What does it mean to live by faith?
Many people would answer that question by saying something like this: “Living by faith is trusting in God and depending on His grace.” In fact, that is the answer given in my study Bible. Such an answer clearly and correctly places our belief and trust in God at the center of what that means. Yet as true as that is, I submit it does not really answer the question. That answer to me is not so much the meaning of living by faith so much as it is the meaning of faith itself. It doesn’t really speak to living by faith. What does it mean to live by faith? A good text to look at to think about that question is the parable the three servants in Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV).
“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.'”
Matthew 25 contains three parables: The Wise and Foolish Virgins, The Three Servants, and the Sheep and the Goats. They all have the same main point: we need to be found faithfully living when Jesus returns to take us home or to consummate His kingdom, for we will be held to account for what we have done and not done.
The master of these three servants divided his wealth between them, that they might care for it and grow it during his absence. The 2011 edition of the NIV (which I quoted above) says he gave them bags of gold. The NLT says bags of silver. The 1984 edition of the NIV, ESV, and most older translations all say he gave them talents. Why the confusion here? The word in the original is talents. A talent was a weight of gold or silver, about 75 lbs. While translating talents as bags of gold or silver is helpful, it does not give the impression of the worth of 75 lbs. of gold or silver. If you take the talent to be gold, each talent would be equivalent to 20 years of wages; if you take the talent to be silver, each talent would be the equivalent of one year’s wages. In either case, it is a lot of money that is being entrusted to each of them.
Note too, that the master was not indiscriminate or haphazard, but gave to each servant according to their ability. While the master does not give any specific instructions to them, the implication is clear: he wants them to watch over and grow his fortune while he is away. After a long time, the master returned and called the servants in to see what they had done with his money. The first two servants showed that they had worked hard with what they had been given, each doubling what they had been charged with. Together they had taken 525 lbs. of gold and returned just over half a ton.
The master commends them both in the same way, 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. They showed themselves faithful. They lived faithfully to him in his absence. As a reward they would share in his happiness, in his increased wealth, and be given greater responsibility. The third servant simply returns his master’s gold to him. It is no more or less than what he had been entrusted with. He confesses (or justifies, depending on how you understand his response) that he did not invest the money out of fear of losing it, for he was afraid of his master.
The master’s reaction to the first and second servants is very understandable—they doubled his money. Why is he so harsh with the third? The servant had not stolen it. He did not lose it. He did not misplace it. To the contrary, he had protected it, and returned it promptly upon his master’s return. The key is in remembering that the master had given each of his servants gold according to their ability. This servant had ability not only to protect it, but to increaseeven if it had been simply putting the money into the bank instead of into the ground. The master’s response is to take the gold from the third servant and give it to the first, and have the third servant thrown out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The three parables in this chapter have several things in common: They all deal with groups that at first glance appear to be living a life of faith on their way to heaven. The ten virgins in the preceding parable all were going to the wedding banquet, they all had lamps, they all went out to meet the bridegroom. In our parable, all three of these servants work for the same master. They were all given responsibility over a portion of his fortune. In the following parable of the Sheep and the Goats, all the nations are gathered into one flock before the Son of Man.
Each of these parables then reveal that not all the people who thought they were faithfully on their way to heaven actually were. Five of the virgins ran out of oil and missed the coming of the bridegroom. The third servant did not perform for his master. The nations were separated as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats.
In each of these parables the ones who lived faithfully were rewarded: the five wise virgins met the bridegroom and joined the wedding feast, the servants who invested their master’s money were given more responsibility and shared in his happiness, those the Son of Man called to his right were rewarded with eternal life. The ones who did not were revealed as false, cast out, and punished.
Our parable and the ones before and after it all help us to see what it means to live by faith. Living by faith means both living in total dependence on God and exercising our wisdom, talents, and abilities to accomplish His work. Living to God by Christ means that we can do nothing for God that is not done in the power of Christ. We must not depend on human wisdom, human strength, or human ingenuity to live for God. It can only be done in Christ. Yet at the same time, we are to use the wisdom, strength, and ingenuity that Christ gives us to live for Him. We are not passive, we are not bystanders, we are not merely spectators; we are active participants in bringing about God’s kingdom. God must work, and we must work. It is not either or, but both and.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 