Preparation for Departure

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the Parable of the Three Servants, sometimes known as the Parable of the Talents. In this parable, there is a a man who gives his three servants five, two, and one bag of silver respectively. The first two servants invested the silver and went to work with what was given to them so that they could earn more. The last servant buried the master’s money. When the master returns, he praises the first two servants and scolds the last one: “Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (25:30, NIV). He has given us earthly resources and spiritual gifts to be used to grow his Kingdom, but many of us bury those gifts in order to live a self-centered life. Our selfish lives will turn to dust, but our work in God’s Kingdom will last for eternity. What have you been doing with what God has given you? God hasn’t given us earthly resources and spiritual gifts in order to just go to college, get a degree, score a good job, move up the corporate ladder, get married, have kids, send our kids to nice schools, upgrade our cars, upgrade our house, and generally live a nice and comfortable life. While these things aren’t inherently bad, these things cannot be our purpose for living. They will all turn to dust in the end. What won’t turn to dust is the effort we put toward eternal work. When we focus our short lives on loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and making disciples of all nations, then everything we do has purpose. First Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (NIV). It can be sobering to think about the brevity of our lives, but it is even more terrifying to think of living a life that was completely pointless. The only way our lives can have purpose is if we find our purpose in giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. Only then will our lives have an eternal impact. Reflection/Discussion Question: Are you currently more focused on living for yourself or doing the work of the Lord?

Jesus said “‘But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first’ ” (Matthew 19:30, NIV) on more than one occasion, so we would do well to tune into what he’s trying to say. And while it may not have made much sense to the disciples at the time, Paul fleshes out this idea in Ephesians as he begins setting out a familial code by which all believers are to live. He addresses “the last” first. He starts by addressing children and slaves—the people who held the place of least dignity according to the rest of the world.  First Corinthians 12 echoes this same idea when talking about the parts of the Body of Christ: “On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor” (12:22-23a, NIV). As we can see, living for Jesus is not just a slight change of direction, but a complete 180-degree turn. People will see the radical love of Jesus when we start to treat the “weak” as indispensable and the “less honorable” as ones with special honor. And yet, while you may have grown up in a “christian” home, maybe your home looked nothing like this. You can’t help but see a distorted image of God because of the way your father, mother, or sibling treated you. As a result, you have no example for how to begin living out these verses that Paul writes in Ephesians. The good news is that Jesus offers grace and healing. He can take our scars and brokenness and turn it into something beautiful. It’s in our redeemed brokenness that the world can see the work of Jesus and be changed as a result. Reflection/Discussion Question: What do you think it looks like to live out the ideas in Matthew 19:30 and 1 Corinthians 12:22-23?