"Principles of the Kingdom of God: The Law of Use" Elder Bob Vibe

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Principles of the Kingdom of God

The Law of Use

October 22, 2023

Elder Bob Vibe 

           During the past few visits to this pulpit, I have been sharing with you principles or laws of the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught His disciples over 2000 years ago.  Jesus brought the Kingdom of God back to this earth through His death and resurrection and explained how these Kingdom principles would work in the hearts and lives of every believer.  He said in Luke 4:43: “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”  In reading the four Gospels, it is clear the central teaching of Jesus was about the Kingdom of God.  Jesus made it clear that this kingdom was not in the distant future or even a distant place, for He said, “the kingdom of God is in our midst or within you.”  He further taught His disciples the ultimate importance of this kingdom by stating in Luke 12:31 and Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things (food, shelter. provision) will be given to you as well.” 

           In my last message, I shared with you the principle of unity and its unlimited power in the lives of people who are speaking the same thing and are united in mind and purpose.  However, I also mentioned that unity for believers begins, and is unlimited, when we unite our hearts with the heart and will of God.  Once we begin to seek unity by seeking harmony with God and His will, there is no end to the benefits in our lives, and the lives of our churches, and all who are in God’s Kingdom.

           This week, I would like to share with you another of the principles taught by Jesus.  It is found in Matthew 25 in the parable of the ten talents which was read earlier.  

Many Bible scholars refer to the principle in this parable as the Law of Use.  This principle of use could be considered as the most important principle for human growth and development to be found anywhere in the world.  It touches every facet of personal and communal life.  If we follow the truth of this principle and apply it to our lives, our lives will be enhanced and blessed.  If we neglect this principle, the results can be costly.

           In giving this parable, most agree that Jesus is talking about Himself as the Master and His disciples as His servants.  Before He left this earth, He gave talents and gifts to His servants that were to be invested.  The gifts are varied, according to the Master’s will.  It is important to note that none of the servants were left out.  Every servant was entrusted with some measure of talent. 

           The first servant was given five talents and that servant “put the talent to work” and gained five more talents.  We can certainly imagine many ways this would be possible.  If we use a common talent, or money as the example, he could have made good investments in real estate, trading commodities, or buying and selling imported merchandise.  This servant must have been willing to take some risk with his talent.  Faith always involves taking a risk about something unseen.  This servant also acted upon his faith and went to work multiplying the original investment.

           The servant that was given the two talents did likewise and doubled his talents through means that are not revealed.  We can imagine a number of ways that this servant was able to double the two talents given to him.  Once again, this servant had to act upon his faith that he could multiply the original investment entrusted to him.  This process takes time, ingenuity, and putting your hand to the task.

           Then, we have the servant that was given one talent, but was afraid to risk his talent and buried what he had been given.  The result was that when the master returned, the one talent had gained no return.  We can only imagine why the servant given the one talent was afraid.  Perhaps he was fearful that he didn’t know enough about business to make a return.  Perhaps he looked at the economy and thought there might be a worsening depression and any investment would go bad.  Perhaps he was afraid that if he invested his time in a person or relationship, they might take advantage of him, use him, or cheat him.  In a world where we allow fear to rule our decisions instead of faith, we become incapable of making the right decision.  We cannot take the risks of faith that God directs us to.  These risks of faith are what will cause our talents to multiply.

           After a long time, we are told in verse 19, the master returns to settle accounts with his servants.  The master first confronts the servant who was given five talents and asks him how he did with the master’s gifts.  The servant replied that after all the costs, he was able to double the investment.  The master was pleased and said in verse 21: “Well done good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things, and I will put you in charge over many things.  Come, and share the joy of your master!” 

           When the master approached the servant with the two talents, the servant replied that he had gained two more talents.  In verse 23, the master replies in the same way he did with the first servant, “Well done good and faithful servant!”  It is implied that because the Master calls these two servants good and faithful, that these servants did exactly what the Master expected.  They invested their talents on behalf of their Master.

           Then the master turned to the third servant and asked for an accounting of the one talent of money he was given.  Then, in verses 24-25, the servant responds by saying, “Master, I knew that you were 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 talent in the ground.  See, here is what belongs to you.”

