I speak to you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
Matthew Henry wrote this about Genesis 1:28
“A numerous lasting family, to enjoy this inheritance . . . in virtue of which their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth and continue to the utmost period of time.”
God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. It is important to state that Jesus Christ lived on earth for Thirty-Three years and was neither married nor had children but his impact on humanity can never be over-emphasized. Today we are being admonished to be fruitful and multiply. God in his infinite mercy has given all of us ministries and he wants all of us to multiply and stir up the gifts of God in us.
Dear people of God, Jesus Christ is coming and at his coming each one of us is going to account for our stewardship and the lives we have led in this world. 1 Thessalonians is very clear
“For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
We must therefore be ready and prepared for his coming and give a good account of our various ministries an account that will portray our faithfulness to him.
The Church is the virtuous woman in the readings from Proverbs and it tells us what the church of God ought to be. It is evident to all of us that the faithfulness of the church must never be compromised. The church should never give up or be tired irrespective of the challenges but must continue to stay faithful to multiply. The reading from Matthew is all about the importance God attaches to growth, hard work, and multiplication. This is an enterprise that you and I cannot fail because we will all account for our stewardship when our Lord and Master come in his glory.
The parable in Matthew 25 makes it clear that the master was travelling, and so called his servants and delivered unto them his goods and here it is called talents. It is very important to state that they were the servants of this man, they were not his friends nor was he related to them. They were his servants and therefore had authority and control over them. The master was not under any obligation to even give them the talents. He gave them the talents because he had the interests of the servants at heart. He knew the servants and therefore gave them talents according to their abilities so that none of them would be overwhelmed by what was expected of them.
Dear people of God we have all been given different ministries, abilities, gifts, opportunities etc according to our abilities and it is God who has given these talents to us. God is not under any obligation to do that, but he has done it because of the love he has for us and his desire to help us develop and grow. God has given us these ministries to enhance the growth of the assembly and therefore every role is very important, so it is counter-productive when we try to belittle certain ministries in the church of God. All that God wants in return is to be fruitful and multiply. Every creature of God is expected to be fruitful and multiply and this is very clear in Genesis 1:28
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This is from the very beginning depicting the fact that our ministries must grow, flourish, and present a positive image to the rest of the world. Even in the ecosystem things multiply and each of the members of the ecosystem has its importance. When something fails to multiply or improve it ends up losing its relevance.
In the parable, all except one were able to multiply their talents, this last servant was described as lazy by the master. This means he was not willing to take risks, not ready to think outside the box, not ready to ask for support or ideas and unwilling to take up a challenge. He boldly told the master
“ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”
(Matthew 25:24-25).
He had his perception of his master and allowed it to influence his actions. Dear people of God can we think of the number of times our perceptions have prevented us from doing the right things as Christians? The servant could not put aside his opinion about the master, so he lost the talent the master gave him and ended up with no reward.
This third servant did not think of the fact that it was the master who first gave. The one who gives is someone who loves and cares about you and your well-being. God loved us so much, so he first gave us his beloved son and poured on us different ministries for the growth and development of his church. When God gives, he is not interested in our flaws and therefore does not influence his giving rather he allows us to excel all the time. Jesus Christ always gives us the opportunity regardless of our faults.
The two who multiplied their talents were praised by the master in these words
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
They were appreciated and elevated because they were faithful over a few things. They were rewarded because they were faithful, and they received the same reward although they were given different talents. Our reward is the same and all that God demands from us is our faithfulness and when we are faithful there will be growth and multiplication.
We have all been given different ministries, we will all account for our stewardship so we must be faithful in the little we have been given because God says if you must die, keep faithful and I will give you the crown of life. AMEN