My topic for tonight is very simple. Most of us have already prayed about it tonight. Someone prayed that we have a lot of challenges in this world; someone prayed that we need His grace. It’s just like that word in the bible where it talks about the life of a man as being a moment but God is there forever…forever same.
So the word has already been preached for tonight but the only interesting bit is…are we putting what we hear into practice? The topic tonight is the Kingdom of God. We all know and heard many messages about the Kingdom of God. We are all hoping that one day we would reach this kingdom that Jesus talks about. That’s our aim but the question is how well do we know the kingdom of God. And if we know about this kingdom of God, what are we doing to reach towards that. What are our strategies, our drawbacks in life that are keeping us from moving towards this Kingdom of God? How well are we equipped with the burden to reach the kingdom of God?
If you have a look at Luke 19:1…It says “While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once”. While Jesus was talking people assumed that the kingdom of God was going to come just like people today. In these last days, many are deceived by false calls to the Kingdom of God and Jesus appearing in various parts of the World. But Matthew 24:14 clarifies this anticipation and false calls. It tells us when this gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed to the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Let’s look at the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), most of us know this parable quite well. I am sure many of us have heard messages about it as well. It’s regarding this Master who handed over talents to his servants. Two servants have responded in a positive manner but one servant was lazy and buried it in the ground. This is not about how good one servant did and how bad another one did. This about judgment! We can use the master’s illustration as Jesus Christ. The master said I am going for a purpose; I will come back and talk to you.
You can see that two servants made an effort and brought back a return by working hard at what they had. The third man however said to the master that he wasn’t a good man. He also said that Master wanted to reap what he did not sow and gather where he has not scattered seed. He knew that his master was not a good man.
So that brings us to a question…do you know your master? The basic analogy is a servant listens to whatever a master says. We know this even better because we come from India. If you think about it, how hard is it to say to your master as a servant that the master was a hard man. It’s very hard! He keeps building blame on the master. God gave to me this thought and I kept asking what was the point God was trying to tell me.
Its very clear, this person knew about his hard master so why didn’t he say in the first instance when Master was handing out the talents that he would not have it. This person doesn’t want to work hard. He had a bad attitude. The master trusted his servants despite the fact that there was no accountability. He gave out the talents on the basis of trust alone. The master did not demand anything and neither did he warn them of loosing those talents. He didn’t say he was expecting something when he returns. He said simply to just do the business.
Similarly, Jesus Christ trusted us and gave us talents. Each one of us has specific skill sets/talents given by God himself. Now, It is up to us to use those talents. It’s not about how hard you use those talents or multiplying talents or loosing talents…it’s about our responsibility.
When he comes back, are you able to stand up and says…Lord, here is what you gave me and this is what I have done with them or are we going to be a lazy servant who buried what he had and returned it back to the master. You can see from the parable…the reward that these two people who worked hard for their master have got. Double of what they initially had. Be responsible…It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not…whether you feel like it or not. Jesus Christ, our master has called each of us to be responsible for his kingdom.
The day will come where we will stand in the presence of His majesty and glory…we have to account for each and everything we have done. We are all called to do something. He said, Go into the nations and preach the gospel. We all have different opportunities where we can see the gospel of Jesus Christ advance so people get to know the kingdom of God.
Jesus believed in us…he trusted us with his valuables…so lets be serious about our father’s business.
– Pastor Paul Talluri (Nazarene Prayer Fellowship)
This is an Audio Transcript from 13th July 2012 at All Nations Church of Nazarene
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