1. Good Morning. Let’s pray.
O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be
pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
So what’s is our
responsibility as Christians? That’s
what we’re going
to probe at this morning.
We’ll be focusing on the
Gospel of Matthew chapter 24 beginning at verse 14 – it’s the Parable of the
Talents.
It’s important for us to
know that this entire chapter begins with the Greek word: “Tote” which is translated as “At that
time” . . . At what time? . . . at the time when Son of Man returns and
brings heaven to earth!
In the following verses Jesus
reminds us that we’d better be ready for this ultimate happening and he does
this by using 3 very memorable parables.
Dn. Jimmy reflected on the first one – the Ten Virgins – last Sunday.
This morning we’re focusing on the
second parable - Parable of the Talents.
Fundamentally this is a
parable about Christian responsibility – our responsibility to fulfill our
destiny!
God gives us talents or
gifts and the power to exercise them but it’s up to us to see what we do with
them.
If we don’t use them or
don’t use them well then we’re just digging a hole and burying the things we’re
entrusted with. We’re not multiplying. In truth, we’re either advancing towards
God or slipping away from Him. Being entrusted with certain gifts, such as
talents, gives us the responsibility to do something with them. God gives us
the means and all we have to do is use them.
2. Opening Comments: So before we begin to dig into this parable
let me ask us a framing question:
“Are we advancing towards God or are we
slipping back or even retreating from Him?”
You see, there’s no such thing
in the human pilgrimage for marking time for, in truth, we’re either advancing
or retreating. So let’s be very honest
with ourselves – are we advancing or retreating?
(Ask
Kevin to put the scriptures on the
video
screen)
Please open up your
Bibles or look at the overhead video screen as we dig deeper into this most
interesting parable.
1. At the most
fundamental level this Parable is challenging followers of Christ to be fully
engaged in their calling to engage every one of their God given talents so that
at the end of their human pilgrimage they will hear the following commendation
from their Lord:
“Well done, my good and faithful
servant.”
So as we lean in and
exercise the talents given to us by God Himself we’re being faithful to His
calling upon our lives!
Would you consider
yourself a faithful servant of God?
Would those who really know you call you a faithful servant of God
2. Now let’s
dig a little deeper.
I want to re-read this
parable but this time from the Message.
(Ask
Kevin, the projectionist, to show the verses from the Message as I read them)
When Christ comes again the
following parable will help us understand what it will take to be ready and
prepared for this cosmological event1
Matt. 25:14 So when Jesus comes that
final time it will to be like a man going off on an extended trip. He called
his servants together and delegated responsibilities.
Matt. 25:15 To one he gave an amount worth 80
years of his labor, to another an amount equivalent to 33 years of his labor,
to a third 15 years of his labor, depending on their abilities. Then he left.
Matt. 25:16 Right off, the first servant went
to work and doubled his master’s investment.
Matt. 25:17 The second did the same.
Matt. 25:18 But the man with the single
thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.
Matt. 25:19 ¶ “After a long absence, the
master of those three servants came back and settled up with them.
Matt. 25:20 The one given an amount equal to
80 years of labor showed him how he had doubled his investment.
Matt. 25:21 His master commended him: ‘Good
work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
Matt. 25:22 ¶ “The servant to whom he’d given
an amouth equal to 30 years of labor showed how he’d also doubled his master’s
investment.
Matt. 25:23 His master commended him: ‘Good
work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
Matt. 25:24 ¶ “The servant given an amount
equal to 15 years of labor said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and
hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error.
Matt. 25:25 I was afraid I might disappoint
you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe
and sound down to the last cent.’
Matt. 25:26 ¶ “The master was furious.
‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If
you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?
Matt. 25:27 The least you could have done
would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have
gotten a little interest.
Matt. 25:28 ¶ “‘Take the thousand and give it
to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go
out on a limb.
--
Matt. 25:30 Throw him out into utter
darkness.’
As I read and reread
these verses I was struck first by the fact that the Master – God, knew his
people – knew what they were capable of.
The Master – God, gave
his servants talents according to their abilities. The Greek word for abilities is du/namiß, and it means ‘capability’, with
emphasis on function. It’s referring to
our potential for functioning in some
way. It’s referring to our power, our might, our strength, our force of
will.
