Good morning. The following quote from Chuck Swindoll s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes provides a good introduction to the parable we ll be looking at this morning, the Parable of the Talents: Between the great things we can t do and the little things we won t do, the danger is we shall do nothing at all. [PAUSE] Last week we talked about the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom Parables teaching that it s those who hear the good news of salvation and respond with a good heart who enter God s kingdom. And those who by persevering, allowing God to reign as King in their hearts and minds produce a crop, becoming nourishment for a dying world in the places they work and live. The Parable of the Talents, found in Matthew 25:14-30, also deals with the Kingdom of Heaven, but from a different perspective, telling us what Jesus expects to find when He returns to bring us home. But before we go on, let s go to the Lord and ask Him to speak through me and to open our hearts to hear and respond to His Word. [PRAYER] Before telling His disciples the Parable of the Talents, Jesus describes for them the signs of the end times and His second coming, and then He warns them in Matthew 24:42 to keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. After delivering that warning Jesus proceeds to speak about His expectations for His disciples what they ought to be doing while He is away and what He expects to find them doing upon His return. Jesus speaks of the responsibility of church leaders to nourish and care for their flocks, the responsibility of every believer to live out the Christian life in word and in deed, and also to use our God-given talents for God s glory. And that brings us to the Parable of the Talents. Please follow along as I read the Parable of the Talents: 14 Again, it [the Kingdom of Heaven, that is] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master s money. 19 After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more. 21 His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master s happiness! 22 The man with the two talents also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more. 23 His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master s happiness! 24 Then the man who had received the one talent came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. 1
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? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let s begin with verse 14, which says, the Kingdom of Heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. So, who is the man going on the journey? [PAUSE] It s Jesus. He s the One who will be going away, returning to His Father following His resurrection. The disciples don t understand that Jesus is going to be crucified, and that He will ultimately be raised from the dead and then return to His place of glory. They don t know at least they cannot yet grasp the idea that Jesus will be leaving, let alone that He is going to be sending a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to take His place. Instead of God the Son in their midst physically next to them or with them the Holy Spirit is soon going to be God in them. So, knowing that He is going to be going away for a long time, Jesus tells His disciples a story about a Master who places His servants in charge of His estate before He departs on that journey. Jesus s disciples will eventually understand that the servants in this parable are representative of themselves as well as all future followers who will one day to be entrusted with the Master s wealth. And what kind of property does the Master entrust to His servants? [PAUSE] We see in verse 15 that Jesus the man leaving on the journey gives a different number of talents to each of the three servants. In Old Testament times a talent was a unit of measurement for weighing precious metals, usually gold and silver. By New Testament times, however, a talent had come to have a specific value; in fact, it was the largest unit of currency in those days. Estimates vary as to what a talent would be worth in today s dollars, but it would be anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thus, literally speaking, the property in this parable refers to great earthly riches. But are we to think that Jesus intends to give His disciples and future followers a lot of money? Probably not. Parables use real world illustrations to point to spiritual principles. In this case, Jesus s hearers would have understood that Jesus was speaking about something more valuable than any of them could possibly have imagined earning on their own or receiving responsibility for. That amount of money would be found only in the coffers of the very rich. So, the disciples would have understood that Jesus was using money only to illustrate that they were going to be given something of almost inconceivable worth. We can assume that it would be something the Master Jesus values. But what does He value? 2
It s not completely clear from this parable. Without reading further we can guess that Jesus is referring to people, His flock in particular. I don t think that would be too far off the mark certainly God wants His servants to take care of and build up His flock, but Jesus has already spoken to the disciples about that in a previous parable. No, Jesus is making a different point in this parable. He is going to give each of His servants His followers something of great worth, something that can be invested and made to grow. We now know that the gift of the Holy Spirit will be given at the Feast of Pentecost, and will continue to be given to all who will subsequently receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But lest you think that God would ask us to perform works that are beyond our capabilities, notice in verse 15 of the parable that He gave to each according to his ability. Jesus did not and does not expect any of us to be something we re not. He knows what we re capable of and He gifts us accordingly. It is true that we might be able to do more or do a better job as we mature in the faith, just as we mature in other aspects of life. An engineer, for instance, should become a more competent engineer over time, not a better social worker. God never expects us to do something that s contrary to the way He created us. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:3-8, 3 Think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man s gift is prophesying [speaking God s truth], let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. So, having given His servants their different gifts, the Master in our story leaves on His journey. In verses 16-18 we read, 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master s money. Here s where it s important to understand that even the servant given one talent had been given a lot of money something of great value. One source suggested that a talent was the equivalent of 20 years worth of wages. It s not like the Master (Jesus) gave this one servant a few bucks. No, he was given something of real value, and he buried it. How would you feel if you gave one of your children a car; but your child preferred to stay home watching TV all day? [PAUSE] Well, the Master wasn t happy either, but we ll come back to that part of the story in a minute. First, let s see what happens to the other two servants when the Master returns. As I ve been suggesting, Jesus is the Master, and His returning refers to His coming again at the end of the age. At that time He will ask each of us what we ve done with the gifts He s given. In the case of the first two servants, they both double their talents. They use their gifts to the best of their ability, and that s all that God asks. He doesn t expect the one with two talents to make five, nor the one with five to make ten. 3
