“For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11.10 – Jesus speaks).

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:2-5).

You get the picture: God is generous!

Massively, positively, abundantly, overwhelmingly, generous!

So, maybe you think this is going to be another word-of-faith, name-it-and-claim-it power-preach.

Uh huh…

Except were going to look at what we should do with God’s generosity after we receive.

HALLELUJAH!

We love to receive from God. We stand on God’s promises. We step out in faith. We don’t give up…don’t give up! And then we receive God’s provision.

I’m sure you’ve heard stories about God’s provision. (Maybe you’ve lived through one – or maybe a few – yourself.) In the final hour God came through with that airplane ticket, that rental payment, those shoes. The meal that was desperately needed.

There’s a story in the New Testament about God giving someone a whole five bags of gold. That’s nearly 8 million US dollars in today’s money.¹ Talk about provision!

Here’s the verse. Jesus is speaking: “To one he gave five bags of gold…” (Matthew 25:15).

“Uh, hold on,” I can just imagine you saying. “That’s from a parable, not a testimony of provision – Jesus was telling a story to show how we should behave while we’re waiting for him to return, you know, the second…”

Exactly!

He was telling us how we should behave. (And, it is a story of provision too. God gave the man 8 million dollars. Right?)

Here’s a summary of the story (full text at the end).

A rich man (representing God, or the risen Christ) goes away on a long journey. Before he goes he gives his servants a lot of money – ‘entrusts’ it to them. One of them receives five bags of gold, another, two bags. And the third servant, one bag.

Then the rich man goes away.

While he’s gone, the one with five bags of gold doubles his money (the story doesn’t say how he does it: maybe he goes into business, or something). The one with two bags also doubles his.

But the one with only one bag doesn’t do anything at all. (I guess he feels he deserves a holiday… On the positive side, he doesn’t waste it on…drugs, say – he buries it in the ground instead.)

After a long time the rich man comes back and asks for his money. He’s very pleased with servants one and two when they give him double what he gave them. (Yeah, who wouldn’t be!) But he’s really upset with number three – the one who didn’t do anything with the gold entrusted to him. The two of them have a bit of an argument – the servant tells the rich man that he’s just out to exploit him and the rich man says, like, “Really? Well, if that’s what you think…”

It doesn’t end well. The rich man throws number three out and gives his money to servant number one.

Interesting, right?

OK, so Let’s figure out what it means. (It’s a parable – an everyday story with a spiritual dimension. We’re supposed to figure out what it means, spiritually!)

But, let’s not get too complicated to start with. Jesus meant for us (that means me) to be able to understand it.

The first thing that jumps out at me (you too, I hope) is, God expects us to be productive with the stuff he gives us. Name-it-and-claim-it prosperity-gospellers need to take note of that. Receiving from God is not like…just grabbing an ice-cream from God’s refrigerator and gobbling it down. (Sorry! I can’t resist. I recently read in a book, ‘You can go to the ‘heavenly refrigerator’ at any time and take out what you like.’² Supernatural Foundations, that’s what the book is called. To be fair, it’s lovely: a clear, readable introduction to Christian Theology. Very upbeat!)

Anyhow, it’s not like gobbling the ice-cream God gives us; it’s more like being entrusted with, say, a whole box of ice-creams – so you can do business with them. (And maybe eat one yourself.) We’ll get to that.

Which brings us to the second thing in our parable: When we produce stuff, working with what God gives us, he wants to share in it. Actually, the parable puts it more strongly: God ‘entrusts’ us with stuff. He doesn’t give it outright; it still belongs to him – our lives, the air we breathe, our talents, time, energy and goods – all that stuff still belongs to him. Even though we get to enjoy the benefits of his generosity, it belongs to him, and he expects to share in the profits of our productivity. More than that, he wants to share in our lives. (That’s not directly stated in our parable but, …you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, father.” – Romans 8:15) And, If we don’t produce it’s because we’re not engaged with life, with faith, with God – like the third servant in the story.

But, if we have faith – if we engage with God and with life – we will be productive.

HALLELUJAH!

Productive, yeah…

In what way?

Some people, who have an exclusively ‘spiritual’ view of our parable think it’s only about ‘salvation’³ – only about getting other people to become Christians (like, if you win a soul, you’ve doubled your money). And, that view gets support from the parable’s context (bear with me if it gets a little technical).

The story of the Ten Bags of Gold (that’s what our parable is mostly called) runs from Matthew 25:14-30. It’s sandwiched between the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13 – extra oil for your faith-lamp so it won’t go out) and the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46 – caring for the poor and persecuted in Christ – ‘what you did for the least of these, you did for me’).

