Sunday, 14 March 2021
Title: Well done, good and faithful servant!
By Elder Yu Chin Shie

Matthew 25:23
His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!
You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Most of us have attended wake and funeral services of a dear friend or family members. During the services, you would have heard eulogies given by family members and friends. In most cases, you would likely be moved to tears by the fond memories expressed and the tribute given in honor of the deceased who has gone before us to a much better place. There is no greater accolade given to the deceased than to hear someone utter, Jesus will welcome him / her with the greeting “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

The above utterance by Jesus is taken from Matthew 25:14-30 which many of us are familiar with as it is found in the Parable of the Talents. Jesus gave this parable to His disciples to warn them of His Second coming at any time. He told them earlier “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42

This parable is also intended to teach the disciples stewardship. The three servants were given varying amounts of money to invest while the master went on a journey. On his return, he had his servants account for the money entrusted to them. As we read from the story, two of the servants doubled their investments and the last servant didn’t do anything with the money and left it idle. As expected, the master rewarded the two faithful servants and punished the lazy servant.

What can we learn from this parable?

We learn that we should order our lives so that when we meet the Master, He will say to us

“Well done, good and faithful servant!”

The person our Master and Lord, Jesus will honor has the following characteristics

  1. He is trustworthy – he can be trusted to do what the Lord asked him to do. He gets the work Done He will be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22
  2. He gives his best – he will do his best in whatever the Lord entrusts him to do as he counts it as a privilege and great honor to serve His Master. His work will be Well done!
  3. He is of good character – he would be the opposite of evil, displaying virtues of righteousness, holiness and goodness. Although he is not expected to live the perfect life, he is living in the Spirit (contrast to carnal living) and produces the fruit of the Spirit. Gal 5:22
  4. He is faithful – he is dependable, reliable, loyal and steadfast. A lament from the book of Proverbs – “A faithful person who can find?” Proverbs 20:6. A faithful person will exhibit his faithfulness in his commitment to the Lord, his spouse, his family, his church and to the gifts and callings of the Lord in his life.
  5. He has a servant attitude – he seeks to serve like his Master rather than to be served. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

The bible commands us to “examine ourselves” 2 Corinthians 13:5. I hope our reflection of the above five characteristics will cause us to take stock of our lives and respond accordingly. When we meet our Savoir and Lord, I pray we will hear Him greet us:

“Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your Master’s happiness.”

Prayer –

Heavenly Father,
We come to you in thanksgiving, acknowledging that all we are and all that we have is a gift from you. Help us to hear your call to be good stewards, caretakers, and managers of all your gifts by sharing them for your purpose. May our faithful stewardship be a witness to the love of Jesus Christ in our lives.

In Jesus name we pray,
Amen

每日灵粮
星期日，2021年3月14日
題目：好！良善又忠心的仆人
作者：余清熹长老
翻译：王靖端姐妹

马太福音25:23
主人说：“好！你這又良善又忠心的仆人；你在不多的事上有忠心，我要把许多事派你管理；可以進來享受你主人的快樂。”

我们大部分人都曾参加亲爱的朋友或家人的追思会和葬礼。 在仪式中，您会听到逝者的家人和朋友的悼词。 在大多数情况下，您可能会被所表达的美好记忆，和对已逝而去了更美好的地方的死者的敬意而感動。 给予死者任何的荣誉都比不上听到某人說，耶稣将以“好！又良善又忠心的仆人！”的问候欢迎他/她。

耶稣的上述话语摘自马太福音25：14-30，正如在僕人才幹的比喻中所記載的那样，我们中的许多人都很熟悉。 耶稣對门徒說此比喻，是警惕他们，祂的第二次降臨隨時會來到。 他先前对他们说：”所以你们要儆醒，因為不知道你們的主是那一天来到。” （马太福音24:42）

这个比喻也教导门徒作管家之道。 当主人去旅行时，他給三个仆人不同数量的钱来投资。 归国后，僕人的主人和他们算賬。 从故事中读到：其中两个仆人的投资翻了一番，最后一个仆人对这笔钱没有做任何事情，就把它闲置了。 正如所料，主人奖励了两个忠实的仆人，并惩罚了那懒惰的仆人。

我们可以从这个比喻中学到什么？
我们了解到，我们应该規划自己的生活，以便我们与主人见面时，他会对我们说：“好！你這又良善又忠心的仆人！”

被我们的主人和主耶稣所稱贊的人，具有以下特征：

  1. 他值得信赖-他可以被信賴的去做所有上帝托付的事情。 他完成了所托付的工作,如雅各书1：22 “只是你们要行道，不要單單听道，自己欺哄自己”；
  2. 他尽力而为-尽主所托，竭盡所能。 他认为服务他的”主子”是一种特權和荣幸。他的工作将“做得好”！
  3. ”他具有“好”的品格-他将成为罪惡的对立面，表现出正义，圣洁和善良的美德，尽管他不能期望自己过上完美的生活，他生活在圣灵中（与肉体生活相反），并結出圣灵的果子（加拉太書5:22） 。
  4. 他忠实-他是可靠，可信賴，忠诚和坚定不移。 箴言中的感叹：“但忠信人誰能遇着呢？” （箴言20：6） 。一个忠实的人将在他对主、他的配偶、他的家庭、他的教会以及他一生中对主的恩赐和呼召的承诺中表现出忠实。
  5. 他有一种“仆人”的态度-他寻求像他主人一样，去服事別人而不是受人的服事。 馬可福音10：45 “因為人子來，並不是要受人服事，乃是要服事人，并且要捨命，作多人的贖價。

圣经命令我们根据哥林多後書13：5 “审视自己” 。我希望我们对以上五个特征的反思，将使我们審查自己的生活，并作出相應的回應。 当我们遇见我們的救贖主和主时，我祈祷我们会听到他向我们打招呼：“好！你這又良善而又忠心的仆人，可以進来享受你主人的快乐。”

祷告-
天父，我们在感恩中来到你身边，坦承我们和所拥有的一切都是袮給的礼物。 祈求袮来帮助我们听到袮的呼召，成個好管家，看护人和管理者的禮物，為着袮和眾人分享。 愿我们忠实的管理成为我们生命中耶稣基督之爱的见证。 我们奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。