Matthew 25:23 Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant
Seongwon Sunbokgum Church Pastor Hong Chul-gi
May 28, 2025
23. His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your lord.’
24. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seeds.
25. So I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground; here you have yours.’
26. His lord answered him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seeds.’
Sehando Painting of Cold Weather Painted by Disciple Lee Sang-jeok Wandang
Last year, I sent you two books, Manhak (晩學) and Daeun (大雲).
This year, I sent you two books, Manhak (晩學) and Daeun (大雲).
This year, I sent you another book, the Compilation of the Lily Ponds (此皆非世之常有).
This is not something that happens in the world.
The Sehando is a painting that Chusa Kim Jeong-hui drew while in exile to express his gratitude for the precious books sent to him by his disciple, Lee Sang-jeok. The Sehando depicts Lee Sang-jeok’s upright integrity and devotion to his teacher, and contains Kim Jeong-hui’s spiritual world. When Lee Sang-jeok sent books such as Manhak and Daeun, which he had difficulty obtaining from China, to Jeju Island, Kim Jeong-hui drew Sehando to repay him. Sehando is not simply a painting of a landscape, but a painting that expresses Kim Jeong-hui’s feelings, like a painting of pine and white that depicts devotion to Lee Sang-jeok.
While he was exiled to Jeju Island for a long time due to the Andong Kim clan’s power and was not sure when he would be poisoned, and even those who were close to him turned their backs on him after his downfall, Lee Sang-jeok (藕船 李尙迪 1804~1865), who was his disciple, drew this painting in gratitude for Kim Jeong-hui’s help in obtaining many books (estimated to be several hundred) from far away China, despite the fact that he could have major problems if he contacted him.
The way to live a rich life is to make good use of the talents God has given you. The way to live is to use the talents He has given you.
Some people have been given talents in painting, some in writing, some in singing, some in sports, some in politics, and some in business. When we use them and live our lives, God gives us meaning in our lives. However, there are those who use these talents well and those who use them wrongly.
These days, there are many people who die and commit suicide because they use YouTube wrongly in our society.
The person with the most YouTube subscribers in our country is Kim Pro. He has 106 million subscribers, and the second is Blackpink with 690,000 subscribers. BTS is said to be next with about 630,000 subscribers.
There are also political YouTubers. Jeong Gyu-jae TV, Shin Ui Han Soo, Jo Gap-je TV, and Jin Seong-ho Broadcasting on the Democratic Party side. People like Kim Eo-jun do political activities through YouTube.
We must realize that the talents given to us, and more broadly, our lives, are appropriately granted by the perfect will of God, and be able to accept ourselves and the conditions of our lives with gratitude.
1. Entrusting talents (faith)
23. The master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
God gave talents according to talent. God always evaluates. There are those with five talents, two talents, those with faith, and those without faith, those with one talent.
Verse 14 says, “It is as a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted his property to them.”
In the time of Jesus, when a master traveled, he would leave his home for a long time, for months or years, to travel and do business. Verse 14 says, “Entrusting it to a trustworthy steward.” The master entrusts it to him with faith, saying, “You go and do business with this.”
It is entrusting it with faith. It may take 10 years or 20 years, we don’t know. If the master was not trustworthy, how could he entrust it to him? So the master in today’s text shows that he truly trusted his servants. We have entrusted our lives to our Lord. Those who believe in the Lord and live need faith.
What is faith in the Bible? The book of Hebrews says that it is the substance of things hoped for. Pastor Cho Yong-gi said, “If you hit an egg called faith on a rock, will the rock break? Will the egg break? The rock will break.
There are many parables in the Bible about people who hit an egg on a rock, but the most representative one is Abraham.
Romans 4:17. As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations,” in whom he believed, God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18. Against all hope, Abraham believed in hope so that he would become the father of many nations, just as it was said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Samuel, the second son of Pastor Cho Yong-gi
When Samuel was attending elementary school (September 1978), 37 children who ate pupae in Seoul and nearby areas were poisoned by pesticides and 9 of them died. The accident occurred because the pupae were placed in the same bag that contained the pesticides. At that time, Samuel was found collapsed on the street after eating pupae with his friends and was brought home. At that time, while leading a prayer meeting for businesspeople at the Lotte Hotel, Pastor Cho received an urgent call from his wife.
