"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."--Luke 16:10.
The Parable of the Pounds and the Parable of the Talents, as companion parables, illustrate from different standpoints the responsibilities of the stewardship of God's people.
The apostle Paul says "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers [servants] of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." This stewardship and ministry, while it belonged in a special sense to the apostles, belongs also to the whole Gospel Church, all of whom have the anointing and the commission (Isa. 61:1, 2) and the consequent responsibilities of the sacred trusts committed to them. And as stewards of God we have nothing of our own, nothing with which we may do as we please; for, says the Apostle, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" Nothing and what have we to call our own that has not been included in our covenant of consecration to God? Nothing consequently all that we have belongs to God, and we are merely stewards of his goods.
"Moreover," says the Apostle, "it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful"; and the parables under consideration show what is considered as faithfulness to our stewardship. To merely receive the gifts of God is not faithfulness, though many seem to think so. Many indeed seem to think they have done God a great favor in merely accepting his grace through Christ, and are satisfied to make no further efforts. But such make a great mistake; for faithfulness, as here shown, consists in a proper and diligent use of our gifts in harmony with the divine purpose and methods; and both the Lord and the Apostle point to a day of reckoning, when even the secret things will be brought to light, and all the counsels of the hearts shall be made manifest.--Luke 19:15; 12:2,3; 8:17; Mark 4:21,22; Matt. 25:19; 1 Cor. 4:5.
We observe that in the former parable each of the servants received exactly the same thing--a "pound," while in the latter the gifts varied: one received five talents, another two, and another one, "every man according to his several ability."
The "pound," being the same to all, fitly represents those blessings of divine grace which are common to all God's people. Among these are the Word of God and the various helps to its understanding, the influences of the Holy Spirit, the privileges of faith and prayer and communion with God and fellowship with Christ and with his people. But the "talents" being distributed according to every man's several ability, represent opportunities for the service of God along the lines of such abilities as we possess. They may be talents of education, or money, or influence, or good health, or time, or tact, or genius, with opportunities for their use in God's service.
In both parables our Lord is represented as about to take his departure to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And a part of their object was to disabuse the disciples' minds of the idea that his Kingdom would immediately appear. He thus intimated that while he was about to return to his Father in heaven there would be an interim between then and the time of his return, during which time their faithfulness to him would be fully tested, and that all that would prove faithful to their stewardship in his absence would be owned and blessed of him in his Kingdom upon his return.
The commission to each and all of the Lord's stewards is expressed in the words, "Occupy [which, in old English, signified, "Do business with," "Use," "Traffic with"] till I come." And the first business with the King on his return is not to deal and reckon with and judge the world, but to reckon with these servants to whom his goods—the "pounds" and the "talents"--had been committed; to see how much each had profited thereby, as a test of their fidelity, to determine what place if any should be granted them in his Kingdom. Notice also that the reckoning with them is as individuals, and NOT by groups or classes.
In other words you are not going to be judged as to your faithfulness as a steward of the Lord’s goods by your membership in some church or church function, ministry or outreach program, many of which do “wonderful works”, but rather as to your own individual or personal faithfulness as a steward of the Lord’s goods.
In plain language, these parables teach that it is the duty of every Christian to make good use of all that the Lord has given him. The right use of the "pound" is to diligently profit by all the means of grace for the spiritual uplifting of ourselves and others. We cannot afford to neglect any of these; for we cannot do so without loss. If we neglect to consider and ponder the principles and precepts of God's Word, or to heed their wholesome instructions; if we fail to consider or to follow the leading's of the Holy Spirit; if we neglect the privilege of prayer and communion with God; or if we fail to cultivate the fellowship and communion of saints, we are folding our "pound" in a napkin. It cannot yield its legitimate increase while thus unused.
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