Word of Salvation – Vol.04 No.51 – December 1957
The Master Calls His Servants to Account
New Year Sermon by Rev. A. Nijhuis on Matthew 25:19
Reading: Matthew 25:14-30
Hymns: 460:1,2; 455:3 (After Confession of Faith);
420:6 (After the law); 216; 468
Translated by John Westendorp (with some help from Google :-)
Translator’s note: early editions of ‘Word of Salvation’ still had some sermons in Dutch for the migrant communities that then made up the Reformed Churches of Australia.
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The hours around the turn of the year are truly our hours. We look back.. and we make an attempt to assess the future. Behind us lies an ‘almost past’ year, filled with events of ‘all shapes and sizes’; a year brimming with God’s faithfulness and His care and His patience; but also a year overflowing with my shortcomings and sins, with my “forgetting” of God and of each other, with my anger and my unfaithfulness.
Hopefully, though we will not forget this: God’s surprising faithfulness to us and to our children despite everything.
Time doesn’t pause. There is no standstill. Not even on New Year’s Eve.
But we tend to surrender to our reflections at the turn of the year. That is possible and that is allowed. It is good if we reflect on our existence. However, it depends on how we do that.
It may be that we do not get beyond trying to get an overview of our gains and losses, our windfalls and our setbacks. Or that we give way to our reflections on the world situation.
It may also be that we are trying to take stock of our church life.
But then in such a way that WE judge and assess, that WE appraise and draw our conclusions; that WE calculate what we have had from life or hope to gain from it.
However, even in these moments we want to listen to the Word of God; that is, to the Word of Him, in Whose hand are all times; Who asks us questions, Who seeks His fruit. What have we been to the Lord? What have we done for His Name and for His Kingdom? What has become of the opportunities that were offered to us? What has been our response to the Word of God?
The year 1958 was a year of the Lord and every day is given to us by Him. We are responsible for Him for that year!
And so it will be in 1959.
Life is not given to us just like that, without more. The Bible tells me otherwise. I think of the prayer of the poet of Psalm 119:17 – “Deal well with your servant, so I live AND KEEP YOUR WORD.”
It is not just about existence with its eating and drinking, with its planting and building, but this is what it is all about, that we keep the Word of the Lord, that we listen to Him who gives us life.
That makes life a very special and responsible thing.
In these moments we want to listen together to the Word of God, from Matthew 25:19; which tells us:
“THE MASTER CALLS HIS SERVANTS TO ACCOUNT”,
The following points are successively pointed out here:
1) the rights of the Master;
2) the calling of his servants.
1) The text chosen for this last church service in 1958, brothers and sisters, is part of a parable told by the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a simple story, clear as day, but nevertheless brings to our attention things we desperately need to hear.
It’s not as if we did not know these things . That is not where our need lies. You can hear that from adversity: we know it all, while people, often consciously, let themselves drift on the waves of their own passions, while the known Word of God is an unknown quantity in daily life practice. One still listens to “lectures” about it with more or less pleasure or displeasure, but it is as if we do all sorts of things with it except the one thing necessary, …except this: “I set my steps in Your path.”
That is a terrible thing, brothers and sisters, to know it, to know God and to be acquainted with His Word and service, but in the meantime to go your own way to destruction; to hear of life, but in the meantime to be busy with your own grave.
The characteristic of the time before the Lord Jesus returns to this world is certainly not that of faith and a willingness to serve the Lord. On the contrary, the love of many will grow cold and many will be offended. The last days are characterized by the fact that, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2Tim.3:2-5).
The life that precedes Christ’s return is comparable to the time before the flood and before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It will be preoccupied with eating and drinking, working and marrying, and the fear of the Lord will be a scarce thing. And the Son of man asks the question, whether He will find faith on the earth at His coming.
The Savior does not leave it at that question, but calls, in all sorts of ways, to vigilance and reflection. For example, in the parable that was read to you. In it, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a man who went into a foreign land and gave his possessions to his servants. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, to another one; to each according to his ability.
Clearly pointed out for us here is the Lord Jesus Christ, Who after His ascension left His people in the world with a specific assignment to serve Him there. They all get their work and their responsibility. Not everyone gets the same amount to do. The Lord takes into account the disposition of each individual, …the capacity of His people. But they must all serve Him with what was entrusted to them, with their five or two talents or with their one talent.
