The Good & Faithful Servant

I am thankful for the opportunity to be here with you this morning. I love coming to CHCS for missions chapel. I am super excited about what God is going to do in you and through you next week as you have opportunities to go out and serve. But, before we jump in, I need to make a confession.

I think I am a pessimist. I really don’t want to be one. I really want to be an optimist, but for whatever reason, I’m pretty sure I am a pessimist. Let me give you a couple of examples.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians 2:1–4 CSB

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

I am a KC Chiefs fan. I’m not a bandwagon guy, I’ve been a Chiefs fan my entire life. Typically, as soon as something goes wrong, I’ll immediately think we are going to lose. They could be ahead by 21 points and if they have a turnover, I’ll immediately think. I hope they don’t blow it. I think that makes me a pessimist.

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

When my kids bring home their grade cards, which if you don’t know, I am Seth, Aiden and Lilly’s dad. When they bring their grade cards home, they could have five A’s, two B’s and one C. And the first thing out of my mouth is not, “Good job making five A’s!” The first thing out of my mouth is, “What happened with the C?” What’s wrong with me? I can’t even be happy for my kids. I’m pretty sure that makes me a pessimist.

Well, I have been wrestling with what I am going to share today for quite some time. If I remember right, Coach B asked me way back in the fall toward the beginning of school to share today during missions chapel. At different times I would l think about and pray about what I should share. For this entire time the same general thought has been on mind.

I’ve been trying to think of way to make this message positive and encouraging. I’ve been trying to think of a way to make it fun and light hearted. But for whatever reason, I just can’t come up with a way to make it positive. So, I’m going to ask that you track with me today. I’m going to ask that you lock in and focus on what God would have you to hear today while we talk about something that could be difficult to hear.

Dear God, sometimes we need to hear hard things. I pray that you would open our minds and our hearts to what you would have us to hear today. I ask that you would remove any distractions and help us to hear from YOU. Help us God to hear from you today. In Jesus name, amen.

Before we start reading from I want to give you a little background. Jesus is teaching his followers about the Kingdom of Heaven through parables or stories.

There are a couple of ways this phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” is used in Scripture. One refers to the invisible body of all the saints. That’s not the one we are talking about here. The other refers to all the people who claim to be his followers. That’s the way it is used in this parable. The “Kingdom of Heaven” refers to all the people who claim to follow Jesus.

14 “Again, it (The Kingdom of Heaven) will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.

Once again, the “Kingdom of Heaven” refers to all the people who claim to be followers of Jesus. In essence, He’s describing us. All of us who claim to follow Jesus.

There is a man who goes away on a trip. Obviously he’s a rich man because he entrusts his wealth to his servants.

15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

So the rich man or the master gives bags of gold to each of his servants. He gives it to them based on their ability, their skills, their work ethic. Some servants get more gold than others, but they each get some gold based on their ability. And then the master leaves.

16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.

The servant that was given five bags of gold goes out and immediately starts putting it work. He’s buying, he’s selling, he’s negotiating. He’s out there working hard. And what’s the result? He doubles his master’s money. The five bags of gold are now ten bags of gold.

17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.

The servant with two bags in essence does the same thing. He goes out in the market place. He’s working hard. And he doubles his master’s money. The two bags of gold are now four bags of gold.

18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

The servant with one bag decides to play it a little more safe. Rather than going out risking some loss, he decides he’s going to bury the gold so that he is sure he doesn’t lose it. He’s just going to play it safe.

19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

The master returns home and starts calling his servants in to give an account of what they did with the gold.

20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

The first servant comes in to see the master. He reports that he doubled the master’s investment, the five bags of gold are now ten.

The master is obviously very pleased. He replies with well done, good and faithful servant. He promises to give the servant more responsibility within the business and tells him that he will get to share in the master’s happiness. In other words, we are going to celebrate and you will get to enjoy the benefits of my kingdom. Great Job, great job.

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ 23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

The second servant comes in to see the master and we see the exact same thing happen. He reports that he doubled the master’s investment, the two bags of gold are now four.

The master once again is obviously very pleased. He replies with well done, good and faithful servant. He promises to give the servant more responsibility within the business and tells him that he will get to share in the master’s happiness. In other words, we are going to celebrate. I am going to through a party for you. Great Job, great job.

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

So this is a little different. The third servant in essence says, I know that you are a shrewd businessman. So rather than risk losing your gold, I decided to play it safe. So, I buried your gold. Look, here it is. All your gold. I didn’t lose any of it.

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

Whoa!?!? The master calls him wicked and lazy. He says, You know I am shrewd. The very least you could’ve done was put the money in the bank and earn some interest.

28 “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

The master says, take the gold from this one and give it to my good servant. Basically says, there is no place for wicked and lazy servants in my company. I only want people that will work hard.

30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

He gives instructions to kick the servant out of his kingdom, but not only that he going to a place where he will be forever miserable. Where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Four Truths about the Good & Faithful Servant

1. Good and faithful servants do what their master does.

In our story the Master was a businessman. He was obviously hard working and successful. According to the third servant he was a shrewd businessman. When he gave his servants bags of gold, what was the expectation? The expectation was that they would make money.

Now, our Master is not a businessman. Our master is not trying make money. So what did our Master do?

says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Our Master’s business was to seek and to save the lost.

