Good and Faithful Servants

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 17th of January, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The service also included the ordination of a Deacon and the installation of church officers.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

When we select folks to serve as officers for our church, we ask them to represent us in the affairs of the church, both spiritual and physical.  We place a certain amount of trust in their decision making skills.  We entrust into their care the resources of the church.  And we pledge our support, again both spiritual and physical.

In return, they agree to serve the church to the best of their abilities.  This requires setting aside any personal objectives and agendas and seeking only what is best for the entire church family.

I think it never hurts for us all to be reminded of what our Lord Jesus expects of those who would be good and faithful servants.  Please listen and follow along to the words of Jesus that the Apostle Matthew recorded for us in the 25th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 14 through 30, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"

--Matthew 25:14-30 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for all the blessings You shower upon us and all the resources You entrust into our care.  Please help us be good stewards of those resources so that one day we too might hear those beautiful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  And Father, please protect us from all the devil’s wickedness in this world.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Show us what You really expect of those who would serve You.  Teach us how to be good and faithful servants.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Craig Brian Larson recounted this little story in his book, Pastoral Grit: the Strength to Stand and to Stay:

In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon Jaroff in Time, the satellite's primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter's magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter's immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion miles. By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun.

And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. "Perhaps most remarkable," writes Jaroff, "those signals emanate from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth.'" The Little Satellite That Could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible.

So it is when we offer ourselves to serve the Lord. God can work even through someone with 8-watt abilities. God cannot work, however, through someone who quits.

In our scripture reading, Jesus describes three servants of a lord who took some time away for a journey.  Before leaving, he entrusted those servants with some of his resources.  Each servant had their own ability, their own transmitter wattage, if you will.

The first two did great, just like Pioneer 10, maybe even exceeding what the lord expected.  The third, though, basically quit.  He was afraid to do anything, so he did nothing.  He gave up, and did not serve his lord.  He did not give God a chance to work through him.  We need to be more like Pioneer 10.

Now when we look at what the first two servants did to earn their lord’s compliments and reward, we basically see that they increased his personal wealth by making wise investments.  So is that what Jesus wants us to do, is that why He gave us this parable, to increase our wealth or maybe the wealth of His church?  No, I don’t think so, because the Pharisees tried that one and He didn’t take too kindly to it.  So that would lead us to wonder what other types of “resources” might Jesus have entrusted into our care that we can invest and gain an increase.

First we do need to understand that the “lord” in this parable is indeed our Lord Jesus, and the “journey” He went on was back to heaven, to return to earth someday.  So what did Jesus give us, what has He entrusted to us, what has He asked us to do?  Through God, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, to live within us and guide our actions, our thoughts, our words, our every deed.  Through God, Jesus gives us faith – the faith to believe in Him as the Son of God, the Christ, our Savior.  And most of all, Jesus gave us love.  He asks of us that we love one another and that we go into the world making more disciples for Him.  This is how we return an increase on the investment He made in us, by spreading His love and helping others come to believe in Him as Lord.

Of course, everything we have comes from God.  And He has entrusted certain resources into our care.  To be good servants, we must be good stewards of those resources.

This is also true of those of us who serve as church leaders, for God has entrusted much into our care.  We have financial means to not only keep the church functional and fiscally healthy, but also to serve the community and help those in need.  Being a good and faithful servant requires us to not use this resource only for ourselves or sit on it like the third servant did.  By using it to help others, we return an increase of good will to our Lord.

Now we ask our church leaders to be good and trustworthy stewards of these resources.  We ask them to make wise decisions on anything that would impact the church or its place in the community.  And if we ourselves are wise, we will follow the advice of the Apostle Paul when choosing those who would lead us.  In chapter 3 of his 1st letter to his young friend and protégé Timothy, verses 1 through 7, Paul says this of the ideal church leader…

1 It is true that anyone who desires to be a church official wants to be something worthwhile. 2 That’s why officials must have a good reputation and be faithful in marriage. They must be self-controlled, sensible, well-behaved, friendly to strangers, and able to teach. 3 They must not be heavy drinkers or troublemakers. Instead, they must be kind and gentle and not love money.

4 Church officials must be in control of their own families, and they must see that their children are obedient and always respectful. 5 If they don’t know how to control their own families, how can they look after God’s people?

6 They must not be new followers of the Lord. If they are, they might become proud and be doomed along with the devil. 7 Finally, they must be well-respected by people who are not followers. Then they won’t be trapped and disgraced by the devil.

--1 Timothy 3:1-7 (CEV)

I truly believe the people we have chosen to represent us and lead our church in the days ahead definitely fit the profile Paul laid out.  The one point I think we all need to be very aware of is in verse 7, that our leaders must be “well-respected by people who are not followers”.  This means well-respected by non-believers as well as by believers.

And furthermore, I believe this applies to all of us who follow Jesus as our Lord.  Why?  Because any non-believer will be judging us all on the behavior of any of us they interact with.  To them, we might as well all be leaders of the church.  So in this regard, we all need to meet Paul’s guidelines.

Family, we are the church, the body of Christ Jesus left on this earth to carry out His mission of sharing His love with the world and making new believers for Him.  To the world, we represent the whole church.  Let’s all try our best to be good leaders.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You chose us to be followers of Your Son Jesus, and to be leaders in the faith.  In turn, we choose those who would see to our needs and lead our family into the future.  Thank You, Father, for giving us our leaders.  Father, please help us all be good leaders, not only among ourselves but in the non-believing world also.  Help us be good stewards of the resources You have entrusted into our care.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be better, more faithful servants, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You not only taught us by Your words but You also led us by Your example.  In this way, and by Paul’s instructions, we know how we should lead, both within the church and within the greater community.  Please, Lord, help us be good servants and faithfully and humbly carry out the mission You gave us.  Help us show the world what a true follower looks like.  Let the world see You through us.  Help us keep our focus on the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.