These slaves are the property of their Lord. They belong to him with all they possess. And it is his right to demand of his own that they serve him. Later, when he returns from abroad, he will ask his servants to account for what they have done with his talents.
In the kingdom of heaven, brothers and sisters, it is no different. The citizens in that kingdom have received from their Lord all kinds of gifts, talents, with the intention to serve Him with dedication.
So it is with each of us. What we are and what we have, we owe to our Lord Jesus. I do not know whether you have ever counted up what you have received from Him. But it is an awful lot. According to our insight we may be extremely meagerly endowed, meanwhile that is nothing but blindness for the blessings that the Lord has given to us. It may also be that we give a different name to all kinds of things, so that we do not count them as TALENTS, but as BURDENS that we have to bear.
Somewhere in our Heidelberg Catechism we confess that the Lord Jesus Christ pours out His heavenly gifts in us, His members. So we stand in an abundant rain of benefits and blessings, day in and day out.
Perhaps I may mention a few. Our life is a gift from Him, a forfeited blessing; for what have we deserved but eternal death? And God keeps us alive, day in day out, year in year out. How long we are left in possession of this talent is unknown to us. One reaches a greater age than another. Until today, we, as we are here together, have been spared, while others had to end their lives on earth this year.
Now this talent was given to us, not to be buried, not to be left unused, much less to be abused in the service of sin, not even to serve ourselves, but to be spent in the service of the Lord, and to be occupied this year in His commission for His kingdom, for His church, for His name and His cause.
If you want to see other talents that were entrusted to you, then think of your health, again an enormous gift from the Lord, for which you can never be thankful enough. But that health is again a talent that is to be used for the Lord, to be used for Him, to Whom belongs all the earth with all that it produces, with all that moves and lives. It is His lawful property. Special privileges always bring special responsibilities. So it is with this privilege that the Lord gave. Our healthy days and strength are from Him. God has a right to that too.
Another talent is that of your labor. The ability to do so, the power to do so, is from the Lord. With the intention that we would serve Him in our place assigned to us. So that we would have our daily bread for us and ours and for the relief of the need of your brothers and sisters and so you would be strengthened, again and again, for His service. Our work is still an assignment from Him, whatever we do.
Talents were distributed to us in abundance; I will name but a few: your marriage, your children, your parents, your money, your office to which God called you, your understanding, your faith, the Word of the Lord, your baptism, the Holy Communion, your church.
Must I remind you of what you promised at the baptism of your children, namely, that you would teach them or cause them to be taught according to the requirements of God’s covenant, according to your ability?
May I point out to parents and children the glory of that covenant, and the calling that flows from it for all of us to cleave to, trust in, and love the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, putting to death our old nature, and walking in a godly life; and that if at times through weakness you should fall into sin, you should not doubt the mercy of God, nor continue in sin.
May I also dwell for a moment on the promise that a man and a woman made to each other on their wedding day; do you remember it? “Do you here declare before God and His holy congregation that you have taken and do take her to be your lawful wife…. Do you promise that you will never leave her; that you will love her and faithfully maintain her, as a faithful and God-fearing husband owes to his lawful wife, that you also want to live a holy life with her, keeping her faithful in all things, according to the teachings of the holy Gospel?”
And do those words still resonate in our lives, the promise of the bride to her bridegroom, the promise of love and obedience, of serving and helping, never to be forsaken and to be faithful in all things, as a godly and faithful wife owes to her lawful husband, as the holy Gospel shows?
And do we still sometimes reflect on what we promised – ministers, elders and deacons – when we were ordained in our office, namely that we, called by the Lord, would serve Him faithfully according to our ability. Do we still remember the questions to which we answered affirmatively at our confession, namely that in the confession of the true and perfect doctrine of salvation, taught here, we would remain steadfast in life and death by God’s grace? That we seek our life outside ourselves in Jesus Christ, the only Savior? That it is our heartfelt desire to love God the Lord and to serve Him according to His Word? That we would submit to the ecclesiastical admonition and discipline, if it should happen (which God graciously forbid), that we would go wrong in doctrine or life?
Why do I remind you of this? Well, because it concerns just as many talents as were distributed to us, one five, the other two, the third one. Because in all this there speaks to us the rights of God on our life, on our whole life.
