Jesus' Parables about Money

Parable of the Talents

Before you get too worried about what our summer series is going to be about, I’m not here to try to make any of us feel guilty about money, or how we spend it.

During this series, I may share a little bit about what God has been teaching Donna & I about money. Some principles may come from some of Dave Ramsey’s material, not totally sure how much will, but I’m sure that some will.

I hope that we find this series practical, encouraging, hopeful, and helpful.

A lot of what Jesus talked about when it came to money, not only had practical every day lessons, but He also compared it to our relationship with God.

This morning, we’ll look at the Parable of the Talents, and see what it has to do with every day living.

Before we read our Scripture today, I want to share a little story called:

The Cheapest way to Park a Rolls Royce

Before going to Europe on business, a man drove his Rolls-Royce to a downtown New York City bank and went in to ask for an immediate loan of $5,000. The loan officer swallowed hard and asked for collateral. The man replied, “Well then, here are the keys to my Rolls-Royce.”

The loan officer promptly asked a clerk to drive the car into the bank's underground parking for safe-keeping and gave the man $5,000.

Two weeks later, the man returned to the bank and asked to pay off his loan and get his car back. The loan officer said, “That will be $5,000 in principle and $15.40 in interest,” The man wrote out a check, got up, and started to walk away.

“Wait sir,” the loan officer called after him. “While you were gone, I learned you're a millionaire. Why in the world would you need to borrow $5,000?”

The man smiled. “Where else could I safely park my Rolls-Royce in Manhattan for two weeks and only pay $15.40?”

- Precept Austin

Let’s read Matthew 25:14-30

Matthew 25:14–30 NLT

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

In our story today, there were three servants or hired workers. I’m not sure whether they were blue collar or white collar, but they were employed by a master, or in our day and age, we would say the owner of a company.

He planned a trip and gave each a task according to their abilities.

So they were not only servants, but they became stewards of the boss’s money.

We are stewards...

What is a steward?

The Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary Stewardship

The process of being responsible with someone else's property while it is entrusted.

I can only speak from my experience. I have been a pastor, a farmer, a labourer, a sales clerk, and I have had responsibilities to manage certain areas of a company.

It wasn’t often that the boss would go on a long trip, but I felt responsible for what John entrusted me to take care of.

I didn’t like to start new jobs after 4:30 in the afternoon, because closing was at 5:00, but there were times that storms were threatening, and the outside bins had a tendency to leak.

In the part of Ontario that I lived, there were a lot of smaller farmers or even hobby farmers. It didn’t pay for John to buy the mills to produce all the different types of feed: dairy ration, layer crumbles, hog grower, steam Rolled Corn or Barley, etc, so we would bring it in from Landmark Feeds in Manitoba.

If rain was on the way, the feed needed to be bagged. If necessary, I’d stay until 7:00 to get the job done. That’s what farm boys do. I felt it was my responsibility to take care of my department. That’s what a steward does.

In our story there were

3 Stewards

Each was given what they were capable of managing. The owner knew his workers and he knew what they were able to handle.

Just as in the ordinary tasks in our lives, God knows what we can handle. He doesn’t want us to feel overwhelmed, but when we do, we can cast all our cares upon Him for He cares for us.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

When we are in the middle of a test, which is the same Greek word as temptation, when things are tough God is still faithful. He will not let us be tested in the trial, more than we can bear.

Mother Teresa said, “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle, I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” (Habits for well-being)

Sometimes we look at others and we wonder,

Is God Fair?

Being fair doesn’t always mean being equal.

It’s like the twenty-five year old wanting the same house that his/her parents have spent 30 years to build up to.

We need to be faithful in the small things.

When you feel like giving up, when life is hard, when you feel like you don’t know where to turn, don’t quit! Don’t give up!

Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Two of these stewards were faithful in what they were given. One hid the silver.

What has God given you?

Not everybody has the same abilities. That’s obvious! But we need to use what’s in our hands.

