Short Thoughts

O give thanks unto the LORD;
call upon his name:
make known his deeds among the people.
~ Psalm 105:1

Our text is the beginning of the Psalm David delivered when they brought up the ark out of the house of Obededom. This was a time of jubilation and celebration. However, their rejoicing was mingled with a reverential fear of God. God had demonstrated His holy justice by striking down Uzza for lightly touching the ark. Israel was taught to respect the things of God and not treat them common, even though others might. However, in our text, the ark has been brought safely back and David exhorts the people to extol Jehovah with praise. Let us consider the directive in three parts as it is given.

Firstly, we are instructed to give thanks. “O give thanks unto the LORD.” The text directs our gratitude toward the Lord. He above all else is worthy of our thanksgiving. We could multiply the reasons for giving thanks unto God. By His grace and mercy, we have received every good thing. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

Our hearts should be thankful for the abundant temporal blessings that He has showered on us, “seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). Are you warmed and filled? Give thanks to God. Have you food and raiment? Give thanks to God. Have you lived to an old age? Give thanks to God. Have you joy in your family? Give thanks to God. Have you the breath of life at this hour? Give thanks to God and “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).

He is worthy of thanksgiving in temporal things and is much more worthy of thanksgiving for spiritual blessings. Our hearts should overflow with praise and thanksgiving if we are one of His. The Psalmist wrote that God “redeemeth thy life from destruction” (Psalm 103:4). When I consider what I was as a dirty vile sinner hastening down the broad road that leads to destruction, my heart is filled with gratitude and praise to God, for “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (Psalm 40:2). He set His love upon me when I was so unlovable and Christ died for me when I was His enemy. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10). Praise God! Amen!

Secondly, we are instructed to worship. “Call upon his name.” The thought is of calling God by His name. The phrase “his name” conveys the thought of God in all His attributes. We worship Him in His holiness, love, mercy, and so on. This worship lends credence to our thanksgiving. I can hardly see how the former can exist without the latter. In fact, the latter seems born from the former. If God has blessed with great blessings and our hearts are truly thankful, then we will worship Him. If we give thanks with our lips and yet refuse to worship Him, we are hypocrites. Some Christians go on about thanking God for their homes, cars, clothes, cabins, campers, boats, and recreational vehicles saying that God has blessed them. Yet, on Sunday, they are not found in the church worshiping Him. They have no problem in missing the services to go and “enjoy” the Lord’s goodness. It seems that they are worshiping their possessions instead of God. If our hearts are true with gratitude, we will worship Him, calling “upon His name.”

Lastly, we are exhorted to witness. “Make known his deeds among the people.” All of these things should result in us telling others about the goodness of God. Are we to only receive and never give? We would be like the leprous men outside the gates of Samaria. They were about to die when God led them to abundance. They were enjoying the newfound blessings when they were smitten by their selfishness. “Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household” (2 Kings 7:9). Let us never hold our peace. We have glorious news to sound out to the world. Let them hear our thanksgiving. Let them hear our praise. Let them hear of our God. “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4).

David exhorts Israel to praise God, even though some trials have attended their proceedings. If we tend to focus on ourselves, we will not offer praise and thanksgiving to God as we should. In fact, it is a characteristic of hardened sinners in the last days that they are “lovers of their own selves” and “unthankful.” Neither should we focus only on our trials forgetting our blessings. And oh how these blessings should constrain us to worship Him and witness for Him.

Any preacher who really believes something, and preaches it like he believes it, has likely been charged with pride or arrogance. Certainly, preachers can be guilty of arrogance and real pride is a reproach upon any ministry. However, some folks are quick and often to charge preachers with having too much pride. One preacher told me, “You always think the preacher is arrogant when he preaches something you disagree with.” Unfortunately, there is much truth in that statement.

I once sat and listened to two preachers discussing a biblical subject. They had opposing views. The first man presented his case and the second responded with Scripture after Scripture. The first man would press and the second would quote verse after verse. The first man referenced a few verses, but the second quoted and referenced them in abundance. The second man’s demeanor was humble, yet his defense was bold. The conversation ended when after a long chain of verses was presented by the second man to prove his position, the first man responded, “Well, that’s just human reasoning.” He probably also later charged that preacher with arrogance.

So, I am thinking now about the false charge—the charge that is leveled against the man who preaches the Word with boldness. In the first place, when a man is called of God to preach His Word, he does not have his own choice about how to go about it. Paul asked for prayer from his fellow believers that in preaching, “I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:19-20). It was Paul’s boldness in preaching that caused some in Corinth to charge him with pride.

The truth of God’s Word ought to be preached boldly. The specimens of preaching in the Bible reveal boldness in the delivery. If a man is convinced of truth, he ought to preach it boldly. If he is not convinced, he ought not to preach at all. Usually though, bold preaching will be met with charges of arrogance against the preacher.

