Equal Effort Brings Equal Reward from God | Lon Solomon

[Music] well hello everybody and welcome to live with lon we're so glad you're here uh and uh we're gonna study today what are we gonna study tell me the bible come on the whole bible and what nothing but the bible and then we're gonna apply to our lives and we're very excited about our study for the day it's a message full of hope and encouragement for us who are christians and who know the lord and so we're going to pray first but just before we do let me say no i'm not wearing my hair differently i know it's not as curly it's because it's too long and i'm waiting till the last minute to get a haircut before i go to israel so it looks great for the whole two weeks i'm in israel okay i know you notice everything so we i just thought we'd get that out of the way you know when you're not we're not don't have people sitting there going his lawn changed his hairstyle no just it got long okay let's pray heavenly father thank you for the ministry of the holy spirit illuminating our hearts and minds so that we can understand the word of god and so father do that in our hearts today and let's take a moment now friends and let's ask god to forgive our sins of this week uh let's confess them to him so that the channel between the holy spirit and us is wide open today in jesus name we pray amen and amen okay well remember we're studying the gospels and remember we're uh with jesus on his journey to jerusalem uh for the last earthly week of his life and remember he was going through jericho remember the way that pious jews went from the sea of galilee to jerusalem they crossed over to the east side of the jordan river and then crossed back over at jericho and then went up to jerusalem and in jericho jesus has met two of our friends he's met zacchaeus and he's met bartimaeus uh and i was talking to one of my uh friends uh uh just a couple days ago who saw the message on zacchaeus he's a grown man and he said i was singing the song with you you know uh walking zacchaeus you know i'm on my way to your house today and he said it kind of impressed me that that message was kind of like a a combination he said between uh seminary and vacation bible school i laughed i thought you know what yeah maybe sort of but what difference it make we were still studying the word of god now today jesus is leaving jericho and he's on his way now uh up the 3 500 feet uh to jerusalem and um in 13 miles so it this is a climb anybody who thinks jesus uh was a weakling uh should go over there and walk these 13 miles going up 3 500 feet and you'll understand jesus was no weakling so uh but just as they're leaving jericho however uh jesus tells a parable uh to his disciples and we're in luke chapter 19 so i want you to go there with me and we begin in verse 11. it says and as they heard these things he jesus added and spoke a parable look because he was near jerusalem and because they thought his disciples did and his followers that the kingdom of god would appear immediately therefore he said now uh this parable therefore has as its purpose in the context uh to to teach his disciples and his followers uh that his coming is not going to be imminent uh when he gets to jerusalem or when he is on the cross but there's going to be a delay uh there's going to be a chasm uh there's going to be an interval between his crucifixion and when he comes in glory and that's the point of the parable as we're going to see now he tells a very similar parable in matthew 25 and i really want to use that one because it contains a couple of elements uh that luke's uh a parable doesn't but it's essentially the very same parable so in matthew chapter 25 let's pick up verse 14. for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them and to one he gave five talents and to another two and to another one to each according to his ability and right away he went on his journey okay remember this parable is reminding his followers that he's not coming back right away so this man goes on his journey who is this landowner uh well he's jesus right and he's away for a long time which is the point he's trying to make but there are some other great uh sub points uh in this parable uh notice it says here uh that it it says in verse 14 that he called his servants delivered his goods to them and gave them five talents two talents another one talent each according to his ability now notice he did not give uh the same amount to every servant uh he uh he assessed uh the um uh the ability of each uh servant the talents uh you know the the natural talents and spiritual gifts of each servant and gave to them accordingly to the person who had extraordinary talents and abilities he gave five talents of money the the talents he gave him were money uh not acting or singing it was money he gave him and to uh uh the guy who had a little bit less talent and ability he gave two talents until the final guy one talent okay that's very important for us to understand uh verse 16 then he would receive the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents and likewise he who had received two talents gained two more now uh notice the guy who had five talents who was a little more talented and had a little more gifts uh got more actual production out of the money he was given uh the second servant uh worked just as hard uh but only got two talents worth of production because he didn't have all of the gifts and all of the abilities that the first guy had you understand he had received one verse 18 went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money and after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them this is the point of the parable in context the master was away a long time before he came back right okay that's the point uh but let's continue and so he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying master you delivered to me five talents money remember look i have gained five more talents besides them and his master said to