Recall that the Jericho tax collector Zaccheus repented of two forms of greed:
He repented of transgressing God’s commandment regarding how he acquired money, namely, fraudulently through over-taxation—a common sin of Jewish tax collectors (see Luke 3:12-13). Zaccheus said to Jesus, “If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much” (Luke 19:8b). Fraud is a form of theft and, on a broader scale, a violation of God’s commandments to love our neighbor as ourselves and to treat others as we want to be treated.
Zaccheus also repented of transgressing God’s commandment regarding his use of money, and he specifically repented of neglecting the poor. He said to Jesus, “Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor” (Luke 19:8a). There are plenty of commandments about caring for the poor in the Mosaic Law (Lev. 25:35-37; Deut. 15:7-11; Prov. 22:9), a law with which Zaccheus, as a Jew, was familiar. As we have also seen, Jesus spoke strongly and often about the importance of caring for the poor, and He practiced what He preached (see John 12:6; 13:29). Neglecting the poor, if one has the means to relieve their suffering, is a form of greed, and on the larger scale, it is a violation of God’s commandments to love our neighbor as ourselves and to treat others as we want to be treated.
This is all simple to understand.
This brings me to the penitent thief on the cross, whose story is often utilized to illustrate salvation by grace. The only sin we know of that characterized him was theft, although he was surely guilty of others. His theft was a form of greed, again, a violation of God’s commandments to love our neighbor as ourselves and to treat others as we want to be treated.
Clearly, as the penitent thief hung on a cross beside Jesus during their six hours of agony, he changed. Matthew and Mark tell us that both thieves mocked Jesus (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32). Luke, however, tells us that one of the thieves rebuked the other one and asked Jesus for mercy. The only possible way to harmonize all three Gospel accounts is if both thieves initially mocked Jesus but one had a change of heart during those six hours.
What caused his change of heart? We aren’t told, but we can guess that Jesus’ conduct caught his attention.
Jesus refused a sedative of wine mixed with gall that the Roman soldiers offered Him before they crucified Him, likely in contrast to both thieves (Matt. 27:34). They would have noticed that and surely wondered why He did not want to mitigate His pain.
Even as the soldiers were crucifying Him, Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Luke seems to imply that Jesus prayed that prayer multiple times. The two thieves would have heard every instance of those grace-filled intercessions.
As He was mocked and insulted, Jesus didn’t retaliate. Peter wrote that, “while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23). Surely both thieves would have noticed that when they themselves, along with so many others in the watching crowd, verbally abused Jesus.
Jesus demonstrated concern for His mother while enduring His agony, assigning John to care for her (John 19:27). Both thieves witnessed it.
For six excruciating hours, Jesus was a perfect example of love.
And I haven’t even mentioned the three hours of darkness that fell “over all the land” from noon to 3:00 p.m. during Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). It was not a solar eclipse as some suggest, but a supernatural darkness, as Passover always begins during a full moon. Both thieves could not have missed that supernatural darkness.
All of those factors could have motivated a man who was being crucified for his crime to change his opinion about Jesus. The penitent thief, who first viewed Jesus as a deluded man who thought Himself to be the Messiah, came to believe that He was the Messiah. This is evident by his words: “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42, emphasis added). He believed Jesus would, sooner or later, be ruling over an earthly kingdom, just as Scripture so often foretold the Messiah would do. As a Jew, the penitent thief would surely have known at least that much about the future Messiah.
There is a popular YouTube sermon titled, “The Man on the Middle Cross,” which portrays the penitent thief as being clueless about Jesus’ identity. When he is questioned in heaven by an angel regarding on what basis he is there, he responds, “The man on the middle cross said I could come.” That is all he knows.
But those who believe the biblical account can’t accept such a portrayal. They know that the penitent thief repented because he believed in Jesus—two essentials for salvation. They also know that both thieves witnessed the same amazing Messiah for six hours, and both had the identical opportunity to believe that He was the Christ and repent. Only one did, however, and it was not because he was sovereignly pre-selected for salvation (as the preacher of that particular popular sermon believes, having Calvinism as the foundation of his theology), but because he yielded to Jesus’ universal drawing, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32).
