Parables of Jesus - 08 Being Faithful With God's Gifts — Zac Poonen

Faithfulness With God’s Gifts and Understanding the Parables

We come to our last study today on the parables and our subject today is being faithful with God's gifts. We want to turn first of all to parable number 35 Matthew chapter 21 and verse 33 to 41. As we've been looking at the parables I mentioned at the beginning that Jesus explained only two of the 40 parables that he spoke and he expected us I believe to understand the meaning of the remaining 38 and that's what we've been trying to do and what I have said in these days and what I'm going to say today is only something to give you a little incentive to go and study the parables yourself and there's a lot more that you can find there which I have not shared there's a lot more that you can discover that God's speaking to your own heart through these parables and if we use what God gives us means if you obey the light God gives us then he will give us more light but if you study the scriptures or the parables just to get more knowledge either for your own satisfaction or because you want to preach that then you are in great danger.

God has given us his word to apply in our daily life. The Bible says Jesus said man shall live by every word of God not man shall study or increase in knowledge man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God what we have considered our words that proceeds with the mouth of God and they are given to us to live not to just study and increase in knowledge.

Please keep that in mind not only in your study of the parables but in all of your study of the Word of God. So Matthew chapter 21 in verse 33 to 41 it's speaking here about the wicked tenants. There's a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and built a tower and I want you to notice one word here rented it.

He didn't give it, he didn't sell it, he rented it. Now you know the difference between a house that you're bought and a house that you've rented, a field that you're bought and a field that you've rented.

A rented field doesn't belong to you, it's a loan and he went on a journey and when the harvest time came he sent his slaves to get the the produce the whatever they have grown there and the wine growers took his slaves and beat one and killed the other and stoned a third.

This is a picture of God having first given his message to the Jewish people, to Israel and then he sent his prophets and they persecuted them, killed them, stoned them. Then he sent another group of prophets, verse 36, they did the same thing.

Then afterward he sent his son, that's sending Jesus Christ. They say saying they'll respect my son but when the wine growers saw the son they said let's kill him because then we can take over the inheritance because he's the heir.

They took him through him outside the vineyard, outside Jerusalem, they crucified him and then what will the owner of the vineyard come do when he comes to these people? Well he'll bring those wretches to a wretched end and he'll rent out the vineyard to other wine growers, that is to the church.

So now we've been given this field, what for? The last part of verse 41, to pay him the proceeds at the proper season. When we have a field that we have rented, if it's your own field you can do what you like but when it's rented to you, you have to give the proceeds from your cultivating the field to the owner and that's what we need to see here that everything God gives us on earth, material things, is a loan.

Everything Belongs to God as a Loan

It doesn't belong to us. We have no possession, possessive rights over anything that God has given us. It's very important for us to recognize that our body is a loan, time that God has given us to live on earth is a loan, money that you earn or material things that you own or possess or that you receive as an inheritance from your parents are not yours, they're a loan.

You know sometimes, particularly in Christian work, people say this is my money and this is the Lord's money. Actually everything is the Lord's money but sometimes people act in a very possessive way to what they think they have inherited or what they have earned.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6, I want you to see a verse here. It says here 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 7. It's a very important verse. It says here that we brought nothing into the world therefore and that therefore is very important so it is clear that we cannot take anything out of it either.

You know one sentence is dependent on the other sentence. Why is it that when a man who has accumulated a lot of money in his lifetime and acquired a lot of property, when he dies God does not allow him to take even one rupee, one paisa, anything that he's earned out of this earth.

If it belonged to him then we'd have to say God is a thief to take it away from him when he dies. But God is not a thief. What God says to the man when he's dying is, listen, when you came to this earth you came naked.

You didn't even have a shirt on you. You didn't own anything and so when you go you have to go in exactly the same way. That's what it says here. Because we brought nothing into the world when we were born, that's the reason why when we die we can't take anything out.

