Ordained in Christ Jesus

Parable of the Talents

“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. The he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that hath had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his Lord’s money. After a long time the Lord of these servants cometh, and reckoneth wit them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredest unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee and ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredest unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knowest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:14-30. This parable is referring to when Jesus Christ dies and rose again, he left spiritual gifts to certain people in the hopes of them making a return on investment at the end of days. The money/talents in the parable will be alluded to spiritual grace and spiritual gifts granted by the Lord God. The journey into the far country that the man is taking is God going into the future. Him leaving his goods with his servants is God leaving ordained individuals with His spiritual grace, power, and gifts. He gave them a portion that He knew that they could handle, by their several abilities. This parable is also about growth, diligence, and work. To whom much is given much is required (Luke 12:48). The two servants who received five and two talents made back what they gave. This goes to show a biblical term called “recompense”. What you give is what you get back. Now, the third servant who hid his one talent in the earth while the Lord was away shows a character of laziness, fear, and carelessness. When God gives you something, don’t be lazy with it. Like an untold prophecy for example. Don’t be fearful. Like an evangelist with social anxiety for example. Don’t be careless with it, like a defiled pastor for example. These character flaws will misrepresent the Lord, and as we see in the parable there will be judgment for that. The two successful servants are told by the Lord that they were a faithful servant and were faithful with a few things and will be rewarded with many things (Matthew 5:5). What does the word faithful means in this context of scripture? Let’s say loyalty and trust. The Lord trusted these two faithful and successful servants with few things, and they proved their loyalty to him by doubling what they had. But to the unsuccessful servant, the Lord calls him slothful and wicked. Now, this servant first came to the Lord with excuses. He didn’t repent or ask for forgiveness. He also mentioned that he was afraid too. He also did assume what His master was thinking and his master’s reaction. He was also un-faithful because he had only one talent, so he thought it wasn’t enough to make it all back. So, the Lord gives him some advice before casting him into outer darkness, stating the fact that the unsuccessful servant could have gotten help by giving the talent to exchangers to have a return of usury (which is like a small interest rate). If you don’t know what to do with what God gave you, ask someone else who knows what to do with is so you can at least put in some effort to make something back. So, even though it was one talent, there was still something to be made. The first judgment was to take that one talent and give it to the one who had five and made five more. The reason for this is because the person who is able to put in work, be diligent, and grow on a steady incline will receive more and more, like a mountaintop. On the flip side, those who have nothing receive nothing. The way the parable proclaims this must be a Heavenly law. You would not want to plant a garden and the plants and trees you put there produce nothing. You would be angry and throw those plants away. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men, (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, -which is the head, even Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-15 KJV. This scripture is packed with a lot to unravel. Apostle Paul breaks down what it means to be ordained in the body of Christ. The keywords in the first sentence are grace, gift, and measure. Grace is a Heavenly force or covering. Some people even believe that Grace is a Heavenly currency. The more grace that is added inside you, the more people will see you leave a trail or have a spiritual scent of YAH’s touch on you. (1 Samuel 18:14) The word ‘gift’ is something that is given to someone. It is usually given as a token of appreciation or acceptance. Once YAH sees that you are an acceptable candidate and representation for the Kingdom of Heaven, He will gift you with ‘grace’. And the word ‘measure’ is the dimensions of a transaction. However much faith you give to Jesus is however much grace His father in heaven will give to you. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, this was not a symbol of freedom, but the chains of the old covenant being broken and us men (women and children) here on earth being brought under a new covenant, which is true liberation from sin. Now that captivity (being captured) is captive (caught), He was able to afford us spiritual gifts to give to men. The text inside of the parentheses explains why Jesus is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Jesus is the glue between all that exists. Jesus is the bridge from Earth to Heaven. Jesus gathered all and everything that His father created and brought all of it under his control, because those who were left to steward it all failed to do so, therefore he took responsibility of everything that His father created. Apostle Paul lists the major functions of the Body of Christ, which is termed The Five-Fold Ministry or the Ecclesia and tells us the main purpose of the offices. If Christ lived a perfect life, then that is what the saints ought to work towards as much as they possibly can. The Five-Fold Ministry is there to help with that by the gifts they were given. To edify is to instruct or improve and the edification is supposed to build the Body of Christ until it is perfected like Christ was in the flesh. A unity in the faith means that we all that are a part of the Body of Christ can all be on one accord. The word ‘stature’ both means height and reputation. That means the measure of Jesus’ achievements, his uprightness, and righteousness is what we who accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior need to work towards. No more should we be like children where we have no direction and are always persuaded with little to no effort by predators who seek to rob us of our innocence in the faith. We as believers need to continually grow in our faith to meet Jesus where he’s at. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 KJV. Here is this scripture, they are 9 spiritual gifts all coming from the same Spirit, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we look into the gifts, we see that there are different administrations and operations. Administrations are defined as “the process or activity of running a business, organization, etc.” and “the action of dispensing, giving, or applying something.” Operations are defined as “the power to act efficacy, influence, or force” and “a process of practical or mechanical nature in some form of work.” Now that we understand both what an administration and an operation is, we can see why Jesus Christ gave the Parable of the Talents. It closely coincides with him calling servants and appointing them with gifts in the form of money to then go out and multiply what was given to them. So, it’s like a business in the Body of Christ. The best thing that you can give God in return are the lost souls that don’t know him. The reason why the scripture continues to bring to our attention that it is the selfsame God who gives these spiritual gifts is because the gifts come from Him and Him alone so no man can boast about them cultivating it all to themselves. With these spiritual gifts given to specific people, the Church is supposed to be operable when these spiritual gifts are managed and operated on all who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. To list the nine spiritual gifts, they are the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, gift of faith, gift of healing, gift of miracles, gift of prophecies, gift of discerning spirits, gifts of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. The word of wisdom is divine and heavenly wisdom; a perspective from God’s point of view, to help a person make better decisions in all areas of their lives. The word of knowledge is divine knowledge of an individual that only God knows. It is to be used to have that person go back to Jesus for the answer that they’re looking for. The gift of faith is to strengthen someone in their walk with Christ and to also give to the other spiritual gift holders to strengthen their gifts as well. The gift of healing is self-explanatory. The gift of miracles is being able to speak or even show supernatural features by either praying or calling on God, like raising someone from the dead or bringing food to a person or family that is famished. The gift of prophecy is not necessarily someone being a called Prophet. The Lord God can give you one prophecy to one person or a group of people and that will be it, unless the Lord God comes back to you to prophesy again, but it is not the calling of a prophet, just the unction of the Spirit of God. The gift of discerning spirits is the ability to tell what is from the Spirit of God and what is not from Him. It is easy for us to be deceived, especially in the Church, so it is imperative that this gift is used, to keep away from evil wickedness lurking about. And then last, you have diver kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. This is a prayer that only the Spirit of God and the individual knows about, the interpreter can formulate the spiritual prayer into clear words for other to hear about. If you find yourself having any of these gifts, use these gifts in dedication to God and Him only. Look at these two verses to further know about spiritual gifts. Romans 12:6-8 KJV & 1 Peter 4:10-11 KJV.