The penitent thief was not saved solely because of grace, but “by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8), which is the only way anyone has, or ever will be saved. He obviously believed in Jesus. His faith was demonstrated by his works during the final hours of his earthly life—in his ceasing to mock Jesus as he had been doing, in his public rebuke of the other thief for continuing to do what he had repented of, in his admission that he deserved his punishment, and in his public request that the dying Messiah and future King would remember him. And Jesus responded with grace, telling him that he would not have to wait long for his prayer to be answered. That very day he would be with Jesus in Paradise.
The Point
The story of the salvation of the penitent thief on the cross is a wonderful example of God’s grace in salvation. Forgiveness of sins is available until the moment of death. It is a story, however, that is often twisted to have application where it has little or no application. It is portrayed as a universal example of what salvation looks like. The penitent thief was never baptized, never gathered with other believers, never gave any money to the poor, and so on, and yet Jesus promised him Paradise. So, the “logic” goes, we should not think that any of those things are required of us either. Salvation is by grace, not by works, so any behavioral requirement for salvation is contrary to the gospel of grace. Behavioral requirements are, they claim, “works salvation.”
Yet, as I have pointed out so many times in former lessons, scores of New Testament scriptures hinge salvation on divine standards of behavior. If that is heretical, the New Testament is heretical, and Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, John, James, and Jude were all heretics.
This claim is an inescapable fact, and anyone who says otherwise is either grossly ignorant or patently dishonest. Genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ results in obedience to His commandments. Continued genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ results in continued obedience to His commandments.
Regarding the penitent thief, as I have already pointed out, his faith naturally produced works. He publicly admitted his guilt. He repented of mocking Jesus. He rebuked the other thief for doing what he himself had previously been doing, and he publicly defended Jesus. He publicly declared that he believed Jesus would one day rule the promised messianic kingdom. And he publicly asked Jesus to remember him when that time came. His faith was shining bright!
Had he, however, been miraculously delivered from his cross, would Jesus have been OK if he had continued stealing what belonged to others because “salvation is by grace”? No, because salvation is not only “by grace” but also “through faith.” That proves saving grace is conditional, and the condition is faith in the Lord Jesus. Those who truly believe that Jesus is the Messiah who forbids all greed, including theft, stop stealing. If they don’t, it proves they don’t believe in Him, which is one reason why Paul solemnly warned that no thieves will inherit God’s kingdom:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10, emphasis added)
The same person who wrote those words also penned Ephesians 2:8:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
If we believe both of those Paul-penned passages, it requires intellectual suicide to claim that he believed divine saving grace is a license to be a thief, fornicator, adulterer, drunkard, and so on. Therefore, God’s grace must not be unconditional as is often claimed, but conditional.
That same person also wrote in his same letter to the Ephesians:
He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need (Eph. 4:28).
Paul was calling for repentance of two forms of greed, one that revolves around how one acquires material wealth and one that revolves around how one uses his wealth. Thieves must (1) repent of theft and (2) start caring for the poor with their honest earnings.
All of this is to say, if anyone reading this—other than those who are in the final hours of their lives—thinks that God requires nothing more of them than He did of the penitent thief on the cross, that person has been deceived, and he will realize it when he stands before God to give an account. Jesus did warn, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required” (Luke 12:48)!
Another Twisted Parable
Since we’re on the subject of scriptures that are often twisted by false-grace advocates, we might as well consider Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and tax collector. Recall that tax collectors were notoriously greedy folks, exploiting fellow Jews to gain personal wealth. But Jesus told a story about a tax collector who believed, repented, and was forgiven, something that most Jews in Jesus’ day would have grumbled about, just as they did when they watched Jesus interact with tax collector Zaccheus. Recall that we read in Luke’s account, “They all began to grumble, saying, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner’” (Luke 19:7). They didn’t understand God’s grace or that Jesus had “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
To make sure his readers did not misunderstand who Jesus’ parable was directed toward, Luke prefaced it by writing, “He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). So, Jesus’ target audience was every Jew who looked contemptuously, for example, at Jewish tax collectors, like Zaccheus, and like the tax collector in the parable Jesus was about to tell. It is noteworthy that Jesus used a Pharisee to illustrate the kind of behavior He was condemning. Most of the Pharisees were guilty.
