Servants Count the Master's Silver TalentsBible World
19:12Luke 19:12
He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
The nobleman is Christ going away to a higher kingdom to receive confirmation and title as King before coming back again. Before He leaves He places His goods in the hands of all His servants, each receiving ability, means and opportunity in trust with the charge to put it to faithful use until He returns. His absence corrects the hope of an immediate kingdom, for He must first suffer rejection and complete His priestly work in heaven while His people wait, work and face conflict. When He receives the kingdom and returns to sit in judgment He calls His servants to account for their trading and rewards faithful gain with proportionate authority, while mere profession counts for nothing. Burying what was entrusted through idleness and selfish use brings loss and condemnation, but talents exercised for others grow and bring increase to the glory of the Giver.
Nobleman's Going and Return
The nobleman is Christ, who goes into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return. Before leaving He calls His ten servants and delivers them ten pounds with the command to occupy till He comes, an entrusting done in great mercy and love for work to be carried out in cooperation with God until He comes. He receives the kingdom before returning, and when He comes again He will sit on His throne of glory at the final judgment, when the righteous are rewarded, the wicked punished, and His kingdom is established. During His absence His followers must not hide what has been entrusted but use abilities, money, influence, light and truth to bring others to the truth, for neglecting that trust is unsafe and unfaithfulness will bring lasting loss.
The far country is a higher, more powerful kingdom where One having rightful claim to a kingdom must go to receive confirmation and title, so His kingdom is not thoroughly established until after He goes away and comes again. That going applies to His leaving His place before the Father to stand as High Priest in the heavenly Most Holy Place at the end of the 2300 days before returning to receive His people. Those who wait for that return are to keep their garments spotless.
His departure corrects the expectation that God's kingdom would appear immediately, for He had first to suffer rejection and crucifixion before His triumph was complete. He therefore had to go to heaven to receive the kingdom and return, and His servants must work and face conflict before sharing the victory, faithfully using the truth entrusted to them while awaiting Him. His going was not for worldly pleasure or extravagance, but a self-denying mission in which He left heaven, took human nature, and became poor so that people might be made rich and learn self-denial for others. While absent He prepares mansions for His people and gives them the privilege of working with Him to prepare souls to enter them, testing whether they love the gift more than the Giver and calling them to use means for God's glory and the saving of souls rather than for pride or envy.
While He is gone His citizens hate Him and send word that they will not have Him reign over them. He is now absent, having gone to receive a kingdom and to return, and is soon to come again having lent His goods and entrusted talents to His people. The time of His absence is a time of testing and trial in which each person decides future destiny by the way the given work is done, as His helping hand ever on duty for the uplifting of those for whom He gave His life.
Goods Entrusted for Service
Before leaving he calls his ten servants and delivers to them his goods, ten pounds, with the command to occupy till he comes, an entrusting done in great mercy and love that frames the time before his return as their opportunity to work faithfully. The servants must put what they have received to use and give an account when he returns, and their reward or punishment depends on how they used what was entrusted, since hiding a talent instead of putting it to work is the slothful servant's failure. Every person from the lowliest to the highest receives talents in trust proportioned to capabilities, with earnest, sacred work to do and no excuse for idleness. The gifts differ in amount according to abilities, yet even those given little are responsible to put it to use, and faithful work with one talent is as valuable in his sight as faithful work with five.
The entrusted capital is his own goods lent to be managed for him, and it includes light, truth, and all spiritual advantages to be invested, traded, and increased by use. It includes personal abilities, means, money, houses, lands, opportunities, and every other talent, provided to advance the work of saving souls and to test whether people love the gift more than the Giver. They belong to the Lord and are to be put to work for his cause and his glory, not for pride, envy, self-glory, or selfish desires, and unfaithfulness in rendering to God his own forfeits the blessing of what was entrusted.
The work entrusted is Christ's work, not man's own work and not merely care for oneself: a broad work of mercy and love carried out in cooperation with God. To occupy till he comes means to be laborers together with God in his lines, imbued with the Spirit of Christ, working according to the best knowledge received, letting light shine to those around, loosing the bands of wickedness, undoing heavy burdens, letting the oppressed go free, and breaking every yoke, which cannot be done by intellect or education alone nor bought with money, eloquence, or intellectual power, for grace and ability come from above. So placed, mind, soul, and strength come under the control of the Holy Spirit, and men and women cooperate in most perfect harmony with his appointed agencies in molding human character after the divine similitude, while failure so to connect robs God. That work is to watch for opportunity to represent the truth to others, win souls to Jesus Christ, rescue people for eternal life, and make Christ known to the perishing world. It is given to every follower and to every professed disciple for enlightening others, not to ministers alone, as his helping hand ever on duty and always working for the uplifting of those for whom he gave his life.
