Thought for Today
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
Matthew 25:15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. . . . 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' 21 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master
Last night, I watched an interview on television with the head of the Secret Service. At one point during that interview, he said (paraphrasing), “My job is to be the President’s (bulletproof) vest.” Members of the Secret Service have a simple, straightforward purpose, to protect the life of the President of the United States.
During the opening segment of the great HBO series Band of Brothers, one of the trainees is asked by his commanding officer, “Why are you here, private . . .?” All of the valiant men and women who served in our military had the same simple, straightforward purpose, to defeat the enemies who had attacked the United States of America.
This morning, I am thinking about that same question of purpose on a larger scale. Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? What is the meaning of our current reality? The authors of Genesis gave the purpose of human life in agrarian terms speaking of Eden, “to till it and keep it.” Ignoring all considerations, however, of how well or poorly we have tilled it and kept it, few people today are directly involved with tilling and keeping other than in terms of our flower beds. Why are we here?
Our Bible Study will begin a study of Jesus’ parables in our session tonight. We are being guided by the book The World of the Parables by R. Alan Culpepper. We will not be looking at the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:12-17 for several weeks; but, the Parable of the Talents has long been one of my favorites of Jesus’ parables.
In industry and commerce, companies are encouraged to have simple and clearly delineated statements of purpose. There is great value in knowing exactly what your business exists to do. If a corporation understands its purpose and existence being solely to make buggy whips, its market and potential are severely limited. If it understands its purpose to be facilitating transportation, the market and potential are much greater. The same is true for us as individuals. Why are we here?
I find clues in the Bible. We are never given a full, detailed and complete prospectus for heaven or eternity. But, there are definitely clues. Jesus does tell us, “John 14:2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” What will we all be doing when we get there? What do those dwelling places look like?
I do not have any answers about what those dwelling places will look like. I don’t even know what we will look like in eternity. I cannot even truly understand eternity other than as a mathematical concept of limited use in integral calculus.
I do find great comfort, however, in the Parable of the Talents. First, I do not believe there is a particular hierarchical meaning in the five talents versus the two talents or the one talent. Rather than hierarchical, the meaning of those differences is that irrespective of talents or abilities any of us are given, any judgment is based on what we do with what we are given. As far as the salvific meaning, I believe Paul was correct when he wrote, “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—”
My goal in life is to use what God has given me to advance the Kingdom of God and to hear as I enter eternity, “'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” That’s why I am here. That is the meaning of my life. I’ll know the details when I get there.
Think about what God has given you, use it to advance the Kingdom, trust God,
Pastor Ray