To everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance

Matthew 25:1-30 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take extra oil with them; ⁴ but the prudent ones took oil in flasks with their lamps. ⁵ Now while the groom was delaying, they all became drowsy and began to sleep. ⁶ But at midnight there finally was a shout: ‘Behold, the groom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ But the foolish virgins said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ However, the prudent ones answered, ‘No, there most certainly would not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the groom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. ¹¹ Yet later, the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ ¹² But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour.

¹⁴ “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents. ¹⁷ In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more. ¹⁸ But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹ “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

²² “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

²⁴ “Now the one who had received the one talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’

²⁶ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ²⁸ Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹ “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ³⁰ And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In our culture and society there is a focus on accumulating wealth. There are people who make their living helping others to achieve their financial goals. There are many varied strategies regarding the best way to accomplish that goal. Few if any financial advisors would agree with the strategy promoted in scripture. In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus says: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  According to Jesus we should not focus on the strategies that will help us accumulate an excess of resources here on earth, but rather we should focus on storing up treasure in the heavenly realm.

The difference in how we store up treasure in heaven vs how the world stores up treasure is described in today’s text. It says: “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. The one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents. In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.  “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ Now the one who had received the one talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’ But his master answered and said to him, ‘You worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   The key to storing up treasure in heaven, is to use all that we have in the Master’s service. Regardless of how much or how little we have, it will be multiplied back to us if we faithfully use it for the kingdom. In the end, those who try to hold onto and hoard their resources will lose what they have, either by moth and rust which destroy, thieves  who break in and steal, or their life will end and all that they have accumulated will become someone else’s. In Mark 8:36 Jesus asks: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”  

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The one who serves money will always be left seeking more. Serving God is the best investment strategy we could possibly engage in. There is absolutely no risk and the return is more than we could ever imagine. Malachi 3:10-12 says: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies.  “All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.The truth is: all that we have is really God’s anyway. We are only stewards of it by His grace.

1. We give thee but thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be,
For all we have is thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from thee.

2. May we thy bounties thus
As stewards true receive,
And gladly, as thou blessest us,
To thee our firstfruits give.

3. To comfort and to bless,
To find a balm for woe,
To tend the lone and fatherless
Is angels’ work below.

4. And we believe thy word,
Tho dim our faith may be;
Whate’er we do for thine, O Lord,
We do it unto thee.  Amen