Luke 19 v 17. “Well done, my good servant!” his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.”
Jesus is teaching what it will be like when He comes back again. While it is true his disciples will all have eternal life, it is also true that our full experience of the world to come will not all be the same.
Notice in the first place that the amount of responsibility given to each individual believer in the coming Kingdom is dependent on that believer’s faithful use of the resources committed to his or her trust during the absence of the Lord – that means, during the believer’s lifetime.
Making it personal the question is, do we as believers seek to increase our knowledge of God, our love for Christ and our service to others? Do we keep adding to our character the graces and qualities that glorify Christ? (2 Peter 1 verses 3-8). In 2 Peter 1 verses 10,11, the apostle talks about a “rich welcome into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ”. It is one thing to receive a welcome; it is another to receive a rich welcome. So it seems that some people are trusted with more knowledge, gifts, abilities, maybe wealth, than others. But how do they use it? That is the question. If they use it well, then when our Lord returns the welcome expressed in v 17 will be theirs and the reward on the other side will be commensurate with their faithfulness on this side of the second coming.
This means that those who have the ability and opportunity to use their talents or wealth for the Kingdom and do not do so, have something to think about. On the other hand there are many who have used what God has given them, with no fuss or publicity, to further the work of the Kingdom and many of us in Church work have come to thank God for these people. They too, shall have their reward.
But notice that our Lord has trusted some of his resources to every one of his servants. The number ten in the parable is probably a representative number referring to all who call themselves Christians. So we all have something we can do. What do we mean when we talk about the Lord giving us his resources to work with while on earth?
Well his resources could include a greater level of knowledge about the Bible, or about God and the Gospel, as indicated above, or it could involve different gifts we could use for the Kingdom. It could also include earthly wealth which could advance the cause of the Kingdom. There are many more things that could be included in the idea of “resources”, the Lord gives us to use for him.
The point is all of us should be doing something if we possibly can. Nobody should be doing nothing. If you are a believer in Jesus then the question is what are you doing for the Gospel while you are on earth. You may reply that you cannot do anything. The answer is, yes you can. Even if it is a lowly service somewhere in the name of Jesus. What are you doing for the Kingdom? What will Jesus say to you when he comes back?