Also because of Luke’s preface to Jesus’ parable, we can confidently conclude that Jesus’ target audience was not His obedient followers who found assurance in their salvation because of their faith, obedience and love (as John declared they should—see chapter 4), or because they identified with the blessed in His Beatitudes (see chapter 6). Genuine followers of Jesus don’t view anyone else with contempt, knowing every sinner is a candidate for the same transformation they’ve experienced because of God’s gracious offer of salvation—if sinners will only repent and believe. Now, to Jesus’ parable:
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.” But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:10-14).
When those two men entered the temple, both were not “justified,” but when they departed, one was. It is often correctly taught that the word justified can be defined as “just-as-if-I’d never sinned.” In legal settings, it means to be declared innocent. The justified person is not guilty. That kind of just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned grace was sadly foreign to most Jews of Jesus’ day. One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for Jesus’ closest disciples to accept Matthew the tax collector into their little band.
We can confidently say that Jesus was not finding fault with the Pharisee in His parable for not being a swindler (as was the tax collector whom he despised), for not being unjust or an adulterer, or for his practice of fasting and tithing. Those behaviors were all prescribed in the Mosaic Law, of which Jesus, being God, could be considered the author. What Jesus was condemning was his “trusting in himself that he was righteous” and his contempt towards the tax collector—who was repenting while he was boasting.
As we have previously seen, Jesus had already told His disciples in His Sermon on the Mount that, unless their righteousness surpassed that of the scribes and Pharisees, they would not enter heaven (Matt. 5:20). That tells us that the Pharisees possessed some degree of righteousness, but not the degree needed for heaven.
The Pharisee in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents represented a typical semi-righteous, hell-bound Pharisee. Generally speaking, the Pharisees would not have been overt swindlers, unjust, or adulterers, and they would have practiced fasting and tithing. But Jesus found many faults with them, and if you are interested, Matthew devoted an entire chapter of his Gospel to Jesus’ denunciations of them (see Matt. 23). In general, they were focused on the less important matters in the Mosaic Law, and “neglected the weightier provisions of the law” such as “justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23). The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable was similarly misfocused, as revealed by the virtues he enumerated in his prayer. He walked into the temple as a self-righteous, guilty sinner and he walked out in the identical state.
We can also confidently say that Jesus was not endorsing any of the sinful conduct of the tax collector prior to his repentance. Jesus was, however, affirming his sorrowful, sincere, humble acknowledgment of his sinfulness and his cry for mercy. His prayer was answered, and all of his past sins were completely forgiven. He left the temple as an innocent man.
But are we to think that Jesus wanted His audience to think the tax collector then returned to his sinful ways and continued to defraud his neighbors to gain unjust wealth, and that he still remained “justified” in God’s sight? Anyone who thinks so has not been reading his Bible too closely! And when false-grace teachers use Jesus’ Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to condemn those who believe that heaven is only for the holy, they expose themselves as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I’m afraid that if many of them were to paraphrase the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector to fit it into their horrific theology, it might be twisted into something like this:
Jesus also told this parable to some people who imagine they are righteous because they’ve been forgiven of every past sin through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and now strive to walk after the Spirit rather than after the flesh by the power of the indwelling Spirit, and who view others with compassion who have not yet experienced God’s transforming grace:
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a false teacher like David Servant and the other a born-again Christian who, like all born-again Christians, sinned in thought, word and deed hundreds of times a day, but who knew that he was saved only by grace and not by works.