So what about all the things that we had when we were on earth during our lifetime of 50, 60, 70 years? That was a loan. Maybe you thought it was yours. People in the world think I own this and I own that but a man, a godly man recognizes I own nothing.

Everything is a loan and God loans it to me just like he loaned it to the vineyard people in the vineyard so that I use it for him, not for myself. And that's the foolishness of the people in Israel in the Old Testament time.

They thought this is all ours. We can do what we like and God rejected them and now he's given it to the church. Now what do we do with God's gifts? People around the world, Christians, they also make the same mistake.

Oh this is ours. I can live my life as I like. No you can't. Your life is a loan. I can spend my money as I like. No you can't. It's a loan. I can spend my time as I like. You can't. It's a loan. Everything is a loan.

That's what we need to recognize what Jesus is trying to teach in this parable. Let me show you another verse in 1 Corinthians in chapter 10. 1 Corinthians in chapter 10 and verse 26. Now in the King James Version it doesn't come out so clearly.

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. What it means here in the NASB that I use is the earth is the Lord's and all that it contains. To whom does the earth belong? To the Lord. What about everything that's contained on the earth?

The gold, the silver, the property, all the wealth of the earth. It says here very clearly it belongs to the Lord. Then how do I have it some of it in my name? It's a loan. God has loaned it to me. I must never never forget that and my duty is to be faithful in giving to God the produce of this loan, this vineyard that he's rented out to me.

He's not given me anything and God sends God sent his son to receive that produce and now I have to give to Jesus that produce. That means what I'm able to produce with my life, my time, my money, I'm to give to his son.

The Rich Fool and Being Rich Toward God

Okay we go to the next parable and that is Luke chapter 12. These parables you know and all relating to money and I want you to know one thing that in the Gospels, if I recollect correctly, an average of one out of every six verses speaks about money.

That means 16 talk about money. Money is a very very important subject in the teaching of Jesus. All these parables deal with that. Here's another one Luke chapter 12 verse 16 to 21 the story of the rich fool.

A man, his land was very productive but he was a fool because he thought it was his. He didn't realize it was rented by God and he began reasoning to himself what shall I do because I don't have any place to store my crops.

This is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns, build larger ones and I'll store all my grain and my goods. Now there's nothing wrong in a man's business prospering but it's a question of what you do with it when your business prospers.

Verse 19, I'll say to my soul, soul you've got many goods laid up for many years to come. That's for yourself. Take your ease, eat and drink and be merry. But God said to him, verse 20, you fool this very night your soul is required of you.

Now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who lays up, listen to this, this is the most important verse there, so is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Now that expression my dear brothers and sisters, think of it all your life, being rich towards God.

It's a beautiful expression. We must say Lord I want to be rich towards you and I want to say this from this parable, anyone who is not rich towards God is a fool. God called him a fool. Anyone who is not rich towards God is a fool.

What's the meaning of being rich towards God? It means that of all that God gives me, I want to give him first place with my health and my time and my money and my energies, my brain, my faculties, my ambitions, desires, everything.

I want to be rich towards God. Those are the happiest people in the world. Those are the wise people. A lot of Christians, I'm sorry to say, they spend most of their time, energy, money in the pursuit of a lot of worldly things.

It could be entertainment, it could be pursuit of their own ambitions and then they give a little corner to God when they retire. They say okay when I'm retired I'll do something for the Lord or I'm glad I didn't wait till I retired to do something for the Lord and it's wonderful to be able to give ourself to the Lord when we are young.

It's wonderful to say Lord let me live a little more simply so that I can be rich towards you instead of spending everything on myself. Let me use my time not just for that which will make me treasure, which will bring treasure for myself but which can make me rich towards you.

You know why a lot of Christians are discouraged and gloomy and in bad moods. Why was it Jesus was never in a bad mood even though he was not a rich man? Why was Jesus always happy? Because he was rich towards his father and I want to tell you it is not God's will that you should ever be in a bad mood.

