hand they don’t know how to spend it.
6. The family that God has given to us. This includes our spouse, children and parents
7. The education we have is also God’s gift to us
All of these are the resources that God has entrusted to each one of us, and no one can say I don’t have any of these blessings bestowed on me by God.
The master went away after having given these talents to his servants, and this is what each one of them did.
The servants who invested wisely
We read in Matthew 25:16-17, "The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more.” (NLT)
The man who had five bags of silver invested the same. All that God has given us we must learn to invest wisely so that it multiplies. The money, time, family, children that God has given to us are His precious resources, and we have to invest in them wisely.
Let me illustrate this so we can understand better. My father could not play any musical instrument though he desired to do so. Since he was older, and could not learn to play he decided to make an investment in me. Since he also had some money, he found someone who was a good tutor, and sent me to learn guitar at an age when the guitar was as tall as me. I had to be regular to the classes, tell him all that I learned, and practice regularly. My Dad invested his time and money in me, and though for a while I got disinterested in playing the guitar, and it seemed that the investment was a failure, a few years later the Lord made me pick up my guitar again. I began to sing, to lead worship and the Lord began to open many opportunities for me to sing, lead and play the guitar.
As I began to value all that God has entrusted to me, I also began to invest in the two sons that God had given to me. If you ask them today if they enjoyed the teaching while they were young they will certainly say they did not. However, today the music we hear in the church is the return for my investment in them. Not only do my sons play instruments, they are training other young people and children in church who are interested in music. Many of the children who are playing in the church are those who learned music from the youth in the church.
Sometimes when we invest in someone or something, it may appear that it is not growing or may even look to be a failure. However based on the principle of scripture, the seed that we sowed will most certainly bring forth a rich harvest. Investment is not just about finances as is wrongly understood. Today we understand that every resource that God has entrusted to us must be taken and invested so that it can bear much fruit, and let us make a decision to do so.
We have a huge gathering of believers in our church on Sunday. There are many who may think and even speak otherwise, wondering why so many turn up here for worship. Let me share a secret with you. When I was in a full time secular job, my work got over at 5 pm. I would leave at 5 pm, and sometimes stay out till 11.30 pm meeting many people, and the Lord also brought alongside me many good men of God. I was able to visit many homes by doing so. Many people would like to get back home after work, relax, watch TV and rest before the next day.
However, the path of ministry that the Lord called me to was to meet, and evangelize many people. There were many people who heard the word, many were saved, and as a result of this the people were added to the church. This was not done by my own strength, but the Lord was with me and strengthened me and helped me. Without Him we can do nothing.
There are many who do not want to invest their time or energy to serve the Lord, and reach out to people. They want to spend all of their time for themselves, their family, their entertainment and still expect their church to grow and people to be saved. This is not possible if we have not made the investment to see such exponential growth.
The important lesson that we learn from this parable is that if we make the right investment, the Lord will give us the sure returns. We cannot accomplish this all by ourselves, but must rely entirely on the Lord.
The servant who was entrusted with five bags of silver gained five more. So also, the man who was given two bags of silver gained five more. This is what we call investment. However, as in any group there will always be one who is odd and stands out. Someone who will think differently.
The servant who hid his talent
We read about him in Matthew 25:18, But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money.(NLT)
This man only did an unwanted job of digging a hole in the ground instead of investing the money that his master had entrusted to him. The money belonged to his master, and he was accountable to him for what he had received.
For those who are grumbling about your families, instead of doing so think about all those who grieve that they don’t have a family, and invest in your own family. If you do so, you will receive a reward. Those children who do not speak to your parents, let me encourage you to think about those who have no parents. Value your parents, honor them, and obey them for this will be your investment. The reward for this investment is that when you become parents, your children will also honor you and obey you. Don’t think that you are young, and so you have many years before all this will happen. Remember the master who went on the long journey. Before you realize you will be in that stage where you will have children of your own. I have watched many families where the son commits the same mistake the father did. The reason for this is that many have failed to make right investments in their children.
Don’t bury your gifts
The man who got the one bag of silver dug a hole and buried the same in the ground.
Think about it. There are some who have a good talent to sing, but they will never use it. Some have the capacity to work, but they will not use their strength for the kingdom of God. There was a time when I used to work all alone, but now we have a wonderful team who works alongside of me.
The first two servants took some very important decisions.
