day no. 16,958: great expectations

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." — Shakespeare

Some are born as the fulfillment of great expectations. They were hoped for, longed for, and finally arrived. Their birth is an answer to prayer.

Some are born to no expectations. They are brought into a humble and low estate, yet they exceed everyone's expectations and accomplish great things for God.

Some are born with great expectations placed upon them. Prayers are placed upon them in their infancy. Hopes and dream ride on their life and livelihood. The weight of the world is placed on their fresh shoulders.

Jesus was all of these things. He was longed for and anticipated. His birth was an answer to great prayer and expectations. He was born into a humble home. No one who wasn't hoping for Him expected much to come from Him. He went unnoticed by most until He began to reveal His greatness. Hopes and dreams were placed upon Him in His infancy. The government of the world was placed on His shoulders and those who knew watched and waited to see how He would shoulder the responsibility. He was born for such a time as His and exceeded everyone's expectations except God's. He did everything His Father required. He did not go beyond what was commanded and He did not fall short of what was required. Praise God for the one, true Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

But what about the rest of us?

Acts 17:26

God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.

No one is born at the wrong time. God plans the place and the people of every person who is brought into this world. Most people will not be known by most other people. Most people will be known by a small, select group of people handpicked by the providence of God.

Esther 4:14

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever you are. You are God's. Go forth and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Whatever you do, get God first and then go out and get after it.

day no. 16,888: covenantal presumption vs. continuity

Romans 9:7-8

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

All men are sons of Adam.

Some are sons of Abraham.

Romans 5:19

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

You cannot inherit election per se, but you can inherit elect parents.

Covenantal presumption kills.

Covenantal continuity saves.

To assume you are saved because your parents are or your grandparents were is to presume upon the covenant, not to put your faith in it.

To continue in the covenant in which you were raised by grace through faith in Christ alone saves you just as much as it saved your fathers.

Romans 11:18-22

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Biblically speaking, everyone is a true son or daughter of Adam by genetics, but no one is a true son or daughter of Abraham but by faith.

In other words, history is not essentially a matter of blood relation, but of covenantal relation. What is your relationship to the covenant? Are you a covenant breaker or a covenant keeper?

day no. 16,844: history is the outworking of religious commitments

“Inescapably, history is the outworking of religious commitments.” — R.J. Rushdoony, Non-Interventionism as a Constitutional Principle

Whatever we see happening on the surface is a result of religious undercurrents. Worship is never without works. Faith is never void of follow through. The fingertips reveal the heart. What men push for is what pushes them.

"Culture is religion externalized. It is the form that religion takes in the lives of men." — Henry Van Til, The Calvinistic Concept of Culture

Pop culture is the product of pop religion. Popular religion has a "I'm proud of my culture" sticker on the back of its electric vehicle. The prevailing religion in the West is on display on our billboards. Our television screens are merely private billboards where we choose the advertisements we like best and play them on repeat.

Without revival there will be no reformation. We cannot rebuild Christendom with lukewarm bricks. The first place the kingdom needs to be made manifest is in the hearts of men. Where God is moving men, He will move them to build. Men made in the image of God and remade in the image of His Son are not consumers of someone else's culture, but creators of Christian culture beginning in their habits lived out in their homes and then extended out to their respective heritages.

day no. 16,818: the Word and the wards; the Bible and the brood

Genesis 49:28

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.

It is a father's duty to know his children. It is his privilege to give them their names, to declare who they are, and to call them out to become more of what God made them to be. This will require discernment in seeing what is appropriate to each child. Every son or daughter is different while having the same father. Come what may they have that in common even when they have something else in conflict. 

Fathers have been given the privilege of telling their children who they are. They get to make declarations. That is what gives birth to father hunger. That is why we so often see the common theme of clamoring for paternal approval. That is also why it is less frequently given. Too many fathers forsake their office or abuse it. They either withhold praise for the sake of power or they withdraw themselves for the sake of indifference. Too many dads declare something by saying nothing. Their physical absence or the absence of their words speaks volumes into the hearts of their children. Their silence is always loud. Their absence is always present.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

So, a father must cater the character development correction and discipline to the chemistry of the child involved, but he must also adjust it to the specific situation. There are blessings appropriate for some that would be curses to others and vice versa due to proportion or station. A cute girl is a blessing to a man prepared for marriage and a snare to one not ready, for example. There is also advice appropriate to one occasion that would be inappropriate to another. All that to say, a father must know his children and their situation in order to give blessed advice. It is his job to know them and their circumstances.

