Romans 10:15b, " As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
How many of you have seen the funny memes with the title ‘You Had One Job’? This is usually followed by a picture of an employee who royally messed up the one task they were given to do. The point is, when you’re given one job to do don’t blow it, because if you do, you’d better be prepared to face ridicule and jokes.
Have you ever seen an egg sorter work in an egg factory? The eggs run on a conveyer, and then they’re put down on a scale that weighs each egg. If it’s heavy enough, it goes down the chute. If not, it goes to the next scale, where it’s weighed again — extra-large, large, regular, and so on.
The eggs aren’t measured by size. They’re measured by weight. An extra-large egg doesn’t mean that the shell is large. It means that the insides are large. Each egg is weighed, and the egg is sorted according to its substance, not just its looks. An egg that looks extra-large may end up being regular, because you can’t measure the weight of an egg by the size of the shell.
Jesus tells a parable of a nobleman who takes a trip to another town to become king. While he is gone, he gives one task to ten of his servants. He gave them each ten minas (coins) and told them to go and do whatever they can to invest the money until he returns. It seems like an easy task with a wide range of ways to invest the money, right?
When the nobleman returns, he calls three of his servants to see how they engaged in the master’s business. Servant number one takes the ten and returns it at 1000% percent increase. The second servant also comes in with a good report, he returns it at a rate of 500% increase. Oh, but the third servant, he comes back with the same ten coins wrapped in a handkerchief where he kept the money safe, so he wouldn’t lose his master’s money.
The task was simple and easy to understand, wasn’t it? Invest my money and make more for me. One job and the third servant still messed it up. So, what happens next? The first two servants are praised with a “Well done good and faithful servant you are now promoted, and I will give you more.” As for the third servant, well the nobleman’s words weren’t so kind. “I will condemn you with your own words. You wicked servant. I will take all you have and give it to the other servants.” -Luke 19:11-27.
Jesus tells this parable referring to Himself as the nobleman and we are the servants. At that point He was going to go away to Heaven and is there now. While there He would begin to build His Kingdom and one day will return as King to claim His rightful place among us, as King, Lord, Redeemer. We are His servants, and He has given us one task while He is away. Engage in His business until He comes back. Faithfully invest everything God has given you to work toward God’s goal and purpose, salvation for all men. We are to use whatever field we’ve been given with whatever talent we have, to help grow God’s Kingdom.
I imagine our lives like the egg sorter machine. One day Jesus will return, and we will stand before God, our lives being weighed with how we used what He has given us. In front of us are three scales, the faithful, the rebellious, the negligent, and as we are placed on the scale, we watch to see which way the scale tips. As a believer in Christ, someone who lived a good life, and wasn’t openly disobedient and rebellious, someone who went to church, read the Bible, prayed, and trusted God, even if they chose to play it safe and not invest what they were given and kept to themselves, they don’t hurt anyone and are not taking anyone away from Jesus. The scales should easily tip to faithful and the words “Well done” should come next.
What happens when the scale doesn’t tip to the faithful and moves onto the negligent? When you don’t hear the words “Well done, here’s your promotion.” Instead, you hear Jesus condemning you for doing nothing with the one job He gave you until His return. Jesus asking why you weren’t faithful; why didn’t you engage in business on His behalf while He was gone.
Here’s what the scary part is. It’s possible to look like a faithful servant but live like a rebel in the end. This servant didn’t openly rebel. It wasn’t like he openly rejected the nobleman, but his priorities were no different from the rebels. He chose not to engage in the task of investing the money given to him. We too, can be like that when we don’t use what God has given us with our time and money, even the talents we have, to help spread the good news. It’s great you are a Christian and walk a path with Christ, but you are not fully doing what God has asked when you don’t use your talents to help in growing God’s Kingdom until He returns. Jesus warns us that it’s not just the rebels who will be judged. It’s also those who didn’t do the one job that He gave us to do.
“You and I will stand before God to give an account for how we have stewarded all that He has entrusted to us, and on that day, it will not matter at all what anyone in this world thought of us. It won’t matter how many people called us great. It won’t matter if 10,000 people were at our funeral, or no one was at our funeral. It won’t matter what the newspapers or history books say or don’t say. The only thing that will matter, the only thing that will matter, is what God says on that day.”- David Platt
Father, help us to realize we have one job to do until Jesus returns: to faithfully invest everything he’s entrusted to us. So, help us, right now. Reveal areas of our lives in which we are not engaging in Jesus’ business until He comes back. There’s no cookie-cutter approach, but there’s a clear mandate. Grant us understanding as we think about how to do this in our lives and thank you for not giving up on us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Bible is God, the Creator’s, instruction book for your life. The Bible records examples of how God works in the lives of people throughout history. Through both the positive and negative ways that people responded, you can learn valuable lessons. You’ll see how God brings redemption to people who experience brokenness. You’ll develop endurance, courage, and hope. God is faithful to finish the work that He began in you (Phil. 1:6). Let's continue our study through Proverbs as we read chapters 21-25.
Study 5, Proverbs chapters 21-25- https://www.docdroid.net/AoXeqnu/study-5-docx
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