Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In the movie 1973 film Papillon which stared Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman...
The main character, Papillon, was a criminal who was imprisoned for life for crimes against the French state.
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The movie portrayed the dreams he had while in prison.
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In one dream, he stood before a tribunal for a crime.
He pleaded with the judge that he was not guilty of the crime for which he was being tried.
The judge replied that he was not being tried for that crime, but for a crime that is the most heinous crime of the human race.
Papillon asked what crime it was.
The judge replied, “The crime of a wasted life.”
Papillon wept and simply said, “Guilty.”
The judge pronounced the sentence of death.
To which Papillon just kept repeating “Guilty, guilty, guilty.”
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In reality...
The crime of a wasted life will not only lead to death by eternal death.
A life without purpose...
A life without true hope...
Is a life without Christ...
For only in Christ can we escape the death sentence we all deserve...
For only in Christ can fulfill the chief end of man...
For man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever!
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 25 and focus on verses 14 and 30.
Our message this morning is called, “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”
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As you are finding your place in God’s Word...
I would like to share that this message will cover one of the most wellknown of Jesus’ parables...
A parable that contains truth that will lead to eternal life...
And present us with the formula that leads to us hearing the six sweetest words God can ever say to us:
“Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”
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This morning we will cover four main points:
The Giving of Talents...
The Use of Talents...
The Faithful Servants...
And...
The Worthless Servant.
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
Sovereign ruler...
Our mighty and awesome God...
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Show us your truth in your Word...
Show us were we are falling short...
And Show us what we need to change and do in out life to honor you.
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We thank you for not turning your back on us...
We thank you for your patience...
We thank you for every breathe that you have allowed us to draw...
For every breathe is a miracle.
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Forgive us as we have forgiven others...
And help us to serve you more faithfully...
Help us to live a life that will lead to us hearing your Son declare:
“Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
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.’
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Giving of Talents
1) The Giving of Talents
Verses 14-15: “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.”
Let’s start by defining a few key terms found in the opening of our passage.
The word “it” in the introduction of this verse where it say “For it will be like” is a reference to the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, Jesus wants us to have Heaven in view as we are processing this parable.
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Additionally, the man in this parable is obviously a man of means, and he wanted to have his money used profitably while he was away.
So, he summoned his own servants and passed over to them the money he wanted them to invest while he was away.
This man is also supposed to represent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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Next, the term “servant” is “doulos” in the Koine Greek.
As the MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Matthew says:
“Doulos, the singular of slaves, was a general term that referred to any kind and level of bondservant.
It was used of common laborers and menial household servants as well as of skilled craftsmen and artists and highly-trained professionals.
Their commonness was in being the personal property of their owners, who often had the power of life and death over them.
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A wealthy person would often have special slaves who functioned as overseers of his household and managers of his business.
In many cases some of a man’s slaves were much better educated and skilled than he was.
Highly trusted slaves sometimes had a virtual free hand within proscribed areas of responsibility even when the owner was at home.
When he left town for any length of time, they acted almost in his full authority, having the equivalent of what we now refer to as power of attorney.
They were responsible for handling all the assets and business operations of their owner for his benefit and profit.”
These servants that are mentioned in this parable represent individuals who identify as being Christian...
However as we will see...
Just because someone identifies as a Christian...
And just because someone call Jesus Lord does not mean they truly believe Jesus is Lord in their heart.
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The MacArthur Study Bible has this to say about this parable:
“The parable of the talents illustrates the tragedy of wasted opportunity.
The man who goes on the journey represents Christ, and the slaves represent professing believers given different levels of responsibility.
Faithfulness is what he demands of them, but the parable suggests that all who are faithful will be fruitful to some degree.
The fruitless person is unmasked as a hypocrite and utterly destroyed.”
So, the central point of the parable concerns the importance of being a faithful servant of all that God has entrusted to one’s care.
The task with which believers are to be occupied until Christ returns is good stewardship for his benefit of all that he has loaned us.
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Next let’s define another term in our passage...
A “talent” was the highest unit of currency known to Jesus’ hearers...
It was a measure of weight and was equivalent to about 75 pounds.
So, a talent of cooper was 75 pounds of cooper...
A talent of silver was 75 pounds of silver...
And a talent of gold was 75 pounds of gold.
In fact, the English word “talent” which means a natural endowment or special ability, is derived from this parable...
But this parable should not be limited to just natural abilities.
As Scholar R.T. France says:
“It is then more about responsibility than about natural endowment, though the degree of responsibility given to each depends on their individual ability.
