The God of Increase
Theme: The kingdom of heaven is always expanding
Text: Matthew 25:13-30
Here’s a thought: Someone has observed, “What's true of biology is also true of faith: If it isn't growing, it's probably dead.”
Bobby Clarke was born in 1949 in Flin Flon, Manitoba. He began playing hockey at the age of eight. Bobby was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 12 or 13, but he continued to pursue his hockey career. He was drafted as the number 17 pick in 1969 and played for the Philadelphia Flyers. Despite being a diabetic, Bobby became the captain of the first National Hockey League expansion team to win the Stanley Cup championship in 1974 and repeated as champions the following year. I learned from him that some people who grow and accomplish remarkable results are those not loaded with talent but who pursue their goals with determination.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:13-30 have immediate relevance for us:
13 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. 14 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents. 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!” 22 The man with the two talents also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; 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!” 24 Then the
man who had received the one talent 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 talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” 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. 28 Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” NIV
We can pursue one of two options in God’s work:
Decrease
Or
Increase
We can pursue:
Decrease
Comparing ourselves with others will lead to a decrease. The Bible warns us (in 2 Corinthians 10:12) against comparing ourselves with others because it paralyzes us. There will always be people who have more or less than we have. We will grow discouraged if we focus on those who have more than us. If we focus on those who have less, we will become proud. The Lord will not judge our progress based on others and how well they have done. His concern is what we have done with what we have, not what we have done with what we do not have. Comparing yourself with others is a trap - don’t fall for it!
The servant with just one talent wanted to maintain but lost what little he had. Maintenance is impossible in the spiritual realm. Either we go forward, or we slip backward. I appreciate the emphasis amongst some followers of Jesus on His second coming. This expectancy should motivate us to live differently from the world around us. I am concerned, however, that many believers hang on until the Lord returns. They have become so discouraged by all the spiritual darkness around them that they have retreated into their churches, homes, families and friends while they wait.
Let’s be careful that we do not lose sight of our mission. We are here to make an eternal difference in others. We are not here merely to hold the fort until Jesus Christ returns. We are here to get involved in the lives of people who have yet to understand who our Lord and Savior is.
The moment we begin to hoard what God has given us is when our spiritual reservoir begins to dry up. The Lord has given us salvation, healing, freedom, time and money, and He wants us to share it with others. Every healthy body of water and every healthy soul have both an inlet and an outlet.
Someone has observed, “What's true of biology is also true of faith: If it isn't growing, it's probably dead.”
We have a lot to offer! Let’s not focus on spending our spiritual blessings and growing income on our wants. How much will be enough? The time has come to answer this question with eternity’s values in view and then to give away what we don’t need. We will have abundant financial resources if we all give at least 10% of our gross income to the church's work.
Money is such an uncertain commodity. I read of one man who lost his entire business on Wall Street in the 1929 stock market crash when a broker jumped out of the window and landed on his hot dog stand.
Fear based on a misunderstanding of God led to the servant’s downfall. Such fear and insecurity will rob us blind of all that the Lord wants to offer us. If we lack confidence in God’s mercy, grace, patience and forgiveness, we will construct walls around us that enslave us. We have all had people who seem to have the gift of criticism. These wet blankets have the uncanny ability to crush our dreams and second-guess every decision we make. If we believe that is how our Heavenly Father interacts with His children, our goals and aspirations will always be less than they can be. Faith is not the absence of fear but the choice to face our fear.
Pursuing comfort yields no increase. We are tempted to choose the path of least resistance. This path quickly becomes a rut as we habitually travel on it.
Moses sent twelve men to check out the land the Lord had promised to give the nation of Israel. They returned from their information-gathering expedition with very different conclusions in Numbers 13:26-33:
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb
silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” NIV
Joshua and Caleb agreed with the other ten about the land's greatness. It was unlike anything they had seen! Could they take the land? Only Joshua and Caleb believed their God was big enough to lead them to victory. The ten that stayed within their comfort zones withered and died in the wilderness. The two that showed a pioneering spirit came to inhabit the Promised Land.
It’s not easy to plant and establish a church. It’s challenging to grow without a building and a strong team of faithful supporters. We are never sure how many will show up each week and if the bills will be paid this month.
Stability can be both a blessing and a curse. It can work for us if faithfulness is combined with openness to the Holy Spirit and the changes He calls us to make. Stability can work against us if we allow tradition and the pursuit of self-comfort to hem us in.