Good and faithful servants do what their Master does. Our Master seeks and saves the lost. That means if we are good and faithful servants, we will be seeking and saving the lost.

According to Operation World 32% of the world’s population identify as Christian. But, if you dig a little further only 7% of the World identifies as evangelical Christians. An evangelical Christian is someone who believes:

Jesus is the sole source of Salvation.

Faith in Jesus is personal and necessary for conversion

Bible is the inspired Word of God

Committed to being biblical witnesses, evangelism and missions

That’s us. That’s what we believe. Only 7% of the world’s population identifies as evangelical Christians.

So at best, best case scenarios, if 32% of world identifies as Christian, then 68% of the world is lost. And if we are right, the worst case scenario is that 7% are Christian, which means 93% of world is lost.

So what’s all that mean. It means there are a lot of lost people who need hear that there is a God in heaven who loves them and desires to have a relationship with them. That their sin has separated them from God. That their good works and religious efforts can never pay the penalty for their sin.

But thankfully, God sent his son to live a perfect life, to die a horrible death and to be miraculously resurrected. And if we would put our faith in what Jesus did on our behalf, then our sins will be forgiven and our relationship will be restored to the Father.

So what are you doing? Are you seeking and saving the lost? They are everywhere. They are everywhere. Are you seeking and saving the lost?

Not only do good and faithful servants do what their master does.

2. Good and faithful servants don’t play it safe.

Remember the third servant in the story? He was afraid of his master because he was a harsh, shrewd businessman. So when he was given the gold, rather than risking it for the master, he played it safe. He buried it.

We know this wasn’t the case with Jesus.

He risked being a social outcast by going to a tax collector’s house, talking to the Samaritan woman at the well and touching a leper.

He risked being a religious outcast by healing on the sabbath, questioning the traditions of the religious leaders and teaching with authority.

Jesus didn’t play it safe. And as his followers we shouldn’t’ play it safe either.

If we truly saw people as Jesus saw them, then maybe we would be willing to risk more. says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus wasn’t impressed with the elite, rich or powerful; nor was he disgusted by the poor, sick or diseased. He wasn’t all caught up in the latest cultural craze, nor was he offended by the cultural outcasts. He didn’t only hang with people who were like him; nor was he afraid of those who were different. He simply had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Did you know you that in some of the villages in the Himalayas, 50% of children die before the age of 8, due to preventable diseases.

In 2016 there were just over 40 million people being trafficked in modern slavery. Of those 40 million people, 10 million were children. Of that 40 million 25 million were held in forced labor (including prostitution and pornography) and the other 15 million were forced into marriage.

Today it is estimated that approximately 3 billion people, about 40% of the World’s population have little to no access the Gospel. And the vast majority of them are following false religions.

Will we have compassion on them, because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd? Or will we continue to simply look the other way?

Will we risk everything to make Christ known among the nations? Or will we simply play it safe?

Will we go to hard places and risk our lives for those who’ve never heard? Or will we simply stay home where it’s comfortable?

Good and faithful servants do what their master does.

Good and faithful servants don’t play it safe.

3. Good and faithful servants don’t simply identify as a follower of Christ, they live out their faith in obedience.

Once again, let’s look at the third servant. There is no doubt that he viewed himself as a servant of the master. If He wouldn’t have viewed himself as a servant he wouldn’t have taken the gold to begin with. It’s obvious he didn’t love his master because he viewed his master has hard and harsh. And he did not do what the master expected him to do.

I’m convinced that many people like to identify themselves as followers of Christ, but they aren’t good and faithful servants.

In , Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

According to Jesus, the way he and the Father know if someone loves them is by their obedience. He said, Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. And Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.

People identify themselves as followers of Christ for lots of reasons. Some identify as a follow of Christ because it’s culturally accepted. Some identify as a follower of Christ because their parents raised them that way. Some identify as a follower of Christ because all their friends are followers of Christ.

What about you? Do you simply identify as a follower of Christ because you go to a Christian school? Do you simply identify as a follower of Christ because your parents expect you to? Do you simply identify as a follower of Christ because your friends do?

Notice what happened to the third servant. He was thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In other words, It’s not enough to simply say you’re a Christian, at some point your faith must become your faith and you begin to live it out in obedience to the Father.

Good and faithful servants do what their master does.

Good and faithful servants don’t play it safe.

Good and faithful servants don’t simply identify as a follower of Christ, they live out their faith in obedience.

4. Good and faithful servants make the most of their opportunity.

In the story, the master entrusted his servants with gold with the expectation that they would do something with it while he was away.

Our Master has entrusted us with talents, skills, spiritual gifts, resources, etc. with the expectation that we will do something with them while He is away.

reminds us that our time on Earth is short. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

The servants in our story didn’t know when their master would return. The first two servants went out immediately and put their money to work. They didn’t waste any time. They made the most of their opportunity.

What about you? Are you going to wait until you’re in college to make a difference in someone’s life? Are you going to wait until you’re an adult to use your gifts and talents to advance His kingdom?

Why, you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow.

Good and faithful servants do what their master does.

They don’t play it safe.

They live out their faith in obedience.

They make the most of their opportunity.

Are you a good and faithful servant?

I’m praying that this next week, during Missions Week, that you will nail it down once and for all; that you are not simply someone who identifies as a follower of Christ, but that you are committed to be a good and faithful servant, not matter what the cost.