Welcome back to Part three of -What Testimonies of Jesus, are you carrying, which could contain the breakthrough for others?
Let’s recap as last time we looked at these questions Could it be within each testimony, there’s a test, for the Lord to see how faithful we are with what He has given us? And Could there be a scripture that gives an answer to the above question? I shared that I think there is and it’s found in Matthew 25:14-30, a very familiar parable Jesus shares called the Parable of the Talents.
So we read Matthew 25:14-19
Then I shared a couple of thoughts
Firstly I love the line ‘to each according to his own ability’ which shows the Father’s heart to set us up for success, not failure.
Secondly after giving the talents the master immediately went on a journey, which shows He trusts in His word coming to pass, and also in us, doing what needs to be done.
Then we looked at what each servant did with what they received.
The first two servants did what they were meant to do with the Talents, given to them, they invested the Talents.
I shared that, without the servants doing their part. As seen in this story, they would not have achieve any gain. But also the ‘Father’ must have been working behind the scenes. As they both received 100% gain and had the talents ready on the day the master returned, this is simply incredible and a miracle in itself! Which shows the value of relationship to the ‘FATHER ‘
Whereas the servant who was afraid, who went and hid his talent in the ground. He made the choice to do nothing and no increase came for his efforts. I believe this servant’s choice, meant he journeyed, alone. As there was no need, partnership or invitation for the Father.
Then I ended with these series of questions we will be looking at today !
If we were to replace ‘talents’ for ‘testimonies you have’, and replace ‘the master’ with ‘Jesus’ in this story.
1. What will ‘Jesus’ find when He returns?
2. What will you have to give Him ?
3. What will He see from the testimonies He left with you?
4. Could it be, that this parable Jesus is sharing, is playing out right now in our own life’s ? And we are actually one of the servants and Jesus is the Master ?
So with these questions in mind and the prospective of ‘us’ as the servant and ‘Jesus’ the master. Let’s continue reading the story.
Matthew 25:20
“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’
Matthew 25:22
He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’
Matthew 25:24-25
“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
I wonder what would be our response to each of these servants !
1. Would we think the one who gain the most, is the most successful ?
2. Would you have pity on the servant who buried the talent ? After all he had a compelling response to justify his actions. Also we all have experienced being afraid, know what it feels like and how crippling it can be.
3. What would be our response to the one in between ? As he did gain 100%, But the total was four Talents, not 10 Talents.
These are good questions and maybe hard for those of you. Who know what the Masters response will be. As they have read this parable before.
So what is the relevance in the above questions.
I believe these questions challenge, our understanding about the lines between four emotions
1. mercy
2. compassion
3. pity
4. sympathy.
As I tend to believe two of the above emotions, are not in the nature of God ? Do you know which two ?
Let me explain, through the story of Jesus life, while He was here on the earth. As I believe this is the best example !
Many times through out the gospel you will hear lines like. But Jesus had compassion on or was moved by compassion. We also know Jesus talked about mercy. The bible emphasizes the significance of mercy throughout its teachings, portraying it as a fundamental aspect of God’s character and a virtue to be practiced by believers, as is compassion too. As both of these actions are heart decisions, made out of a prospective of True LOVE. I see both as an arm reach down to help some up and out of a situation. Which is the entire life message of Jesus ! He had compassion and showed what true mercy was by taking on our sins and punishment by dying on the cross !
Some versions of the bible change the word ‘compassion’ to pity or felt sorry for . But I tend to believe pity is like sympathy and requires one to lowering one’s self to the level of the person requiring help ! Agreeing with where a person is or where they are at, is ok ! But by lowering ourselves to their level, we lose the position and power to help them up or out of the situation.
I believe we are call to do what Jesus life was a witness of. To show compassion and mercy, reaching out and down through the Love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. Then I believe we will see, life’s transformed and healed emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Showing Mercy and Compassion does not mean people will never face consequences for their actions. Sometimes these consequences can be small and short lived, other times they can be very costly and eternal. Which I believe is one of the overall themes, from this parable from Jesus. We will explore this further and the other theme in our next part.
Lets pray !
Father help us all, to truely comprehend and understand, Mercy and Compassion. So we can be more effective, in our life’s and ministries,as a true witness, of Your Son Jesus. amen
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Craig Patten
Founding Pastor/Prophet
Encounter Centre and Ministries