So God creates us with varying levels of dunamis –
potential for functioning in certain ways - and then gives us talents to engage
and focus that potential for functioning!
And so together with us God seeks to bring Heaven to
earth. All of our dunamis and talents
are focused to that end – bringing heaven to earth.
Remember the Lord’s prayer – “Thy Kingdom come – Thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven!”
God created us with potential and then gave us talents –
skills – to engage and focus that potential to the end that His Kingdom would
be established on earth.
St. Paul reflected this
realization when he wrote in his letter to the Ephesians:
Eph. 2:10 (Ask Kevin to put this up) For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God has prepared a plan
for each and every one of us in advance.
Yes, you see it’s unique
– particular – especially designed for us and God Himself gives us the talents
– the dunamis and the giftings which will be more than ample to this task.
That’s why this parable
is so specific about the difference in the talents being given. It’s not a reflection of God’s favoritism but
rather a reflection of the unique plan He has for each and every one of us.
You are unique – a one of
a kind – no one else is exactly just like you.
You have been created uniquely with a unique plan for your life and you,
with you unique “abilities” and – it needs to be inserted – your unique “disabilities”
-have been given to the world to fulfill a unique mission which at the end of
your life will be rewarded with the words:
“Well done my good and
faithful servant” or in Eugene Peterson’s rather interesting paraphrase:
‘Good work! You did your job well. From
now on be my partner.’
Partner’s with God –
Co-creators, co-laborers. Jesus refers
to his faithful followers as “Friends.”
Clearly Jesus is telling
us that faithfulness to who we are – who we were created to be - is the
ultimate calling upon our lives and as we discover and be who we are fully we
will play our unique and pivotal role in what we refer to as “Salvation
History.” History which unfolds under
the sovereign hands of our sovereign God!
3. But what of the unfaithful servant – what’s
that all about?
Look with me at
verse 24 - Matt.
25:24 “The
servant given an amount equal to 15 years of labor said, ‘Master, I know you
have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make
no allowances for error.
Matt. 25:25 I was afraid I might disappoint
you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe
and sound down to the last cent.’
Matt. 25:26 ¶ “The master was furious.
‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If
you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?
The NIV put that last verse –
verse 26 - this way:
Matt. 25:26
“His
master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I
have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?
Now reading on – verse 27 The least you could have done
would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have
gotten a little interest.
Matt. 25:28 ¶ “‘Take the money and give it to
the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go
out on a limb.
--
Matt. 25:30 Throw him out into utter
darkness.’
3(b) What do we see in these verses?
This servant had decided that he did not like his master –
that he was a man that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not
scattered seed?
Now we must
remember that this is the same Master whom the other two servants had willingly
and faithfully worked so well for - so it’s fair to suspect that the problem
wasn’t the Master for they apparently didn’t disdain him but rather the real
problem was with the servant who had been given the smallest amount of money to
invest.
Why did this
servant have such a negative opinion of the Master?
Could it be that
this servant resented that he had been given the least and had therefore
determined that he was going to return the favor to the Master by doing
absolutely nothing with it.
Who is this one
talented servant most like, I wonder, in today’s world?
Isn’t he like
those of us who focus on our deficits and resent anyone and everyone else who
seems to have more than us . . . and there’s always someone who seems to have
more than us.
There’s always a
reason for resentment isn’t there? All
you need to do is to focus on it!
And so the 1
talented servant did just that and as a result did nothing with the gift he’s
been given.
He had absolutely
no desire to multiply or be fruitful but rather to be fruitless for His Master
and his reward was to be further separated from his Master.
Application: Truly our daily choices to resent or create
either draw us closer to our Lord or draw us further from Him.
So what are you
and I doing with our du/namiß, - our potential - and with the gifts God’s
has given us to harness and focus them?
Are we wasting time fretting over our perceived deficits or are we
INVESTING THEM to bring God’s Kingdom to earth?
So let’s get personal – Each of us has
god-given potential – a potential for cooperating with our Lord to bring His
heaven to earth. And we have been given
gifts to focus and activate that potential.
You never know your full potential until you
engage your gifts. They, in turn, focus
and activate that potential.
Have you discovered your giftings – your
talents and have you engaged them? Have
you offered them to the service of your Lord?
Or, like some of us, are you resenting their
deficit and burying them in the stagnant pool of your befowled soul?
Let’s pray . . . .