Now, the chapter that precedes the Ten Bags of Gold, the whole of Matthew 24, is concerned with end time prophecy and the return of Jesus (For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man – Matthew 24:27). And, it’s in that light that Chapter 25 starts with, At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins... So, clearly the parable that follows is concerned with how we should behave while we are waiting for Jesus to return (we must keep our faith shining). The same is true of the next parable – the Ten Bags of Gold – which begins, Again, it [the kingdom of heaven] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. It is also true of the third parable – the Sheep and the Goats.

So, these three parables are about the ‘end times’ – what Christians should do as they hurry up and wait for the last judgment. And that perspective can lead to a mainly spiritual interpretation – they’re about spiritual values: guarding against cooling or lost faith (the Virgins) winning souls (Gold) and Christian compassion (Sheep and Goats).

OK?

Well, let’s go with that view for now…

Because, if we apply ourselves to these spiritual values with faith we will not be unproductive. That’s what 2 Peter, 1:5-8 says (in different words): For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s good, isn’t it?

So, taking the strongly spiritual view, The bags of gold in the parable represent God’s grace – his salvation generously given us – and we must do our best to express and multiply that grace in the world around us by producing the fruit of God’s Spirit and spreading his gospel of salvation.

But…

How can we show mutual affection and love; how can we care for the poor and persecuted, unless we have stuff to share with them?

I mean, we pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth. But how real can that kingdom be without subject peoples, laws, houses, motor vehicles, clothing, food… And how can Christian compassion take action without these things (and that’s what the Parable of the Sheep and Goats is about – taking action).

Because, we can’t give only spiritual comfort when there are material needs: Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well-fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? (James 2:15-16)

So, there can’t be any doubt that when the Parable of the Bags of Gold uses money to show how we should be productive with the things that God entrusts to us – salvation, health and wealth etc. – that includes both the spiritual and material. The kingdom of God is meant to be expressed holistically, the spiritual finding expression in the material.

St Paul writes: …He [God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good…(Titus: 3:5-8).

And skipping to verse thirteen: Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives (Titus 3:13-14).

So (to be blunt) in this context, St Paul is saying that ‘doing what is good’ equals ‘working productively to earn money’. (See! That’s kind of what I was getting at when I said it’s like taking ice-cream out of God’s refrigerator to do business with it.)

But, if we keep going in this direction, it’s possible we could end up putting all the emphasis on material things and neglecting the intangible spiritual work of God.⁴ And there are believers who tend that way. They see the Parable of the Ten Bags of Gold as his sanction and blueprint for the righteous acquisition of wealth through the virtue of hard work and business acumen – what’s come to be called the ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ (sometimes, in the past, they even saw material success as evidence of their election to salvation).⁵

Uh huh…

But we’re not going to go that far.

Instead, we’re going to take it from closer to St Paul’s point of view, The gold in the parable represents real attributes and material goods given us – health and wealth: strength, time, ability, material resources – and we are obligated to work diligently to increase them so that we may be in a position to help others (and enjoy them ourselves).

Two different views of the same parable. Which one is right?

I think it’s both. At the same time.

(Bet you got there ahead of me!)

Let’s sum up.

God is generous!

God expects us to be productive with the stuff he gives us.

God wants to share in what we produce when we work with the stuff he gives us.

The bags of gold in the parable represent God’s grace – his salvation generously given us – and we must do our best to express and multiply that grace in the world around us by producing the fruit of God’s Spirit and spreading his gospel of salvation.

The gold in the parable represents real attributes and material goods given us – health and wealth: strength, time, ability, material resources – and we are obligated to work diligently to increase them so that we may be in a position to help others (and enjoy them ourselves).

And, dear Child of God, when you raid God’s refrigerator, remember: It’s for sharing!

The Parable of the Bags of Gold – in full (Matthew 25;14-30)

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

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!’

The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

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!’

Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

1 The original Greek text of Matthew 25:15 uses the word ‘tantalon’ (talent) instead of ‘bag’. A talent is a biblical measure of weight that equals about 33 kilograms. At today’s gold prices, 5 talents of gold works out to nearly 8 million USD.

2 Desmond, Debra. Supernatural Foundations (page 81). South Africa: www.nigelanddebbie.org, 2017

3 https://jaymack.net/english/life-of-christ-commentary/Jx-The-Parable-of-the-Bags-of-Gold.php . See also http://www.manual4life.org/en/matthew-2514-30-parable-gabs-gold/ .

4 https://tifwe.org/five-lessons-for-our-lives-from-the-parable-of-the-talents/ . See also https://www.quora.com/In-the-Bible-what-is-the-meaning-of-The-Parable-of-the-Bags-of-Gold-Matthew-25-14-30

5 German sociologist Max Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–05), held that the [Calvinist] Protestant ethic was an important factor in the economic success of Protestant groups in the early stages of European capitalism; because worldly success could be interpreted as a sign of eternal salvation, it was vigorously pursued. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestant-ethic