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LESSONS FROM THE PARABLE OF THE FAITHFUL SERVANT

KEY TEXT: Matthew 24:45 (NKJV) – “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?”

God Owns, You Manage

Matthew 24:45 (NKJV) – “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household.”

God owns everything, our work is just to conduct God’s divine purpose.

First, let us begin with ourselves. We do not own ourselves. God owns us, our work is to manage what God has given us in our custody.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV) – “¹⁹ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? ²⁰ For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Many people think you can do whatever you want with yourself because it is your own body. That is not true, we need to uphold the best health practices, the best hygiene standards and the best character that is guided by the word of God.

Second, after managing our bodies correctly, we get to manage the earthly things that God has put us in charge of correctly. It can be our families, our interactions with others, a business, a job, etc.

Whatever we do, our main aim should be to glorify God and be a blessing unto His people. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (KJV) – “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:33 (KJV) – “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many.”

Do the Right Thing at the Right Time

Matthew 24:45 (NKJV)–………. “To give them food at the proper time.”

The verse is precise when it says, “to give them food at the proper time.” This can also mean there is the wrong time to give them food. God is a God who keeps time. Exodus 9:5 (KJV) – “And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.” God is extremely specific on His timing, and His timing is perfect. He neither hastens nor delays as we do.

Galatians 4:4 (KJV) – “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Genesis 21:2 (KJV) – “For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.”

The Bible says that there is a time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV) – “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

Time is one of the most valuable resources you can ever have. However, many people do not take it to be as important as it is. It is one major factor in determining your success or failure in something. Most people find it difficult to manage the time that God has given them properly, and that is one reason very few people worldwide are successful.

People like postponing a lot and doing things at the last minute, which is why some people’s lives have inferior performance and productivity. In Genesis 1, the creation story, after God completes creating something on a day, He moves swiftly to the next day. He does not regret having missed creating anything on the previous day.

Let us see the dangers of not being vigilant with time.

Proverbs 6:10-11 (KJV) – “¹⁰ Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: ¹¹ So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

Note that the above verse does not say “a lot of sleep.” It says, “a little sleep.” That can translate to one minute, even a one-second delay.

Matthew 24:48-51 (KJV)– “⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In Matthew 25, there is the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. The wise virgins understood the relevance of bringing their lamps together with oil, but the foolish virgins carried their lamps with no oil (Matthew 25:3-4). At midnight, it was announced that the bridegroom was coming, and the virgins should meet him.

The foolish virgins asked the wise to assist them with their oils, but the wise refused, lest it would not be enough for them. They told the foolish virgins to buy. While they went to buy, the bridegroom came and went with the wise virgins. The foolish virgins tried to access the ceremony, but it was impossible because time had run out of them (Matthew 25:6-12).

We should be vigilant with time in all aspects of our lives, including our spirituality.

“It is wrong to waste our time, wrong to waste our thoughts. We lose every moment that we devote to self-seeking. If every moment were valued and rightly employed, we should have time for everything that we need to do for ourselves or for the world. In the expenditure of money, in the use of time, strength, opportunities, let every Christian look to God for guidance.” — The Ministry of Healing, 208. 

“God grants men the gift of time for the purpose of promoting His glory.” — Counsels to Parents and Teachers, 354. 

Matthew 25:13 (KJV) – “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

Galatians 6:9 (KJV) – ^“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Galatians 6:10 (KJV) – “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

Ask God to guide you on your schedule every morning when you wake up. If you do that, you will not squander time doing what is not profitable to you.

Obedience to God

Matthew 24:46 (NKJV) – “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.”

Let us examine the phrase ‘It will be good’ in the King James Version it says, ‘Blessed is that servant.’ The reason it will be good for that servant is that he obeyed the words of his master, for he did what his master had told him to do. If he disobeyed the master, the master would not bless the servant.

This is the most important lesson everyone should follow because disobedience led to the fall of the entire human race. When Jesus came to this world at the beginning of His ministry, He started by overcoming three severe temptations from the devil in the wilderness.

Jesus obeyed God by disobeying the devil. If he had obeyed the devil, he would have disobeyed God. Imagine being in the wilderness for 40 days and nights fasting, then the first temptation you face is regarding your current situation of hunger (Matthew 4:3-4). It is difficult.

1 Samuel 15:22 (KJV) – “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the greatest and best sacrifice that has ever happened, but there is one thing better than that: obedience. The reason is, before sin, there was obedience, and there was no sacrifice. When we go to heaven, God will require us to obey but not to sacrifice.

If Adam and Eve did not fall into sin, there would not be the sacrifice of Jesus. God sent Jesus to die on the cross and suffer persecution because of sin. God loves everyone, including sinners, but He hates sin. What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God’s commands.

John 14:15 (KJV) – “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”

Many individuals say they love God but do not know what that means. God did not say, “if you love Me, tell Me” He declared, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. Transgression of God’s commandments translates to hatred for Him. 1 John 1:6 (KJV) – “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” Proverbs 8:13 – “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil.”

What does God do to those people that despise Him?

Deuteronomy 7:10 (KJV) – “And repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face.”

Exodus 20:5 (KJV) – “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me.”

What blessings does God assure those that love Him?

Leviticus 26:3-4 (KJV) – “³ If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; ⁴Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (KJV) – “¹And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: ²And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”

Deuteronomy 28:12 (KJV) – “The LORD shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in His season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.” It is possible to live a life free from loans, and it is possible to be wealthy without having to borrow.

Deuteronomy 28:13 (KJV) – “And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.”

Deuteronomy 28 speaks of the many blessings God will give you if you obey His commandments. He also warns us of the curses we will encounter if we disobey them. Most people think that being blessed in everything you do is impossible.

