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ARE YOU INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
Someday
the Kingdom of God as we know it today will become a glorious kingdom. A
kingdom where there are no more tears. A kingdom where war in learned
no more. A
kingdom where there will be no more death or mourning or crying in pain,
for the old order of things will have passed away. A kingdom where
at least the main street of the New Jerusalem is paved in gold. A kingdom
where the King of kings rules the whole earth, the new earth, in perfect
righteousness.
That day will not occur until the second coming
of Christ. In regards to the second coming, in regards to the end of
the present form of the kingdom, Jesus told six stories. The stories
are found in Matthew 24:36 - 25. Each story, though rich in its own
regard, is designed to make a single point about the end of the age.
The story of Noah's ark tells us that the second
coming of Christ will come as a surprise. It will come unexpectedly not
only for unbelievers but believers as well. The only difference being
that believers, while surprised, will not be caught off-guard.
The second story of the home owner and the thief
tells us we need to be prepared twenty four hours a day seven days a week;
24/7. It would be nice to know the time and date ahead of time but God
in his wisdom has chosen not to share his divine calendar with us. The
third story of the two servants, one faithful and the other wicked, as shown
by how they handled the delay, tells us that the we will reap what we
sow. The fourth story of the ten virgins, five foolish and five wise,
tells us that if we think we can get ready at the last minute we are wrong.
We now come to the fifth story as found in vv.
14 - 30 of Matthew 25. We read,
"Again, it will be like a man going on
a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15
To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another
one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to
work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained
two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off,
dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
"After a long time the master of those
servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had
received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you
entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
Matt. 25:21 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!
You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"The man with the two talents also came.
'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained
two more.'
"His master replied, 'Well done, good and
faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you
in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"Then the man who had received the one
talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting
where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25
So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here
is what belongs to you.'
"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy
servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where
I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money
on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received
it back with interest.
"'Take the talent from him and give it
to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be
given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what
he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"
Again, at that time. What time? At
that time when the present form of the kingdom is transformed by the second
coming of Christ. At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like it
is when you and I receive our performance reviews. On that day Jesus
Christ is going to sit down with each one of us, or maybe he will be seated
and we will be standing, and say, "Let's see whether or not the Kingdom
of God is better off because of what you did with what I entrusted to you or
not."1
At times like this, it is not unusual for the
employee, the servant, you or I, to sidetrack the discussion by telling our
employer how pleased we are to be working for such a great company, district,
or boss. In particular, we really appreciate the tangible, as well
as the intangible, benefits.
In the situation at hand, we might start off
by telling God how much we appreciate his benefits. There is nothing
wrong with benefits, of course, but that is not the issue at hand. The
issue with the servant is, how did the King's business fare under his or her
management of all that had been entrusted to them. Is the King better
off or not? Has the kingdom of heaven been enhanced, advanced, by their
activities?
Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, put
it this way in his first letter to them.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul?
Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to
each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made
it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but
only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who
waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. (I
Corinthians 3:5 - 9)
In his second letter he put it this way,
So we make it our goal to please him, whether
we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him
for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (II Corinthians
5:9 - 10)
Why would Paul, especially with the Corinthians,
hammer away at the notion that we will all undergo a performance review? Well,
in the case of the Corinthian believers they were so wrapped up in church
politics and in themselves they were failing to prepare for the future.
In his book The KINGDOM Agenda, Tony Evans puts
it this way,
"Given the chance to get what they want,
most teenagers will get it without worrying about whether (or not) they will
be broke next week. Kids don't take investing seriously because they
don't take the future seriously.
"Let me tell you, this is why the lives
of some believers are messed up. They don't seriously believe the
Owner is going to come back and ask them what they did with the time, talents,
and treasure He entrusted to them as His stewards.
"Now most of us prepare for the future
in other areas. We have insurance policies to cover everything we have
and anything that might happen to it.
"In other words, we will do for ourselves
what we won't do for God. We plan for what might happen by buying insurance. But
we fail to plan for what will happen - the return of Jesus Christ and the evaluation
of our stewardship - by wisely investing the life potential He has given us."2
This brings us to the third servant. While
he wasn't given as much as the other two, one silver talent, or possibly gold,
was quite a bit of money. For a talent weighed between 58 to 80 pounds. So
why didn't he invest it? Was he truly so afraid of the master that he
was incapable of doing anything with his resources? Perhaps, but I suspect
he never expected the master to return. If he did return, he could simply
give back the talent without being accused of being a thief - no harm done
or so he figured. If he didn't return, he could spend the money on
himself without some fool banker asking questions about it.
This one-talent man, while deficient in taking
advantage of investment opportunities, wasn't condemned on that basis. However,
his failure to invest revealed what was at the core of his being - unbelief
in a future that involved his master. His wickedness, his unbelief,
and his laziness, his self-indulgence, is particularly tragic in light of
the fact that he was well aware of the first coming of his master.
The other two servants, on the other hand, entered
into their Master's joy (happiness). This word picture of entering into
our Master's joy is a nice picture of the coming kingdom. It's not simply
that being in the presence of Jesus will be a wonderful experience, though
it will certainly be wonderful. Its that the joy he has in himself,
his creation, his work, and his brothers and sisters is contagious.
In part, what this means is that we will be
given work to do that we will really enjoy doing. Judging from what happened
to the five-talent and two-talent men, and considering the fact that there
will be a continuity between the old earth and the new earth, it's possible
that the work we do in the here and now will simply be picked up in the there
and forever after. In other words, there is no such thing as retirement
in heaven. I do hope, however, to enjoy being semiretired.
However, people who have jobs heavily depended
on the death and decay inherent in our fallen world will be temporarily unemployed. I
mean on the New Earth what need will we have for dentist, doctors, lawyers,
police officers, funeral directors, insurance salesman, and comedians? My
suggestion to these people, assuming they know Christ, is that they begin
occupying themselves with something that could lead to a second career; a
career with a future!
In my case, since teaching may very well
be eliminated as a worthy occupation, I've gotten into yard work. The
way I figure it, maintaining the lushness of the New Earth will need someone
who knows how to mow and to prune all kinds of plants, bushes, and trees. So
for the past several years I've been in an apprenticeship program that is teaching
me how to mow and prune properly. The bad part about the program is that
some bushes and trees have suffered by my lack of knowledge. The good
part, is that I get to meet all sorts of interesting people who need to have
their yards maintained. What are you doing to prepare for the future?