• Firstly, they willingly released what was given into their hands.
• Secondly, both the servants invested in the right place.
• Thirdly, they understood the purpose for which their master had given them these resources.
• Fourthly, they used their resources for the right purposes
• Fifthly they saw their resources grow and multiply.
Many people will not release anything, even their children. We should allow our children to go out and learn. Also when our children are married we should release them to have their own lives and not hold on to them. Release them from the emotional ties that bind them to you. There are many mothers who after their sons are married will not let go of their sons, and this will create much misunderstandings.
There are many who can’t speak right from birth, so if God has given us the ability to speak we should use it for his glory and not misuse it to quarrel with others or gossip about others. Our family, our time and all that we have should be used for God’s glory alone. If we invest this way we will see the reward for the same in our own life time.
If we understand the promise that God gave us in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.” (ISV) We make the right investments and the Lord will indeed make us abound with overflowing blessings.
The master returned to take account
We read in Matthew 25:19 "After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money.” (NLT)
The master who went away on a journey returned after a long time and called the servants to give an account of how they had spent the money that was resources to them.
We read in Matthew 25:20-21, The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, 'Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.' "The master was full of praise. 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together! '(NLT)
The servant who got five talents gave account that the five that was given to him was invested, and that it had earned five more. When the master saw the faithfulness of his servant firstly he commended him, secondly, he also promoted him and thirdly, he celebrated along with him.
Our master, the Lord Jesus is coming back again, and to those who have made the right investments are going to be applauded, promoted and will enjoy the celebration with the Lord forever.
The response of the servant who was given one talent
We read in Matthew 25:24, "Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, 'Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. (NLT)
This servant called him ‘Master’ but then he claimed that he did not understand who his master was. He accused him of being a harsh man, and as one who harvested crops he did not plant and gathered crops he did not cultivate. His misunderstanding of his master made him think wrongly about his master which resulted in wrong words, and wrong actions. The consequences was that there was no fruit in his life.
Just like those three servants, all of us can see we fit in one of their places. There are those who have five talents, those who have two. and those who have one. We must give thanks to the Lord for all the blessings and resources that God has invested in us.
Thank God for the ability to speak, to think and reason well, for the finances, for the family, our children, the strength to work, the house we live in, the clothes we wear and all of the blessings that God has entrusted in us.
The master’s response to the lazy servant
The most important verse is Matthew 25:26-27 "But the master replied, 'You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.' (NLT)
Just put yourself in the place of the master. Two of your servants brought good returns from what you entrusted to them, but one has buried it and is giving it back to you, and also was throwing the blame on you that you are a hard man who harvests where you have not planted. The master did not in any way try to clarify with the third servant that he had misunderstood him.
His reasoning was that if he was such a hard man and had unrealistic expectations, all the more his servant should have invested the one talent and brought back good returns. The conclusion of this parable will give us much insight into our own lives.
For many people their lives are on a decline while others are progressing and flourishing. Speaking about King Saul and David in 2 Samuel 3:1 we read that while the house of David grew stronger and stronger the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. The reason was that while David had a right understanding of who God was, Saul had a wrong understanding of the Lord.
If after having hearing and reading so much about the Lord if we still have a faulty understanding that God is hard and waiting to punish us, God will not appear in your dreams and clarify that He is a loving and kind God. It is up to us to change our mindset and understand God for who He really is.
The master gives more to the faithful one
We read in Matthew 25:28-29, "Then he ordered, 'Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. (NLT)
We see that the Lord took the one from the unfaithful servant, and notice how he gave it to the one who had ten instead of giving it to the one who had four. Have you wondered why? Someone in the congregation said the one who had ten if given one more will have eleven, and will give back a return of twenty two. The Lord has so much of trust in the first servant that He knew that He could give him any amount and He will be a good and faithful steward of all the resources entrusted to him.
The question that God is asking us is if we are trustworthy? If the answer is yes, the Lord will keep on giving because He know that you will be faithful to use it and multiply it for His glory. We should take the crux of this message right into our lives, and we must live by it. Use all of the resources that God has given to you and the blessings of the Lord will overflow in your lives.
The master gave His own resources to the servants. Whatever the master gave and the returns that they brought the master did not take it for himself, but gave it back to his servants to be a blessing to others. Everything the Lord has given to us is ours, and He will not take it back. If you invest and multiply it, it will come back to you, and you will be a blessing to others.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