“Honey, my second child is dying after eating poison.” Pastor Cho returned home in a hurry. Samuel was lying on Pastor Cho’s bed with his face turned black. Pastor Cho knelt down and prayed to God.
“God, please save Samuel. If this child dies, I will die too. What will I do if I live? If Samuel dies, I will not eat or drink anything, and I will die here.”
However, Samuel was shaking all over and just kept repeating, “Dad, save me.” Pastor Cho went into the living room and called doctors he knew and asked them to come to his house. However, they all said the same thing, “Once you are poisoned, there is nothing we can do,” and hung up the phone.
Pastor Cho knelt down to God to pray once more.
Samuel’s whole body turned ashen and he stopped breathing. Pastor Cho could not believe that the child who had greeted him brightly until the morning had died right in front of him. His wife, who was watching from the side, fainted on the spot, and Pastor Cho could only groan. At that moment, the voice of Satan came into his mind.
Pastor Cho began to scream and cry out to God.
“God, please save Samuel. The Bible says that no matter what poison he drinks, he will not be harmed. So, is the Bible all a lie? If this child does not survive, I will die here too.”
Pastor Cho felt as if his intestines were going to burst, but he did not stop praying. However, after Pastor Cho continued to scream and pray like this for more than three hours, he suddenly felt the heavens open up and peace pour into his heart. Pastor Cho grabbed Samuel’s hand and shouted loudly.
“Samuel, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I command you to rise.”
At that moment, Samuel suddenly got up from his seat and began to vomit out a black foreign substance. Pastor Cho quickly hit Samuel on the back. After vomiting for a while, the child cried to Pastor Cho, “Father, I am alive. I am alive now. Father, hurry and say hello to Jesus.” “Where is Jesus?” Samuel pointed to the seat next to him and said again, “Father, Jesus is here. Quickly say hello.” Although Pastor Cho could not see him, he bowed in the direction Samuel pointed and said, “Thank you, Jesus.” Looking at Pastor Cho like this, Samuel continued to open his mouth. “Father, I was so miserable, but at some point, my body was held in Jesus’ arms and I felt no pain at all. So I was so comfortable and happy that I told Jesus, ‘Let’s go now.’ Jesus said, ‘Your father is holding on to the promise and is being so stubborn, so I can’t take you. Let’s wait a little longer.’ Then, later, he said, ‘I can’t take you because of your father. Go back.’ At that moment, my eyes opened and I saw my father praying.” <Provided by the International Theological Institute of the Yoido Full Gospel Church>
2. Well done
23. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
If your master has entrusted you with something, you must use it well. Five talents are worth five talents, and two talents are worth two talents. In other words, they both earned 100% net profit. The one who received two talents did ‘the same’, which means he also went and did business and made a profit.
These two people both acted ‘right away’ as soon as the master left. If the master had given them such a huge amount of cash, they thought it would be nice if the master did not return, so they started a business without using the money to live well and not waste it. They did something.
I hope that our saints will also use the talents they have received from God and not waste them. Some saints invest their talents in prayer at church, some saints do business and give materially to God, and some saints glorify God through missionary work. (Overseas mission)
When I was young, I got 100 points in a dictation in elementary school. When I gave it to my parents, they were happy. They praised me and said, “Good job, Cheolgi.” Sunday school
2. Well done
23. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
If your master has entrusted you with something, you must use it well. Five talents means five talents, and two talents means two talents. In other words, they both earned 100% net profit. The one who received two talents did ‘the same’, meaning that he also went and did business and made a profit.
These two people both acted ‘right away’ as soon as their master left. If the master had given them such a huge amount of cash, they thought it would be nice if the master did not come back, so they started a business without using the money to live well and live well. They did it.
