Regarding the believers’ responsibility in the aspect of work, if chapters 24 and 25 are examined together, they will reveal what it means to be faithful. Chapter 25 reveals that to be faithful is to properly use the gifts that the Lord has given us; chapter 24 shows that to be faithful is to give food to those in the Lord’s household at the proper time, which means to give food to the church, to care for the needs of the brothers and sisters and minister to them at the proper time. If the gift that the Lord has given us is in material riches, we should give according to the Lord’s leading in this matter; if our gift is to visit people, we should follow the Lord’s leading to visit the saints according to their needs. All the gifts are to give food at the proper time (v. 45). To pray for the brothers and sisters or to speak to them in order to shepherd them according to their needs also is to give food at the proper time. This is the way to be faithful in work. The unfaithful one in the parable beat his fellow slaves (v. 49); this signifies criticizing and judging the brothers and sisters.
When a faithful one sees that his companions are weak, he does not criticize them; rather, according to the gifts that the Lord has given him, he gives them food. If his gift is to pray, he prays for them; if his gift is to visit, he goes to visit and help them. An unfaithful one, however, without waiting for an explanation, criticizes and judges his companions when he sees that they are weak. Many times we are those who beat our companions; we do not give them food at the proper time. To beat our companions is to criticize them because we are not satisfied with them; to give them food at the proper time is to minister to our companions based on our spiritual condition and according to their needs. Hence, whether we are faithful or not depends entirely on the exercise of our gifts; the exercise of our gifts determines whether we supply the saints or criticize them.
If a brother truly serves the Lord faithfully, he will never criticize. Only an unfaithful serving one who falls short in his serving and who does not exercise his gifts will criticize and judge others. A faithful serving one, even when he sees the worst situation, still will not criticize or judge; instead, he will diligently pray for the situation. Only those who are cold in service and who do not love the church will be critical and judgmental. Thus, the Lord indicated in this parable that to be faithful is to minister to others and that to be unfaithful is to criticize others. When a faithful one sees his brother make a mistake, he always thinks of a way to resolve the mistake and minister life. Hence, to be faithful is to minister to and serve the brothers and sisters according to the supply of grace we have received in our daily living.
The believers’ responsibility in the aspect of life is based on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; the believers’ responsibility in the aspect of work is based on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the aspect of life we need to buy oil; in the aspect of work we need to use our talents. Oil signifies the indwelling Holy Spirit, and talents signify the gifts of the Holy Spirit. According to chapter 24, to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to give food at the proper time (v. 45). The unfaithful slave who beat his fellow slaves and the unfaithful slave who hid his one talent both indicate the same thing (24:48-49; 25:24-25). When we are cold and backslidden, we always say, “When I visit people, they will not be moved; when I preach the gospel, people will not listen.” This is to tell the Lord, as the slothful slave did, “You are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow” (v. 24). To act in this way is to hide and not use our talent.
We must see that the moneychangers in this parable are those whom we help. When they receive the help of our talent, they will in turn help others with this talent. In this way, the help we render is our capital, and the help to others rendered by the one whom we help is our interest. This interest is a compounding interest. When the Lord comes, He will recover what is His with interest. Therefore, we must be faithful to minister with all our heart and strength at the proper time.
In the matter of being faithful, the Lord does not want us to focus on the result; rather, He wants us simply to minister whenever we see the need. In these two portions of chapters 24 and 25 the Lord is altogether not concerned with the result. We know this because the one who received five talents did not gain more than five talents, and the one who received two talents did not gain more than two talents. If the Lord were focused on the result, the master would have expected the two slaves to have gained more. Thus, gaining equals using. If the Lord gives us five talents, we should use these five talents; our using these talents is our gaining them. We use our five talents to gain another five talents, meaning that our using is our gaining. This shows that the Lord does not want us to pay attention to the result of our work; rather, He wants us to faithfully use the gifts that we have received.
Hence, in the aspect of life we are not required to do something great; rather, we need to care for the indwelling Spirit in our daily living. Similarly, in the aspect of work we are not required to do something great; rather, we need to be ready at all times to faithfully use the gifts we have received. Concerning our responsibility in the aspects of life and work, we need to be mature in life and faithful in our work. Maturity will cause us to be raptured; faithfulness will cause us to be rewarded. If we do not reach maturity in life before we pass away, we will have to “make up the lesson” and be matured after the resurrection in the future. If we are not faithful in service before death, we will weep and gnash our teeth in the future; we will not be able to make up for our unfaithfulness.
If we reach maturity today, we can also be faithful, but if we wait to mature in the future, although we may desire to be faithful, we will have missed the opportunity. Those who mature early and are faithful receive a reward. We may say that early maturity is the entrance to receiving the reward, and faithfulness determines the content of the reward. Whether we will rule over five cities or ten cities will depend on the degree of our faithfulness. However, whether or not we will rule over any cities will depend on whether we are mature. Those who mature early can partake of the wedding feast, the millennial kingdom; our faithfulness determines what our position will be in the kingdom. In other words, being faithful causes us to receive a reward; its emphasis is not on causing us to enter into the kingdom. Our entrance into the kingdom depends on our early maturity. Concerning those who mature late, although they will eventually become mature, they will miss the entrance into the kingdom and will not partake of the wedding feast or obtain a reward, because it will be too late. Hence, those who mature late have no need to be faithful, because they will have already missed the opportunity.
Therefore, Matthew 25 shows that one can buy oil to reach maturity after the resurrection, but that one will not have the opportunity to be faithful. Maturity is the prerequisite to our entrance into the kingdom; faithfulness is the prerequisite to our receiving a reward. We must see clearly that faithfulness in work follows maturity in life. Whether one can be faithful in his work depends on the condition of his spiritual life. Hence, in order to be faithful in the work, one first needs to be mature in life. Only if we are mature in life today will we be given the opportunity to be faithful in the work. If we wait until the future to mature in life, there will be no opportunity for us to be faithful. Even if we would desire to be faithful, we will have lost our opportunity. This loss of opportunity is a punishment. Therefore, only if we are prudent virgins in life today will we be able to be faithful slaves in the work.
In the future, after we are resurrected, there will only be the opportunity for us to pay the price to buy oil; there will be no opportunity for us to trade with our talents. If we pay the price to buy oil today, we will certainly be able to trade with our talents properly; however, although we will still be able to pay the price to buy oil in the future, we will not be able to trade with our talents. Hence, today we should pay the price to buy oil and also trade with our talents.
We have seen that oil signifies the indwelling Holy Spirit and that talents signify the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit can also be said to be the filling of the Holy Spirit. If the saints are not filled with the Holy Spirit, they will not be able to properly exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are used by means of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thus, in order to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit, one must have the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is related to life; the gifts of the Holy Spirit are related to work. One who desires to do well in the work must have the proper experience in life. In summary, the center of the prophecy in Matthew 24 and 25 is our responsibility today. In the aspect of life, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit; that is, we must be those who are watchful, who are prepared, and who expect the Lord’s coming. In the aspect of work, we must exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit; that is, we must serve the Lord faithfully and properly. These are the two aspects of the responsibility we should bear today. If we are proper in our experience, we will not only enter into the manifestation of the kingdom in the future, but we will also receive a reward. The entrance into the kingdom depends on our maturity in life; the receiving of a reward depends on our faithfulness in the work.