When I discovered that years ago that Jesus was never in a bad mood any day of his life I said Lord that's the life I want to live. I want to live a life where morning till night I'm never in a bad mood, never discouraged, never depressed even when I'm tempted to those things that I can overcome them and I saw the secret is be rich towards God.

Don't live for yourself. Don't lay out treasure for yourself otherwise you live a miserable life. You'll be a fool. So this man said well eat, drink, ease, take your ease and eat, drink and be merry but he was not going to be merry.

If you really want to be merry like it says in verse 19 you got to be rich towards God. He couldn't be merry. He was miserable like a lot of Christians are. You know that prayer that we pray, the Lord's Prayer, our Father who art in heaven and you know that one sentence give us this day our daily bread which teaches us that we can ask for material things.

There's nothing wrong in asking God to give us. It could be bread, it could be clothes, it could be a house to live in, it could be education for our children so that they can earn that daily bread. All these things are right to ask God for but it's very important.

Seeking God’s Will in Daily Provision

Health for example. I prayed for health for so many years in my life. I believe God offers us something better than healing, health. That's what we should pray for. We shouldn't be praying for healing.

We should be praying for health to serve God and to be fit to serve God wherever we are but before that the request before give us this day our daily bread is thy will be done on earth that's in my life as it is done in heaven.

How do the angels do it in heaven? As soon as God says something they do it. That's how I should do it. If God tells Gabriel something he doesn't sort of hang around doing something else for a half an hour before he does what God says.

Neither should I. Thy will be done on earth as it's done in heaven. As soon as I know God wants me to do something I do it and the next prayer is give us this day our daily bread. In other words you put the two together what I'm praying is Lord please give me food so that I can be strong in my body.

Why? Not to make money. Oh no. Not to entertain myself. No. But to do your will on earth as it is done in heaven. That's why I want my daily bread. So that's what it means to be rich towards God. I want to show you a verse in Luke's Gospel chapter 16 verse 11.

It says here about money. Jesus said if you have not been faithful Luke 16 11 in the use of unrighteous mammon that means money and material things is unrighteous mammon. Who will give to you the true riches?

Let me give you a testimony. Many years ago I said Lord will you make me your mouth so that I can speak your word every time I get up to speak. The Lord said I'll do that if you are faithful with two things.

Be faithful with money and be faithful in the use of your tongue. And I said Lord by your grace I want to do that. I want to be faithful with the money you give me every day. I want to say to you that doesn't apply only to me.

It applies to you. Jeremiah 15 verse 19 says if you're faithful with the use of your tongue take away all the useless garbage in your speech. God says you'll be my mouth. Luke 16 11 says if you're faithful with money God will give you the true riches.

You know what the true riches are? The nature of Christ, divine nature. I can't make myself humble. God has to give me the nature of Christ. I can't make myself pure. God has to give it to me. I cannot love my enemies.

God has to give me that love. That's true riches. And revelation on the Word of God. Those are true riches. The fullness of the Holy Spirit. Those are the true riches. What we call rupees it's false riches.

I don't know whether you folks know of a game called Monopoly. Children play it where they have paper money and they buy property. You know you throw a dice and go through a board and they go different places and if you come to somebody else's property you got to pay rent.

It's very interesting to see children play this. They are so if somebody comes to their square they say pay up your rent. Now think if an older person like me was going to play with a child. I'm not gonna fight over that paper money because I know it's worthless.

I'm older but that for that child that paper money is very valuable. But I know that that's only worthless. There's another money real money. I feel that when the angels look down upon us on earth they see us playing a game of Monopoly on this earth.

Buying property, collecting rent, fighting for money. And angels wonder when are these people going to see that this is not the real riches. Because one day Jesus will come and fold up this Monopoly board and say the game is over.

Now we will now we will see how much true riches you got. How much true riches will you have in that day. What are the Jesus spoke here about true riches. True riches are God's nature. Revelation on his word that God can open your eyes to understand things in the word which nobody can teach you.