A good word poorly applied can be a kick in the gut instead of a kick in the butt. The right word applied well can draw out the best in another while one wrongly applied can discourage or dampen the right spirit. Words should be said according to the need. They should match the situation. If the words are being drawn from a principle, they should be seasoned to the situation, not merely poured out in the abstract.

Proverbs 27:23

Know well the condition of your flocks,

And pay attention to your herds.

A father must know his children and he must know their condition. He discerns this by paying attention to them and relying on God's Word. His time in the Bible gives him principles to be applied to all sorts of men in all sorts of scenarios. His time with his children gives him practical insights in which verses apply to which of his children in which of their situations.

Quantity time produces quality time.

Lots of time in the Word gives you a treasury of wisdom from which to draw.

Lots of time with your kids gives you a treasury of insight into their person.

Spend a lot of time in the Bible and a lot of time with your kids and you will have plenty of quality times with both. There will be good conversations filled with good words that fully match the kid and their condition.

Don't be caught off guard not knowing the Word or your wards. If they come to you for wisdom, have a pantry well-supplied from which to nourish them. Don't be wanting to advise them without counsel to give them. Don't wait to know them until you need to know them. Do not wait for them to wander off before you take an interest in keeping them close by.

Know the Word.

Know your wards.

Malachi 4:5-6

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

When and where dads are back, we're on track.

When you see fathers returning to the fray, you see sons less tempted to stray. Civilizations are built by men with families to feed taking that responsibility to heart and providing discipline and instruction, teaching, and nourishment to their children in the form of good, God-informed advice that fits the kid and the current condition. 

1 Chronicles 12:32

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

Dads needs eyes in their heads and on their kids. They need to know what's going on and what to do about it. They need to have their head on a swivel and their hearts anchored in the sword of the Word. In order to command well, a father must know the eternal Word and the current state of the world. He must study his Bible and his brood.

day no. 16,545: present privilege informs present duty

“Let present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, while life lasts, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Our gratitude should fuel our grititude.

Our present privilege informs our present duty.

The grace we have received is the grace to go further.

1 Corinthians 15:10

By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

God initiates; we respond.

He gives; we receive.

He pours into; we pour out.

Colossians 1:29

I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.

When God is at work in someone, He is often observed working through them.

Where God works mightily, saints work with all their might.

Where God abides, the saints strive.

We do not work to gain God's favor, but from the fact that, in Christ, we already have it. We are privileged to be the recipients of His favor and demonstrate our thanksgiving through our living.

When we open our eyes to our blessings, we apply ourselves to our work.

Where we consider what's been done for us, we consider what to do for others.

Philippians 2:3-5

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

day no. 16,336: keep the home, keep the world

Titus 2:3-5

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

When the home is kept, the word is kept.

Our modern sensibilities lead us to believe that the Word of God is blasphemed by obeying His Word. "I can't stay home and expect the world to respect my witness," a Christian wife and mother may be tempted to say. But the Bible tells us that giving into this temptation is what leads to God's Word being blasphemed. Blaspheme literally means "slow + fame." A blasphemer is slow to bring fame and praise to something that merits it. In this regard, the Word of God is not praised as quickly as it ought to be because women choose to impress the world rather than express themselves in their home.

When we keep the home, we keep the world.

The world will be saved by faithful witnesses to His Word, not by clever testimonies of compromise to it. The Word is what saves, not impressive resumes. Working hard to win the approval of the world is the best way to lose it and to secure as lost those in it. If you love the world, oppose it. It's what's best for it. To flatter the world is to shatter it. You guarantee its demise by making it your prize.

Keep the kids; keep the world.

A well-ordered home is the end of the world. The euchatastrophe is accompanied by wedding bells. The meek shall inherit the earth and those raising their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord are those who will inhabit it. The world will be retained by those who retain their posts. Be where God has placed you and fulfill your assignments as prescribed and we will see the world won over and Christ exalted as its one, true King.

day no. 16,068: his business to be better

"It is very right to rebuke our own race or religion for falling short of our own standards and ideals. But it is absurd to pretend that they fell lower than the other races and religions that professed the very opposite standards and ideals. There is a very real sense in which the Christian is worse than the heathen, the Spaniard worse than the Red Indian, or even the Roman potentially worse than the Carthaginian. But there is only one sense in which he is worse; and that is not in being positively worse. The Christian is only worse because it is his business to be better." -- G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

When history proposes that the sins and sons of Europe invaded the sinless sons of the Americas, it does violence to verity. The conquest of the Americas was not done sinful sinners usurping saintly saints. The conquerors may have been willing to sacrifice the lives of men in order to gain power, wealth, fame and land, but the natives of the land had been sacrificing men to that end already.