I have not yet even brought forward those talents, which we usually call by other names, but which have nevertheless been granted to us by the Lord to live with and in them for Him. I mean the talent of trials, of sickness and need, of loneliness and adversity, of sorrow and loss, of unfulfilled desires, of the cross that was imposed on us, whichthings were nevertheless granted for our good and which had to work together for our good.
I think of the word that the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: “…and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation produces patience; and patience, character; and character, hope.”
2) “And after a long time the master of the slaves came and settled accounts with them.”
Alas, it may take longer than these people thought, but their Master is coming and with it the moment of reckoning. In the section that follows this text, things are related very vividly. One by one they must appear before their returned Master; first the man who had received five talents; then the one who had received two; and finally he who had been endowed with one.
That moment of reckoning will come for these three servants, but also for us, for you and me, namely on the day that the Lord Jesus Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. When that will be, we do not know. It may still take some time, but do not forget one thing, that the life of each of us individually is but a vapor and that death beckons every hour. And then it will be over as concerns the space that is offered to us here to make the most of our talents for the Lord. As the tree falls, so it remains.
Now there are always people who know exactly what the Lord Jesus will ask later, or rather what He will NOT ask! You know the questions that force agreement; “Do you think, pastor, that God will ask me whether I have done this or that, or how I have acted?” It seems that these questioners know that precisely. However, let each one be careful: at the end of this chapter, Matt.25, it is about simple things: a piece of bread and a sip of water, a piece of clothing, a visit to a sick person and to a prisoner, and these little things are decisive for our eternal “well or woe”.
And elsewhere, in Matt.12:36, you can read the following words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”
The servant who had one talent only hid it in the earth. No evil is reported of the man. He only refused to serve his master with what he had received. He was only a conscientious objector, a worthless servant. His life was unfruitful to his master.
No, you do not hear, concerning him, a list of all kinds of evil. He may have been a good, good, virtuous man. Only his existence bore no fruit for the Lord . And that is so bad, that he is relegated to the outer darkness.
How could it be otherwise? How could he have felt at home in the joy of his master, where everything is about the Lord, about His glory, about His kingdom, about His name, about His will.
Let all this sink in, brothers and sisters. We are called to the service of the Lord in our entire lives. No, not as a means to earn life. Thank God not! If that were the case, no one would ever be able to enter into joy. Even at the turn of the year we guard it well: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him.
Even in these moments I proclaim to you no other Gospel than the good news: by grace alone. In the cross you will glory forever. You will have to know Him, who was born in Bethlehem and who suffered, who is seated at God’s right hand and will soon return… know Him as your Savior, as your Redeemer, as your only comfort in life and in death, then the gates of life will open to you.
Of this rich Gospel nothing is here taken away. But whoever knows Him, who is redeemed by Christ, let him know that He also renews him by His Holy Spirit into His own image, so that with his whole life he shows himself thankful to God for His benefits and He is praised by him (H.C. Lord’s Day 32). In other words: whoever is implanted in Jesus Christ by a true faith, produces fruits of gratitude, …begins to live for the Lord .
That is the fruit which is the goal of redemption. In it the work of the Savior is revealed and flourishes. But he who does not know this service of gratitude, and is unwilling to use, in Christ’s strength, the talents received for the Lord, who is unfruitful for Him, has no bond with the Savior, he misses His fellowship and he also has no share in the rich fruits that He acquired.
“If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
The calling of the servants and handmaids is to serve their Lord ALL their lives. No, that is not a punishment; and we must not think that we are doing God a favor by it. Even if we had done all that we ought to do, we would not be doing anything special; we would be but unprofitable servants.
The service of the Lord is not a heavy cross, but true joy, even though it means constant self-denial and an incessant struggle.
It is a feast where we bow down in worship before that King, and everywhere where we listen to His voice. Wherever the Savior is followed, there is song and joy, however dark it may be and however threatening the future may be. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
And soon – after the shadows and after the sorrow over my sin and shortcomings, that accompany me here – the great morning of eternal light, the joy of my Lord, will dawn; then I will be allowed to serve Him undisturbed. For: no sin is found there.
But whoever serves sin is a slave to sin; and that service is very grievous. And the light never dawns. Soon comes the eternal night.
“And after a long time the Master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”
“Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”
Amen.