No gain is possible without the Lord's initial gift and deposit, so success comes from him; diligent trading earns no personal merit, and the faithful servant takes no credit but gives him all praise and glory. Talents exercised grow into greater capability, while power left unused is lost, as seed that does not struggle above the soil and spring into life loses its power to germinate. As what is received is imparted to others it is received more richly and increased, including increase through people brought to the knowledge of the truth, whereas gifts buried through self-indulgence or refusal to use them are lost and lead to separation from God.
Reckoning, Reward and Loss
The kingdom is received before the return, and at His coming again He sits upon His throne of glory at the final judgment, when the righteous are rewarded, the wicked punished, and His kingdom established. When He has so received the kingdom He commands His servants to be called to Him that He may know how much every man has gained by trading. The use of what is entrusted to each person will be examined, for the entrusted capital must be improved and the Lord expects to receive back what is His with increase and with usury. Every man from the lowliest to the highest is thus held to a day of final account and reckoning for talents proportioned to his capabilities, with earnest sacred work to do and no excuse for idleness.
Reward corresponds to faithful work and gain, for the faithful are given authority over cities in proportion to their gain. Faithfulness in doing the work given decides each person's reward, so that faithful work with one talent is as valuable in God's sight as faithful work with five talents, and diligent honest service is commended not for the size of the gift. The time before His return is the servants' opportunity to work faithfully, and not a second probation. Each servant will answer for what was entrusted and receive reward or punishment in keeping with its use.
A profession of faith in Christ alone counts for nothing, and having a name on the church books does not secure entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Servants justified by faith are judged by their works, because genuine faith is shown by love expressed in works, working by love and purifying the soul of moral defilement to become a temple for the Lord. God will ask whether opportunities were used, whether there was faithful trading with His goods, whether His known will was obeyed, whether those needing help and encouragement were benefited and blessed, and whether help was given in the work of salvation. Light, truth, and all spiritual advantages are the Master's capital to be invested, traded, and increased by use, and to be returned to Him with corresponding increase, since no gain is possible without His deposit and diligent trading earns no personal merit but gives all credit and glory to the Lord.
The servant who laid up his pound in a napkin and buried it in the earth accused his Lord of being austere, taking up where He laid not down and reaping where He did not sow. He manifested an avaricious, ungenerous, unjust, distrustful and jealous spirit, claimed great discernment while thinking the Lord possessed a spirit like his own, and showed by his words that he knew not the Lord. The hard attributes belonged to himself, not to his Lord, and the principles that led him to rob God of His talent made him ungenerous and led him to covet that which was not his own. He neglected what he could have done and wrongly blamed his lord, and he would have been unfaithful even if given more. Burying the talent bound in a napkin in the earth means letting souls die through idleness in the marketplace, slothfulness, and doing nothing for Christ. To hide the entrusted money in this way is to embezzle the Lord's goods, to misappropriate them and divert and bind them away from His cause. God sees all such misuse, it is done under His displeasure, His curse follows such selfish planning, He cannot and will not sanction or prosper work carried on that way, and slothfulness in using those goods and selfishly withholding what belongs to the Lord retards His work. Gifts honestly put to work are increased, while neglecting them causes even what one has to be lost, ending in separation from God and loss of the soul.
The time of His absence is a time of testing and trial in which each person decides his future destiny by the way he does the work Christ has given him to do. Christ's servants are to be His helping hand, ever on duty and always working for the uplifting of those for whom He gave His life. They are to fear neglecting their God-given work or falling short of God's plan for them.
Faithful Stewardship in Practice
Entrusted gifts are lent to be put to work for the good of others and for God's glory, and an account of them will be required. Every talent, opportunity, resource, and spiritual advantage is to be developed and used for the Lord's service and the saving of souls, not for selfish purposes, and returned to Him with increase. Greater gifts bring greater responsibility, and reward depends on faithful use.
Houses, lands, money, means, and property are lent to be used faithfully while awaiting return, not buried or kept unused. They are to be used while alive to advance God's cause, support missions and places of worship, save souls, help suffering institutions, and relieve the afflicted. Money so given is placed in Christ's hands in the person of His afflicted brethren, and rightly employing property in this way has eternal consequences, while angels are commissioned to help when His people do their part in planning, working, and bringing offerings of what was entrusted.
