Matthew 25: Kingdom Faithfulness

Jesus teaches through three parables in Matthew 25 that the greatest act of faith is faithfulness, showing how He communicates this message to all generations through different stories.

• Kingdom Faithfulness is the overarching theme connecting all three parables
• Jesus speaks differently to each generation while conveying the same message
• The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids teaches young people to stay faithful despite life's exciting distractions
• The Parable of the Talents shows that God rewards faithfulness, not comparing our gifts to others
• The Parable of the Sheep and Goats reveals that serving others is serving Christ
• God gives different abilities to different people but expects faithfulness from everyone
• Faithfulness means staying consistent in our relationship with God over the long term
• The challenge is to examine where we might unintentionally be putting God aside

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Chapters

• 0:00 Kingdom Faithfulness Introduction
• 3:44 Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids
• 4:57 Parable of the Three Servants
• 7:59 The Final Judgment Parable
• 9:52 Jesus Speaking to All Generations
• 11:47 Faithfulness in Action and Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, matthew, chapter 25, and today's title is Kingdom Faithfulness, kingdom Faithfulness. You know, one of the things that I have learned about just growing up is that different generations speak differently. Like you have the boomer generation, that they just have their own language. They have their own catchphrases and all this kind of stuff. You've got the ones that are in the middle gen xers, millennials. They have their own language, gen zers. They don't speak the same language, they speak a whole different language, but they have all these languages. And so one of the things that's amazing is, a lot of times, when you hear a good communicator, he will find a way to speak that communicates with all the different generations in ways that they all understand. Well, we're going to see Jesus as the great communicator who is going to share with us multiple parables that all really speak about the same thing, and that's the title about kingdom faithfulness. And so, if you've got your Bibles, want to get ready to get into God's word with me, matthew, chapter 25,. While you're doing that, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you take just a moment to leave us a five-star review on the podcast. Let us know how you're interacting with God's Word. Also, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook, and you can find everything you want to know about all of this at thebiblebreakdowncom. All right, well, if you've been with us over the past several weeks now, or a few weeks now, we've been walking through the Gospel of Matthew, one chapter at a time, and we've been talking about how the overall idea of Matthew is this that Jesus is the rightful king. And in chapter one, we talked about this idea of not only is he the rightful king, but Matthew's saying I can prove it. And he goes through this whole thing and he's saying I can prove that Jesus is the rightful king. And he just starts showing the receipts. In chapter one he's saying at least he's the king of Israel. But then he keeps going and he starts saying from chapter two through 28,. He's so much more than that, and we got to watch as Jesus healed people and did all these amazing things. And now he is in the city of Jerusalem and it is just about time for the king to ascend to his throne the coronation of the king and we are seeing him as he is entering into the last few discourses and he is talking about this idea of faithfulness and he's going to tell three different stories that all really sum up to the same thing, and that is that one of the greatest acts of faith is faithfulness. What is it that Jesus wants from us? It's to trust him, to be faithful to him and watch what God will do as we are faithful to him. So if you're ready, let's read God's word and let's see what God's word has to say to us.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Matthew, chapter 25, verse 1, says this take enough olive oil for their lamps. But the other five were wise enough to take extra oil alone. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight they were roused by the shout look, the bridegroom is coming, come out and meet him. All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out. But the others replied we don't have enough for all of us. Go to shop and go to a shop and buy some for yourselves. But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready, went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was locked. So in other words, he's telling them you must be faithful.

Speaker 1: 4:32

Here's the next story, verse 14. Again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them. While he was gone, he gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities. Then he left on his trip. The servant who received five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received only one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

Speaker 1: 5:12

After a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account for how they had used his money. The servant to whom he entrusted five bags of silver came forward with five more and said Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest and I have earned five more. The master was full of praise. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount. I will now give you more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together. The servant who had received two bags of silver came forward and said Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest. I earned two more. The master said Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful in handling this small amount. Now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let us celebrate together.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Then the servant with one bag of silver came and said master, I knew you were a harsh man. Harvesting crops, you didn't plant, gathering crops, you didn't cultivate. I was afraid to lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back. But the master replied you, wicked and lazy servant, if you knew, I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops, I didn't cultivate. Why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? You could have at least gotten some interest on it. And he ordered to take the money from this servant and give it to the one with 10 bags of silver.