The “talents,” however, do not represent that individual ability but are allocated on the basis of it.
They represent not the natural gifts and aptitudes which everyone has, but the specific privileges and opportunities of the kingdom of heaven and the responsibilities they entail.
The parable thus teaches that each disciple has God-given gifts and opportunities to be of service to their Lord, and that these are not the same for everyone, but it is left to the reader to discern just what those gifts and opportunities are.”
MacArthur likewise says:
“Jesus mentions only three levels of responsibility, but those are suggestive of the extremely wide range of individual abilities among people, who vary greatly in natural talent, intellect, and other capabilities.
They also vary greatly in opportunity and privilege.
Some church members have heard the gospel and studied Scripture since early childhood, whereas others know only the rudiments of the faith and have had little opportunity to learn more.
Those who are true believers are also given spiritual gifts that vary widely from person to person.
Some Christians are privileged to live and work closely with others of like faith and are continually encouraged and corrected by fellow believers.
Other Christians, however, are the only believers in their families or even in their community or town.
God knows intimately the abilities, gifts, opportunities, and circumstances of every person, and He graciously assigns responsibilities accordingly.”
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The current value of a talent is debated as it could refer to either cooper, silver, or gold...
Although I have come across lower and higher figures a conservative estimate is that one talent is worth $150,000...
So, two talents is worth $300,000...
And five talents is worth $750,000.
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So, we see that the master gives different amounts of talents based on the ability of the individual...
Some have more that others but each person has something.
Whether an individuals “talents” are worth $150,000 or $750,000 the key is what is done with those talents...
Or, put in applicable terms for our daily life...
The abilities, gifts, opportunities, and circumstances of every person may vary greatly...
But God is concerned about what you do with the things given to you.
For example...
What are you doing with the abilities God gave you?
What are you doing with the gifts God gave you?
What are you doing with the opportunities God gave you?
What are you doing with the circumstances God gave you?
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Lets look at our next point to see what these three servants...
All with different abilities...
Did with the talents God gave them.
2) The Use of Talents
2) The Use of Talents
Verses 16-19: 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. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
Church, we can see that the servant with five talents or $750,000 immediately got to work and over the time that the master was away managed to doubled the master’s money...
Now he had ten talents which is worth $1,500,000 ($1.5 million).
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The servant with two talents or $300,000 doubled the master’s money too...
Now he had four talents which is worth $600,000.
Although, he had less talents to begin with...
He was able to double his talents just like the first servant.
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So, the first and second servants acted industriously and earned a return on their entrusted amounts, probably by setting up some kind of business.
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However, the servant with one talent or $150,000 just buried his master’s money...
Sure, in the ancient world, burying money or valuables was considered a responsible way to keep it safe...
However, this action produced nothing more that what he already started with so it gained no value over time.
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The major problem here is that the master did not give the third servant on talent just to hold on to it...
There is an expectation that he would do something with it.
The master has been gone for some time...
He wants those who are his servants to continue the work they have been assigned.
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Then our passage in this section ends with “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”
The time has now come for the master to see what kind of work each servant has been up to...
It is now time to settle accounts...
Or as Romans 2:16 says:
16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Just like he master will evaluate the work of each servant...
God will judge each man and women based on the secrets of their hearts...
For the secrets of the heart reveal the truth of whether a person is truly born again of not...
The secrets of the heart reveal if the person truly has a relationship with the Lord or if it is all just lip service.
2 Corinthians 5:10 puts it this way:
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
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There will be a day that the master comes back to settle accounts...
This day can’t be avoided...
The three servants represent the different kinds of people who identify as Christians...
And the master represents Christ and His judgement as seen in Revelation 22:12 which says:
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
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So, how was each servant judged?
Let’s look at our next point to see what happens next.
3) The Faithful Servants
3) The Faithful Servants
Verses 20-23: 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.’
Please note here that both the man with five talents and the man with two talents received exactly the same reward...
This should then indicate to us that the reward is based on faithfulness, not results.
So, faithful stewardship pleases our Lord far more than the actual return on His investment.
Additionally, faithful stewardship in this life will result in being given greater responsibility and stewardship in the life to come.
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Notice this too...
Keeping in mind the huge value of a single talent...
The master says even the 10 talents is just “a few things”...
And then he talks about the “many things” which follow...
And that should be understood a a very huge responsibility.
But along with the added responsibility goes a significant change of status too...
The new relationship of sharing the master’s joy and happiness.
