Enter Into the Joy of Your Master
Two parables of Jesus that have been on my mind the last few years are the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25) and the Parable of the Minas (Luke 19). Though the parables are different in a number of ways, the primary message is the same in both: We must be faithful with what God has given us, and by doing so, we will therefore assume more responsibility in His Kingdom.
These parables are rather sobering in that they speak not only of the rewards of being faithful, but we see the severe consequences of not being faithful with what God has given us. In fact, those consequences are incurred by doing absolutely! Sadly, “doing nothing” may represent the state of most who call themselves Christians. We have been given so much. We have been given the glorious gospel. We have been placed “in Christ” and therefore have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). We have been given a call and set of gifts that no one else on earth possesses. He has equipped us to do His work through the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer, and the fact that Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us (Hebrews 7:24-25). We have been given finances, health, time, and gifts that He desires for us to use for His purposes. And yet we often continue to serve our own interests and personal agenda. Too many do nothing or just the minimum when comes to the purposes of the Kingdom of God.
There are many truths found in these parables. Today, I want to draw our attention to what the Master says to the faithful servants in the Parable of the Talents. Because they were faithful and multiplied what had been given them, the Master says, “Well, done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” In a world starving for true joy, Jesus tells us that being faithful is the road we must walk to obtain true joy. The enemy has lied to us by suggesting that serving faithfully and sacrificially will rob us of life. It falls in that same category of deception that says we need to live for ourselves, that we must look after “me” first, and that we must spend excessive time on ourselves. We see books on 100 things to do before you die or 100 places to go. In short, in our quest to find happiness and contentment, we miss what Jesus had to say about true joy. When we are faithful with what God has given us, we will enter into His joy! Yes, being faithful will mean sacrifice. It will mean hard work. It will mean not spending time on ourselves. But the result? Joy…..both here on this earth, and in the age to come!
Abiding in Joy 