The work of using means is what was left for each owner to do himself and must not be shifted to children after death. Each person is to manage and improve his own entrusted abilities and means rather than surrendering that stewardship to someone else, and is accountable for work he could have done with them. A steward acts on the Master's behalf and treats the Master's interests as his own, must not use entrusted goods selfishly for personal gain, and invests where His Spirit indicates according to ability.
No person or council should diminish, control, or take over another person's entrusted work, because that individual responsibility and accountability cannot be transferred. Even small gifts can serve God when faithfully used according to ability, and faithfulness in using them is what matters. The gold and silver, the vineyard, and the people themselves are the Lord's property, given to be used without human restriction where the field is in greatest need, to enter new fields and lift the standard of truth.
This sacred trust, including money, houses, and lands, differs in amount yet even those with little are responsible to use it faithfully to advance His work and build His kingdom. It must not be used for self-glory, selfish desires and personal gain, self-indulgence, pride, envy, or needless display. The owner's return and investigation tests whether people were faithful with what they held temporarily, and diverting resources from God's work makes them unfaithful stewards, while those who pass receive reward, riches, honor, and glory.
No one is compelled to present tithe, gifts, and offerings, yet unfaithfulness in rendering to God His own forfeits the blessing of what was entrusted. The Lord has given to every man his work to do in co-partnership with Him, to connect with his Maker, give himself to His service, and trade upon His entrusted gifts. Faithful stewardship exercises frugality and self-denial and aims with one object to give the message of truth not only in the home neighborhood but in regions beyond. Cherishing love of the truth and the sanctification received through it banishes avarice, overreaching, and every species of dishonesty. Right use places mind, soul, and strength under the control of the Holy Spirit, making men and women laborers together with God in molding character after the divine similitude, and when they do not so connect with Him, God is robbed.
Grasping living faith in Christ's divinity enables dependence on divine power by which tempers, dispositions, and unbelief are overcome. Talents exercised grow into greater capability, while power left unused is lost like seed that never springs to life. Using entrusted talents aright and trading upon them to increase them brings power and earnest peace in Christ. Daily purifying and refining and sanctification that lifts souls to a higher standard of character is required, with growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The nobleman is Christ going away to a higher kingdom to receive confirmation and title as King before coming back again. Before He leaves He places His goods in the hands of all His servants, each receiving ability, means and opportunity in trust with the charge to put it to faithful use until He returns. His absence corrects the hope of an immediate kingdom, for He must first suffer rejection and complete His priestly work in heaven while His people wait, work and face conflict. When He receives the kingdom and returns to sit in judgment He calls His servants to account for their trading and rewards faithful gain with proportionate authority, while mere profession counts for nothing. Burying what was entrusted through idleness and selfish use brings loss and condemnation, but talents exercised for others grow and bring increase to the glory of the Giver.
Nobleman's Going and Return
The nobleman is Christ, who goes into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return. Before leaving He calls His ten servants and delivers them ten pounds with the command to occupy till He comes, an entrusting done in great mercy and love for work to be carried out in cooperation with God until He comes. He receives the kingdom before returning, and when He comes again He will sit on His throne of glory at the final judgment, when the righteous are rewarded, the wicked punished, and His kingdom is established. During His absence His followers must not hide what has been entrusted but use abilities, money, influence, light and truth to bring others to the truth, for neglecting that trust is unsafe and unfaithfulness will bring lasting loss.
The far country is a higher, more powerful kingdom where One having rightful claim to a kingdom must go to receive confirmation and title, so His kingdom is not thoroughly established until after He goes away and comes again. That going applies to His leaving His place before the Father to stand as High Priest in the heavenly Most Holy Place at the end of the 2300 days before returning to receive His people. Those who wait for that return are to keep their garments spotless.
His departure corrects the expectation that God's kingdom would appear immediately, for He had first to suffer rejection and crucifixion before His triumph was complete. He therefore had to go to heaven to receive the kingdom and return, and His servants must work and face conflict before sharing the victory, faithfully using the truth entrusted to them while awaiting Him. His going was not for worldly pleasure or extravagance, but a self-denying mission in which He left heaven, took human nature, and became poor so that people might be made rich and learn self-denial for others. While absent He prepares mansions for His people and gives them the privilege of working with Him to prepare souls to enter them, testing whether they love the gift more than the Giver and calling them to use means for God's glory and the saving of souls rather than for pride or envy.