I hope that our saints will not waste the talents they have received from God, but use them. Some believers invest their talents in prayer at church, some believers do business and give materially to God, and some believers do missionary work to give glory to God. (Overseas mission)
When I was young, I got 100 points in dictation at elementary school. When I gave it to my parents, they were happy. They praised me, saying, “Well done, Cheolgi-ya.” When I received perfect attendance and evangelism awards at Sunday school and summer Bible school, my class teacher stamped the seal and said, “Well done,” and I remember giving them talents. I remember Sunday school teachers patting my head and hugging me.
Our Lord will hug me on the last day and praise me, saying, “Well done.” Although he is a president who does politics and lives as president, he only lasts for 5 years, but I have seen him do politics wrong and go to prison. There is no president who is praised for doing well. I really hope that a leader who does well will be elected this time. He should not be a leader who uses the country’s money to fill his own stomach, or a leader who deceives others, but a leader who truly does well before God and people.
There is a talent that is entrusted to our saints. It is the talent of the gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the solution to the problem of sin.
The beginning of sin came from the disobedience of Adam and Eve. When you sin, you pay the price for that sin. As a result of sin, you were driven out of the Garden of Eden, and as a result of sin, you are subject to death and the curse of the earth. Therefore, you must not sin. The solution to sin is that God placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden. The tree of life is the cross, and it is the gospel.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil means life that gives eternal life. In the Garden of Eden, it means obeying God’s word, and in the fallen world, the cross of Jesus Christ is the tree of life. Through it, you are saved and receive eternal life.
3. It is good. 23. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
The character of a good servant means a servant who is faithful and obedient to his master’s orders. Being good is the opposite of being evil, so it means knowing the master’s heart and doing things faithfully. It means a heart that worships regardless of whether others see it or not.
I have often heard that I am good since I was young. I think I am good only on the outside. It usually means being soft and gentle. However, here, being good means having a soft appearance, but also having a very strong and uncompromising heart.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do, and the God of peace will be with you.
In the days of Jesus, when a master entrusted money to a servant, he gave him some discretion. He entrusted it to him to work hard with this money. When you use it, you must use it with goodness. You must use it for good purposes. You must use it honestly.
A certain country master told his servant to twist rope. After the master left, he said, “I don’t know,” and twisted it carelessly, so it became thick. When the master came back, he poured out a large bag of coins with holes in it and said, “You can string the coins on the rope you have twisted and take them home.” The quick-witted servant couldn’t put a single coin in because the rope he had twisted was so thick that it was impossible to put a single coin in.
4. He is a faithful servant. He is a devoted servant.
23. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
He is a faithful servant as the last virtue of a steward.
When I was in school, I was recommended by an American university professor. At that time, the professor wrote very honestly. Most Korean professors write well, but the American professor wrote exactly what I lacked and what I was doing well.
When you look at successful people, those who are diligent, honest, and faithful to their work are successful.
What does it mean to be ‘faithful over a few things’? In English, it is a few things. What are the few things to you? For me, the few things are attending the dawn prayer meeting. There are not many members of our church who come. I desperately want to give up. I wonder if I should be faithful in small things when there are less than 20 members of the Sungwon Sunbokgum Church Sunday service.
In the eyes of Jesus, a talent, two talents, five talents, and even hundreds of billions of dollars seem small, but they can be seen as big in the eyes of others. We must become saints who are faithful in small things that our Lord sees.
1 Corinthians 4:1. Let a man so regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2. And it is required of stewards that they be faithful.
The word stewards refers to the positions assigned to them in God’s church. What does God require of those who are assigned positions? Above all, it is loyalty. God said that He seeks loyalty from the positions He has established in the church.
Revelation 2:10. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil will throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
In our country, once you get a job, it is said to be a job for life. Civil servants are never fired by their superiors. If you do not quit, however, in the US, under the Trump administration, they cut you off after two weeks and tell you not to come out. The workplace is even more brutal. If you do not do your job properly, you will be fired. You must work hard to be recognized. You must not chat during work hours and do your own work during work hours. All of our saints must not be wicked and lazy servants.
26. But his master answered him, ‘Wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter straws.’