No Bible school, no preacher. The Holy Spirit can teach. Seek for that. How can you get it? Be faithful with money. Not just righteous. To be righteous with money means I pay my debts. I give back what I've stolen.

That's righteous. That's step one. Step two is faithful with money. Faithful with money means I don't waste money on myself. I seek to live simply so that I can be faithful because I recognize this money is not mine.

It's God's. That I can try as best as possible not to be a burden to other people. Not to go around looking for people to give me gifts. No. I don't want it. I want to live simply so that people don't have to give me gifts.

I can take care of myself. I want to maybe work a little so that people don't have to support me. That's how Paul lived. That's why he had such tremendous revelation on God's Word. To try your best not to be a burden to other people.

Be faithful with money and be rich towards God. What a wonderful thing. You see money is a terrible master. It's a very useful servant but it's a terrible master. It can destroy you. Money is very useful.

Make it your servant. Don't let it be your master. Okay. Otherwise you'll be one of those rich fools. Go to parable number 37. Matthew chapter 25 verse 14 to 30. Matthew 25 and verse 14 to 30 we see another parable relating to money.

The Parable of the Talents and Faithfulness Rather Than Comparison

It's about a man who traveled on a long journey and he called three servants. Now there's another parable in Luke. We'll come to that later. It's not the same. Listen very carefully as we look at this.

Here are three servants and he gave one five talents, another two talents, and another one talent. So this speaks about the gifts and opportunities and natural abilities and supernatural abilities that God gives us.

They are not the same. See some of us have got more natural abilities than other people. It's true. Some people have got more gifts of the Holy Spirit than other people. It's true. It's not all the same.

One five, one two, one one. You take a man like Paul. He was apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher, everything. He had almost all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Not everybody has that. Some people have got a brilliant brain.

Not everybody has that. Some people have got a very good memory. But not everybody has that. So it's different. So you don't have to look at somebody else. Supposing you've got only two. You don't have to look at the man who's got five and say oh I wish I had five.

No need. God decides how much you must have. That's what we learned from this parable. Don't compare yourself with somebody else and say I wish I had his gifts. And don't feel jealous of somebody who's got some natural abilities which you don't have.

You know some people are extroverts. They can very easily make friends and they can talk well and you may be a shy reserved type of person. That's how I am. I'm basically a shy reserved type person and I used to feel when I was young oh I wish I were like that other person who can easily make friends and God showed me that he decided how I should be.

And I decide okay well that's the way I am. But I've got that with that God gives me certain abilities which he doesn't have. So you don't have to feel ever feel that you wish you were something like somebody else.

God made you exactly. He decided how much to give you. You know you may look at somebody who has more opportunity for a better education, more money to buy things which you can't buy and you feel sorry that you're so poor.

You got only one. That person's got five times what you get and he can buy so many things, so many clothes, extra food and so many things like that. You think that makes him better? He can be a rich fool if he doesn't know how to share that with other people.

Be content with what God has given you because he's going to ask you for an account only for what he's given you. He's not going to ask you for anything for an account for anything else. So we see here the man who got one talent that was his problem.

You see he, instead of using it, it says here that Matthew 25 and the one who had one talent, verse 18, he dug in the ground and he hid his master's money. The other people, verse 16, traded it. The fellow who had five traded it and got five more.

The fellow who had two, he traded it and he got two more. Now that means they used the gifts God gave them. Now I want you to notice one very important thing that when the master came back, it says here after a long time, verse 19, the master came back, that's Jesus coming back, and settled accounts with them.

Please remember this. A day is coming when Jesus is going to settle accounts. He'll ask you, how much did you receive? How much money did you earn every month? Tell me. How much free time did you have every day?

How many natural abilities did I give you when you were born? What did you do with them? How much knowledge of the Bible did I give you? What did you do with it? Many, many things. He's going to settle accounts.

And one man who had five talents, he said, Master, I got five more. I used it, 100%. And here it is for you. It's not for me, it's for you. Master said, well done, verse 21, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful in a few things. I'll put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Now the other fellow who had earned only two, he did not produce five like the first man. He produced only two.