The teacher like David Servant stood and was praying this to himself: “God, I praise you that Christ has become my righteousness. Through Him I have received forgiveness for all my past sins, and because it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in Me, I am able to live in obedience to your commandments and enjoy all the fruits of Your indwelling Spirit. And when I stumble, your grace awaits my confession. All praise and glory to You!
But the born-again Christian who understood that salvation is because of God’s unconditional grace, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, “God, I am a sinner saved by grace. I know that there are no behavioral requirements for salvation because salvation is by grace and not works, and because of that, I know it doesn’t matter how I live. If I even think that I must be holy, that would show that I am trusting in my works rather than in Christ. Because I have accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, I am now eternally secure no matter how I live my life.”
I tell you, that born-again Christian went to his house just as if he’d never sinned rather than the other; for everyone who thinks God’s grace is conditional will go to hell, but he who knows it is unconditional will go to heaven” (Luke 18:10-14, FGV[1]).
Only the Beginning
What Jesus described in this parable was a conversion, the initial point of turning away from sin and turning toward obedience. When the tax collector walked out of the temple that day, he took his first steps as a new man with a new heart, forgiven of every sin he ever committed. If he immediately returned to his former life of sin, his conversion would have been exposed as bogus.
When salvation is depicted as a one-time event that guarantees eternity in heaven, it is not depicted biblically. Conversion is the beginning of a lifelong journey of following Jesus, and of walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh (Gal. 5:16-17). That is why believers are admonished in the New Testament to “continue in the faith”:
Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard (Col. 1:22-23; emphasis added).
Ultimate salvation and being presented before God as holy and blameless is contingent upon “continuing in the faith,” which implies continuing to do what Jesus commanded. That is why Paul admonished believers to “work out their salvation”:
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13).
Thankfully, we are not left on our own to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because the Spirit of God resides within all who are truly born again to empower them to obey and to enjoy the fruit He produces. Still, we have a part to play, as this passage so clearly declares. If salvation is “in the bag” at conversion, there would be no reason to “work it out,” much less with “fear and trembling.”
That Philippian passage is so troubling to false-grace teachers that they must dishonestly redefine the word “salvation,” claiming that, just in this passage, it has no relevance to ultimately gaining eternal life, but only to “growing in spiritual maturity” or “gaining special rewards in heaven.” Yet scores of New Testament scriptures could be cited that expose the fallacy of “unconditional eternal security,” also known as “once-saved-also-saved.”[2] And we have already considered many New Testament scriptures that hinge heaven to holiness.
The Buried Talent
And this brings me to Jesus’ Parable of the Talents, spoken during the final week of His earthly ministry to a handful of His closest disciples, namely, Peter, James, John and Andrew (see Mark 13:3). It was contained within His “Olivet Discourse,” so-called because He spoke it while sitting on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. It well illustrates what I’ve been advocating:
For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money (Matt. 25:14-18).
Everyone agrees that the “man about to go on a journey” represented Jesus, who would soon ascend to heaven but would eventually return to earth.
Everyone who hasn’t read the end of the parable assumes that the man’s three slaves represent Jesus’ followers, and in particular, the four followers (Peter, James, John and Andrew) who were present when Jesus spoke the Parable of the Talents. The parable must have had application to them, and that is what they would have thought as well.
Everyone agrees that the talents represent everything God entrusts to His servants, which would include their opportunities to obey Him, their unique gifts, and their material wealth. They are often listed as our time, talents, and treasures.
In Jesus’ time, a talent was a unit of weight—of about 75 to 80 pounds—for measuring precious metals. One talent was equivalent to 20 years’ wages for a laborer. So the master in Jesus’ parable entrusted his servants with huge sums of money, which he expected them to use to bring him a return. Everyone agrees that part of Jesus’ parable represents God’s expectation that we also bring a return to Him for what He’s entrusted to us.
The parable continues:
Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, “Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, “Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours” (Matt. 25:19-25).
Everyone agrees that this part of Jesus’ parable represents the time when we, His servants, will give an account for what He has entrusted to us. Hopefully we will have a return to bring to Him on what He invested in us. Those who do will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” So, they will be rewarded and gain entrance to His joy, which sounds like heaven, or His kingdom.
