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By Pastor Raymond Wey
What are you doing for the kingdom of God?
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Luke
19,11-27
"For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given;
and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from
him." (Verse 26.)
Jesus is working out something here with his
servants, whom, in the past, he had entrusted with his talents. Each
one of them alike had doubled his share for the kingdom of God. Jesus
rewards them for their efforts and faithfulness. Only one of them, who
Jesus had also given an opportunity to do something, had hidden his
entrusted goods and did not do anything with it.
He also received his reward from Christ - everything that he possessed
was taken away from him and he was unable to enter into the kingdom
of God.
Upon looking at this parable about the kingdom of God from a worldly
point of view, you would think that it has to do with money in connection
with Jesus and His church. Many also teach that if they give their worldly
goods to the church, they will have a great treasure in heaven and as
a result will get into heaven.
There will be a sad awakening for these teachers and their pupils because
their salvation cannot be bought with silver, gold or the treasures
of this earth, not even when everything was intended for the good. God
sees things differently, considering that He Himself accomplished the
work of salvation on the cross. The Christian has been bought with the
blood of Jesus - which was and still is, even today, the full payment
necessary to be made!
Whoever teaches that we can buy our salvation by offering some kind
of a sacrifice to the church, is deceiving the people and is guilty
of blasphemy! In this very same way, the Catholic church with their
teachings has heaped up their pomp, silver and gold throughout the centuries,
and is built upon the dead bodies of souls who they have deceived and
are still deceiving.They will never spend eternity with God, see the
Revelation of John 17,1-7. She is not the church of God!
Everyone who comes to Jesus Christ and is obedient to the gospel will
turn away from their sins, be baptized in the name of Jesus for the
remission of sin, and will receive the Holy Spirit, see Acts 2.38. As
a consequence, a person is born again of water and spirit (John 3,5),
just like Jesus authorized to be written in the Bible. This is the only
thing that counts in the eyes of God, see Galatians 6,15; John 1,12-13;
2. Corinthians 5,17 etc. There is no replacement for the gospel of Jesus,
not even in this day and age, Galatians 1,8! An individual must obey
God more than the people who teach something different, for they themselves
will not enter into the kingdom of God - they are blind leaders and
will be lost for all eternity.
In this story, we have a servant who Jesus reprimands because of his
laziness. He did nothing for the kingdom of God, but hid his talents
which God had given to him. When a person stands before the throne of
Christ, the question will turn up again - What did I do for HIM? Then
we will have to show what we did with our earthly life at that time.
It will not be possible to turn back the wheel of time once we are standing
before Him; therefore, none of us will ever be able to bring back again
one single day that has already past.
There is only one thing that counts there: What we did for the kingdom
of God to spread the gospel. How much did we suffer for the gospel?
Or do we leave it up to other people and forget to perform our own duty
which we owe to Jesus? God will not be interested in our awards, degrees
and titles which people have bestowed upon us; there is only one thing
that counts - how great your love was to Jesus Christ upon this earth!
Many say - But the church also supported Paul so that he could preach
the gospel. Yes, that is true, but Paul did not preach for money and,
apart from that, he preached the truth and the whole gospel - which
cannot be said about the traditional churches, the world church and
the ecumenical movement. If Paul had preached in the Middle Ages, he
would have been condemned as a heretic! Today, would be exactly the
same thing. They stone the prophets and when they are dead, they are
then honoured. They also will receive their reward. We are the ones
who decide which category of servants we want to belong to, and we are
able to make this decision as long as we still have breath in us. Therefore,
do what you can for the kingdom of God and in His church.
rw