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As Pastor John MacArthur says:
“Saving faith is serving faith.”
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As Luke 16:10 says:
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
We must never forget these words of wisdom.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can be faithless in small matters and then in the bigger matters you can be faithful...
It does not work that way.
One’s whole life must be a reflection of a faithful servant if one is honest about following the Lord.
Ask yourself...
Have you fought the good fight in small matter and larger matters?
Have you kept running the race in small matter and larger matters?
Have you kept the faith in small matter and larger matters?
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As it says in 2 Timothy 4:6–8...
Can you say with Paul...
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
If you can...
Then Heaven is in your future...
And you can too “enter into the joy of your master.”
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Consider this I came across in the MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Matthew which I believes accurately describes heaven:
“Of the many things heaven will be, it will not be boring.
Our heavenly perfection, for example, will not be a matter simply of never making a mistake.
Nor will it be always making a hole in one or a home run, as it were.
Rather it will be a time of ever-expanding and increasingly joyous service, and the saints who then will serve the most and rejoice the most will be those who have served the Lord most steadfastly while on earth.
Every soul in heaven will equally possess eternal life and will be equally righteous, equally Christlike, and equally glorious.
Everyone will be equally perfect, because perfection has no degrees.
The difference will be in opportunities and levels of service.
Just as the angels serve God in ranks, so will redeemed men and women, and the degree of their heavenly service will have been determined by the devotedness of their earthly service.
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Heaven will not involve differing qualities of service, because everything heavenly is perfect.
Everything done for the Lord will be perfectly right and perfectly satisfying.
There will be no distinctions of superiority or inferiority, and there will be no envy, jealousy, or any other remnant of sinful human nature.
Whatever one’s rank or responsibility or opportunity, those will be God’s perfect will for that individual and therefore will be perfectly enjoyed.
In a way that is beyond our present comprehension, believers will be both equal and unequal in the Millennium and in the eternal state.
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In the parable of the pounds, the nobleman who was going into a far country to receive a kingdom gave ten of his servants one mina each to do business with until he returned.
When the nobleman came back, the servant who had multiplied his mina tenfold was rewarded with authority over ten cities and the one who had multiplied his mina fivefold was given authority over five cities.
In that parable it is even more explicit that Jesus was speaking of millennial and eternal rewards, because they are specifically bestowed after the nobleman’s kingdom was established.
And as in the parable of the talents, the kingdom rewards are given in proportion to earthly faithfulness.
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Jesus also mentions a second reward the master gives to the faithful slave:
Enter into the joy of your master.
Not only will believers be rewarded in heaven with still greater opportunity for service, but they will even share the divine joy of their master.
In addition to sharing the Lord’s divine sinlessness and holiness they will also share His divine joy.
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Imagine the consummate ecstasy believers will have when they fully comprehend the significance of having their sins forever abolished and their righteousness forever established!
It was the joyful prospect of providing that gracious redemption that motivated Christ to endure the cross and despise its shame.”
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As Matthew 25:34 says:
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
That is the Good News for those on the right...
What about those on the left?
What about those who are not faithful?
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To answer that we must proceed to our fourth and final point.
4) The Worthless Servant
4) The Worthless Servant
Verses 24-30: 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.’
When the unfaithful servant says that his master is a “hard man” it is very revealing and implies that he maligns his master as a cruel and ruthless opportunist for he says his master reaps and gathers what he had no right to claim as his own.
This slothful and faithless servant does not represent a genuine believer at all...
It is obvious from his comments that this man had no true knowledge of the master.
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Next, when the master repeats the slave’s charge against him...
It should be noted that the master was not acknowledging that what was said about him was true...
He was allowing the man’s own words to condemn him....
The master was making the point that if the slave really believed the master to be the kind of man he portrayed, that was all the more reason for him not to be lazy.
So, the worthless servant’s accusation against the master—even if it had been true—did not justify his own laziness.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Matthew says it this way:
“The servant is saying that the master is grasping, exploiting the labor of others (“harvesting where you have not sown”), and putting the servant in an invidious position.
Should he take the risk of trying to increase the one talent entrusted to him, he would see little of the profit.
If he failed and lost everything, he would incur the master’s wrath.
Perhaps, too, he is piqued at having been given much less than the other two; so, in a rather spiteful act, he returns to his master what belongs to him, no more and no less.
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What this servant overlooks is his responsibility to his master and his obligation to discharge his assigned duties.
His failure betrays his lack of love for his master, which he masks by blaming his master and excusing himself.