While He is gone His citizens hate Him and send word that they will not have Him reign over them. He is now absent, having gone to receive a kingdom and to return, and is soon to come again having lent His goods and entrusted talents to His people. The time of His absence is a time of testing and trial in which each person decides future destiny by the way the given work is done, as His helping hand ever on duty for the uplifting of those for whom He gave His life.
Goods Entrusted for Service
Before leaving he calls his ten servants and delivers to them his goods, ten pounds, with the command to occupy till he comes, an entrusting done in great mercy and love that frames the time before his return as their opportunity to work faithfully. The servants must put what they have received to use and give an account when he returns, and their reward or punishment depends on how they used what was entrusted, since hiding a talent instead of putting it to work is the slothful servant's failure. Every person from the lowliest to the highest receives talents in trust proportioned to capabilities, with earnest, sacred work to do and no excuse for idleness. The gifts differ in amount according to abilities, yet even those given little are responsible to put it to use, and faithful work with one talent is as valuable in his sight as faithful work with five.
The entrusted capital is his own goods lent to be managed for him, and it includes light, truth, and all spiritual advantages to be invested, traded, and increased by use. It includes personal abilities, means, money, houses, lands, opportunities, and every other talent, provided to advance the work of saving souls and to test whether people love the gift more than the Giver. They belong to the Lord and are to be put to work for his cause and his glory, not for pride, envy, self-glory, or selfish desires, and unfaithfulness in rendering to God his own forfeits the blessing of what was entrusted.
The work entrusted is Christ's work, not man's own work and not merely care for oneself: a broad work of mercy and love carried out in cooperation with God. To occupy till he comes means to be laborers together with God in his lines, imbued with the Spirit of Christ, working according to the best knowledge received, letting light shine to those around, loosing the bands of wickedness, undoing heavy burdens, letting the oppressed go free, and breaking every yoke, which cannot be done by intellect or education alone nor bought with money, eloquence, or intellectual power, for grace and ability come from above. So placed, mind, soul, and strength come under the control of the Holy Spirit, and men and women cooperate in most perfect harmony with his appointed agencies in molding human character after the divine similitude, while failure so to connect robs God. That work is to watch for opportunity to represent the truth to others, win souls to Jesus Christ, rescue people for eternal life, and make Christ known to the perishing world. It is given to every follower and to every professed disciple for enlightening others, not to ministers alone, as his helping hand ever on duty and always working for the uplifting of those for whom he gave his life.
No gain is possible without the Lord's initial gift and deposit, so success comes from him; diligent trading earns no personal merit, and the faithful servant takes no credit but gives him all praise and glory. Talents exercised grow into greater capability, while power left unused is lost, as seed that does not struggle above the soil and spring into life loses its power to germinate. As what is received is imparted to others it is received more richly and increased, including increase through people brought to the knowledge of the truth, whereas gifts buried through self-indulgence or refusal to use them are lost and lead to separation from God.
Reckoning, Reward and Loss
The kingdom is received before the return, and at His coming again He sits upon His throne of glory at the final judgment, when the righteous are rewarded, the wicked punished, and His kingdom established. When He has so received the kingdom He commands His servants to be called to Him that He may know how much every man has gained by trading. The use of what is entrusted to each person will be examined, for the entrusted capital must be improved and the Lord expects to receive back what is His with increase and with usury. Every man from the lowliest to the highest is thus held to a day of final account and reckoning for talents proportioned to his capabilities, with earnest sacred work to do and no excuse for idleness.
Reward corresponds to faithful work and gain, for the faithful are given authority over cities in proportion to their gain. Faithfulness in doing the work given decides each person's reward, so that faithful work with one talent is as valuable in God's sight as faithful work with five talents, and diligent honest service is commended not for the size of the gift. The time before His return is the servants' opportunity to work faithfully, and not a second probation. Each servant will answer for what was entrusted and receive reward or punishment in keeping with its use.
A profession of faith in Christ alone counts for nothing, and having a name on the church books does not secure entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Servants justified by faith are judged by their works, because genuine faith is shown by love expressed in works, working by love and purifying the soul of moral defilement to become a temple for the Lord. God will ask whether opportunities were used, whether there was faithful trading with His goods, whether His known will was obeyed, whether those needing help and encouragement were benefited and blessed, and whether help was given in the work of salvation. Light, truth, and all spiritual advantages are the Master's capital to be invested, traded, and increased by use, and to be returned to Him with corresponding increase, since no gain is possible without His deposit and diligent trading earns no personal merit but gives all credit and glory to the Lord.
