Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as

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I was reading the Baptist and Reflector when I came upon an article written by Chris Turner, the Director of Communications for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. The article was pretty good. Called “Do You Really Want To Go Back To Normal?” He said some good stuff. For instance:

“What if God’s intention in allowing the COVID-19 virus to sweep around the world, massively disrupting everyone’s “normal” lives, is so that we would turn our attention toward Him? What if the helplessness we feel is so that we will acknowledge our comprehensive dependence upon Him, seek Him for salvation, and worship Him as He deserves to be worshiped? … An idol is anything that is loved more than God; that ascribes more value to the object than to the Creator. I do not like disruption, and I’ve said numerous times: “I just want my life back!” Just claiming ownership of my life exposes my faulty thinking. … It strikes me as arrogantly presumptuous to assume God will again accommodate us with lives that really weren’t all that focused on Him to begin with. How would a return to that normal benefit us? … Let’s be honest, it’s easy to live “the Christian life” in America without God’s help. Jesus is stretched across our culture like a security blanket under which the evangelical church quietly slumbers.”

That’s pretty powerful stuff. What particularly caught my attention was the statement:

“Let’s be honest, it’s easy to live “the Christian life” in America without God’s help. Jesus is stretched across our culture like a security blanket under which the evangelical church quietly slumbers.”

Are We “Living The Christian Life”
If We Are Just Like The World?

What makes a “Christian” different from a “non-Christian”? Is there any difference?

After reading this I went outside to work on my lawn. Thursday is the day I “take off” from the Pastorate in order to take care of my wife and home. I “take off” so I can work around the house – but I never “take off” from being a Christ follower. As I am picking up blown down tree limbs the Lord begins to speak to my heart via His Scripture.

In America we have confused the FREE GIFT of salvation with the necessary FRUIT of salvation.

The statement “it’s easy to live the ‘Christian life’ in America” shows how far we have wandered from God. The offer of salvation is free, based upon faith in Christ. But once you are saved by faith in Christ God expects you to STOP working for darkness and BEGIN working for His Kingdom.

Salvation changes you. Salvation changes your fruit.
Jesus said:

You MUST be born again (John 3:7)
You MUST bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:17; 12:33)
You SHALL BE hated of all because of Me (Matthew 10:22)

 In America we wrongly teach that every Christian born into the family of God is just like the thief who died on the Cross next to Jesus (Luke 23:42). This man could not go for Jesus because his feet were nailed to cross. This man could not serve Jesus because his hands were nailed to a cross. If this man were free he would have served Jesus, for even in agony, suffering, nails rending his flesh he uttered:

“Lord, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom!”

Those who have come to Christ are more than “Facebook Friends” of God. Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:24). The promise of the New Covenant is a new mind and a new heart. God said:

Jeremiah 31:33-34 … I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Forgiveness of sin comes with it a new heart and a new want to. The Christian is an essential component of both the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Christians SEEK the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)

Christians LIVE FOR the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3, 10)

The Kingdom of God is within the Christian (Luke 17:21)

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand for the Christian (Matthew 3:2; 4:17)

The Kingdom of God grows as Christians are made (Mark 4:31)

The Christian’s works will be judged in Heaven (Matthew 5:19)

The Christian receives the Kingdom of God as a little child (Mark 10:15)

Christians live for the Kingdom of God NOW, looking toward the Kingdom of Heaven LATER.

Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as

Our text today is on “the Kingdom of HEAVEN”. Who will go into Heaven?

Jesus Said We Are Saved To Serve

Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Jesus wants us to understand the Kingdom of Heaven. The “Man traveling in a far country” is our God and Savior. This “Man” was foretold in the prophecies of Scripture. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

“Immanuel” literally translates as “God with us”. How can God be with us? The Lord told Moses – a man He considered a friend –

Exodus 33:20 … Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

We are so sinful, and God so holy, that for us to see Him in His purity I believe the shock would kill us. It is only “the Lord Who is my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer. He is my Shield, my High Tower, my Refuge, my Savior” (2 Samuel 22:2-3). God comes to us in Jesus. Jesus told Philip:

John 14:9 … Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father …

We could not see the Father’s face without dying – so Father sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus. The Apostle said:

2 Corinthians 4:5-6 … For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We see the “glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. Blessed God Eternal became Man, Perfect Man without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus Christ came to this earth to establish the Kingdom of God on this earth, and to make a way to the Kingdom of Heaven for His people.

He did this by giving His life for us. Jesus Christ laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:15). Jesus laid down His life for our sins, and rose again for us (John 10:17). Oh Blessed Redeemer,

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Though we were the enemies of God, though we have all sinned and fallen far short of God’s glory, this Man from a far country came to us. He is God, God the Son, God incarnate, God become flesh. He did what He commands us to do.

