Well done, good and faithful servant!
One day we will all stand before the Lord in judgment. How delightful it will be to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Just Imagine sharing in your master’s happiness!
This scripture is taken from a parable In Matthew 25: 12-30 The Parable of the Bags of Gold, which is sometimes referred to as the Parable of the Talents.
To paraphrase the parable;
A man is going on a long journey. The man (master) has three servants and before his journey he entrusts each with a number of bags of gold each according to their ability. The bags (talents) of gold are extremely valuable. Each talent is said to be worth twenty years wages. He gives five bags to one servant, two bags to another and one bag to the last servant. This master knows each of their abilities and entrusts an incredible amount of money to them. Although the master never gives direct instruction as to what each servant is to do with the bags of gold, it is understood that he expects them to invest the money with bankers so as to increase his wealth while he is gone. Back in this time a servant was not so much an unpaid forced slave, but rather almost an employee who desired for this master to gain wealth and power because this then benefited the servant’s lifestyle. Think of it as working hard at your job so the company makes more money resulting in you getting a raise and a bonus check.
Upon his return, each servant reveals to the master what he did with their bags of gold. The servants who had five and two bags each doubled them. The master was very please and says to the two servants, “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!’ However, the third servant reveals that instead of increasing the master’s wealth, he hid the bags of gold so that the master did not lose any money. The master was so angry with the servant’s lack of investment with his bag of gold that he took it and gave it to the servant who had ten because he knew that servant would do what the master wished.
Like all parables, the surface story is not the true meaning…Jesus wants us to dig deeper. This parable has nothing to do with money management. It’s really about our relationship with Christ and doing things to please Him. Consider these ten “bags of gold” that can be learned from this parable:
Jesus is our master, He knows us and we need to know our place in this relationship. We are not the masters, we do not make the rules or provide the direction. This is the role of the master. We need to be humble and submit to the master (Christ) so that we know what it is He wants us to do. We need to understand who we are (servants) before we can understand who He is (master).
Jesus knows our skills, gifts and abilities and does not give us any challenge that exceeds our capabilities. Just like in the parable, He gives each servant bags of gold according to their abilities.
Although He is not wandering the earth like he did with His Disciples, what He wants from each of us is clear because he knows us and we know Him. He is in heaven preparing a place for us and while He is gone, we are to continue to increase His kingdom, to help bring others to know their master.
The things of this world are not eternal. We’re never told to increase our personal value as measured on earth but rather in heaven. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6”19-21
This parable cannot exist as written without a close relationship between the master and the servants. Had the master not known the servants, how could he have trusted them with so much money? Had the servants not known the master, how could they have known what to do with so much money? We need to know Jesus to understand how we are to do to please Him.
The parable just says “after a long time” and does not specify just how long this time was. The servants weren’t instructed to take care of the gold for 10 years or 15 years or 100 years. They were just asked to increase the master’s wealth until he returns. The one thing they did know was that he would return. We do not know when Jesus will return, but we do know that He will return. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” – Matthew 24: 36
Just like when we stand before God to be judged. He will ask what we did for His kingdom. If we know Him and used the gifts He gave us for His purposes, we can expect to hear, “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!” Matthew 25:21
If we wasted our gifts and time on things that benefitted ourselves or like in the case of the third servant, did nothing to increase the master’s wealth (God’s kingdom) then when we stand before God (the master) He will be angry, He will say He does not know us and He will cast us aside.
Our faith is also like these bags of gold. When investing the bags of gold with the bankers, the servants likely had to tell where the gold came from since they were only servants and the value of the gold was so high. This is like our faith and telling people about Christ. When we are out in the world, it’s not possible to hide how we are blessed by the Lord because the value is so high. If we chose to hide our faith, or our gifts there will be no expanding of the kingdom. “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” – Matthew 5:15
Like the master in the parable, God does not play favorites. Although He gave them each different amounts of gold, they are all expected to yield the same results. The servant with the five bags doubled them, the servant with the two bags, doubled them. After hearing the results the master did not say, “well done, my favorite servant!” No, he had exactly the same reply to each of the two servants. Had the third servant known the master well enough, he two would have heard the same reply from the master even though he only increased his wealth by one bag. God does not expect us all to be preachers, or missionaries, or authors, or musicians or builders of churches. He gifts us each differently, but expects results equally.
The Parable of the Bags of Gold
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
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!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “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!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold 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 gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “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.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
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