The servant who laid up his pound in a napkin and buried it in the earth accused his Lord of being austere, taking up where He laid not down and reaping where He did not sow. He manifested an avaricious, ungenerous, unjust, distrustful and jealous spirit, claimed great discernment while thinking the Lord possessed a spirit like his own, and showed by his words that he knew not the Lord. The hard attributes belonged to himself, not to his Lord, and the principles that led him to rob God of His talent made him ungenerous and led him to covet that which was not his own. He neglected what he could have done and wrongly blamed his lord, and he would have been unfaithful even if given more. Burying the talent bound in a napkin in the earth means letting souls die through idleness in the marketplace, slothfulness, and doing nothing for Christ. To hide the entrusted money in this way is to embezzle the Lord's goods, to misappropriate them and divert and bind them away from His cause. God sees all such misuse, it is done under His displeasure, His curse follows such selfish planning, He cannot and will not sanction or prosper work carried on that way, and slothfulness in using those goods and selfishly withholding what belongs to the Lord retards His work. Gifts honestly put to work are increased, while neglecting them causes even what one has to be lost, ending in separation from God and loss of the soul.
The time of His absence is a time of testing and trial in which each person decides his future destiny by the way he does the work Christ has given him to do. Christ's servants are to be His helping hand, ever on duty and always working for the uplifting of those for whom He gave His life. They are to fear neglecting their God-given work or falling short of God's plan for them.
Faithful Stewardship in Practice
Entrusted gifts are lent to be put to work for the good of others and for God's glory, and an account of them will be required. Every talent, opportunity, resource, and spiritual advantage is to be developed and used for the Lord's service and the saving of souls, not for selfish purposes, and returned to Him with increase. Greater gifts bring greater responsibility, and reward depends on faithful use.
Houses, lands, money, means, and property are lent to be used faithfully while awaiting return, not buried or kept unused. They are to be used while alive to advance God's cause, support missions and places of worship, save souls, help suffering institutions, and relieve the afflicted. Money so given is placed in Christ's hands in the person of His afflicted brethren, and rightly employing property in this way has eternal consequences, while angels are commissioned to help when His people do their part in planning, working, and bringing offerings of what was entrusted.
The work of using means is what was left for each owner to do himself and must not be shifted to children after death. Each person is to manage and improve his own entrusted abilities and means rather than surrendering that stewardship to someone else, and is accountable for work he could have done with them. A steward acts on the Master's behalf and treats the Master's interests as his own, must not use entrusted goods selfishly for personal gain, and invests where His Spirit indicates according to ability.
No person or council should diminish, control, or take over another person's entrusted work, because that individual responsibility and accountability cannot be transferred. Even small gifts can serve God when faithfully used according to ability, and faithfulness in using them is what matters. The gold and silver, the vineyard, and the people themselves are the Lord's property, given to be used without human restriction where the field is in greatest need, to enter new fields and lift the standard of truth.
This sacred trust, including money, houses, and lands, differs in amount yet even those with little are responsible to use it faithfully to advance His work and build His kingdom. It must not be used for self-glory, selfish desires and personal gain, self-indulgence, pride, envy, or needless display. The owner's return and investigation tests whether people were faithful with what they held temporarily, and diverting resources from God's work makes them unfaithful stewards, while those who pass receive reward, riches, honor, and glory.
No one is compelled to present tithe, gifts, and offerings, yet unfaithfulness in rendering to God His own forfeits the blessing of what was entrusted. The Lord has given to every man his work to do in co-partnership with Him, to connect with his Maker, give himself to His service, and trade upon His entrusted gifts. Faithful stewardship exercises frugality and self-denial and aims with one object to give the message of truth not only in the home neighborhood but in regions beyond. Cherishing love of the truth and the sanctification received through it banishes avarice, overreaching, and every species of dishonesty. Right use places mind, soul, and strength under the control of the Holy Spirit, making men and women laborers together with God in molding character after the divine similitude, and when they do not so connect with Him, God is robbed.
Grasping living faith in Christ's divinity enables dependence on divine power by which tempers, dispositions, and unbelief are overcome. Talents exercised grow into greater capability, while power left unused is lost like seed that never springs to life. Using entrusted talents aright and trading upon them to increase them brings power and earnest peace in Christ. Daily purifying and refining and sanctification that lifts souls to a higher standard of character is required, with growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.