1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because {God} laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

I am in love with this Man from a far country. He did not just die to take me to Heaven, but He died to relieve me from this present Hell. Oh how horrible life was before I met my Jesus! I lived in fear. Fear of death. Fear of life. Fear. I lived worrying about death, and yet in my confusion courted death. The Bible says:

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I lived day by day bound in slavery to sin and death, doing those things that were harmful. But then this Man from a far country came to me. With His nail scarred hands He reached out to me, saying, “I died for you”.

Galatians 2:19-20 I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Jesus Christ died for me.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that {Jesus Christ} died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Jesus did not die for me and you that we could go on serving the devil, the world, and the flesh. He died for us so that we might serve the Kingdom of God. Jesus died for us so that one day we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus Gave Us His Goods

Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Jesus calls His servants. We are to serve Him. If we are His sheep, and the people of His pasture (Psalm 95:7), the we are to serve Him. We are entrusted with “His goods”. What has Jesus Christ given us?

Jesus gave us His life.
Jesus gave us eternal life.

1 John 5:11-12 God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19 … know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Jesus gave us status as Children of God.

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Jesus gave us commandments.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Jesus gave us a duty. If you are saved you serve Him.

Matthew 25:15 … And unto one {Jesus} gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

The Man traveling into a far country gave to each servant talents. He did not give each person the same talent. The Man did not discriminate in giving the talents, but gave to every person according to his or her ability. He knew what the servant was capable of. One thing the Master did not do was give a servant nothing to do.

Every servant has something to do for the Master!

One of my favorite Scriptures is found in Ephesians chapter 2. The text says:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation is not of works. We cannot earn, nor can we ever deserve our salvation. We are justified – made right with God freely – through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life (John 3:36). What is the work of God we MUST do? Believe on the One Whom God hath sent (John 6:29). We preach with the Apostles of old, “Believe on the lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31). Salvation is not of works. BUT if you are saved, then you MUST read verse 10:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Saved by grace, each Christian is called to GOOD WORKS for the Kingdom. Some are given five talents. What you received, you received of grace and mercy. Invest it! Live for the Master.

Matthew 25:16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

The Apostle Paul was given five talents. Did Paul sit down and do nothing? No. He said:

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 … I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Paul took no credit for his laboring for Jesus. When Grace is bestowed the heart is changed. The greater the sinner, the greater the worker. Paul labored for Jesus because his heart was changed. God indwelt him.

2 Corinthians 6:1 … We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye RECEIVE NOT THE GRACE OF GOD IN VAIN.

We have been given the Master’s goods. Let us invest them, and God will give the increase. The talents must be planted, and you must do so. But if you do so, God will give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Matthew 25:17-18 17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. 18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

The servant with two talents invested what God had given him – but the servant with one talent did absolutely nothing. He hid his Lord’s money.

The Gospel of salvation is a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a net, when thrown, will gather in many into God’s Heaven (Matthew 13:47).

The Gospel that saved you will save others. It is to be invested in others, just as it was invested in you. It cannot be buried. If you love Jesus, you must tell others of Him. You must live your lives so others see Christ in you. You must not “hide your light under a basket” (Matthew 5:16).

A Day Of Reckoning Is Coming

Matthew 25:19 … After a LONG TIME the Lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

There is a day of reckoning coming for every person.

“We must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

We must stand before our Lord when we meet Him in Heaven – if we meet Him in Heaven. I say “if” because, dear ones, I do not believe that the Scripture says you can be saved and work NOT AT ALL for Jesus. I do not believe it. I do not believe the Scripture teaches this!

Matthew 25:20-23 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. 23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Christ commended the one who doubled his five talents equally as he did the one who doubled his two talents. If you have been given little, but have invested it for God’s glory, then God will bless you beyond measure.

Matthew 19:27 … Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

Jesus tells us:

Matthew 19:29 …. every one that hath FORSAKEN houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

If you have served Jesus with what He gave you, if you have honored the Father Who loves you, and lived by the Spirit of God Who indwells you, when payday comes – and it will come – you will be blessed beyond anything you have given up. But what of the one who hid their talent? What of that one?

Matthew 25:24-30 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Where in the Bible do you see “the Kingdom of Heaven” having “outer darkness”? Where in the Bible is it taught that in Heaven there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth?”

I cannot find it. I have looked, but cannot find it. Heaven is pictured as a place of joy, of happiness, of peace. Who is cast into “outer darkness”? It is the one who came to the wedding feast in his street clothes (Matthew 22:12-14). No effort was made to glorify the Lord. We who are saved are overcomers:

Revelation 21:7-8 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Are you saved? Are you? I am not your judge. Jesus Christ is your judge. If you are saved, you will live for Jesus. Not just on Sunday morning, but every day. Not just while Church services are in session, but every day. Not just when the preacher visits, but every day. The Christian, saved by faith, born again of the Spirit of God, is marked by a heart that loves the Master, and therefore wants to glorify the Master. Be more than a Christian in name only. Let Christ have all of you! Let Jesus have all that you are!

May God touch your hearts through His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen.