THIS parable has a voice to all who hold the position of servants of Christ during His absence in heaven. He likens Himself to “a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered to them his goods” (Matt. 25:14-30). The only true motive for service to Christ is affection for His person. Salvation is by grace alone; it is the purchase of His blood, neither pious deeds nor service of any kind having aught to do with the matter. He who ventures to serve Christ in any capacity apart from the appreciation of His blood, and love to His person, only undertakes that which will bring down judgment upon his head in the great day.
The sovereignty of the Lord is seen in that to one was committed five talents, to another two, and to another one― "to each man according to his several ability.” Thus Apollos was not so richly endowed as Paul, but both were equally responsible to do their best with what they had. This principle applies still. Let no true witness for Christ bemoan the smallness of His gifts, “for if there be first the willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Cor. 8:12). Some of the servants of our parable, having received their talents, forthwith went and traded with them. What need for delay? In like manner, those who in our day have received qualifications from Christ are solemnly responsible to go forth and use them, asking permission from no man. The notion of official ordination has been the bane of Christian ministry for centuries. Romanists, Greeks, Anglicans, and Nonconformists agree in the fiction that ordination of some kind is necessary ere a man handle sacred things. The practical results of this is that many are installed as servants of Christ who have never known His salvation, and who are in consequence dead hindrances to the operation of the Spirit of God, while others of a more spiritual type are discredited as unauthorized and piratical. Scripture nowhere asserts the need of official appointment for preaching the Word of God, still less for “the due administration of the sacraments.” Elders and deacons were apostolically ordained, but these officers had nothing directly to do with public ministry. The work of the one was rule and visitation; and of the other, care for widows, etc. When John, in his second epistle, warned the elect lady against heretical teachers, he did not bid her examine their credentials, but to test their teaching. Paul gloried in the fact that he was an apostle, neither of men, nor by men (Gal. 1:1). No man had anything whatever to do with his call to service.
When the lord returned, he called his servants together, and reckoned with them. In like manner will the Lord Jesus, at His coming again, investigate the doings of all who have professed to serve Him during His absence. The man who had received five talents was called first, as the one most responsible. He had gained five talents more, and was rewarded with his master’s commendation. The man who had received the two had gained two more. His commendation was word for word the same as that of his more privileged brother. Each had done his best with his master’s goods, and each was therefore invited to enter into the joy of his lord. Bliss with Christ is the happy end of all true labor for His name. The man with the single talent was cast into the outer darkness. He represents Christendom’s unconverted preachers, whose hearts have never been warmed by the love of Christ, and who cannot therefore find delight in pleasing Him. Unworthy motives explain their public position, the duties of which they shirk as miserably as the man in our parable. Though such speak with the tongues of men and of angels, it is but as sounding brass in the divine ears. Unless God mercifully lead them to repentance, Balaam’s doom must be theirs forever.