Encouragement Page
2 January 2005

"Occupy" is a business word used during that time. It means to keep busy working. And therefore the instruction of the nobleman to his 10 servants is to put this one pound to work till he comes back. All of them were given the common assignment with the same amount of money. The nobleman is none other than Christ Himself. He has given us a responsibility to fulfill in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. That is Christ's command to the Church, to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Note that our main role is not to organize fund-raising projects to help the poor, the elderly, or get involved in community works. All these are good but not good enough. Every true and faithful church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to go and preach and teach the gospel to all nations, to every lost soul in need of the Lord's saving power to rescue them from spiritual darkness. That is far more important than just putting bread in their mouths or clothes to cover their nakedness. Preaching the gospel must come first and must never be watered down by any other work.

The nobleman says to his ten servants: "Put that one pound to work". However He did not give further instruction to them how to make that one pound work. They were given the freedom to do it to the best of their ability. In the end, one servant gained 10 pounds more, while another 5 pounds. Both had one pound in the beginning but they earned different amount at the end. But the third servant did not do anything except to hide the money with a handkerchief. This servant could have done the simplest, the easiest thing — just deposit the one pound in the bank and at least gain some interest out of it. We must understand that the nobleman was not expecting great gain from every one of the servants. He did not demand 10 pounds gain from them but a simple command to keep busy with that one pound till he returns. So his focus is whether his servants obey his command and did something to the one pound he gave them.

Note also that his command was not accompanied by the promise of rewards. The servants occupied themselves not because of rewards but because of the command they received. And they simply obeyed because they loved their master. This is a great contrast to that servant who hid the money and all the citizens who hated the nobleman.

Today, we are living in the time period after Jesus' ascension and before His return. And He has given us the Great Commission. All of us have received the one pound in our hand. We have been entrusted with the Gospel, the word of reconciliation. Jesus did not demand all of us to meet that quota of 10 pounds. Just a simple command from Him to occupy till He comes. He desires us to preach the Gospel faithfully, just as what the two servants had done. Be faithful in spreading the Gospel and keep on doing that till He comes.

I conclude with a story. There was a king who wanted a servant who is trustworthy and faithful. And there were two candidates short listed for that office. In order to select the best of the two, the king gave them a simple test. He brought them to a well filled with water. The king asked them to empty the well with a basket to fill up a well nearby which is empty. After about an hour transporting water from one well into another, one of them gave up and said, "What is this? Are we not wasting so much of our time and effort using these baskets? Why not use pails instead? As soon as we bring the water up the well, the water runs out at the sides". The other answered him, "This may look stupid, but we only need to obey what we are told to do. Our king is a wise king, and he must have his purpose that he has chosen not to tell us". But the other replied, "I am not going to do this stupid work anymore". And so he threw the basket and went away. The other man continued until he had emptied the well and filled up the other well. Looking down into the empty well, he saw something shining at the bottom; it was a diamond. Then he shouted, "Now I see the use of a basket to empty the well. If the diamond somehow landed into the basket, it would have slipped through the holes and dropped back into the well. The king was looking for his diamond. Now all this hard work is not useless after all".

The servant handed the diamond to the king. And therefore the king was well-pleased for he has found the most trustworthy and faithful servant. In the same manner, for this new year, let us occupy till He comes.

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