Pleasently Surprised in the Pounds

by Matthew

Readers may be aware that I attend a church that is Calvinistic and Lordship Salvation in orientation.

Today, the junior pastor was preaching on the Parable of the Pounds in Luke 19. I was waiting to hear him tell us that the third and wicked servant was an hypocritical professor and to metapmorphose the passage into a gospel (?) appeal based on this warning. However, I was very pleasently surpised when he declared that the wicked servant was in fact truly regenerate. He then declared that it was possible for a true believer not do any works.

Naturally, I agree with him about this, but I am at quite a loss to know how he would reconcile this surprise assertion with his views on James chapter 2, his recent preaching on the epistles of John and his tendency to confuse faith and discipleship.

After the service, I told him how pleasently surpised I was. He explained that he did not think the Parable of the Pounds was the same as the Parable of the Talents. I did not deal with this point, as it would have meant getting into an interesting conversation about the Outer Darkness. Anyway, I felt very good after hearing this sermon.