Three "Talented" Fellows

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 22:1-21

Psalm 22:1–21 ESV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

Scripture Reading: Psalm 1:1-4

Psalm 1:1–4 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Sermon:

Well, good morning church. I was glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house of the lord.

Today, we turn our attention to, Probably not the most famous parable of jesus, but it's definitely among the most famous parables of jesus. It's in the top 5 for sure. It is a parable tha most of us have probably heard once or twice before. It's the parable of the talents.

And before we read, before we dive into it, i want to make sure we place it again in its correct context. Now, for the third week, I've been harping on this thought that Last week's message: the parable of the 10 virgins, this week's: the parable of the talents, next week's: the sheep, and the goat, and the warnings against final judgment… All of these fall under the umbrella of jesus teaching that no one knows the day or hour of when he will return. And because of that, there are certain consequences and these these parables will sort of build on. Then, even more than that, these series of parables sort of elaborate on or feed into and inform each other.

So last week, we looked at the parable of the 10 virgins and we noted That there's a difference between wise and foolishness. And while that sort of obvious we are talking about being wise by anticipating, loveing and looking forward to the return or our Lord and Savior and King. So then in this, we noted that there was those who longed to see the bridegroom, who would prepare to see the bridegroom, who prepared their hearts and souls and minds for this and others who thought they could just buy their way into this party. And we saw the disastrous consequences.

This week, what we will note is because we don't know the day or the hour, what we do with what we have been given by god becomes of utmost Importance.

It might be helpful to look to the great commentator, the great 19th century commentator, JC Ryle. And as he moved from the parable of the 10 virgins to where we are Now-- to the parable of the talents — he says this: Overall, there's the same message [again: No one knows a day or the hour] but he says this: “the practical lesson of each parable becomes the main point of difference. Vigilance is the keynote of the first parable. Diligence is the keynote of the second.” The parable of the talents is a parable about being diligent and doing what God has called you to do. To live in the good works that God has prepared in advance that we may walk in them.

So to that end, We're going to approach this parable differently because many of us are so familiar with it. We're going to break it down and read it in sections. So before we dive into all of that and doing all of that, let's open with a word of prayer.

Dear Lord we Thank you for today. Thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you for all the precious gifts you give us. You give us breath in our lungs. You have given us the sunrise each and every morning. WE know and proclaim that even that is a precious gift from you. And to the point and for opur hearts this morning we know that in fact you give us gifts by which we serve you and please you. Not of our own strength and might but because of you working in us, So thank you. May we be faithful servants. We pray that we would hear from your word this morning. We pray that you would use this time to sanctify us to grow us into the image of your son. For its in his name that we pray. Amen.

As we go through this, I think it's best to to look at this parable through the different scenes that unfold. Then as we do this we will see that each one, will give us insight and access to understand what jesus is doing here. And in the first scene, THE TALENTS ARE DISPERSED.

Scene 1: TALENTS DISPERSED

This is the beginning. Let's read Matthew chapter 25. We're going to start in verse 14.

Matthew 25:14–18 ESV

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

We should start by wondering what are the issues here. The talents are being dispersed, but first, we have to ask what exactly is a talent. Here's your bit of fun Trivia of the way these words work: the English word talent Comes from this parable.

To us talent means those sort of inherent gifts. those things that were good at. and It's hard to define talent without using the word talent because out talents are the things we are talented At. In English, It's those Things that we have a natural ability seemingly to do well. But even how we interact with these things makes this a bit difficult. Because Sometimes we have talents that are natural. WE often call these “god-given talent”. And this is contrasted with the other talents, ones that we foster and hone and craft. Both are talents - we make a distinction, but probably a false one. For what we should understand is BOTH of those are “god-given”. But we understand in English, what that word means. But that is not all of what is going on here.

In the Greek, when jesus said this, and when Matthew wrote this parable, it was actually nothing more than a unit of measure. In particular, A talent was a rather large borderline and enormous unit of measure. Specifically, it weighed precious metals anything from bronze to gold copper silver. It was the largest unit of whatever currency you were dealing with. By way of example, we have sort of the smallest pennies all the way up to the largest printed bill: A hundred dollar bill. But even the difference between a penny and a hundred dollar bill are not necessarily as helpful, because $100 does not even come close to the actual worth of a talent. Commentators estimate how much one talent would be worth, And they range anywhere from a couple thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. It's hard to know exactly what it was. So probably the best way to figure this was, You're looking at in a talent. What someone would expect to make in about half of their working life.