The western men, however, had good reason to know better, whereas the natives did not. This is why the natives not only allowed the death of men, but required it in some cases. They didn't simply accept casualties as part of the plan, but saw casualty as the plan itself. Men had to die. The death of men was not merely permitted as a means to an end in the native Americas, but it was the very end in itself. The fallen sons of God crossed the oceans long before the fallen sons of Adam.

The reason we so readily blame the western men, and rightly so, is because they ought to have known better. The reason we so easily forget the sins of the natives, and wrongly so, is because we have inherited western man's sense of justice, something we should never have received had we been born natives. The western men ought to have known better because they lived under the influence of Christendom. Thus western men missed the mark as Christian men, whereas the natives fell short of shooting at the right target.  To miss the bull's eye is a different kind of falling short than to aim at a different target altogether.

The end of manslaughter was only possible in so far as Christendom succeeded. Even if it fell short of its own standards, its standards were so unique that only its survival could usher in the eradication of human sacrifice. If the natives had won, manslaughter and sacrifice would never have subsided. The only hope for the world was the survival of Christendom, even if carried by sinful men walking out of step at times with its precepts. It does not excuse their missteps, but it does explain why we now assume human sacrifice is abhorrent. That end could not have been achieved had the native devilry triumphed or been left to its own devices.

day no. 15,973: de-fence less

“There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, ‘I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.’ To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: ‘If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.’” - G.K. Chesterton

Proverbs 22:28

Remove not the ancient landmark,

which thy fathers have set.

You should not lightly move or remove an ancient landmark. Not never per se, but never without good reason. Unless, with respect to the fence, you can explain: why there? why not somewhere else? what was meant to be kept out? what was meant to be protected? why that high? did it work? did it accomplish its intended goal? is it still necessary? etc.. you should not be permitted to move or remove another's legacy.

Moving a marker or removing it altogether should only be done if one can honor their father and mother in doing so. If you cannot honor your ancestors, even when, i.e. especially when, disagreeing with them on where they landed or what they landed on, you cannot be trusted to set up your own landmarks.

A disregard for the past is a disregard for the future in a present tense, autonomous arrogance. No one acts detached from history. Everyone must reckon with their ancestors and take into account their descendants. They can ignore their grandfathers or forget their grandchildren, but they cannot act apart from them.

day no. 15,753: taking responsibility for the privileges given

“O let us prove our gratitude by our devotion, and live as those who, having claimed a privilege, are willing to take the responsibility connected with it.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Christians are a privileged people.

No shame in our game.

Blessings are a gift of God. They are nothing to be ashamed or repented of. We should want to be blessed by God. He wants to bless. He doesn't begrudgingly give. God is the original cheerful Giver. He leads out in that by example. Our response should be gratitude. We should be grateful for all He has given us and all He gives to others.

Romans 12:15

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

God commands us to rejoice when others are blessed and weep with those who have lost blessings. Envy turns this on its head and rejoices when others lose their blessings and weeps when others receive more blessing.

The envious should be ashamed of themselves, not the blessed. The blessed have nothing to apologize for or feel bad about. If they followed the advice of the envious, they would disobey God who commands us to say, "Thank You!" for all the good He gives. If the blessed repent of being blessed, they do not honor their God, nor do they appease the demands of the envious. 

Privilege is grace in operation. Who has anything which they did not receive? Life, breath, and everything else? So if we have all received it, how could we boast in it? Or imagine we have it as a reward?

Do not balk at blessings because the world has taught you to flinch at the sound of "privilege." Privilege is good. The reason some use it as a slander is because they want the privileges of others. By their envy, they confess that privilege is good. They think it's bad that they don't have it. But enough about what others say about blessings, back to what God says.

Some imagine that they have received eyes as a reward for being so good at seeing. Others imagine that they are being rewarded with feet for having walked so far. Don't take credit for hitting a triple for having been born on third.

To be blessed is not merely to have received, but to have given thanks. 