The third servant, possessing a perverted perspective regarding the master’s character, brought no return on his master’s investment. He only returned the single talent he had been entrusted with, having buried it in the ground. But this is where some readers find themselves having to twist Jesus’ parable to fit their theology:
But his master answered and said to him, “You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 25:26-30).
“The third servant can’t possibly represent a Christian,” some claim, because their theology demands it. “There is no chance that any Christian will be cast into hell.”
But is that how Peter, James, John and Andrew interpreted Jesus’ parable as they listened to it?
Prior to this parable, Jesus had repeatedly warned them in His Olivet Discourse to be ready for His return and not be misled (Matt. 24:4, 23-27, 32-33, 42, 44). He then told them His Parable of the Unfaithful Servant, in which a slave, whose absent master was delayed in returning, began “to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards” (Matt. 24:49). Jesus warned Peter, James, John and Andrew that the master of that slave would return unexpectedly, and he would “cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites.” A hypocrite is one who professes what he does not practice. In that place among the hypocrites Jesus warned, “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 24:50-51).
That obvious reference to hell, as well as Jesus’ similar reference to hell minutes later in His Parable of the Talents—spoken to warn Peter, James, John and Andrew of what will happen to hypocritical and unfruitful servants—is so contradictory to some interpreters’ theology of unconditional eternal security that they turn hell into heaven. That is, they claim that the “outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is a place, not in hell, but on the outskirts of heaven where hypocritical and unfaithful servants will temporarily weep over their lost heavenly rewards until Jesus wipes their tears and welcomes them into heaven.”
Just a cursory survey, however, of Jesus’ references to the outer darkness and place of weeping and gnashing of teeth found in the Gospels proves that Jesus was talking about hell. For example, Jesus warned, “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:49-50). The future weeping and gnashing of teeth occurs in a “furnace of fire.” That’s not heaven.
After the Parable of the Unfaithful Servant, Jesus then told Peter, James, John and Andrew the Parable of the Ten Virgins. All ten were waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. All ten were initially ready, having sufficient oil to keep their lamps burning. But as the bridegroom delayed, the oil of five virgins was exhausted, and although they were initially ready, they were now caught unready. They missed the bridegroom’s return as they were away purchasing more oil, and when they attempted to gain entrance to the wedding feast, saying, “Lord, lord, open up for us,” he replied from behind the door, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” Jesus ended that parable by saying to Peter, James, John and Andrew, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (Matt. 25:11-13). That is, “Peter, James, John and Andrew, don’t be like the five foolish virgins. You may be ready now, but that doesn’t guarantee you will always be ready.”
And it was after that parable that Jesus told the same men the Parable of the Talents. So, Jesus’ message was consistent. He repeatedly warned Peter, James, John and Andrew to stay ready for His return lest they face dire consequences, twice warning them about hell and once warning them of being shut out from a wedding feast.
Do All Three Servants Represent Christians?
Could the single talent entrusted to the unfaithful slave represent the gospel that some reject? That way, the single-talent slave represents those who were never saved.
It is possible, but that interpretation requires forcing meaning into the text that is not supported by the text or the context. The single-talent slave was a slave of the master just as much as the other two were. Jesus gave no hint that the third slave was any different. Moreover, there is no place found in the New Testament where unbelievers are referred to as servants of God. They are rebels whom God calls to repent. The entire context of the Parable of the Talents supports the fact that Jesus was not preaching an evangelistic sermon to the unbelievers, but rather was speaking to some of His closest disciples, warning them. That context includes warnings directed at them before and after the Parable of the Talents. To claim that Jesus was not warning them of potential punishment, but only assuring them of potential rewards, is to do violence to Jesus’ sacred words.
All of this is to say, your Bible has always affirmed that idea that it is possible for those who start on the narrow path toward eternal life to be detoured onto the path of destruction, because heaven hinges on holiness. God has never offered a grace that gives license to sin.