So to give these Servants talents: That's a big deal. But what do these talents represent? Anytime we come to a parable, we should ask. Okay? That's what it is, but what does it represent? And here's where the English word may be helpful. This is how people, since English has been being spoken and written down, have interpreted, what a talent is: They are these are those things that god gives to us by which we can serve him. But we should note: They are still his.

Often, when we think of our talents, we think of MY talents, that I use to serve god, and if we're thinking that way, you're not thinking about what's in this parable. .Again to read Matthew 25:14

Matthew 25:14 (ESV)

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.

So they are all God’s, truly all things are God’s, but as we approach the parable of the talents, this note is important. These are not just things that we just have. There are things given to us BY God, FOR god to be given TO God in service OF God that ultimately belong to God. And then, knowing that we could start to enumerate all of theses things. But that's probably a fruitless exercise to try to do. Because it is: yes, those things that you're good at, then ALL the things you've been given, Ultimately ALL the things that you have. Often you will hear pastors say that we should honor God with, and we love some good alliteration, so we say, honor God with: Your time talent and treasure. But truly ALL of those things, i think, go under what Jesus is describing here in the parable of the talents. For It is your time, each breath, each heartbeat, each millisecond is a gift from God, we should use it for him. It's more than just money, but it's definitely not less than money and includes all your fiances. It's the things that you're good at and also the things that maybe you're not good at because his strength is made perfect in your weakness. And so the talents, as we look through and evaluate these things, I would argue, it's nothing less than your whole life. I believe that one of the reasons that people have loved this parable so much for so long is it forces us to ask the most important sort of question: What will you do with your life?

Then, having wrestled with the talents before we continue on we can look at the rest of the pictures. We can start with this the man going on a journey. Who is that? Its jesus. It's fairly obvious that it's jesus, But what is he doing? He's going on a journey. We could get really specific from the time of saying this parable. This is the next to the last parable before he goes to Passover. Praying in the garden, then arrested to death. This is the end and so the journey Is, in some sense, the journey to the cross, his death, his resurrection, His ascension. And as he ascended, now, he's gone on the journey to heaven from where he will return. We could think that way, that's probably a right way to think it. He'll be delayed after a long time, he will come. That's what we're going to talk about on Thursday, at grace group. SO the master, the one who entrusts us with his property, is jesus. He gives to us those things that we need by which to serve and love him. And he WILL come back and there will be a reckoning.

Finally then, are the servants. This one seems easy, it's just people. While That's not fully right, it's not wrong either. For God his grace gives to all people breath and life. But here, i would argue that the servants in general are the church with an important distinction. Because most of us know how this parable is going to go. This is the church at large. The visible and the invisible church, those saved by the blood of jesus washed in his perfect, sanctifying blood AND those who are affiliated with the community but have never Come to jesus to find their perfect savior.

It's both of these that god gives things. In his special grace given at the cross, but also what we would call his common grace, grace given to all people such that he allows sinners to live on his earth, and even enjoy some of the things he has created. So that the talents become a way to measure where your heart is.

As i was sitting and brainstorming and pondering and contemplating this parable and and how we would handle these things. I had the following sort of epiphany it comes to us sort of in three lines. This is how i wrote it.

THIS IS A PARABLE ABOUT WORKING

BUT IT IS NOT ABOUT WORKING TO BE SAVED

RATHER IT IS ABOUT THE WORKS OF THOSE WHOM GOD HAS ALREADY SAVED

This parable is about getting to work. It is a parable about working. But note this: The works do not, and truly CAN NOT save. We'll see this as we get to the next points. It's not that the works themselves save. The works then are a fruit of being in christ. So it is a parable about works but the works don't save, Rather the works become an evidence of those who are saved.

