David Diga Hernandez - THIS is Why Many Christians Miss God's Will

I don’t want to get to heaven and discover that there was so much more I should have done here on Earth. Oh Lord, that we would burn with holy fire, with passion—so much passion for You, Lord, that we can’t sit still; we have to do something. As we look at this parable found in Matthew 25, a very popular parable that Jesus told, this particular parable reveals some truths about stewardship, about obedience, and about how we, as the servants, respond to our Lord. Now, all of us have different gift sets; all of us have different deposits that God has placed in us. Your deposit is very unique; God has given you certain things that He has not given to others, and some of us He trusts with more responsibility at the beginning because of the way He created us and what He put in us. But no matter where you begin, good stewardship will always cause God to give you more. The way you treat the responsibilities He has given you will determine the responsibilities He will give to you. Matthew 25, verse 14: Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. So notice here that the Scripture says He divides in proportion to their abilities. Let’s say you’re like the servant who gets the one bag; okay, you’re not like the two-bag or five-bag servant, but that’s okay. You take that one bag of silver, and if you’re a good steward, that can eventually become ten, then a hundred. We don’t all necessarily start in the same place because all of us have different circumstances, different starting points, but we can all obey God to His glory. We can all obey God with what we’ve been given. Verse 16: The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earn five more. So here we see this proactivity, this initiative that he takes to go and do something with what the master had given to him. He doesn’t have instructions on what to do, but then he also doesn’t just sit on that silver and say, «Well, I’ll wait for the master to return.» This servant takes the five bags of silver and begins to invest it, and he doubles it. Now watch this—verse 17: The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. So this next servant with the two bags of silver also doubles his investment. Verse 18: But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. Verse 19: After a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. All of us will give an account; every believer will stand before God and receive their reward in proportion to how they behaved here on this side of eternity. So they are giving an account to the master. Verse 20: It says this: The servant to whom he had entrusted five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, «Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest; I’ve earned five more.» So he’s excited about this; he presents this. What a joy it is to present to the Lord what you’ve done for Him, for His glory. Verse 21: Now the master was full of praise. «Well done, my good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities; let’s celebrate together.» The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, «Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.» Here again we see a doubling of the master’s investment. Verse 23: The master said, «Well done, my good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities; let’s celebrate together.» So the master is happy to see that his servants had done well with what he gave them. In fact, he has a celebration for them and then rewards them with more responsibilities. Verse 24: Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, «Master, I knew you were a harsh man harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money.» Interesting—fear is the root of inactivity. «I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. In other words, I did nothing with it. Look, here is your money back.» But the master replied, «You wicked and lazy servant!» So I don’t know about you, but when I look at this portion of Scripture, it seems to me that this servant with the one bag was thinking that he would possibly receive praise because he hid it—"Look, I was wise with it; I didn’t want to lose it. I knew you were harsh, so I buried it.» He was probably expecting the master to say, «You know what, good job; that was wise. I’m glad that you didn’t risk my money.» But no, the master replies in verse 26, «You wicked and lazy servant!» Interesting that wickedness and laziness are mentioned here together. «If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.»