Privilege is a responsibility. It is something which requires a response. And God has commanded that response to be given in the form of gratitude. The heart which gladly thanks God for all it has and dedicates itself to the grit and grind of giving Him glory demonstrates that it has fully embraced and employed its privilege. It hasn't pretended it wasn't by shamefacedly refuting the privilege or pretended as though there was no proper response.

Gratitude is the proper response to grace.

day no. 15,695: brooks of honey and butter

Job 20:4-7, 17, 20-23, 27-29
Knowest thou not this of old,
since man was placed upon earth,
that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Though his excellency mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach unto the clouds;
yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:
they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
He shall not see the rivers, the floods,
the brooks of honey and butter.
surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly,
he shall not save of that which he desired.
There shall none of his meat be left;
therefore shall no man look for his goods.
In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
When he is about to fill his belly,
God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him,
The heaven shall reveal his iniquity;
and the earth shall rise up against him.
The increase of his house shall depart,
and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

The promised land is defined as a place where milk and honey flow freely and frequently. When we eat ice cream on Friday night for dessert after our weekly pizza party, I make a point of acknowledging it. Where there are milk and honey, there is ice cream! And if this is how good fallen ice cream is, can you imagine how good perfected milk and honey will be? How much sweeter will glorified cows produce perfect cream and sanctified bees work to produce holy honey? 

Matthew 7:9-11
What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

I love my children and strive to give them the best that I can. But I am a sinful dad. So then, if a sinful dad like me can provide this kind of milk and honey, just imagine what God has in store for those who love Him? Imagine what kind of ice cream He is capable of providing! He withholds no good thing. And He has access to better honey and butter than I can get my hands on.

But the wicked will be cut off from the land of honey and butter. No milk and honey are waiting for them in their future. The ice cream this side of Jordan is the best they will be ever get to enjoy.  However, for the righteous, this the worst ice cream they will ever taste. And if this is the worst, we can only imagine the best! The wicked will have the pleasures of the belly removed since they saw fit to worship their bellies. They will not receive the kingdom where bellies are filled.

Phillippians 3:18-19
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

There is a difference between setting your mind to enjoy the things of earth because you are grateful to God who made it and setting your mind upon the earth in order to worship it. The one worships God by appreciating what He has provided. The other bypasses the Giver and glories in the gifts. There is fresh, cold milk and thick, sweet honey awaiting those who set their sights higher than the hillsides and beehives. And those that look up will one day look down to see a bowl full of the best ice cream that has ever existed.

day no. 15,387: build this house

2 Samuel 7:24-29

And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, 'The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,' and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house.' Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever."

Psalm 90:12-17 

So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

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!

May God grant us the grace of having our houses established in the Messianic line. While those pre-dating Christ's incarnation could pray in hopes of having their families represented in the lineage of those to whom the Christ would be born, those of us post-dating His incarnation can pray in hopes of having our families incorporated into the lineage of those descending from Christ's lineage by grace and through faith.

May God establish my home as one rooted in His glory and may my children group up knowing Him, satisfied in Him alone and zealous to pursue Him in every endeavor placed before them. 

May I see my children marry well and may the fruit of those unions produce children who may receive what was first passed down to me. May I see my children raise their children to know, love and obey God.

May generations of Van Voorsts harvest worship of Jesus because of this generation of Van Voorsts is planting and cultivating worship of Jesus.

God, establish my house for Jesus' glory and my descendants' good.

May a thousand generations of grandchildren inherit the blessings and privileges of homes oriented completely and cheerfully around Christ. Establish Your Name in our household and use our household to establish Your Kingdom here on earth, as it already is in Heaven. 

Amen.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for He gives to His beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man

who fills his quiver with them!

He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

day no. 15,281: stoop proof

Nehemiah 3:5
And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

There is a difference between being unwilling to stoop regardless of the circumstances and being unwilling to stoop at this moment because other responsibilities require your attention.

The apostles refused to stoop to serve tables because the higher priority to teach and preach what they had seen as eye witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ took precedent. They were not above serving. They were trying to serve in the way only they could. They were throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the difficulties that accompanied the work to which they were called. They were not too proud to stoop, they were too humble to be bullied. They recognized the value of what was being asked by taking the time to assign a group of men to address the tables. This assigning was something only they could do and they took the time to do it and then returned to their work, leaving the deacons to do their work.