This is the same thought we read throughout all of scripture. Most clearly we could think of the book of James. where he says: You say, you have faith. That's nice. I'll show you my faith by my works. And ultimately he teaches us that Faith without works is dead. And so as we read this parable, note this, that the works cannot and will not save, but this parable becomes a chance for us to look at our lives and say, if there are no works, i may not be as saved as i think i am.

If the process of sanctification is not happening in my life, What type of servant am i? Am i good and faithful servant, the one who will enter into the rest of the master? Or am I a wretched servant? Not truly knowing, something that again, we will come to in a bit, but not truly knowing who the master is. Those are the big pictures. We have the talents, the one who gives them and the servants, who work with them. As we read the talents dispersed, we also have the opportunity to see and understand what's done with them.

The one with five takes those five, and makes five more. The one with two, takes those two and makes two more. But the one with only one talent shows in some way that he was only worthy to receive that one. He buries it in the ground. He hid it. This is important, it was NOT HIS it was his masters.

Matthew 25:18 ESV

But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

So ultimately this is hiding God's things that God has given to you. And This has becomes A tragic thing. So we can continue to see the story unfold. Moving to scene, two, where FAITHFULNESS IS REWARDED

Scene 2: FAITHFULNESS REWARDED

Matthew 25:19–23 ESV

Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 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.’ 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.’ 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.’ 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.’

Here, in the second scene The faithfulness of the first two servants is rewarded.

A lot of people make a lot of fuss over the fact that one guy gets five talents, One guy gets two, and one guy gets one. What's going on here? Well, Simply put: We're all given different talents and different ways that we area called to serve God. This is why it's important to understand the nature of Whats going on. to understand that it is nothing less than and really nothing more than the faithfulness that is rewarded. For God is the one who gives these gifts. God's the one who, in Ephesians, he prepares good works in advance that we should walk in them.

So the measure is not how many, or how much good works you did? It's not as if you can go and make a to-do list, if i will do all of these good deeds and then God will be happy with me. The measure is always faithfulness. And so if you've been given five talents, you be faithful with that. If you've been given two, you be faithful that. If you've been given one, be faithful on that. If he hasn't even given you one full talent, be faithful and what he's given you. And i can say this with confidence because we can note the reward that the faithfulness gets and it has nothing to do with how much they did with their money. Has to do with their faithfulness.

There is a three-fold reward and both servants get it equally. There are no tiers here, no levels to the reward, but for all faithful servants the same rewards are given. The first reward is the praise of their master and their lord.

For both of them --We read the exact same phrase-- His master said to him, Well done Good and faithful Servant. the same words in verse 21 and verse 23. Here is the hope, it is this commendation: Well done. If we look at this compared to the last parable, the only words of the bridegroom we read in the parable of the virgins was “Truly, i say to you, i do not know you.” This is the flip side of being not known. It's hearing the praise of your savior. Well done, good, and faithful servants.

Not because you now brought me five talents, having five talents isn't what gets this praise. Because the guy who had two got the exact same praise. So It's being what he praises you for: being good and faithful. Being faithful over, even little. In all honesty, the master in this parable is a bit sarcastic, and says some things rather tongue in cheek, because as we know that a talent was not a little. So being faithful over five or two or even one is not from OUR point of view being faithful over just a little. But on the other hand, if your masters is rich as this, that he can just throw around talents giving to his servants as he goes on a trip — to him it may feel like a little. For us, we know that God owns all things. In reality, these are big things. And these servants endeavored to be faithful to do with them what they could. They tried. They were rewarded for their trying. The first reward is this: praise. May we all hear “Well done. My good and faithful servants.”

The second reward, we can note. Is more work. Here's another way we know this is not about doing works to be saved. Rather about works as a fruit of those who are saved. Because as we show our faithfulness, god will give us more work. Its not about doing to fulfill a checklist, it is about doing in gratitude to the God who gives us everything, in particular he gives us life and light, hope and salvation, peace and comfort, a new heart with his law written upon it, eternal life and MORE. So the reward is more of all that, in the for of more work for him. More work because the harvest is plentiful in the laborers are few. Because you are faithful over a little, here comes more. One of the rewards we get in service to god is we get to serve him more. Not because this is a rote duty, but because it is our joy to serve the master whom we love.