           This servant was in such fear that he made wrong judgments about the master saying he was a hard man, reaping where he hadn’t sewn and harvesting where no crop was planted.  The response to this servant’s performance is revealed in verse 26: “You wicked, lazy servant!  So you knew that I harvest where I have not sewn 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.”  It is interesting to note that the master called the servant wicked for not taking what the Lord had given him and putting it to work, improving upon it.  It was not an issue of quantity with the Master, but a matter of the use of the talent.  Proper use of the talents given by the master gave them entry into the joy of their master while improper or no use barred the third servant.  It didn’t seem to depend on the amount of talents given.  It simply seemed to depend on the use of the talents.  Therefore, we call this principle The Law of Use.

           Then, in verses 28, Jesus did something that would turn the heads of many in society today.  He took the one talent from the servant, leaving him with nothing, and gave it to the servant with ten talents.  In doing so, He said, “Everyone who has will be given more, and he will have abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”  This action spoken by Jesus must have been as shocking to those who heard it then, as it is now.  At first glance, this doesn’t seem fair.  In the minds of the world, the faithful servants should provide for the unfaithful servants.  But, God was redistributing wealth in a kingdom manner, according to His wisdom.  God was underlining how important His views are of the use of what He has given us.  Despite our preconceived attitudes toward social justice, God’s Law of Use controls the ultimate distribution of wealth.  He wants us to use not only the talents of money he has given us by multiplying it, but to use all our gifts and talents for His glory.  If we fail to use these talents, no matter what they may be, or how many we have, we will lose them.

           One of the reasons that I make myself available to teach a message, visit and pray for the sick, or usher during service is that I understand that God has given me gifts that I need to use for the good of the body, and so that these gifts will multiply with use.  If I fail to use any of God’s gifts, I could lose any or all of them, and the blessing that accompanies these gifts.  God will then find another servant who is willing to use His gifts, and God then multiplies the fruit from their use by another servant.  This principle applies to all of God’s servants.

           One of the marks of good leadership in business or churches is to identify gifts within people and then encourage the use or release of those gifts for the good of the body.  It is the same principle that we see at work in our bodies and minds.  We know that our bodies have muscles, but in order for the muscles to grow and strength to be multiplied, our muscles have to be used.  Look at body builders.  They use their muscles to such an extent that their muscles are increased to a size and tone that is difficult to comprehend.  However, if we look at a person with paralyzed limbs, we realize that the inability of the use of those muscles means that the muscles will shrink and eventually die. 

           Even those of us with healthy muscles can lose the use of certain muscles by not using them.  For example, if you tie down one of your arms to your side and fail to use it, in a matter of months the muscles in that arm will atrophy and the arm will become useless.  It is the same with our mind.  If we fail to exercise it or use it by failing to gain wisdom and knowledge, we hinder our potential for growth.

           Working with the Law of Use is a mathematical phenomenon known as the exponential curve.  Jesus set forth the first step in such a curve when He told the parable of the talents.  The Lord told how two of the servants doubled what had been given them.  Had they doubled the talents on a regular basis, such as annually, then their increases would have established an exponential curve that would have proven to bring an unbelievable increase.  For example, if those servants began with $100 and continued to double the amount each year, the graph would proceed along at a rather slow level for a few years.  But after a short time, the level of increase would skyrocket.  At the end of twenty years, the $100 would have grown to $50 million.  In just five more years, it would have grown to $1.6 trillion, and at the end of fifty years, it would be $12.8 quadrillion, which is more money than exists in the world today. 

           Naturally, 100% increases every year are not necessary for the exponential curve to be effective with this law.  Take the $100 and compound it for 50 years at 6% interest and it is transformed into $2800.  Increase the percentage to 15 or 20 percent and you end up with several hundred thousand dollars.  Baron Rothschild, the wealthy financier, understood the phenomenal nature of this principle and once described compound interest as “the eighth wonder of the world.”  Thus, we see that even a small investment can yield a large result.

