Planting, Watering, and Increase

One of Jesus' parables was about a wealthy man who entrusted three of his servants with some money and then went away on a trip. The first man received five talents, the second three, and the third got one. A talent is about 75lbs and, if it was silver (most translations don't specify that it was and gold, of course, would be over 50x more valuable), each talent comes to about $36,400 by today's valuation. It's a significant sum of money to leave to people. You probably know the story. The first servant went and bought and sold and doubled his master's money. The second servant bought and sold and doubled the money as well. The third hid the money and returned it to the master, who was very angry with him and gave his talent to the one who now had ten. Much is made of this last servant, but it is the first two I want to focus on. You see, the point of Jesus' story is that the real sin is not even trying to use what you're given for God's kingdom. Now, if he wanted to really show that this is the worst thing and not failure, you'd think he'd have one of the servants lose the money or try but not turn a profit. No, both of the first two servants double their initial capital. Why is that? I think it's because the master, an obvious representation of God, is the one they're working for, and He doesn't allow failure. I don't mean that you won't fail in serving Him. I mean that when you are serving, everything you do will work out in the end because He has willed it to. These first two servants, so long as they did their honest best to serve God, could not fail. Times may have been tough and the Gospel doesn't promise smooth sailing and fat wallets, but it does promise that your efforts for God are not in vain. In the early church, sects started rising with some people claiming to follow Paul's teaching, while others followed Apollos or another early pillar of the church. When Paul was asked about it, he replied, "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." 1 Corinthians 3:5-6. His point is that both he and Apollos had their missions and were performing them as well as they could, but after they had put forth their effort, it was God who was responsible for what happened, not them. When I was a co-leader of a young adults group in Virginia, I failed in large part because I was trying to put the pressure of providing an increase on myself and the other leaders. "If only we were trying harder," I reasoned, "if only we were doing something different that drew more people in. Is our teaching too soft? Is it boring? Are we unfriendly? (I know I was at times, but that's another story.) What are we doing wrong?" It turns out I was doing two things wrong. First, I was measuring success in numbers, rather than letting God define it however He wanted to. Only He knew what was going on in people's hearts. Only He knew the seeds that were being planted and the growth that was taking place. And I am sure that part of His plan was to prepare me for what He had next for me. God's more interested in hearts than in head counts. Second, I wasn't letting Him do His job because I was too busy trying to do both of our jobs. My place was to do His will, nothing more. Whatever results came of it would be on Him to produce. Think about that in terms of your life. Are you trying to measure your success based on something that God never intended for you to use? Are you hiding your talents because you are afraid that nothing will ever come of them or that you will fail somehow? Are you trying to both do what God has called you to do and provide whatever increase comes from your actions? If you're doing any of these things, stop! God has a plan and knows what's really happening, even if you don't. So you don't have to keep score; in fact, you shouldn't. If you're doing what God wants you to do, then you can't fail Him. Only He could fail because only He is responsible for what comes next. If you stay in His will, everything that comes from it is on Him...and because He can't fail, you can be absolutely certain it will work out to His will in the end. And if you're trying to do both jobs, relax. You only have one job to do here and it's the easier one. Use the gifts God has given you to serve Him in whatever way you can. You may never see the results you were expecting, but God sees them. One heart touched by a song, one decision made because of a point in a sermon, one relationship saved because of timely and caring advice...these are the things God uses to change a person...and it is these broken people God can use to change the world. Odds are you are not the next Billy Graham. You don't have to be. The master didn't demand that the servant who had three talents produce five talents like the first guy. He knew he'd given him less to start with and was just as happy with his increase. Besides, God can do whatever He pleases with or without you. He doesn't need you. Your service, therefore, doesn't matter in terms of whether you're benefiting Him; your service matters because it shows your devotion and love to Him. That's what God is really after. As you plant or water, it's not just the kingdom that grows; you grow as well.