In part, this is a function of postmodern thought in today’s society. We have moral relativism that doubts everything and the only thing they are sure of is that they cannot be sure of anything. It is an offence to the age for a man to proclaim truth as the truth. If only the preacher would preach truth as a possibility, he would find a broader audience and a better hearing from modern man. Christ did not pander to relativists when He boldly proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 Emphasis Added).

Another reason for the false charge of pride in the pulpit is the reality of pride in the pew. When truth is preached boldly, sin is reproved and rebuked, and man’s pride is offended. It is much easier to hear a sermon when it applies practically to everyone else. Oftentimes, those who are the quickest and loudest to charge the preacher with pride, are trying to cover up their own pride that cannot admit of their own wrong doctrine or practice. They typically cannot produce any biblical evidence that the substance of the preaching is in error and must avert their own embarrassment by accusing the preacher of being prideful.

It is our response to reproof that reveals whether we are scorners or wise, “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee” (Proverbs 9:8). The fact is, even if the preacher is prideful, that does not relieve our responsibility and accountability to God and His Word. Pride must be rooted out of the preacher’s heart as well as the congregant’s, but often men hide behind this charge so they do not have to face their own problems and deal with them. A wise man will receive a reproof, regardless of where it comes from. How do you think they got to be wise? “He that regardeth reproof shall be honoured” (Proverbs 13:18). “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning” (Proverbs 9:9).

It is a terrible thing for a man to preach with pride. However, in the end, the hearer will not be accountable before God for the amount of pride in the preacher. But, they will be accountable for what they heard and how they obeyed.

“But he that had received one
went and digged in the earth,
and hid his lord’s money.”
~ Matthew 25:18

Our text is a part of the parable of the talents. The Lord gave this parable to teach that not all servants have the same abilities. He taught that all servants are expected to work and equal diligence is equally rewarded despite differing gifts and gain. The wise man in the parable distributed his goods to his servants. “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” He administered the goods according to his servants’ ability to manage and use them. Though their amounts were different, they were each responsible for what they possessed. We see a difference in the greatness of the responsibilities, but no difference in the reality of the responsibility to each servant.

The parable tells us that a particular servant received one talent, one-half as much as another received and only one-fifth as much as even another servant received. Upon receiving the goods, the servants each set to work and began to gain. However, the servant in our text “went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.” From the judgment of his Lord, his error did not lie in not having as much as the others, but in the fact that he did not use what was entrusted to him, rather he buried it. Now, let us consider the actions of the unfaithful servant in our text and receive instruction from our Lord.

In the first place, we notice that burying the talent was not an impulsive or rash decision. According to verse 19, it was “a long time” before the Lord returned and reckoned with his servants. The servants were given plenty of time to make use of their capital. Even if he went out and buried it at first, he had plenty of opportunity to make good. He could have dug it up and redeemed the time. From his own testimony in verses 24 and 25, we see that he deliberated about his course of action.

He thought to himself, I could never gain five talents as the first servant. Surely, I could not gain two talents like the other servant when I have only one talent to work with. Furthermore, what if my enterprise fails and I lose it all?

He decided that having so little; he had better not risk the loss and displeasure of his Lord. He assumes his Lord will be more angry if he loses all than if he makes no gain. He confesses, “And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth.” He was afraid and ventured nothing.

In the second place, we take notice of where the servant hid the talent. He “digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.” He was not totally inactive. He went to great trouble to bury the talent. He “digged,” showing that he had some capacity to labor and “in the earth” was where he chose to bury his money. He chose the earth as a fit hiding place. I imagine that after the talent was “in the earth” for “a long time,” that it could not have been returned in the same condition in which it was given. It must have been stained with dirt and smelled earthy.

This language is very suggestive and symbolic of many Christians. The servant had been given a gift, which he was expected to use in his master’s service. He figured that his gift was small and there were plenty of others with more ability than he that would labor in the master’s cause. He gave himself a pass on greater responsibilities and hid his talent in the earth. How many Christians hide their talents in the earth? How many give their abilities to business, sales, recreation, acquiring possessions, houses and lands, instead of seeking to advance the cause of Christ? Just like the servants talent, they are sullied by the dirt of the world and smell earthy. Their works will not stand the test of fire, but will be burnt up. They themselves “shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). Peter warned, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10-11). I pray to God that we may be ready when our Master comes.

Lastly, we see that it is not enough to simply maintain what we have. We must seek to utilize what we have been given and gain and improve it for the glory of the Lord. The Lord explained that we must never be satisfied with the present portion. At the very least, “Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury” (Matthew 25:27). If we try to just maintain and not to enlarge the Lord’s work, then we will waste the Lord’s substance. “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster” (Proverbs 18:9).

We must not be satisfied to only hold the truth. Many make their boast of being sound, “but in works they deny him.” Jesus denounced the Pharisees because “they say, and do not.” We must be careful lest we “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” If we have received the truth, let us be thankful and careful to “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (Titus 2:10). Our conversation should “be as it becometh the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27). We adorn the truth with godly, holy lives, and we shall be judged for our faithfulness and diligence.