And I want you to notice that the master said exactly the same words to that man. So it's not a question of how much we produce. It's a question of how much did God give you. Only that much you have to produce.

For example, a man who is an evangelist who can travel here and there does not have to, you know, produce as much as a mother who doesn't have the opportunity to travel around. Sometimes you may envy somebody who can travel here and there and do so many things for the Lord.

But that man may have five, but God may have given you only two. You be faithful with two and you'll get the same reward. God has given one man the ability to heal the sick. Okay, fine. He's got to heal the sick.

But a mother, God may give her the ability to bring up her one or two children properly. That's her calling. Both can get the same reward in eternity. That world-famous evangelist and this poor mother working in a little village where nobody hears.

He's got more, she's got less, but both will get the same reward because it's a question of faithfulness and not success. You know there's a song we sing in English, how many stars will there be in your crown?

Will there be any stars in your crown? And you sing that song and you get the idea that how many souls have you won to Christ? Do you think you're going to get a reward for the number of souls you won to Christ?

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you won't get it. It's a question of faithfulness. Naturally that evangelist will have more opportunities traveling all over to win more souls to Christ than a mother who doesn't have that much opportunity or even a teacher like me who's not an evangelist.

So God's not going to go on the basis of how many souls you won to Christ. God's going to go on the basis of how faithful were you with the gifts God gave you. So that should comfort you. If somebody else has got more gifts than you, it doesn't matter.

You be faithful with what you have. Now I want to come to this man who had one talent. What did he do? It says here in verse 18, he dug in the ground and he buried it. What's the meaning of that? That means he used it for the earth.

That's what it means to dig in the ground. He used all that God gave him for earthly things. He dug and kept it there and wasted his life. And as far as God was concerned and the kingdom of God was concerned, the profit of his life was zero.

That's a fool. And when the master came back, he said, well, verse 24, I knew you're a hard man. You know why these people who got few gifts don't do anything with them? Because they've got a wrong understanding of God.

They think God is a very hard, strict man. He's not. He's a loving father. And when we understand God is a loving father, it's very easy to be rich towards him. But if we think of God as a very hard task master, then we waste our life.

So that's the meaning of this parable. And Jesus said in verse 29, take what this man has, one talent, and give it to the man who's already got ten, in verse 28. And you know, he said, because everyone who has more will be given to him.

That means if you are faithful with what you have, God will give you more. But if you're unfaithful with what God gives you, one day even that will be taken away from you. So that's what we see in this parable.

The Parable of the Minas and the Stewardship of Time

Now we go to parable number 38. It's Luke chapter 19. Very similar parable, but slightly different. Verses 12 to 27. Luke chapter 19 and verses 12 to 27. Here, it's not three servants. Here, it is ten servants.

Luke chapter 19, verse 13. This man was traveling to a distant country, and he called ten of his servants. And here, he did not give them all different, different amounts. He gave them all the same amount.

One mina. You get one mina, you get one mina, you get one mina. And all ten were equal. So what does this mean? This is talking about an area where we are all equal. When it comes to opportunities, we are not equal.

As I said, the evangelist has more opportunity to preach than the mother at home. When it comes to money, we're not all equal. Some have more money, some have less money. Even health, some have more than the other.

Free time, some have more than the other. But here, it speaks about one area where we all are equal. And that is, we all have 24 hours a day. Nobody gets 25 hours. Nobody gets 23 hours. Every one of us has got 24 hours a day.

And I'm not talking about preaching. I'm not talking about always giving out tracts 24 hours. That may not be the best thing to do. If God has called you, you got to do what God's called you to do. I mean, a mother who's supposed to look after her children at home shouldn't be going out giving out tracts and neglecting her children.

A doctor who should be looking after patients in the hospital shouldn't be going out preaching if his patients are dying over there. So don't think that preaching is always the best thing. You got to do what God's called you to do in the 24 hours that God gives you every day.

