What are you doing with your talents?

Last week we finished our study on the gospel of John, and next week we are starting a short series on characters of Christmas, but this week I am preaching out of the gospel of Matthew chapter 25 about the parable of the talents and my title is the question I am posing you today and that is What are you doing with your talents? What are you doing with your talents?

And you might ask why I am preaching about talents when this room and this church is full of all this talent? Well One because I am convicted about this. I am concerned not only with my self, members of our church, but Christians as a whole don’t take our talents seriously enough for the glory of God. This parable makes you think deeply about what you are doing with all God has given you.

So-What is a talent biblically speaking- John MacArthur says- A talent is a measure of weight, not a specific coin, so that a talent of gold was more valuable than a talent of silver. A talent of Silver ( the word translated money in verse 18 is silver ) was a considerable sum of money. The modern meaning of the word talent, denoting a natural ability, stems from the application of this parable to the stewardship of one’s natural gifts.

We must understand that every single one of our gifts we have we recieved from God. We may have worked hard on our talents, but make no mistake if you are good at something truly, its a gift from the lord.

Everything is a gift from the Lord from your talents to your finances and everything in between is a gift from God, and we are called to be good stewards of it. Now this parable we are going to be in today I have been pondering for not just the last week as I usually do for our sermons, but over the last several months.

If you are a member here its no secret that we are not a large church, not a rich church, but I believe we are trying to be faithful, but are we being faithful enough, are we glorifying God in all we do, from our giving to our spending, to our salaries, to what we give back to the cooperative program, and everything in-between, but also are we doing all we can to leverage our own talents to reach those around us with of gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what I want you to see today as we dive into the text is this for our main idea…

Christians use and invest their talents to glorify God because he is the one who gave them to us.

Matthew 25:14–30 (ESV)

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

For those taking notes or following along today in our bulletin I have several things I want you to take note of the first is this..

God is the giver of talents.

I really like the Englishman J.C. Ryle says.. We are all God’s “servants.” We have all “talents” entrusted to our charge.

The word “talents” is an expression that has been curiously turned aside from its original meaning. It is generally applied to none but people of remarkable ability or gifts. They are called “talented” people. Such an use of the expression is a mere modern invention. In the sense in which our Lord used the word in this parable, it applies to all baptized persons without distinction. We have all talents in God’s sight. We are all talented people.

Anything whereby we may glorify God is a talent, Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, our senses, our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges as members of Christ’s Church, our advantages as possessors of the Bible,—all, all are talents. Whence came these things? What hand bestowed them? Why are we what we are? Why are we not the worms that crawl on the earth? There is only one answer to these questions. All that we have is a loan from God. We are God’s stewards. We are God’s debtors. Let this thought sink.

The bible says every good and perfect gift comes from above. We so often fail to understand the grace God gives us not only with his Son but also the the gifts and the talents and the abilities and those things he gives us are meant to serve him and advance his kingdom.

I really find the words of Ryle humbling for a few reasons. If it was God’s will we could be be but a worm. Crawling upon the earth waiting to be picked off by the birds of the sky.

But God chose mankind to have authority over this earth, and if you are a believer he has given you his Son and all that comes with that, which far exceeds even our talents and as great as they may be, are just loaned by God for a time for us to use them for his glory, and we owe everything we have to God, to invest it for his glory.

The text makes it clear this master is clearly God and He gives 5, 2, and 1 talent, and does so in accordance of their own abilities.

Scholars say its hard to put an exact amount on how much it would be in todays times but one valued the total of all those gifts at 1,977,600 dollars between the three servants thats a-lot of money if you ask me.

Never the less the three gifts given by God all have a response to those gifts. We see two of them do the Lord’s work really without delay. They don’t sit on what the Lord has given them they invest it for the glory of God. The 5 gets another 5 the 2 gets another 2, but in this parable we have one who just buries it in the ground. Which was common practice at the time. When they wanted to save money.

2 were faithful the other was not, which brings me to my second point…

All will be judged based on what they do with their talents.

The text says the master returns after along time and came and settled his accounts with them. This is two fold one Jesus is coming back, who is the master and we will give for account on this life. One man once said, “Live as though Jesus is coming back today; plan as though he is not coming back for a hundred years.”

Two of these servants I believe lived with that thought in mind. They thought our master is coming what can we do with what our master has given us until he returns, and when he returned they went and came forward proclaiming what they did with the masters talents.

The first servant who had recieved 5 talents brought 5 more, the one who recieved 2 talents brought 2 more, and the Master had the same response to those 2 faithful servants. He said Well Done, good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a little I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

He is rewarding them for their good work. For being faithful for what he had given them.

I couldn’t help but be moved by the words of one man that said, “ the Key to understanding Jesus' point in this parable is the realization that this is not simply about an employee-employer realationship that is cold, hard, and focused on the bottom line. See, for example, the joy in the relationship between these first two servants and their master.