Speaker 1: 6:38

To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. They will have it in abundance. But for those who do nothing, what they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So what Jesus is saying there is is he is saying he gave certain amounts of possessions, certain gifts, talents, abilities. Say it that way to people and notice what he praised. He praised their faithfulness. You were faithful to do the best with what you had. It wasn't about whether or not he got the return he wanted. It was about the faithfulness that he cared about. And that's what he's telling in this story. He's saying I am going to give everyone different abilities according to what you can handle. Your job is to be faithful. Let me be concerned about what you get out of it. Be faithful, all right.

Speaker 1: 7:34

One more story the final judgment. This is so convicting. So here we go, verse 31. When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels are with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered in his presence and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those on his right I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me.

Speaker 1: 8:19

Then the righteous ones will say Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink, or stranger and show you hospitality, naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will say I tell you the truth. When you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me. Then the king will turn to those on his left and he'll say away with you, you cursed ones into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty and you didn't give me a drink. I was a stranger and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked and you didn't clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me. And they will reply, lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison, and did not help you? And he said. He answered I tell you the truth, when you refused to help one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you are refusing to help me and they will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous will go into eternal life. Whoa, I mean, that's one of those. You go, man, that's heavy.

Speaker 1: 9:30

And so when you look at it, jesus is speaking in a way where he is trying to talk to different people, different walks of life, to get one message across. And so maybe when he's talking to the five young ladies there's a total of 10, five are wise, five are foolish Maybe he's talking to the younger crowd and he's saying hey, you know how, like the exciting part of a wedding, and sometimes you get excited and you don't really always think about being fateful, and you know, because you're getting your life started. No, no, it's okay to be excited. Stay faithful, don't be distracted by all the big events happening in your life. Stay faithful to me.

Speaker 1: 10:10

Then he looks at the, the other ones, maybe in the in the group, and he's talking to different ones. So maybe they're in the season of life where it's all about earning money and providing for their family and doing all this kind of stuff. And you know choosing a career, moving forward and all that. And he's saying, ok, in all of your doing, just understand, I'm going to give different people different gifts for different reasons. Your job is to not wonder why you got two instead of five or one or whatever. That doesn't matter. Your job is to be faithful, and I'm going to reward the faithful ones, not the most gifted ones. And then maybe he's looking to maybe the older crowd and he's going to say you know what, when it's all over with you're going to be blessed when you helped other people, because when you did it, you did it as, unto me, your job was to not fix everybody. Your job was to be faithful and to do the best you could. And so the lesson for all of us is sometimes the greatest act of faith is faithfulness.

Speaker 1: 11:07

Jesus just spent three different parables telling us that, in all of your excitement and all of you know getting caught up in the different things going on in the world and you know the seasons of life and like all these things, hey, that's great and all. Stay faithful. Stay faithful, don't forget about God. When you are trying to figure out what you're going to do with your life and you're unintentionally kind of comparing yourself to others and you're trying to use the gifts, talents and abilities God has given you to make a difference, stay faithful, just stay faithful. And then, when you see other people around you, be faithful, invest in the lives of others, make a difference. And when you're faithful with what God has given you, god will reward you.

Speaker 1: 11:48

So my question for you is do you struggle with being faithful? Do you find yourself kind of putting God on the back shelf? Sometimes Not intentionally? It's not like that, the five virgins they didn't intentionally run out of oil, they just weren't being faithful. The same thing with the guy with the one talent If he had known that that was going to go that way, he wouldn't have done it. Same thing with the people who ignored everybody else. If they had known right.

Speaker 1: 12:13

And so is it possible, for sometimes in our lives we get so busy doing what we want to do we forget about being faithful to God, being faithful to God's word, being faithful to serve him and make a difference. Are you being faithful with what God has given you, remembering that it all comes from him. And if so, then it's a chance to celebrate Jesus. When the story of the guy who took two and he made two more, he said, let's celebrate, you did great, we celebrate it, but if we're not, we take a moment and we course correct, because the greatest act of faith is faithfulness, staying faithful over the long term.

Speaker 1: 12:49

Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you, jesus, that you consistently help us to know how to follow after you. I pray that we'll always follow after you and to realize that the greatest thing we can do is to stay faithful and allow you to make the difference in our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen, amen, what God's word says. Jesus says in Matthew 28, verse 19,. Say it with me. If you know it, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations I love.