Because this leads to our third reward: Entering into the joy of your master. We enter into the Lord’s Joy. It's interesting how this is phrased in worded. It's not just that we get joy. It's actually the joy that belongs to The master. It is quite literally, the joy of the lord. There's the old song: “The joy of the lord is my strength” and that one line is basically the whole song. and while it is not using a lot of words, it is saying a whole whole lot. Because that is the reward here, that's the issue here, that it it is the lord's joy that comes it it implants itself in these faithful servants. It has to do with the master being joyous in them, but also their standing in the master. It's a two-way street and it's a beautiful one.

There is a reward for faithfulness. The master may be long delayed, we don't know when he's coming back, but when he does We should be about the father's business. As we look back to last parable, we should be prepared for him to come and preparing to prepare for him to come and part of that preparation is going and doing whatever he set before us. Proclaiming the gospel to every single person we can, ultimately being about the father's business.

That we may enter into his rest. To Hear “Well done my good and faithful servants.” To have the joy of being tasked with more work for the father. then ultimately in heaven, Entering into the fullness of Joy as we are singing praises on ending to his name. There is a great reward for faithfulness.

Well, that's the first two scenes. And it's basically about half of the parable for the third one — This is the one with the weight. The third scene, illustrates SLOTHFULNESS BEING DEALT WITH.

Scene 3: SLOTHFULNESS DEALT WITH

That's the nicest way I could think of to say: Judgment is going to fall on this final servant. Picking up in verse 24.

Matthew 25:24–30 ESV

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, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 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? 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. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 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. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

There's a lot to unpack here. Just a few thoughts. The idea that the one who has, 10 will get more. People read a lot into that. I don't think that's actually that big of a deal here. It is the closing of a thought in the previous section. You've been faithful — Jesus said to the first — you've been faithful over little, i'll put you over much. And so, here's part of the much. I wouldn't read too much into this. Our attention, and the point deals with the one wicked servant. So this is where we must spend our time and attention.

The servants problem is twofold.

The first is what's called out by name in this passage: He's lazy. He is slothful. He's not working.

Matthew 25:26 (ESV)

But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!

The servant says this accusation against the master: Matthew 25:24-25 “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, so I was afraid.

But then the master speaks up: wait, that's what you think and So you did nothing?!?! With what i gave you You did nothing? It is almost comical if it was not so tragic. “No, i buried it. I kept it safe.” No, the master basically says, You. did. nothing.

How long did it take you to bury? He was gone for a long time. So what? You dug a hole left it there for a couple years and thought you'd be good? Well, these other two servants were about my business. Here, you lazy worthless wicked servant, you did nothing. Connecting this back to last week, Much like the virgins. And the parable there, he probably thought he could just skate by and just do whatever and he'll figure it out as he goes along. It's not that big a deal.

His sin, Interestingly, was not a sin of commission. His sin is not a sin about something, he did. And that's when we often think of sins, we think of sins of commission. I did this, i did that. On the contrary, his sin was a sin of omission. He didn't work. Through fear, through a lack of trust, a lack of knowledge and how the master truly was, Whatever it was this man did not work. He was lazy. He Did nothing and that's what he receives chastisement for. To not work. To not be at work. May be a sign of some serious issues in your heart.

Again. This is a parable about work. Not working to save yourself. You can't do that. But work is a fruit of those who are truly saved. The first problem, this servants. First problem is his slothfulness, he's He's lazy, and it's dealt with, it's dealt with swiftly. It's dealt with severely. He's cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But we should note, that his slothfulness is not the heart problem. because works cant save. For on the other end of this spectrum are These again, we come to these people who think they'll be safe. People who, for whatever reason, have told them themselves: “I go to church. I do this. I do that.” They THINK that they have done, we go back to the sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7: “I did great deeds. I cast out demons, i prophesied in his name,” Those works also receive chastisement, they hear: Depart from me, i never knew you. SO we have to dive deeper.

to say slothfulness will be dealt with is a huge understatement. There will be judgment. But i'd like to spend our time dealing with what i see to be the slothful servants biggest problem. So show it lets take a step back.