Hear the excitement in the first servant's voice: "Look, Ive earned five more talents" (v. 20). One commentator imagined the scene this way, The man's eyes are sparkling. He is bubbling over with enthusiasm, is thoroughly thrilled, and, as it were, invites his master to start counting" ). And then his master says to him, "Well done, good and faithful slave! ... Share your master's joy!" (v. 23). There is intimacy between the master and the servant, and this is God's design for us as well. The question becomes, Will you be commended for your love? Do you keep watch for Christ in such a way that love is the overflow of your waiting for Him?

I thought of it like this.. In your Love for God will you give all to God for God and for his glory seeking to approve the master over men. Will you let the joy of serving the Lord drive you to use your talents for his kingdom.

This is what I believe two of these servants did. But we have the one servant the outlier in this text that did nothing with what the Lord gave him. And so this one man comes with an excuse before his master and tells him I know you are a hard man, reaping where you do not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so i was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here have what is yours..

Church I thought of it like this.. Self preservation does not = glorification. ( We can’t worship God fully if we are sitting at home all the time and not working for the praises of God )

I quoted J.C. Ryle earlier but he provides another great insight. He says, “To hide our talent is to neglect opportunities of glorifying God, when we have them. The Bible-despiser, the prayer-neglecter, and the Sabbath-breaker,—the unbelieving, the sensual, and the earthly-minded,—the trifler, the thoughtless, and the pleasure-seeker,—the money-lover, the covetous, and the self-indulgent,—all, all are alike burying their Lord’s money in the ground. They have all light that they do not use. They might all be better than they are. But they are all daily robbing God. He has lent them much and they make Him no return. The words of Daniel , are apply to every unconverted person: “the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.” (Dan. 5:23.)”

So the master who gave this man a talent was very upset at the man calling him wicked and slothful.. He doesn’t go after his other sin’s does he goes after the fact that he was a lazy no good steward of what God had given him. To often we get caught up not losing things and in turn we don’t gain anything for the Lord. Remember self-preservation does not = glorification. But this man also did something else he created for himself a master who was harsh, and mean. Alot of us do this.. And we know alot of people outside of the faith do this as well. This man created this image of a hateful master that would punish him if he lost what he gave him, and with that he made an excuse to not be faithful. ( because he really did not know the master ) Our view of God dictates how we use our talents. The problem is He actually didn’t believe that the master reaped where he did not sow and gathered where he did not scattered seed. Because if he did he would have been faithful with that talent.

See a wrong view of God leads to a wrong walk with God. God expects obedience. He expects faithfulness, he expects you to take what he gives you and invest it in things that belong to the Lord.

If we are honest; sometimes we are like the man who buried their talent more than the other two. Because we like the man who wasted his talent don’t have a proper view of our master who is gracious, and kind who ultimately died on the cross for us. And when we loose our right view of God it distorts everything from how we worship him, how we serve him, to how we give back to the church, and everything in-between. A thankful heart will serve the Lord with Joy.

So Jesus finishes with this man telling him. You could have at least invested my money with the bankers and at my coming I should have recieved what was my own with interest.

Now the law of God prohibited charging fellow Jews interest with one another, but when they loaned it to others outside of the faith the gentiles it was fine. Some scholars say they could earn up to 12 percent.

But I believe the point Jesus is trying to make is just do something with what I have given you. Don’t let it go to waste. Don’t burg in the ground letting it sit and do nothing with it.

I think about this suggestion by Jesus when I think about what we do when you give, now things have been tough for us so we have not be able to have the excess that we have had to give as much as we would like to the cooperative program, but I believe it does what Jesus suggests to the man who did nothing with their talent.

It allows us who have a small witness to be a faithful witness to the world. God hasn’t given us the resources of a bigger church, but this church can be faithful with what we have.

Now when we give things like the cooperative program every dollar we give is distributed like this… 42 cents of that money goes to things in this state, some of those things are fall’s creek, cross timbers, baptist collegiate ministries, ( If you remember from falls creek we had people that went with our church who made critical decisions about their walk with Jesus, remember I baptized one of those people ) That is the Lord using your money to invest in his kingdom )

another 15 cents goes to things like obu, waters edge, Oklahoma baptist children's homes, baptist village communities, These things serve our widows, orphans, children who have great needs.

The remaining 43 cents of that goes to the sbc as a whole who uses 2 cents for convention things like the annual meeting stuff like that.. 9 cents goes to the 6 southern baptist seminaries one of which I went to southeastern and you guys helped train me theologically before you ever knew I would be your pastor, and you are helping cutting the cost of those who want to use their lives serving the local church. 10 cents of that is going to the North American Mission Board that goes and strategically plants churches in North America. 22 cents goes to the International Mission Board that supports 3500 missionaries across the globe. ( SO they can do the Lord’s work and not worry about raising funds ) So when you give it matters, when you use your talents to serve the local church and the places you live it matters, because there are over 1800 churches in this state, and 50000 in the country that say its better to use what we have and invest it together than just sit on it and waiting until the Lord returns.