And during those 24 hours, you know, all of us make many, many decisions. Think of this day, for example. In this one day, you have taken many decisions. For example, we had read the story of the Good Samaritan.

There was the man lying there and the Levite and the priest walked past that Good Samaritan and they took a decision. What was the decision? I have no time to help him. I've got to do something else. The Levite said the same thing.

The Good Samaritan came by. He also took a decision. Okay, I've got a program but I think I'll postpone that. I must help this man. All of us are taking decisions every day. When I have a lot of money, I take a decision.

How shall I spend this money? When I have a lot of free time, I take a decision. How shall I spend this free time? We are taking decisions every day. How to spend this one Meena, 24 hours, and how the decisions you take will determine what you become finally.

What are you today? You are what you are today because of the decisions you took from the time you were born again. What is the one thing that Jesus said we must do every day of our life? Take up your cross, Luke 9, 23.

Take up your cross every day and follow me. What does that mean? That means I give up my will and do God's will. And I get plenty of opportunities for that during the day, to deny myself, to do the will of God, to say no to what pleases me, and to say yes to what pleases God from morning till night.

You think that's going to be a strenuous, miserable life? Far from it. That's the happiest life you can ever live. I believe that good Samaritan was much happier than the Levite and the priest. If he lived like that all his life, he'd have been one of the happiest people of all.

See, the decisions we take every day determine what you're going to become after 10 -15 years. Here are two people born again on the same day. They're both equal now. Ten years later, one will be way ahead of the other spiritually.

Why? Because in those ten years, one man denied himself. He didn't please himself in the way he used his time. He didn't please himself in the way he used his money. He didn't please himself and take a lazy, easy attitude to life.

He worked hard. He denied himself, helped others, and all. Ten years later, that fellow's way ahead of the other person who was lazy and wasted his time and wasted his money. So there you see about this man who had one mina, and it says here he kept it in a handkerchief, verse 20, and he hid it.

He didn't do anything with it. He wasted his day. Think of Jesus knowing the scriptures at the age of 12. He didn't come from heaven with all the knowledge of the Bible in his head. He was born exactly like any other baby.

When you see a baby born in a hospital, how much knowledge of the Bible does that baby have in its head? Zero. That's how Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Otherwise, he was not like us. He was like us. And then how did he acquire the knowledge of the Bible by the age of 12 so much that he knew more than anybody in Israel?

It's because, you know, they didn't have printed Bibles those days. They had to listen. In the synagogue, they used to teach every day for the children in the synagogue and the synagogue schools, and they would listen, listen, listen, and Jesus had to pay attention.

And he paid attention carefully from the time he started going to the synagogue school. At the age of 12, he really knew the scriptures. They didn't have a Bible at home. How is it that today we have the Bible with us, and even after you're born again, even after 12 years, you don't know the Bible?

There's something wrong. I want to say to those of you who are still unmarried and young, now is the time to use your mina, to use your 24 hours, to use the time you have to study the scriptures. That's one very good way to use this mina, one day, 24 hours.

You know, when I was converted, I got converted when I was 19 and a half, and I got married when I was 28 and a half. I had nine years from the time I was converted to the time I got married. The first one and a half years, I didn't take it seriously.

I didn't even get baptized. I was baptized one and a half years after I was saved, but from that time, for the next seven years, I really gave myself to the study of the scriptures. After I got married and I had children, I don't have so much time, but from that time, those early years, what I studied in the scriptures has helped me through all these years.

What I speak today is based on the foundation which I had more than 30 years ago. I want to say to all of you, you won't get time when you're out in the field and when you got married and you have children, when you're young, use all your spare time to study the word.

I used to stand in the bus stands here. I used to work in the naval base in Cochin, and when I stood in the bus stand, I'd have a New Testament with me. While waiting for the bus, everybody just gaping around, looking here and there, wasting their time.

I'd read the Bible. Any spare time I got here and there, I take the scriptures with me to read. If I were to go to a government office to get something done, you know how the government offices are in India.