Matthew 25:22-23 (NKJV)
He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord 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 lord.’

The last lesson that I want to draw from this parable is faithfulness always leads to promotion – eventually!

The two servants who had been ‘faithful over a few things’ were promoted in their master’s kingdom when he returned from his long journey. They had done well with their responsibilities and, as a result, they were given greater responsibilities. Verse 23 says that they ‘entered into their master’s joy’ – in other words, their master had been made happy by his increase and they got a share of that increase!

When we are faithful to use what we have been given, we will be given more. Don’t try to force it; God will do it! As we prove faithful in the responsibilities we have today we will be given greater responsibilities tomorrow.

It’s a bit like the teenager who wants to borrow his dad’s car. If he can’t look after his dad’s bike then there is no way he’ll be allowed to use his dad’s car! It comes back to the issue of trust again – when you can be trusted in ‘small’ things you’ll be given responsibility over ‘big’ things (Luke 16:10). In God’s kingdom, perhaps the ‘small’ things are our natural responsibilities – and perhaps the ‘big’ things are spiritual responsibilities. You can’t expect God to give you responsibility in His kingdom if you can’t get the ‘small’ stuff right in your daily life!

Being faithful doesn’t have a time limit. The master’s journey was LONG! We need to determine that we will be consistently faithful no matter how long we have to wait for the reward. When our motivation is love for our master we will remain faithful; but when our motivation is the reward or promotion we are bound to fail! My faithfulness to my wife is driven by my love for her and it has no time limit - “till death us do part”.

Lastly, when we are faithful with that which belongs to another man - his possessions, his family, his reputation, or his vision - God will bless and increase that which belongs to us.

So make the decision today to remain faithful no matter how long you have to wait for the ‘prize’ and make Philippians 3:13-14 your prayer today: “...forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Don’t hold back at all when it comes to being faithful to God – there is a great reward!

Steuart Payne
Executive Pastor, Family Church
(This week’s devotionals are written by one of the Family Church pastors.  Enjoy!)

Faithfulness Positions Itself As A Servant

Matthew 25:14, 25 (NKJV)
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Those who were given responsibility in this kingdom were those who were already in the position of ‘servants’. The master didn’t choose to deliver his goods to his neighbor, or to an investment banker; he delivered them into the hands of his servants. Why? Because he trusted them.

When we serve the people in authority over our lives we position ourselves under their authority. The more we serve our leaders the more we show that we can be trusted and the inevitable result will be that we will be given responsibility.

It takes time to build trust which is why, in the setting of the local church, we don’t give people positions of leadership after knowing them for five minutes – no matter how popular or how skilled they are! We watch them to see how they serve. And as they serve consistently over a period of time, with a good heart, our trust in them grows and eventually they are given responsibility in God’s House.

When you take up the position of ‘servant’ (and trust is built) you will be given responsibility. When you are given responsibility you have an opportunity to be faithful. Our opportunity to be faithful is determined by our commitment to first be a servant.

Every faithful leader is firstly a faithful servant.

Jesus walked the earth as a servant-king. He modeled great leadership yet, under His Father’s authority, modeled great servanthood. In Mark 10:45 He said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” This is what Jesus was all about and He made it clear to His disciples that if they wanted to be ‘great’ in the Kingdom of God they should be ‘servant of all’ (Mark 9:35).

The problem is that it takes humility to serve! So often people back away from ‘serving’ because they are simply too proud! “Why should I have to ‘lower’ myself to this position?” “I have been called to greater things than this!” Maybe you have been called to ‘greater’ things, but you will never experience them if you don’t humble yourself and SERVE! Remember that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5).

Steuart Payne
Executive Pastor, Family Church
(This week’s devotionals are written by one of the Family Church pastors.  Enjoy!)

Matthew 25:20-21 (NKJV)
So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

When the master returned he was overjoyed with two of his servants who had taken their responsibilities seriously and had brought increase to their master’s kingdom. The master’s response to each was “Well done, good and faithful servant.” He recognised two attributes in each of these servants that caused them to do well with what they had been given – goodness and faithfulness.

In God’s kingdom it’s not just faithfulness that causes you to do well with what God gives you – its faithfulness coupled with goodness. God is good and His Kingdom is established on His goodness, therefore anything that we do that doesn’t flow from a ‘good’ heart will be in conflict with the very culture of God’s Kingdom. We can be the most faithful people, but if our hearts are filled with bad treasure then our faithfulness may be fruitless (Luke 6:45).

