Establish the Work
The following are notes from my quick talk at tonight’s Comeford College Information Night.
The Lord will return and we want to have our lamps filled with oil. The foolish virgins took their lamps to meet the bridegroom, but they brought no extra oil, and as the bridegroom delayed, their oil ran out and their lamps went out. The door was shut and they missed out on the marriage feast (Matthew 25:1-13 bibrefmatthew25 bibrefmatthew25v1 bibrefmatthew25v2 bibrefmatthew25v3 bibrefmatthew25v4 bibrefmatthew25v5 bibrefmatthew25v6 bibrefmatthew25v7 bibrefmatthew25v8 bibrefmatthew25v9 bibrefmatthew25v10 bibrefmatthew25v11 bibrefmatthew25v12 bibrefmatthew25v13).
The Lord will return and we will give an account for the talents He has given us. That happens to be the very next parable (Matthew 25:14-30 bibrefmatthew25 bibrefmatthew25v14 bibrefmatthew25v15 bibrefmatthew25v16 bibrefmatthew25v17 bibrefmatthew25v18 bibrefmatthew25v19 bibrefmatthew25v20 bibrefmatthew25v21 bibrefmatthew25v22 bibrefmatthew25v23 bibrefmatthew25v24 bibrefmatthew25v25 bibrefmatthew25v26 bibrefmatthew25v27 bibrefmatthew25v28 bibrefmatthew25v29 bibrefmatthew25v30). Not all the servants were given the same capital to start with, but they were all expected to invest and give a return to their returning master. The one who buried his talent had his one and only talent taken from him. Each of the servants who had made more talents were told, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21 bibrefmatthew25 bibrefmatthew25v21 and 23).
The Lord will return, and Jesus is Lord. That is the minimum confession of every Christian disciple (per Romans 10:9 bibrefromans10 bibrefromans10v9), but it is a minimum with no bottom, or top, or sides for that matter. It’s really less a minimum and more a maximum, even more, it’s a maxim. Maxim comes from maxima in Latin, the “largest or most important proposition.” What covers and touches more than all the things that Jesus created and cares about (John 1:3 bibrefjohn1 bibrefjohn1v3)? That’s the kind of confession that really keeps our lamps burning.
Because He is Lord He sets the cosmic curriculum for what we must learn and because He is Lord we are to be “always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58 bibref1corinthians15 bibref1corinthians15v58). In short order we’ve got the what, the how, and the why. Because He is Lord He also tells us where.
And where we are is here. Jesus is Lord in and of Marysville no matter how many recognize it. This is our home, this is where we want to “take root downward and bear fruit upward” (see Isaiah 37:31 bibrefisaiah37 bibrefisaiah37v31, ESV).
It’s why we named this college Comeford), after James P. Comeford, who set up shop around two miles from this very spot, literally, in 1872. History records that he was a Catholic, and a capitalist. We are at least his geographical descendants, loving Marysville into greater loveliness by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ our Lord alone.
We want Marysville to be a destination for learning how to take dominion (Genesis 1:28 bibrefgenesis1 bibrefgenesis1v28) as men and women, and what God hath gendered asunder, let not man color light purple. We want so much more for our kids and grandkids, for our neighbors, and for our city, than the crippling crap spewing out of so many colleges and the mala fides credentials given with decades of debt.
As Abraham Kuyper put it in his inaugural address to the Free University of Amsterdam:
“To put it mildly, our undertaking bears a protest against the present environment and suggests that something better is possible.”
This isn’t just because of what we’re fearful of, but because we fear the Lord who gives wisdom and understanding and joy and fruit.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
(Psalm 90:16–17 bibrefpsalms90 bibrefpsalms90v16 bibrefpsalms90v17, ESV)
May the Lord bless us with good sense and with strength. May we be faithful in this little place with the little we’ve started with, so that when He returns we will be ready for our larger responsibilities and enter into His joy.