him well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your master and he who had received two talents came and said master you delivered to me two talents look i have gained two more talents besides them and the master said to him well done good and faithful servant the same thing he said to the guy who gained five you have been faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your master word for word what he said to the guy who had brought made five extra talents then he would receive the one talent came and said master i knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed and i was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground look there you have what is yours the one talent but his master answered and said to him you wicked and slothful lazy a servant you know that i reap where i did not sow and gather where i have not scattered seed therefore you ought to have put my money with the bankers and then at my coming i would have received back my own with interest oh okay uh so what does jesus say to this third guy he says wait a minute uh you didn't use the talent i gave you uh to uh to to make profit for me to make production for me you hit it in the ground and and let's say you didn't have as much ability as the guy that i gave five talents to or that i gave two talents to but maybe you didn't feel comfortable going out and doing the kind of of day trading that they did uh and stock market trading they did or whatever uh you understand the the imagery here but the least you could have done is put it in the bank so that at least i got minimal interest but i got something uh so i don't accept your salute your your ex explanation uh that you were just afraid uh to take risk with it no no you could have put it in the bank where there was no risk and you could have made money for me so jesus blows his excuse away now watch therefore jesus said take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents for to everyone who has more will be given and he will have abundance but from him who does not have will be taken away even what he has you say what does that mean i'm not 100 sure uh i think it means that when we're using our gifts to serve the lord and we're using our ability to serve the lord that as we do that god grants us even more ability talent uh grants us more maybe opportunities to use that ability and talent more open doors uh to make more uh interest and production for him i'm not 100 sure uh but the last part i got look verse 30. i got verse 30 and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth now that i got that's not too hard to figure out throw him into hell you say when i wait a minute wait a minute this was a follower of jesus and and he gets thrown into hell no he was not a follower uh what he did with the talent revealed of it he was not friends there are three marks of a true follower of christ that cannot be faked number one the person who really gets born again and saved number one they die they have a zeal for holy living holy personal holiness in their life number two this person has a deep concern for souls uh for lost people and for their uh eternal damnation and and is very concerned about reaching them in number three as we learn from this parable a person who's really born again has a zeal for serving the christ who saved him and bought him with his blood uh this is just the way it is when i got saved i'm telling you all three of these things came into my life i had nothing to do with it it wasn't because i brought them into my life they came with the holy spirit and with my salvation and and i did have a passion to want to serve the lord in fact i junked my chemistry career which i was planning to follow when i got to unc chapel hill i was a chemistry major i have a degree in chemistry i junked that and i said i just want to serve the lord i just want to serve the lord why because that's one of the great marks of salvation a zeal for personal holiness a zeal for lost souls and a zeal for serving christ now the first two servants in this parable had a zeal for serving their master they went out and they made five talents the first guy two talents the second guy and they were excited it's clear in this parable to come show these talents to their master when he came back and say look what i did for you lord look what i did for you i'm so proud in the right sense of the word uh and please that i was able to do this for you and turn the talent and the ability that you gave me and the resources you put at my command i turned them in to production for you lord but the third guy did not have that passion he didn't have any zeal to serve the master he was slothful the master said uh he was wicked the master said he just put the money in the ground and went on about his business and his business was not serving his master friends he revealed this third guy that he was not intimately connected uh through salvation with with the master with christ like the first two servants were okay now i hope you've got those three things in your life though that zeal for personal holiness zeal for lost souls and zeal to serve the lord my friend if you don't have those three things just emanating out of you flowing out of you bubbling up inside of you something's wrong uh you didn't you didn't get the real mccoy folks uh because everybody that i know and the bible supports this that's ever come to truly come to christ they they have these zeals uh it's a package deal uh these zeals come with salvation so examine yourself to see if you're in the faith paul said ii corinthians 13. now uh this is the end of the passage and i might just point out uh here uh would you notice the first two servants uh were rewarded for being faithful in little things they were faithful in a little and so what did god do he gave them more uh uh what what did jesus say here he said uh well done good and faithful servant you have been verse 21 faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over many