To be a noble, servant leader and lord you do not need to bend to every request which comes to you, but not because you are above lowly tasks, but because your attention is busy currently with the higher ones. Nobility does not excuse one from stooping, rather it requires one to stoop before higher obligations.

day no. 15,181: the fathers of future kings

"Like trees, plants, animals, and many other living things of creation, we have a deposit of seeds that when 'planted' become separate creations after our own kind. In a very real sense, sons and daughters exist within us which means we carry them before a woman does. The profoundness of this is fascinating" -- Matthew Pennock, As a Man Is so Is His Strength

Men who raise their sons in the discipline and instruction of the Lord are grooming future kings. In our person, we carry the future rulers of the world. We have been given the responsibility to rule well within our lifetime in order to ensure that the future rulers of the world will rule with eternity in mind.

"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." - Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay (aka T.B. Macaulay)

If we fail to recognize the part God has gifted us to play in the ongoing conquest of His world by His decree through His saints by His grace through our faith in His Son and by the power of His Holy Spirit, we will fail our forefathers and our grandchildren. We love our great grandchildren by respecting our great grandfathers. 

Genesis 35:11
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body."

"People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." - Edmund Burke

day no. 15,068: if equality is doctrine, envy is virtue

“If the doctrine of equality be true, ‘we must consider envy to be as sound a guide in politics as reverence by religious men is considered to be in religion’.” – W.H. Mallock cited by Russell Kirk

Reading Toby Sumpter's BLOG today (10/28/19), I came across this quote as well as Toby's insightful commentary...

But I would boil it all down to the goodness of hierarchy, or if we want to put it a bit more flamboyantly, the goodness of inequality, or perhaps even more defiantly, the goodness of authority and dominion. This authority and dominion is the foundation of freedom, safety, and provision because dominion insists upon responsibility, ownership, and therefore true, Christian love. There can be no love where there is no responsibility, and there is no responsibility where there is no authority. And apart from this kind of responsible love, there can be no long term flourishing, fruitfulness, creativity, or dare I say it, progress.

Where envy is king, equality is commanded.
Where Jesus is Lord, inequality is edict.

If equality is doctrine, envy is virtue.
If inequality is God's design, envy is sin.

All that to say, if equality is pure doctrine, envy is pure worship.

day no. 14,871: america's got talents

Matthew 25:15
To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.

God chooses to bestow privilege in varying degrees to people. Some get five, some get one, but both get no explanation. The Scripture does indicate that the ability of the receiver is taken into account, but even that ability is itself a gift from God apparently given in varying proportions.

Also evident here is that God does not aim at equality of distribution or outcome. He doesn't give less to those more industrious in order to "rig" the system so that all end up at the finish line at the same time. He gives differing amounts to different people. The distribution end of the spectrum is not one founded on equal distribution. He doesn't give just 1 talent to the more industrious knowing that they will turn it into 5 and then give 5 talents to the lazy, good-for-nothing, knowing they will live up their reputation and end where they began, with 5. In other words, God doesn't work to secure an end score of 5 to 5 where everybody ties and everybody gets a participation award for being born. He also doesn't give everyone 5 right out of the gate. Some get more, some get less. What makes His standard and measure of justice equal is that they all are judged according to their particular situation by the same measure: did you invest what you had and produce more a result? You are not judged by what you were never given. You are critiqued in accordance with what you have and what you did with it. Fruitfulness is the measuring rod. So in that regard, those who produce a crop of 30 fold have nothing to fear in light of those who produce a crop of 100 fold. Team 30 fold are not second or third rate citizens in the kingdom of God. They did what they were supposed to with what they were given. The goal is not equality of outcome, but fruitfulness in proportion to what they've been given. And that is the equalizer, not a tie score with no overtime.

Is it a sin to be given 5? No. Is it a sin to be given only 1? No. Is either a statement about the person per se? Maybe. But both have the ability to work with what they have been given to the glory of God and the good of their neighbor. Some have less ability, some have more. Some are given less talents, some more. But all have the opportunity to do good with what they've been given. The amount of good they can do is in proportion to the amount of good they've been given. 

The Master does not punish the man with 1 for being given 1, He punishes him for having just the 1 at the end of it all. He judges him for sitting on what he was given or spending his time being envious and complaining about those who have been given 2 or 5 instead of investing his 1 in order to produce more. If you spend your 1 all worked up about the fact that others have 2 and some even 5, you will find yourself wasting your 1, condemned as wicked and left with 0 as you watch your 1 be given to the man who turned 5 into 10.

Matthew 25:26, 28
You wicked and slothful servant! ...Take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.