We are either moving forward or backward. We are either growing or shrinking. We are either increasing or decreasing.
What will happen if you and I continue to do what we are doing? What will be the result? What will we become?
We can pursue:
Decrease
Or
Increase
I admire the man who had two talents in Matthew 25 because he did not get discouraged over not having five. Instead, he did the very best he could with what he had. Success is multiplying what we have, not crying over what we do not have. The servant with two talents could have protested, “Hey, this is
unfair! Why did he get five, and I only got two?” Rather than protesting over what he did not have, he worked to increase what he did have.
A little boy told his friend, “I’ve got a brother with three feet.”
“What do you mean?” his buddy probed.
“Well,” the boy reasoned, “My mother heard from my brother who’s in college, and he said, ‘You would hardly know me because I’ve grown three feet.’”
We could look at other churches and conclude that we have been short-changed. Are we responsible for what they are doing? Of course not! We are responsible for sowing and growing all the Lord has given us.
The servants with two and five talents believed their master wanted to grow his investment. Somehow, they knew the resources entrusted to them were not to be stashed away safely. How did they know their master was more interested in increase than maintenance? Perhaps this came by spending time with him. Maybe their self-image was stronger than the servant who buried his talent. I have met some strong leaders. Many of these have an air about them that less secure people would interpret as pride. What may be confidence in the Holy Spirit within can be misunderstood as confidence in self.
Can we handle and overcome what is before us? With the Lord’s wisdom and provision, we can tackle it. This is not pride or presumption but confidence in our Lord.
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer in the kingdom of heaven. It seems so unfair to us that the servant who hid his one talent would have it taken from him and given to the one who already had the most. Why would the Lord do this? He is looking for people He can trust both now and throughout eternity. If we prove to be faithful in small things, He will put us in charge of many things.
I admire Caleb! His name comes from two Hebrew words, “kal” and “lev,” which, when put together, mean “whole-hearted, faithful, bold, or brave.” The Hebrew word for dog, “kelev,” also implies faithfulness. Like a dog can be faithful to his master, so Caleb was faithful to his master.
Consider the conclusion in Numbers 13 that he and Joshua reached after they had spied out the Promised Land. Caleb is 85 years old in Joshua 14 and asks Joshua for Hebron. He vows to drive out the Anakites (with large people and large cities) from the land.
While the other ten spies were filled with fear because they focused on the overwhelming odds, Joshua and Caleb recognized the realities and kept their eyes on the Lord, who would help them to overcome the obstacles.
Tim Hansel wrote in “Holy Sweat,” 1987, Word Books Publisher, pages 54 to 55:
A close friend of mine was asked back to his forty-year high school reunion. For months he saved to take his wife back to the place and the people he’d left four decades before. The closer the time came for the reunion, the more excited he became, thinking of all the wonderful stories he would hear about the changes and the accomplishments these old friends would tell him.
One night before he left, he even pulled out his old yearbooks and read the silly statements and the good wishes for the future that students write to each other. He wondered what ol’ Number 86 from his football team had done. He wondered if any others had encountered this Christ who had changed him so profoundly. He even tried to guess what some of his friends would look like and what kind of jobs and families some of these special friends had.
The day came to leave, and I drove them to the airport. Their energy was almost contagious. “I’ll pick you up on Sunday evening, and you can tell me all about it,” I said. “Have a great time.”
Sunday evening arrived. As I watched them get off the plane, my friend seemed almost despondent. I almost didn’t want to ask, but finally, I said, “Well, how was the reunion?”
“Tim,” the man said, “it was one of the saddest experiences of my life.”
“Good grief,” I said, more than a little surprised. “What happened?”
My friend explained, “It wasn’t what happened but what didn’t happen. It has been forty years, forty years - and they haven’t changed. They had simply gained weight, changed clothes, gotten jobs … but they hadn’t really changed. And what I experienced was maybe one of the most tragic things I could ever imagine about life. For reasons I can’t fully understand, it seems as though some people choose not to change.”
There was a long silence as we walked back to the car. On the drive home, he turned to me and said, “I never, never want that to be said of me, Tim. Life is too precious, too sacred, too important. If you ever see me go stagnant like that, I hope you give me a quick, swift kick where I need it. I hope you’ll love me enough to challenge me to keep growing.”
We can pursue one of two options in God’s work:
Decrease
Or
Increase
The kingdom of heaven is always expanding