Only the wicked servant blames his master.
‘The foolish virgins failed from thinking their part too easy; the wicked servant fails from thinking his too hard.’
Grace never condones irresponsibility; even those given less are obligated to use and develop what they have.”
The New American Commentary on Matthew says it this way:
“The master does not dispute the servant’s characterization of him, but neither need verse 26 be read as agreeing with it.
The master’s words sound like biting sarcasm.
He points out that, even if the servant were right, he should have realized that his inaction proved all the more inconsistent with his premise.
Disobedience would surely elicit a severe master’s wrath.
He should have invested the money as his fellow servants did.
His tragic error lay in allowing himself to be paralyzed by his fear.”
Even a person with limited exposure to Scripture and who possesses few talents and has few opportunities for service is fully obligated to use those blessings in God’s service.
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The words every believer lives to here is “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”...
However, the greatest nightmare for someone who falsely identifies as a Christian is found in Matthew 7:21-23 which says:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
This is were the third servant finds himself...
This is were many who are not genuine in their faith will find themselves.
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The phrase, “weeping and gnashing of teeth” reflects the unspeakable anguish of being separated from God.
This stands for complete and final rejection and for unceasing sorrow and regret.
New Testament Scholar D.A. Carson says this:
“For to fail to do good and use what God has entrusted to us to use is grievous sin, which issues not only in the loss of neglected resources but in rejection by the master, banishment from his presence, and tears and gnashing of teeth.”
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As Matthew 25:31-32 says:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And Matthew 3:12 which says:
12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
To those on his left...
To those who are the goats...
He will say as it says in Matthew 25:41:
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
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Notice that Scripture is filled with warning about the final judgement...
That includes this parable we have been studying together.
The truth is that a faithful servant is one who truly surrenders their life to the Lord...
They don’t just call Jesus Lord...
They live like He is Lord...
They live lives that reflect that truth everyday.
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John 3:36 makes it clear:
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
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Now that we have cover the whole parable I would like to share this summary of it that I believe will be beneficial that I found in the Faithlife Study Bible:
“In the Parable of the Talents, a master preparing to leave town gives his three servants money to manage while he is away.
The servants were not the owners of the money; they were the managers of it.
The same thing is true of each of us.
God has given all of us something to manage, such as money, time, gifts, and opportunities.
None of us are empty handed.
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In Jesus’ parable, two of the servants took what their master had given them and went to work with it.
They invested wisely, and each doubled what he had.
When the master returned, he was pleased with them.
These servants did the right thing—making the most of what was given to them.
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At the end of the parable, Jesus says, ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.
But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.’
The point:
Those who use what they have will be entrusted with even more.
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The third servant in the story took the money his master had given him and dug a hole, burying the money in the ground.
He was afraid, so he played it safe.
But the master was not pleased because the servant did not take a risk:
‘Evil and lazy slave!… you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and when I returned I would have gotten back what was mine with interest!’
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Fear can cause people to play it safe, and it may even prevent them from receiving new blessings.
Ultimately, the Parable of the Talents tells us to recognize the resources that God has placed in our hands, to make the most those resources, overcome our fear, and take a step of faith with what God has given us.
If we do these things, we can look forward to hearing the words, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave!’”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study this week:
Dr. George W. Truett, who was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, was entertained on one occasion in the home of a wealthy oilman in Texas.
After the dinner the man took him up the roof of his house and indicated huge fields of oil derricks, and said,
“Dr. Truett, that’s all mine.
I came to this country twenty-five years ago penniless, and now I own everything as far as you can see in that direction.”
Then he turned to the opposite direction and indicated waving fields of grain and said again,
“It’s all mine.
I own everything as far as you can see in that direction.”
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Then he turned to the east, and pointed to huge herds of cattle and said again,
“It’s all mine, everything as far as you can see in that direction is mine.”
One final time he turned toward the west and pointed to a great virgin forest, and said again,
“It’s all mine.
Twenty-five years ago I was penniless, but I worked hard and saved, and today I own everything as far as you can see in this direction, that direction, that direction and this direction.”
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He paused for the expected praise, but to his astonishment it didn’t come.
Dr. Truett laid hand lovingly on his shoulder, pointed upward and said,
“My friend, how much do you own in that direction?”
The man dropped his head in shame and said,
“I never thought of that.”
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Beloved, think of that...
Look upward...
And ask yourself...
“How much have I been building up there?”
“How much treasure do I have stored up in that direction?”
As Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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