I Was Afraid-Part 2

“And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.”-Matthew 25:25

          The prophet Amos told us to “prepare to meet thy God.”  If the wicked servant Christ spoke about in Matthew chapter twenty-five showed us nothing else; he showed us that simply being able to return the lord’s investment is not enough.  Simply being able to describe a testimony back to Christ is not preparation enough to hear “well done” from our Lord Jesus.  

            The wicked servant said upon his lord’s coming: “lo, there thou hast that is thine.”  He could take him back to the spot where his lord’s investment was hidden.  He could produce precisely what he had been given.  Why?  Because it had been kept hidden and “safe.”  However, since it was kept hidden it had not been used.  It reminds me of the man who went to a country meeting and was converted then sanctified.  Terribly nervous about what his friends might think, the next day he went back to work among them.  Upon returning home his wife asked, “how was your day?”  He replied: “Great!  No one them knew a thing about my new salvation!”  We might rightly say: “the wicked servant”, but how many professing followers of Christ are just the like?  Never one to rock the boat.  Not inclined to be the salt or light of the world.  Paul in second Corinthians five tells us that we will be judged by our deeds done in the body.  True, we may have the earnest of the Spirit, and yes, the investment testifies to us that we are a trusted servant.  However, if all you can show at Judgment is the ability to describe the time you prayed or “met Jesus”; then I say to you that it is nothing more than saying as the wicked servant did: “lo, there thou hast that is thine.”  Locating the investment is not the whole job. We must live it, testify to it, and show our faith by our works.  Jesus said, “whosoever heareth these saying of mine and doeth them.”  He didn’t say “whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and repeateth them back to me.”  It is not just saying but doing.  At Judgment I am not going to be able to say, I was going to do this or that, but my boss wouldn’t let me, or my friends didn’t want to, or my church wouldn’t get behind me, etc.  I might as well just say: “I was afraid.”  God gave the means, pointed us to the market, and now we go and invest, invest, invest!  As best we can, being governed by the leading of the precious Holy Ghost.  We must be careful not to but our entire hopes of salvation on a quick trip altar experience.  One may claim to be sanctified thirty years and can tell you about the time and take you to the place. Which it’s good they can, because otherwise no one would have known they were sanctified.  The whole of their life was drunk with worldliness and marred by selfishness.  We must be careful of our boasting, because Christ said: “every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account at the day of judgment.”  Imagine coming to judgment having said: “I was sanctified thirty years ago, and I have kept that testimony until this day.”  Then the Lord says: “these thirty years, have you clothed the naked?  Fed the hungry?   Or preached to the poor?  These thirty years have you blessed them that cursed you?  Have you prayed for them that despitefully use you and persecute you?  Have you lived dead to the world, and preached righteousness in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation?”  What would be your reply?  That you went to an altar or raised your hand when prompted?  You might as well say: “I was afraid and hid thy talent in the earth.”

Prepare to meet thy God.  Would it not serve us all to “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” and see where we stand before God today.  “While it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”  Let us not lean on grace, and cry mercy when we give neither to our fellow man.  Let us not testify of holiness, and righteousness when we emulate the godless and heathen.  God wants us to be the light of the world.  Light is not supposed to be hidden, in fact, it must stand out or it is no light at all!  It is meant for a candlestick.  Its sole purpose is to shine and to banish the darkness.