things folks it is an eternal principle notice this and we've talked about it before that god doesn't start anybody off as a general everybody starts as a private uh-huh and and the way uh more responsibility uh for ministry and more responsibility uh for serving christ is increased is how faithful we are in the little things uh if we're faithful in god's army as a private we get promoted to private first class and if we're faithful in serving god as a private first class we get promoted to a corporal and then a sergeant and then a lieutenant and on and on and on and the people that you see around you who have been given great responsibility for almighty god uh and their admirals and generals in the army of god people like billy graham was uh these folks uh uh luis palau and others uh folks they only are there because they were faithful in the little things uh um and and so don't ever despise my friends the little things of god if he only gives you a little responsibility uh don't ever despise that and treat that with with rejection and with uh almost like uh snobbery no no god's watching and if we he can't trust us to be faithful in the little things he's not going to give us greater things i've told you the story before about cleaning toilets at the good news mission when i was a brand new christian and complaining about it and and uh and god said to me lon if i can't trust you to t uh uh to clean toilets for me and do it well how am i gonna trust you to lead a church well uh i'm not promoting you until you get that get get the the hang of this which is you got to be faithful at every level i'll put you before you're going to go to any other level don't despise the little things in god's service um they're the doorway to greater things if we're faithful all right now that's the end of our passage but it's time to ask our most important question are you ready come on here we go one two three so what yeah it is and uh what am i gonna say when the plane touches down in israel on october the fifth as i get off the plane what am i gonna say come on like jackie gleason how sweet it is oh yes may the lord give me that grace and opportunity now there's a wonderful lesson in here i don't want you to miss and i want to go back to verse 19. after a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them and so he who had received five talents brought five other talents saying master you delivered to me five talents look i've gained five more besides them and then look at verse 22 and he also who had received two talents came and said master you delivered to me two talents look i have gained two talents more besides them now what did jesus say to each of them well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful in a few things so i will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your master word for word the same to the guy who gained five talents and to the guy who gained two talents do you see that now what does that tell us friends that tells us something so very important it tells us that when it comes to rewards god rewards us based on our effort not based on our production you understand the guy with five talents had produced more than the guy with two talents but god rewarded them exactly the same he said the exact same thing of commendation to them because they had both put out the same amount of effort in serving the lord uh now we know that we get rewards when we get to heaven uh and look at first corinthians chapter three very quickly with me verse 11 for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is jesus christ now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold silver and precious stone that's one category wood hay and straw stubble that's the other category each man's work will become manifest visible for the day capital d the day of the lord's return will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is if anyone's work which he has built on the foundation endures he will receive a reward watch that and anyone whose work is burned up he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved yet so through fire now what's that telling us oh it tells us you can't lose your salvation even if your works after you're gonna get saved are all burnt up because you didn't do anything for the lord with your life uh you still get saved but uh if if we put build gold silver and precious stones we build true service for christ on the foundation of jesus in our life we're going to get a reward all right now would you notice back to matthew chapter 25 both the the guy who had five talents and the guy who had two talents and produced five more and two more got the same reward the same exact commendation now why is that important because folks so often we look around and knowing that god's going to reward us we say things like oh man i'm yeah i'm never going to get the reward that louis palau is going to get i'm never going to get the war the award reward that billy graham is gonna get i'm never gonna get the reward uh that uh rick warren is gonna get or john mcarthur is gonna get look at all they've done for the lord and look at me i've done nothing i mean i've done what i've done i mean i've worked for the lord i've tried to serve him but it's piddling compared to the impact these people have had and when they come to present to the lord what they've done i'm gonna have to come and stand next to him and present something much much less than that i i taught sunday school uh i led a small group now i sang in the choir uh uh i tried to use my money generously for the work of god uh uh i i went on a short-term missions trips uh i went out and served as a missionary uh i worked in the soup kitchen every weekend that was being grown in the name of christ uh i worked in the clothing ministry uh every week uh that was being run in the name of christ but i don't have i don't have millions of people that have been touched by the purpose-driven life to present to jesus i don't have millions of people who've