The key is having a good and faithful heart. Jesus will reward our assignments, no matter what the task is, or size of the task. If you did it faithfully, God will commend you. The two-talent man, and the five-talent man, received equal commendation. Even our smallest efforts won't go amiss. You think no one saw you, but someone was watching, so the way we orient ourselves is: Lord, today everything I do I'm doing unto You. I want to do it really well. I'm asking for Your life to flow through me. Even little things…
Matthew 10:42 – “Whoever gives even these little ones only a cup of water in My name, in the name of a disciple, he shall by no means lose his reward”.
Even the smallest act of blessing someone - God takes that into account.
Hebrews 6:10 – “God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of love, which you've shown towards His name, you have ministered to the saints and continue to minister”.
Notice there, he's saying it would be unjust if God overlooked and forgot what you did. Sadly, in church life, frequently the serving acts, the sacrificial acts, the generous acts of people, are often overlooked, or not acknowledged, and that can often lead to a disheartenment, and a quitting. We grow weary in the welldoing, but it says that God is not unjust. He will not forget your labour of love. He won't forget it, and He will acknowledge it, He will reward it.
Colossians 3:23-24 – “Whatever you do, do it heartily. Do it with full heart, full passion, full joy, knowing you're doing it to the Lord, not to men like pleasing men and being a man-pleaser, but knowing that from the Lord you'll receive the reward of inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ”.
When you know that everything I do is my act of worship to the Lord; if I have presented myself, and my activities, to Him, then whatever I'm doing today, I'm doing as an act of worship. If the person mistreats me, or the people are harsh, that's irrelevant. I'm doing it to the Lord. And as I do it to the Lord, we know that the Lord sees it all and will reward us. Frequently, people do transactional kinds of things - he wasn't nice to me, so I won't be nice back. That's a very carnal way of thinking. We want to understand that we do it heartily; if you're going to do anything, do it heartily! Do it very well!
Then we get to the last servant, and we find there that he experiences no commendation, or honour, and reward - He receives rebuke and loss…
“He that received the one talent came and said: Lord, I know You to be a hard man. You reap where You haven't sown, gather where You haven't scattered. I was afraid, so I went and hid Your talent in the ground”.
“And the Lord answered him and said: you wicked and lazy servant, you knew I reap where I didn't sow and gather where I didn't scatter seed. You should have put my money with the bankers and at My coming would've received back My own with interest”.
what you've got to look here is the heart of this man, the way he's thinking. He said: ‘I knew You to be a hard man’ - so basically, he's complaining that God is unreasonable and harsh, that His demands are very high, that He requires too much. “I knew” means that his perception, his way of seeing God, was that God is excessively harsh and demanding. That tells me he's been under someone harsh and demanding, perhaps a harsh, demanding parent, or boss, and he's projected his brokenness and anger towards God.
Secondly, he makes the accusation: “You've reaped where You haven't sown”. This is basically accusing God, that He requires more than He's given them - which is completely wrong. When people have got bitterness and anger in their heart, over how they've been unjustly treated, they tend to then look at God as being harsh, demanding, and difficult, and then make complaints, or accuse Him of withholding love from them.
He said: I was afraid, so I buried it. There's many reasons people bury their talents or bury what God has given them. It could be the fear of failing, the fear of being rejected; it could be shame, could be difficulty. Think of the Christians you know, who pull back, and then stop serving God - buried their talent, because they went through difficulties or hardship, faced some opposition, or just got worn down.
The stresses, difficulties and pressures that come with being a believer can cause people to just bury their talent, which means virtually, I'm no longer active to the Lord. I may be coming to church, turning up, giving a little bit of an offering or whatever, but this is not the life God's called me to - just to come to religious service, and have a little bit of a conscience attendance, so I don't feel like I'm bad. No, no, no! God is looking for wholehearted, passionate, sons and daughters, that love Him, and are exemplary in loving people.