Regarding heavenly rewards and treasures, every Bible teacher agrees that we can gain more or less by how we steward our time, talents and treasures. The Parable of the Talents teaches us that. They should also agree, however, that there are minimum standards of stewardship that are required just to inherit eternal life, and the Parable of the Talents also teaches us that.
What are those minimum requirements? From the Parable of the Talents, it seems the third servant could have avoided being cast into hell if he had only put his master’s money in the bank, and by so doing, earned a little interest for his master. That interest would have been minuscule in comparison with the double return achieved by the first and second servants, but it would have saved the third servant’s skin. That ought to offer some solace for minimal-fruit Christians.
Personally, I’m not interested in trying to find out how little of a return I can achieve on God’s investment in me in order to just barely escape hell. I’m interested in gaining the greatest return possible for Him. Surely Jesus shared the Parable of the Talents to His closest disciples with that hope in mind.
If we can just be honest, we must admit that Jesus believed it was possible for Peter, James, John and Andrew to double God’s investment in them, which would make them worthy of great reward. And He also believed it was possible for them to bring no return on God’s investment in them, which would make them worthy of damnation.
Minimum Financial Stewardship
In regard to the stewardship of our material wealth, God has entrusted all of us with different amounts, and He expects some return from all of us on His investment. But He’s not expecting us to deliver principal and interest in bags of cash before His throne when He “settles accounts” (Matt. 25:19) with us at our judgment. Rather, He wants us to obey Him during our earthly sojourn in regard to our use of the money He entrusts to us. When we stand before Him, He will hand over to us all the treasure we’ve laid up in heaven, to enjoy for eternity. There will likely be many regrets then, and for some wealthy believers, it will be like a camel going through the eye of a needle (see chapter 5).
Is there a minimum giving requirement? Personally, I would not want to stand before Jesus without having stored up in heaven at least 10% of what He entrusted to me during my Christian life. Even the hell-bound Pharisees all tithed! In a later lesson, I will explain why 10% is a biblical minimum and why many tithers actually aren’t giving anything. The wisest among us, of course, are striving to exceed 10%, and I know some whom I’m sure are storing up at least 50%. (I don’t know for sure, because not only are they not letting their left hand know what their right hand is doing, they aren’t letting me know either!)
The All-Important Questions: Am I trusting in a saving grace that God has never offered? Does my righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees as Jesus described them in Matthew 23, and does it meet the minimum standards found in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10? Do I consider that all of my time, talents and treasures are a stewardship from God, for which I will one day have to give an account? Have I “buried” any of them? Am I ready to “settle accounts” with God?
[1] False-Grace Version
[2] Matt. 18:21-35; 24:4-5, 11-13, 23-26, 42-51; 25:1-30; Luke 8:11-15; 11:24-26; 12:42-46; John 6:66-71; 8:31-32, 51; 15:1-6; Acts 11:21-23; 14:21-22; Rom. 6:11-23; 8:12-14, 17; 11:20-22; 1 Cor. 9:23-27; 10:1-21; 11:29-32; 15:1-2; 2 Cor. 1:24; 11:2-4; 12:21-13:5; Gal. 5:1-4; 6:7-9; Phil. 2:12-16; 3:17-4:1; Col. 1:21-23; 2:4-8, 18-19; 1 Thes. 3:1-8; 1 Tim. 1:3-7, 18-20; 4:1-16; 5:5-6, 11-15, 6:9-12, 17-19, 20-21; 2 Tim. 2:11-18; 3:13-15; Heb. 2:1-3; 3:6-19; 4:1-16; 5:8-9; 6:4-9, 10-20; 10:19-39; 12:1-17, 25-29; Jas. 1:12-16; 4:4-10; 5:19-20; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; 2:1-22; 3:16-17; 1 John 2:15-2:28; 5:16; 2 John 6-9; Jude 20-21; Rev. 2:7, 10-11, 17-26; 3:4-5, 8-12, 14-22; 21:7-8; 22:18-19