been touched by the messages of john macarthur to present to jesus or millions of souls who come to christ through louis palau and billy graham no my friends that's not what the bible teaches i'm afraid the bible teaches that both of these servants put out equal effort and both of them got equal commendation god doesn't reward people based on how much production they accomplish because the if he did the people the guy with five would be different than the guy with two uh now there are other places in the scripture that seem to indicate that jesus gave the five guy and the two guy uh differing responsibilities after that you you you the guy with five you rule over five cities the guy with two you rule over two cities wait a minute that's not rewards that's responsibility yes the guy with five obviously uh had more talent uh personal talent more ability more giftedness and he was capable of ruling over more cities than the other guy that was a reflection of their ability not their rewards this is a reflection of their rewards and that means uh that if you uh give equal effort to serving the lord as rick warren as john mcarthur as chuck swindoll god is going to treat you with the same commendation and the same reward folks and in fact many people who are more devoted and more uh give more effort uh and deeper dedication to the service of christ than john macarthur or rick warren will get more reward than they uh uh that prayer warrior who spends hours in her home or his home every day praying uh uh and just devoted to prayer hey you know what nobody may ever see that on the outside but god sees it and if that woman or man uh devotes more effort uh in god's sight to serving him uh then some of these big name people they're going to get more reward from god it doesn't matter how much human production this is my point how much visible human production a person is able to present to god what matters is the heart and how fully and how loyally and how deeply and how how uh honestly and truly they have served jesus from the heart that's what god god rewards and that's what god cares about so don't you get discouraged i have a good friend who taught second grade sunday school for like 24 years he even ended up teaching some of the children of the people he had taught in the early years they grew up mad children and they went they were in the the sunday school class that the parents had been in 22 years every sunday he would come back from trips early business trips to make sure he was there for that sunday school class every sunday uh my children were in his sunday school class and he had a maximum impact on them he led more children to christ in that sunday school class than i could even begin to tell you about uh you know what uh no when he presents that sunday school class to the lord you know what the people aren't going to stand around and go oh yeah we heard about your sunday school class oh yeah you know uh uh john macarthur and you producers no no no john macarthur did more on a human level but that's not how god rewards he rewards on a spiritual level based on our heart and the devotedness of our service not on the human production so stop comparing yourself to other people based on human production and and just start serving the lord from your heart my friends and if your service is pure and if your service is loyal and holy god will reward that um and that's what he'll be comparing you to uh john macarthur about or rick warren about or chuck swindoll about you understand okay serve the lord from your heart with all you got and i'll leave you with one of my very favorite verses in the whole bible i don't need the bible i know it by heart first corinthians 15 58 therefore be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord for you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord what a great verse why is your labor not in vain because jesus is coming back and he's going first corinthians 3 to reward you for that labor in heaven and for all eternity that reward will be yours your labor is not in vain in the lord whatsoever you do it colossians chapter 3 do everything heartily as unto the lord and this includes your secular job your secular work you do it heartily as unto the lord this is the job he put you in and it will be rewarded my friend let's pray heavenly father thank you for reassuring us today uh that we will be rewarded not based on a comparison to other people and what they produced humanly for you because that's up to you that's your sovereign call but lord we will be compared based on our heart whether we did all things heartily unto you the little things and the big things whether we did them with devotion whether we did them with holiness whether we did them with loyalty whether we did them lord with integrity and whether we did them with wholeheartedness unto christ so lord jesus help us to do all things heartily unto you and help us be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord because we know that our labor is not in vain in the lord in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen and amen brother what is that what is it come on tell me that's preaching ah yeah it is okay thanks for joining us uh uh may the lord bless you and keep you uh may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace and we pray all of this in jesus name see you next week oh and by the way next week i'll be sending some film from jerusalem the next two weeks uh uh that we'll put up with the message because we're right at the triumphal entry and i'm gonna be right there in jerusalem with the group uh on the palm sunday road and we're gonna we're gonna send you some film uh over there and then we'll we'll do the passage as well god bless you god bless you see you later and god bless you [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Lon Solomon Ministries

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Length: 32min 12sec (1932 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021