Notice how the servants act toward their Master. Unlike the servant who went away and hid his talent because he thought the Master was a hard man, these two servants are like little children showing off something to Daddy, saying, See, look what I ve done! They re excited to tell the Master what they ve accomplished, because they know He has given them an opportunity to excel. The Master would never give them such incredible wealth unless He knew they were able to handle the responsibility, just the way a boss might give some important assignment to an upand-coming employee. And the same is true for us. God has gifted each of us according to our abilities. God doesn t expect us to perform miracles, but the gifts He has given are invaluable, meant to help grow the body of Christ toward maturity and to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to a dying world. And how does the Master Jesus respond to the first two servants? He tells each of them, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master s happiness! Isn t that the welcome we all want to hear? And notice that Jesus then places the servants in charge of more things. That s the way things are in almost every aspect of our earthly lives. When we do small things well, we show that we can handle greater responsibilities. But this parable is about the end of the age, so what work will there be for Jesus to put His servants in charge of? Apparently, we re not going to be sitting around doing nothing in heaven. It seems we re going to be doing the work our Master does, sharing in His happiness. I don t know what those responsibilities might be, but it s clear that what we do now is preparation for what will come. God wants us to share in His happiness, and that should motivate us to use what He s given for His glory. God wants us to be faithful to be diligent persevering in good works, believing that we have a reward laid up for us in heaven. Then, after blessing the two faithful servants, the servant who was given the one talent comes forward, saying to the Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. Why is this servant afraid? The other two are like little children, excited to tell their Master what they ve done. We might guess that this servant didn t know the Master very well, but the Master Jesus doesn t deny his claim. Instead, He says to the servant, So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. I think we can make a couple of observations based on this exchange, relating it to the way things work in our world: Dealing with Jesus s initial reply first, He says to the servant, So you knew. We are all responsible for what we know to be true, to act in accordance with that knowledge. How many people in our culture know that the way they live their lives is an offense to God, but refuse to repent and live according to His standards? As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:18-20: 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God s invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 4
There are many people in our culture who know, at least in part, what God requires like the third servant but think He s unfair or unkind or even evil, and use that to justify their failure to turn from a sinful lifestyle. But placing one s self in opposition to God is not a very wise thing to do. To ignore our knowledge of the truth is to place ourselves under judgment, just as the third servant does. God requires much of us, but my experience has been that God s way is right. Whenever I ve questioned what I ve learned from His Word God has shown me that His ways are an expression of His love for us. As it says in Psalm 34:8, Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Taste put God s Word to the test try it, and you will see that God is good, that He commands only that which will bring forth goodness in us. [PAUSE] And that brings me to the next observation. The third servant fails to see his Master as someone who is interested in his growth and ultimate good. Instead, he views the Master as taking advantage of him, saying, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. I suspect many of us have experienced something similar at work at one time or another a co-worker who constantly complains about the boss being a taskmaster when in actuality it s the employee who is lazy. Of course, there are bad bosses; but my experience has been that diligent workers with good attitudes somehow seem to end up getting along with their bosses J. The diligent worker sees the world differently, understanding some of the difficulties the boss has to contend with and recognizing his or her own responsibility to do the best job possible, regardless of the perceived inadequacies of the boss. The attitude of the diligent worker naturally tends to produce a better response from the boss, even if the boss really is a bad one. But even more importantly for our understanding of the Parable of the Talents, the good attitude of the diligent worker often leads to the forging of a relationship between boss and employee, the boss becoming a mentor even a close friend to the employee, helping him or her grow to handle further responsibilities. But the third servant doesn t see things that way, perceiving the Master to be unjust. And so, the servant blames the Master for his failure to not even do the easy thing, banking the money to at least earn interest for the Master. He s a bit like the slacker who s afraid of the boss, but doesn t do the minimum to keep himself from getting into trouble. Not surprisingly, slackers usually get fired and the worthless servant was cast into the outer darkness, into hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. As we read in Ezekiel 33:17, 17 Your people say, The way of the Lord is not just, when it is their own way that is not just. Do you have a talent that you lock up in the bank, never allowing it to grow and benefit God s Kingdom? 5
The two faithful servants understand that their Master is just and good, and they serve Him with joy. And look what the Master Jesus says: 28 Take the talent from [the worthless servant] and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. Or in the words of Sam Jennings, Abilities are like tax deductions, we use them or we lose them. And just as there is always a financial reckoning with the IRS, there will be a final reckoning at the end of this age. God wants that reckoning to end with Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master s happiness! But if we re miserly with the gifts God has given, burying them because of a wrong attitude towards God, He will take what we have and give it to the one who served faithfully. That s why the Apostle Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:5-11, 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we will pour ourselves into the work of God s kingdom, using the gifts He s given us for His glory, He will bless us beyond our wildest imaginations, both here on Earth and in His Kingdom to come! [PRAYER] 6