We live in a very blessed nation. To be in the top 50% of the world’s population as of 2018, your net worth would need to be

50% - $5,720 CDN

10% - $122,600 CDN

1% - $1,146,500 CDN

It can be so easy to look at the have’s versus the have not’s and feel that it’s impossible to do anything for God.

It’s not always about money.

Maybe you’ve heard of

Time

Talents

Treasure

Time

Ephesians 5:15–17 NKJV

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

We need to make the most out of every opportunity. It can be so easy to put off for tomorrow what we can do today.

We don’t have a promise for tomorrow. We have this moment and we need to live every day to the fullest.

James 4:14 NKJV

whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

The most important thing that we can do is to make sure that we are ready to meet Jesus.

Today is the day of salvation. Let’s not put off being right with God for tomorrow.

What if Jesus had said, “Maybe I’ll die on the cross some other time.”

Romans 5:6–11 NLT

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

We have been called to be ambassadors for God to bring this message of Christ to others.

But my time is too important to volunteer...

You never know how important your time is to God. It might be baking cookies for kids club. It might be leading a Bible Study. It could be caring for someone who is sick.

Your time is important to God. One day when we stand before God, we won’t be telling Him that our time was too valuable to give to Him, we are only stewards of the time that He gives us. We will be glad to hear, “Well Done!”

Talents

God has given each of us special abilities, some people are musical, others are great teachers, still some have the gift of hospitality. Others have special creativity, some are leaders, some have the gift of giving, others are intercessors, and the list can go on and on.

In different seasons in our lives, the giftings can change, but God will equip you with the gift that you need for the time. You can have many gifts and wear many hats, but God will not lay on you more than you can handle, but in times where you feel overwhelmed, His grace is sufficient for you, because His strength is made perfect in weakness.

It doesn’t take faith to do something that is easy for you, but when you God calls you to do something that is too big for you, it’s not too big for Him.

Ephesians 1:18–23 NLT

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

The NIV says that God the Father has placed all things under Jesus’ feet. Even if we’re in over our head, it’s still under Jesus’ feet. Hold on to Jesus. He’ll see you through.

Let’s not hide our light under a basket. Let’s not hide our talents, but let’s be willing to use our talents for Jesus, and the world will see and glorify our Father in Heaven.

Finally, let’s look at our

Treasure

This includes our giving.

We said earlier that the three servants were stewards of what their master had given them.

Whatever we have is not our own, but it is the LORD’s.

One day each of us will stand before God and give an account for how we have used the resources that God has entrusted us with whether our time, talents and treasure.

In the Old Testament, God asked His children to bring their first fruits to Him.

But Pastor Dave, that was the Law, we aren’t under law, we are under grace.

Abel who was before the Law gave His best to the Lord. Abraham gave to Melchizedek one tenth of what he had.

Since we are stewards, this is a change in thinking, and not owners, we give back to the LORD what He has blessed us with.

We even dedicated and gave our children back to the LORD when they were young and asked that God would bless them.

In our tithes and our offerings, if we don’t give from the first fruits, at the beginning of our pay cheques, it will be hard to give to the LORD at the end. Something will always come up to get in the way of our giving.

10% is a good starting point, but as God blesses us we need to be willing to give from our abundance.

For Donna and I, we have made the commitment to the LORD to give from our first fruits.

When I was farming in the middle of BSE, and many times, my expenses virtually exceeded my income, that’s when I was a volunteer farmer, I gave what I was able.

God blessed me with enough pasture and enough work. He provided ministry opportunities, as well as custom work to have enough money to make the ends meet.

Yes we all go through trials of many kinds, and God is faithful. He cannot fail you, and He will not fail you. Even in your storm, He is there.

In this parable, God gave more responsibility to those who were faithful and to the one who did nothing, he cast out.

In closing, I want to make it clear that it’s not a competition to be a part of the kingdom of God. It’s not our job to compare who is great in the kingdom.

Each one of us will stand before God and the most important question will be, “What have you done with Jesus?” To the faithful, He will say well done.”

That’s my prayer is that each will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the LORD.”

Psalm 16:11 NKJV

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Let’s pray!