As we are faithful to do good works in God’s kingdom (Ephesians 2:10) we need to ensure our doing flows from a good/right heart. If we are going to have long-term success our heart attitudes need to be right. Most people don’t quit because they lose faith in their leader - they quit because of issues in their hearts. They allow jealousy or greed to slip in; they become hurt or offended; they allow their heart to become contaminated in some way.

If ‘faithfulness’ is the water flowing in a river, then ‘goodness’ is the quality of that water. You may be the fastest flowing river on the most exciting journey - but no one is going to want to be near you if you’re full of filth and stink! It doesn’t matter how faithful you are, if you have a bad heart then your faithfulness counts for nothing.

If you sense that your heart isn’t in the right place, that you’re not operating from a heart of ‘goodness’, then take time to put ‘good’ in. Read your Bible, wait on the Lord, ask the Holy Spirit to saturate you - and you will see the fruit of the Spirit, which includes goodness and faithfulness, grow all over your life!

Steuart Payne
Executive Pastor, Family Church
(This week's devotionals are written by one of the Family Church pastors.  Enjoy!)

Faithfulness Uses What It Is Given

Matthew 25:14-30 (NKJV)
And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.

In this parable we see that the master gives responsibility (stewardship of his goods) to each servant “according to his own ability” (v.15). He didn’t give them more than they were able to cope with, neither did he give them less. What they were given was exactly right for each of them.

Sometimes we get offended because other people are given greater responsibilities than we are. We don’t think we’ve been given ‘enough’. But we have to realise that we’re all wired differently, we all have different experiences and skills, and so we will always be given different responsibilities – each according to our own ability. The advice here is simple - get over your offense, stop comparing yourself to others, and start using what you’ve been given!

However, it is probably more common to feel like you’ve been given too much responsibility and, as we see when we read on in Matthew 25, the natural response is ‘fear’ (v.25). Although we may not have dug a hole and buried our master’s goods in the ground, we may all be able to relate to this feeling of being incapable of handling the responsibilities we’ve been given.

The good news is that God knew what He was doing when He handed you those responsibilities! Therefore our ‘weakness’ is an opportunity for God’s strength. Our relationship with God is founded and built on His exceedingly great grace and, as Jesus said to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Praise God for this amazing truth which can be a reality in our lives as much as it was in the Apostle Paul’s.

Faithful people don’t compare themselves to others, nor do they back away from responsibility; they thank God for the opportunity and they use what they are given to the glory of God. Colossians 3:23 says, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men…"

So today, make sure you are faithful to use what you’ve been given.

Steuart Payne
Executive Pastor, Family Church
(This week’s devotionals are written by one of the Family Church pastors.  Enjoy!)

Matthew 25:14-30 (NKJV)
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

This parable reminds us of the relationship we have with our Master, Jesus. He has gone on a ‘long journey’ and has entrusted His Kingdom to His disciples. We have all been given responsibilities in His kingdom and we are called to be faithful with what we have been given until He returns. Our faithfulness to Jesus starts by having faith in Him. If we have no faith in Him we simply cannot be faithful to HIm.

Having faith in Jesus is about believing in the "Cause of His Kingdom", having confidence in His plan, trusting Him in all seasons of life. Such faith will naturally produce faithfulness in our lives.

Have a look at how you relate to leaders in your life. If you don’t have faith in the person you’re serving then you won’t be faithful. A faithful servant trusts his leader, even in the tough times; believes in the vision; has confidence in decisions that are made; is committed and reliable. All of these attributes of faithfulness stem from having faith in the person you’re serving.

In this parable the ‘Master’ was willing to entrust his goods to his servants because he knew they had faith in him – they trusted him and loved his kingdom. The master would have been stupid to entrust his goods to those who doubted him and hated his kingdom!

If you’re frustrated that you haven’t been given more responsibility in certain areas of life then perhaps you need to address this question: do you have faith in those in authority over you? They will know if you don’t trust them and so the last thing they’re going to do is give you any significant responsibility!

This leaves us with a choice – either we move on and serve someone else, or we make the decision to have faith in our leaders and consequently become faithful servants. Perhaps it would be good to pray a prayer similar to the man in Mark 9:24 - “I believe! Help my unbelief!”

Steuart Payne
Executive Pastor, Family Church
(This week's devotionals are written by one of the Family Church pastors, enjoy!)