For example, many people think it is impossible for someone to be blessed with good health, wealth, and a sound family. The reason is that there are extremely few examples in the world of people whom God has blessed in all things. That is because very few people in the world practice total obedience to God. It is possible to have good health, wealth, a Godly family, excellent education, a wonderful reputation, free from generational curses, protection from evil forces, long life, and so much more.

God blessed Abraham in material wealth:

Genesis 13:2 (KJV) – “And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.”

God blessed Abraham in all things:

Genesis 24:1 (KJV) – “And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.”

God wants to bless you in all that you undertake. That is why He wants you to obey Him.

Job 1:1 (KJV) – “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

Job obeyed God and gave God 100% submission. Let’s get a glance at how blessed he was, Job 1:3 (KJV) – “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.”

Job 1:10 (KJV) – “Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.”

Consider the histories of Job and Abraham in the Bible. That is how God wishes to bless you. God wants to bless you abundantly for His name’s sake.

In some churches, particularly the ones that have popularized the prosperity gospel, you may hear spiritual leaders uttering phrases like “This is your year of breakthrough”, “This is your year of blessing”, and “The Lord is about to do something in your life.” Years go by, and nothing materializes. In fact, your condition keeps on getting worse.

You do not need a spiritual father or mother or prophet to give blessings upon your life or take away curses. No one can take away a curse placed on you by God; only God can do that. You need to obey God. Spiritual leaders can help to guide you (if their teachings are in spirit and truth), but most of the spiritual growth you need to do it on your own, guided by God.

2 Chronicles 20:20 (KJV) – “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.” The verse says Believe in God. It says believe His prophets, not ‘believe in His prophets.’ So many people do not understand this. Therefore, they worship prophets and spiritual leaders in the church instead of worshipping God.

Some Christians try their best to follow God according to the light available to them. A couple of them have a genuine love for their neighbors, they don’t steal; they don’t kill; they don’t commit adultery, they fast and pray, but they may miss on one commandment, for example, not keeping the Sabbath day holy (most people never see the importance of this commandment).

What does the Bible say about that? James 2:10 (KJV) – “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Matthew 5:19 (KJV) – “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

In Matthew 19:16-24, a certain rich man comes to Jesus feeling unsatisfied about his spiritual life and asks Jesus what he shall do to inherit eternal life. Jesus lists to him some commandments, and then the man tells Jesus that he has always kept those commandments.

Jesus then tells him to sell all he has, give to the poor, and follow him. Upon hearing this, the man went away feeling very sorrowful. What does this mean? This meant that he had esteemed his riches above God. What can this also mean? It means that he has another god before God, and that other god is his wealth.

Let us examine this slightly deeper. The rich man has broken the first commandment of putting his wealth first instead of God. The man came to Jesus unsatisfied with a lot of self-righteousness. Jesus was trying to tell him he had not yet reached the standards of righteousness that God requires.

Is it possible to reach those standards of righteousness? Matthew 19:25-26 (KJV) – “²⁵ When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? ²⁶ But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” You cannot attain that standard by yourself since you are desperately wicked by nature (Jeremiah 17:9), but with God, it will be easy to attain that standard.

How Should We Obey?

“The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God from a sense of obligation merely because he is required to do so will never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right because right doing is pleasing to God.” – Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, Page 97.

Obedience to God should spring from love, not from a sense of obligation. If you try to obey from a sense of obligation, you do not obey. If you try to obey just to fulfil a requirement, you will practice salvation by works and not by faith.

True love is obedience to God (John 14:15).

Let us see how great love is:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NKJV) – “¹ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV) – “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Seek to obey God. That is your whole duty on earth (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

God Should Trust in You in the Little that You Have to Give You More

Matthew 24:47 (NKJV) – “Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”

When the master travelled, he left his servant in charge of the other servants only; he did not leave him in charge of his other possessions. When he returns and finds out that the servant has been faithful, he puts him in charge of all his possessions. If the servant was not faithful in the little the master gave him, he would not be faithful if the master gave him plenty. Jeremiah 12:5 (KJV) – “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?”

You need financial blessings. How well are you using the little that God has given you? Are you returning tithes and offerings? Are you using your money to conduct evil by giving bribes and other acts of malice or treating others with contempt? Are you using your money or small popularity to think you are more important than others? How are you using the little influence that God has given you?

Let us say you do not have money. How are you using your time? Are you working on your idea, or do you keep postponing it? You have been employed but have a dream of starting your own company. How faithful are you in your employment? If God cannot trust you with little, He will not trust you with much.

Luke 16:10-12 (KJV) ­– “¹⁰ He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. ¹¹ If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹² And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”

Do not wait until you have enough to do something you have always wanted. Use what you have and use it properly.

Ask God to help you use what you have in the best viable way and watch your life change instantly.

Four things are paramount in this article:

1. God owns you manage.
2. Do the right thing at the right time.
3. Always obey God.
4. Use your current resources wisely.

ALL THE BEST AS YOU ENCOUNTER BLESSINGS LIKE THE FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT!!!

GOD BLESS YOU!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for entrusting us with the blessings and responsibilities in our lives. Help us to be faithful and wise servants, managing all that You have given us for Your glory. Teach us to obey Your Word and use our time wisely, so we may fulfill Your divine purpose. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Activity

Time Accountability Journal:

Identify one area where you can be more intentional with your time and set a goal for improvement tomorrow.

Take a notebook or use a digital app to record how you spend your time for one day.

At the end of the day, reflect on how much time was spent on activities that glorify God, benefit others, and align with His purposes.

Share this message with someone.

Author: Mark Alex   

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