           We have to understand that the The Law of Use applies in every area of life.  It applies as much to church growth as it does to individual, family, corporate, or any other kind of growth.  Certainly the Lord did not intend to lay down for us a principle whose purpose was to allow the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.  Instead, He was explaining how the Kingdom of God works in this world and how we can enter into the prosperity and abundance of the invisible world through diligent, patient exercise of the gifts He is constantly bestowing.  God’s way to multiply what He gives us is through a gradual, sure growth and maturing process.  If our goals are too low, too stretched out and easy to accomplish, then we will never reach our potential because we have taken no risk or steps of faith.  If you set your goals too high and become presumptuous, you will stall out, like an airplane in a steep climb, and crash.  The same can be said of teaching a child.  If you never challenge a child to step out, they are content to stay at a maturity level they are comfortable with.  If you expect too much, they could become discouraged and give up, never tasting success in anything.

           While there is unlimited abundance in the Kingdom of God, and nothing is impossible with God, the Lord’s plan is to have us set realistic goals with what He has given us and then, stick with those goals until we see them bear fruit.  The parable of the mustard seed gives us some insight into how this process works in the Kingdom of God.  In Mark 4:30-32, Jesus said, “What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?  It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground.  Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”  For the law of use to work in our lives, we have to plant the seed of what God gives us so it will increase.  Once that seed is planted, it grows and becomes something thousands of times bigger than what it was when it began.  That is what happens to a mustard seed. 

           Everyone in this room has talents and gifts from God.  We all have resources that can be used and multiplied.  However, we must never despise the little we do have.  Because, if we put that little bit to work for us, if we use it, it will grow and multiply because God is a God who brings in a harvest…30, 60, and even 100 times greater than what we plant, according to the Parable of the Sower. 

           While we need to understand the benefits to the exponential curve working to bring increase to what we use, tragedy can occur when we get on the wrong side of this curve.  Let us look at the example of the debt in our nation and how it has grown.  From the beginning of our nation to 1981, a period of 205 years, the United States accumulated a debt burden of $1 trillion.  Then as exponential compounding began to have its effect, the total jumped to $2 trillion in just 5 years.  Then, in four more years, the debt increased to $3 trillion, then to $4 trillion in slightly more than 2 years.  It is astounding that in 11 years, we accumulated 5 times the debt accumulated in the preceding 205 years.  But that was only the beginning.  As of this year, our national debt is $34 trillion and rising every year.  We have allowed this godless behavior because our government has become the god people now turn to meet their needs.  As a nation we must allow the use of the talents and gifts He has given us to multiply our resources and help us become again the largest lending nation on earth, instead of the largest debtor nation.

           In the same way, many Christians today have found themselves on the wrong side of the exponential curve by spending themselves into debt, just like our nation.  While many times it is necessary to borrow for business or to buy a home, many of us have spent our way into credit card debt that grows with ever increasing interest rates.  Usually, the higher the risk, the higher the interest rate on our debt.  Most of the debt is from our inability to defer gratification, or desiring and coveting more than we have.  Things have gotten so out of hand, that people are walking away from their commitments, and filing bankruptcy.  Credit card debt in the United States is now over $1 trillion and credit card companies continue to extend credit.

           Because of the power of the Law of Use and the exponential curve, along with man’s seemingly incurable weakness to have more, God established two rules for his people centuries ago to keep them from total financial bondage.  The first rule was that Israelites could not charge each other interest.  Deuteronomy 23:19 states “Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.  You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.”  They were permitted to charge interest to foreigners, because of Deuteronomy 15: 6, which states, “For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.  You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you.”  Just as in the Old Testament, the Lord never intended His people to be servants to those they are indebted to.  How we have failed to understand this law of His Kingdom, The Law of Use.

           The second rule for God’s people was a year of jubilee every 50 years in which all debt was canceled, all accumulated property was released, and the cycle of use began again (Leviticus 25:8-10).  

           The Law of Use coupled with the exponential curve, is probably the most powerful of God’s principles concerning day-to-day life.  It is the fundamental law for growth and development; or the decline, of all organizations and societies in both the visible and invisible worlds.

           Jesus taught His Disciples about the Law of Use and the other laws of the kingdom so that they would understand how His Kingdom, which He was revealing and bringing into the hearts of His people, worked.  These principles have now been revealed to us so that we can learn how to benefit from their truth as we live in this visible world.  Let us put to use the talents, gifts, and resources God has given us and not bury them because of fear as the unworthy and evil servant did in the parable.  Even if we begin as a small seed, just like the mustard seed, let us begin to use what we have and watch God cause that seed to grow and flourish until it produces a very large plant or harvest.  If we do this, we too can enter into the joy of our Master and receive these words from Him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”