I say this because if it appears to you that the money you are giving is not manifesting into real results, you can see trust me it is. I have gotten to plant countless seeds over the last few years, our online ministy gets several views from people who are not here in house every week and we have got to serve our community with clothing giveaways, and fall festivals and other things like that.

Together we get to make a local, and global difference for the gospel, and not be like this man in the text who sit on their money. Buried it in the ground, and waited until his master came back.

God will achieve his goals no matter what, church we are the one who was giving the one talent, let us not resemble the man who the master took his talent away and gave it to someone else and be casts off to the side, because we are not being faithful with what we have.

I have one more point for you this morning and its this.

The use of our talents have eternal implications.

I have so loved reading R.C. Ryle’s words this week I have another one for you today. “The best of Christians is a poor frail creature, and needs the blood of atonement every day that he lives. But the least and lowest of believers will find that he is counted among Christ’s servants, and that his labour has not been in vain in the Lord. He will discover to his amazement, that his Master’s eye saw more beauty in his efforts to please Him, than he ever saw himself. He will find that every hour spent in Christ’s service, and every word spoken on Christ’s behalf, has been written in a book of remembrance. Let believers remember these things and take courage.—The cross may be heavy now, but the glorious reward shall make amends for all. Well says Leighton, “Here some drops of joy enter into us, but there we shall enter into joy.”

What we do in this life matters. The one who was faithful with the most was given the talents of the man who did nothing with what the Lord gave him, and he recieved a great reward and great work.

This isn’t a prosperity gospel passage its just a fact. The Lord entrusts people to do his work, and when they do it he often gives more. I like what one man said… “He is laying down a principle of the spiritual life, a principle of great importance. Anyone who has a talent (using the word in the modern sense) of any kind and fails to use it, by that very fact forfeits it. By contrast, anyone who has a talent and uses it to the full finds that that talent develops and grows. This is a law of the spiritual life, and we neglect it at our peril. The parable illustrates both possibilities. The servants who used what they had saw it grow; the one who refused to use what he had lost it. Jesus’ followers are warned.”

I have been working out more lately I am sure most of you can tell, but in working out consistently I have grown stronger, feel better, have the ability to do more, and this works the same in the spiritual realm when we invest in the things of the Lord we grow.

What I am asking you to do is to take what you have no matter what you think it is, and work for the Lord, serve him, love him, and invest in all things so you can become like those who in the text invested for the Lord. Ready for his return.

Now I said the use of our talents have eternal implications, and what everyone must know is those who reject Jesus in this life will not have eternal life. And their is no-one who has an excuse to deny him, and all who deny him will go to hell. If you didn’t catch something about this parable is one of these servants isn’t a real disciple of God. A warning to us that we can be around the people of God do things in the name of God yet never be truly saved. While works do not save you fruitfulness is evidence of a saving work of Jesus Christ.

Church I thought of it like this…

At the end of my life though I am justified by Christ I want to tell God, I made much of your son that you gave me. While we are not saved by works, our works are a testimony to the fact we love God. Our obedience to him in all ways shows us we are sold out to make much of Jesus

One last Ryle quote because I know you have loved him. Let us leave this parable with a solemn determination, by God’s grace, never to be content with a profession of Christianity without practice. Let us not only talk about religion, but act. Let us not only feel the importance of religion, but do something too. We are not told that the unprofitable servant was a murderer, or a thief, or even a waster of his Lord’s money. But he did nothing,—and this was his ruin. Let us beware of a do-nothing Christianity. Such Christianity does not come from the Spirit of God. “To do no harm,” says Baxter, “is the praise of a stone, not of a man.”

So where do we go from here as a church. We take a hard look on how we are doing things spiritually, how we are using our own talents, and our resources.

Soon we are going to have 30 days of prayer, and I am going to provide you with helps to pray.

We are as a church going to continue reevaluating how we are using God’s resources, so we can continue to do faithful ministry, but no matter what happens to this place I want you as people of God to live using your talents to serve Jesus.

I want you to live as though Jesus is returning today, but plan as though he is not coming back soon.

So What am I asking from you? Pray about your talents, and ask God am i using them for your glory, and your kingdom. Pray about your resources, and how you are giving, and if you can sacrifice more than do it, if not I understand. ( I get it times are tough ) But I want to tell you I would never ask you to do something I would never ask of myself.

I want this church to be healthy, spiritually, financially and that is going to take us as a church to sacrifice and the six letter word nobody likes (change) And do that all for the glory of God.

To use and invest our talents to glorify God because he is the one who gave them to us.

Let us pray…