The message of reconciliation has been entrusted to us, the Church. God wants to save everyone, and He desires to use us as His ambassadors. He wants to speak to us and through us so that people may be reconciled with Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. What an exciting ministry God has allowed us to participate in! God is making all things right (i.e., the righteousness of God) by forgiving and justifying everyone who believes in His Son. This is part of His overall plan to restore everything to its rightful place under Him.

The new creation is God's work; it's not a human achievement. God is making all things right, beginning with people, just as He promised in the Old Testament. He is fulfilling His covenant promise of creating a new people for Himself, composed of both Jews and Gentiles. Thus, those who believe in His Son are also being reconciled with Him. Furthermore, Paul and his companions are given the ministry of reconciliation to share the wonderful message that God is reconciling them to Himself through the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The message entrusted to Paul and his companions, which they are commanded to proclaim in all possible ways, is that the new creation has arrived in and through Jesus. What most people, including Paul, expected to happen at the end of the age—during the first century and even in the Old Testament—has now occurred, beginning with those who heard and believed in Jesus. The new creation has arrived! Quite unexpectedly and in ways no one ever anticipated. For Paul and his companions, this is the most exciting message of all.

Aside from the fear of the Lord, the apostle Paul and his companions are motivated by Christ's love. This motivation is not merely a desire; he states that Christ's love "compels" him and his companions. This love is demonstrated by Jesus through his death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection. According to Paul, he and every true believer have also died with him and risen again with him through their union with Christ. For now, this is a genuine spiritual reality promised by God, but in the future, there will be a true resurrection for every believer in Christ. Nonetheless, the implication for Paul and his companions is personal and practical: those like Paul and the others no longer live for themselves but for Christ.

Even though the apostle Paul is secure in his relationship with God, he understands what it means to have the fear of the Lord. It is not a dreadful fear, such as the fear of being rejected. Instead, it is the fear of not being grateful and faithful to what God has entrusted to him. He values it so much that he does not want to miss the opportunity to honor the Lord. He wants the Corinthians to focus on the heart of a person rather than on the externalities of human achievement or accomplishment. He acts as he does because he values the Lord's goodness and mercy toward him. That is why, in his service to God, he uses the best of his mind (i.e., his right mind) to serve those whom God has entrusted to him. In other words, the fear of the Lord is his primary source of motivation, not the approval of people.

The master appreciated the diligence of the first two servants and was pleased that they did not give up too soon. Their perseverance was a sign of faithfulness. But the third servant had a different attitude. He went out and hid the one talent that was entrusted to Him. So the master called him "wicked and lazy servant." He was not faithful with what has been entrusted to him. He suffered the consequences of his unfaithfulness. He was thrown out into the darkness, where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. The main context of this is the judgment of God upon Israel for rejecting her Messiah, Jesus (chapters 23 nd 24). She is the wicked and lazy servant. Those who believed in Jesus, however, are the good and faithful servants.

We need to take initiative and not wait for the perfect situation before acting. While prayer is important, we must not use it as an excuse for not acting in faith, especially when it is prudent to do so. At the same time, we must practice diligence. It may take a while before we see results. We must persevere, trusting God for the outcomes, and we must not easily give up. In this parable, we are told that it took a long time before the master returned. When the master did return, the two servants were called "good and faithful." In other words, the master appreciated their diligence and was pleased that they did not give up too soon. Their perseverance is a sign of faithfulness.

Gratitude is the starting point of being faithful to Jesus. From there, what do we do? The parable of the talents teaches us that we must take the initiative. The man who received five bags of gold (or five talents) "went at once" and put his money to work. The other servant did the same thing ("so also"). In other words, both took the initiative to do something with what their master had entrusted to them. Thus, they gained more: the first servant gained five more, and the second servant gained two more. The lesson is clear: to be faithful while waiting, we need to take the initiative and not wait around wasting time.

While the parable of the ten virgins teaches Jesus' disciples (and us) about watchfulness to avoid being deceived, He tells another parable, this time the parable of the talents, to teach them (and us again) about faithfulness while waiting. The parable begins with a rich man entrusting his wealth to his servants before going on a journey. To understand this story, we need to know what a "talent" signifies. During the time of Jesus, a "talent" (translated here as "bags of gold") was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wage, which was obviously a huge sum of money. Entrusting such wealth to servants reflects amazing generosity on the part of the master! Consider this: one servant received five "talents," another two, and another just one. Each received the right amount according to his ability, as perceived by the master. The main idea here is for the disciples (i.e., the servants) to remain grateful because they have been entrusted with much. Gratitude is truly the starting point of being faithful to Jesus.

Following the warnings of the previous chapters, Jesus begins to tell parables to illustrate the need to be watchful (25:1-13) as well as faithful (25:14-30). In this parable of the ten virgins, we see wisdom and foolishness illustrated and compared. No one knows the day or hour, or the times and dates of how the future will unfold, only the Father knows these things ahead of time. However, when Jerusalem is judged, it will be a terrible time of distress and suffering. It will also be a vindication of who Jesus is, the promised Messiah. Therefore, the disciples (and the believers after them, including us) must keep watch, because they do not know the day or the hour. Once the events happen (in their generation), they would see that what Jesus said was true.