By Pastor Peter Linnecar
Quite often people ask me what God's will is in their life. This letter just referred to the will of the Lord. So what is it? "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
The parable that we're going to look at briefly tonight applies to you and me, what we're doing with our lives, and how much we value the fact that we've been given time on this earth to fulfil God's purposes.
The first point I want you to note tonight, is that it involved the three of them. There wasn't someone that didn't get given something. In this church, you've been given something by God which is for his purposes in your life to glorify him. Every man was given according to what he could cope with and could develop. There has been a tailoring in your life. Each one of us has been given something of God that we might be able to develop that for his glory. They were equal, in the sense that each person was given something, and each person was given the ability to make that something into double what they were given. I don't think this refers to money, I think this refers to the personality and the life that God has given you, and what you are going to do with it. They each had the potential to develop.
The first two were the same, with 100% increase. The third one did absolutely nothing. True, he preserved what he had been given, but he buried it.
They were commended for being good and faithful, given more responsibility, and told to enter into the joy of the Lord. There is something about making yourself available for God's work that gives you joy.
There is a smokescreen here. Basically he had done nothing with his life. He was lazy, slothful and even though God had given him exactly the same potential for life, he opted not to be fulfilled. The smokescreen is the excuse that he has come up with, which we have just read.
You might think that seems a bit unfair. He did actually give back what God had given him. The crucial point is this, that when the talents were handed out, it was a level playing field. They all had the opportunity to develop what God had given them for his glory. The first two did. The third one, though, instead of developing anything, lived his life for himself. He tried to package up what God had given him, bury it, and in the mean time live the life that he wanted to live. The Lord called him wicked and slothful.
What does that mean? It means that at the end of your life, if it has been the case that we have justified ourselves all the way through to keep God in a box, even though I've been given life by him, God has every right to say that we had the same opportunity. What's God's heart for you and for me tonight? By His Holy Spirit in me bringing this to your attention tonight, it's for us to take stock of where we're at. What are the abilities God's given you? Don't say you don't have any, because you have. You have the equivalent potential as the person next to you.
To fulfil God's purpose in your life means that your whole mindset is to do his will for his glory. It's as simple as that. What we will always do in this place is lift up the name of Jesus Christ, because all of us come together individually and then corporately to revere and honour him. It's thrilling to know that what God is speaking to us now is that he's preparing each one of us to take stock of our lives. The potential of what he wants to do through you is colossal.
We are to walk as children of light, as God walks through you, as you meet people and talk to people and have responsibilities.
The man who hid his talent wasn't afraid. Deep down, God is a true and faithful witness to us all, and deep down you know what it is that God has given you as an ability to fulfil his purposes in your life.
If I handed out a piece of paper to you, and we were all to list down the abilities that God has given us, what would we write? How can we be hospitable in his kingdom? How can we communicate his life to others? What is it that God has given you? Because each one of us has been given something of God inside.
The talents that God has given us are for his glory. We're not to waste the time that God has given us. He will outwork his purposes and draw others to him. It's going to be thrilling to see what he does over the rest of this year as each of us focuses on what his holy spirit is bringing to our attention.
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