The first two servants, we are given the words that they say to the master, they come, we read them. “You deliver to me Five talents? here, I have made more.” The second servant is the same: “you delivered to me, two talents here. I have made two talents more.” Then we see the words that come out of the mouth of the wicked sermon: “Master. I knew you'd be a hard man. Reaping where you did not so gathering where you scattered. No seeds. So i was afraid and i went and hid your talent in the ground.”

His fundamental underlying problem, even more than his laziness, is that He doesn't know the master. He mis-characterizes the master. So the master responds, and i believe we are to read this sort of sarcastically. The master is again, like the “faithful over a little” is hyperbolic in his statements. Because what he shows next is that The servant isn't even good at His misunderstanding of the master. The masters response is basically like this: “So wait a second, you thought i was the type of person who reaped where i didn't sow, who gathered collected where i didn't do any work. You thought i was that type of person. And if you actually thought that, what in your brain would tell you, the best plan is to do nothing with my money? If you truly thought that that's how i was, you would have at least garnered some interest for me. You woulds have done at least a little something because, you know, this is what i expect.”

But in reality, the servant has it ALL wrong. He doesn’t know the master. For truly He is a good and kind master. He's the one who cares for and loves his servants. The one who will gladly, welcome with open arms, those who come to him humbly. The one who will reward the good and faithful servants. He's a good kind, loving master. The wicked servant starts with this fundamental misunderstanding, they think the master Expects this or that and must be like this or that. And he's very harsh. And so he tries to, in his own strength and might, figure out a way to not get himself in trouble and that costs him everything.

Here, i think is our lesson for today. How we approach our savior is truly at the heart of this parable. John talks about this In first john. The idea that Everyone who knows God loves — because god is love. This is he writes: first john: I write these things that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. One of the ways you know, is as god's love works in us we in turn then love those around us. That's one of those talents that, i think jesus is talking about here. When we know and understand the love of God it then becomes an ever flowing source of love from within us. And so, we are able to love the unlovable. Love the difficult. Love others -- not in our own strength and might, never in our own strength and might -- But because of God at work within us. So we, in what is both a mystery and a great promise, we WORK in the REST of Christ.

He's given us these talents. WE lovingly and graciously given them back. WE in fact, BOLDLY give them back. One commentator, I thought this was a clever point, (I don't know if this is exactly in the text, but it drives this point home). Why could the five servant and two servant, the five talent servant and the two talent servant, be so bold in their investment strategy. Anyone with basic financial literacy will tell you that There is there are no safe investments that will gain you a hundred percent return on income. They just don't exist.

But these two did that, so they must have been bold, a little out there, they must have been willing to put their neck on the line to do this. Ultimately I would say that they were willing to be bold in ostentatious with their investment strategy. How could they do that? It is because they know the master. If we remember back, Matthew 18, there was another parable. We talked about The parable of the unforgiving servant. Maybe the reason these servants, these two faithful servants could be so bold and be so fruitful in how they invested their talent because they knew the forgiveness and grace of their master.

This guy who when we went through that parable, we saw that the master was willing to forgive a debt of, Matthew 18:24 10,000 talents. Not one or two or five, but far and above that. And the master forgave that servant. So now these servants, different parable but hear the heart, they know the gace and forgivness of the master. Well, they know the master will forgive it, that will, then i'll do my best. I'll grow this talent. That's the issue here. The first two servants. They knew the master this last one. He didn't. He had a caricature in his mind. And so he came to god thinking well god will punish me if i don't do this. God will punish me if i do this. God will be this. It'll be that and he misses the boat completely. How do we fix this? How do we live in light of this parable? Know, the master. THEN serve the master. He has grace abounding for those who trust in him. You don't work to earn it. You can never earn it. But once he's given you salvation, life, and breath and everything, how can you not give graciously to him all things? You know, i get in trouble. Sometimes. Not recently. But sometimes people want to know about giving to God. They Ask: How much do i give? You know, we talk about tithes and those sorts of things, should i give 10 percent? and my response is usually that that is a great start. But truly, you owe God everything. So, you must serve him. With everything.

Let's pray.