[Message] Pastor Jung Myeong Seok [Scriptures] Matthew 25:14-21
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Hallelujah!
The message from verse 14 in the book of Matthew, chapter 25, is the Parable of the Talents.
Jesus told the parable of an owner handing out talents to his servants according to their skills and abilities.
The owner said to the person who had received five talents,
“Well done. You’ve also made another five talents.
You took action right away.
You put your money to work right away and gained this much.
Come and share your master’s happiness.
You are good and faithful. Even though it was with small things, you were faithful.”
And also the owner said to the one who had received two talents,
“Good job.
With your talents and abilities, you have also gained talents.
Well done. Come and share your master’s happiness.”
The reason the one who had received one talent only brought back the one talent:
“Master, I thought you were going to simply come back and collect the talent, so I just buried it and kept it until you returned.”
“You’ve misunderstood me.
Do you think that I could gain without putting in the effort and struggle to gather?
I am also a person who wants to make a profit, better myself and become greater….
You have misunderstood me.”
“I am sorry. Please forgive me.”
But since it was unreasonable, the owner couldn’t accept his apology.
Rather, he said, “You, go outside according to your deeds and live there.”
At this point, the story ends.
Through this story, we can reflect back on this year.
When we do so, we’ll see that so many things had transpired.
When we see it in terms of individuals, families, nations, and the world, each nation had gone through many difficulties.
In the midst of it, when we see what we’ve realized and what we’ve gone through, there are many things that were gratifying, and we were also very busy.
In the midst of difficulties, there were many tearful circumstances.
There were times when we were in darkness, but there were also times when things were dazzling and brilliant like the sun.
When we look back in time, we see that God had protected us.
God thoroughly protected individuals, families, nations, and the world.
In all kinds of hardship, we almost could have fallen into a huge trap and gone through tremendous suffering, but God protected us in that kind of world and accompanied us.
He protected us like sunshine that stretches from where we are all the way to the western mountains.
And, He was with us with His spiritual power and protected us while watching over us with fiery eyes.
“The Bible says that God always takes responsibility for protecting us, doesn’t it?
It says that God takes responsibility for what He says, doesn’t it?”
When you pray acknowledging this and ask for protection, if you feel in your heart that God is telling you, “I will do that,” and a realization comes, then He is protecting you.
God has a lot of strengths, and one of them is that He does not make mistakes.
People make a lot of mistakes, but God doesn’t make any mistakes, so it’s truly remarkable.
Technicians and even experts make mistakes.
But, God does not make mistakes, so how tremendous that is.
Therefore, even if you leave everything up to Him and entrust Him with it, God never makes any mistakes even once.
The reason is He is an Omnipotent and Omniscient God, and also, He deploys five or six angels to each person.
In addition, God Himself, also watches over us as well. So now, we have a much better understanding of our God, Who does not make mistakes.
Another thing is that God has loved us in various ways unconditionally.
He has loved us, led us, and has been with us.
His love didn’t just end with that, but additionally, He allowed us to be restored from our past mistakes and blessed us according to what we had done.
Even though we made mistakes, God forgave us, stayed with us, and loved us.
When did He do that?
For the past one year, He has done so.
We are talking about this one year.
And what else? He gave us wisdom, knowledge, diligence, and even in the midst of hardship, God made history upon us. And by being with us, He helped us to get up and run. Secretly, discreetly He continued to perform these kinds of works and worked upon us. That’s why you’ve been able to exist and make it to this point for 365 days.
Until now, in this manner, we’ve been spending this one year like a day.
And now, the setting sun has made its way to the western hill.
We experience the sun’s setting everyday.
However, today is the day when the entire year, the long year of 365 days, is finally setting.
For one year, everyone has really endeavored and really worked hard.
I witnessed every single matter and experienced how tremendous it was to have God work upon us and be with us. That’s why I am telling you all these things.
Realize what you’ve witnessed, what you’ve experienced, and cry out.
That’s why I said, “Let’s reflect back on the year.”
God spoke to the Israelites when they had escaped Egypt and entered Canaan:
“Reflect back on the time when you had crossed the crisis of death at the Red Sea.
Recall what kind of place I saved you from.
How did you come to cross over the waters?”
It was not that the Israelites had split the Red Sea and dried up the waters of the Red Sea, was it?
For what human beings could not do, God did it all, and even for what human beings could do, God had done it through them by enabling them to do it.
We weren’t aware of it, but God had been protecting us all along.
God protected our health for this year, protected us from accidents, fed us so that we wouldn’t be hungry, and allowed us to listen continuously to the Word. We’ve received abundant grace from God.
We have always lived, loving Him and being thankful to Him, even in the course of tribulations and hardships.
Isn’t that so?
That’s why we are able to wrap up this year as the year of love and thanksgiving.
I told you how often God has been with us and has worked upon us, and how truly amazing that is.
Everyone, the leaders of each nation and each church, as well as those who have devoted their youth while running for the history this year, like in this week’s message, the Lord is telling you,
“Well done. Since you were faithful with small tasks, I will entrust you with many things.
So, come and share your master’s happiness and continue to live another year.”
Everyone, I commend you for your hard work.
Now, let’s receive the new year that beholds us tomorrow, and let’s receive another year while running and holding the hands of God.
Everyone in the world, I pray that you will overcome all difficult situations and take action boldly.
