Matthew 25, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
As we look at tonights portion of scripture, I want to ask you this - has God given you any gifts / talents? Of course He has - each and every one of us.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
God gives each and every one of us a gift, a talent, that is to be used for His glory in serving one another.
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
God not only expects us to use the talents He has given to us
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
but we are to also use it to multiply the Kingdom. It should be for evangelism, telling others about Jesus, and helping them understand they have a Redeemer, a Savior.
What happens when we do not use the gifts and talents God has given, though? Well, tonight we see a picture of talents (in the form of money) being given to the watch care of others. This parable is not to teach of investment and accrued interest, but instead is to point out that hidden talents (from God) are not accomplishing His will.
Parable of the Talents
Parable of the Talents
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
God expects us to be Good and Faithful Servants and Stewards of what He has given us. Christ was using this as a time to prepare His disciples for when He would no longer be with them. He wanted them to understand they could not just sit and wait for His return, that they were to continue using the talents given to them, the investment that Jesus had made it their lives, for His glory! He was using this parable as a way to describe His journey into heaven for a specific time and a specific purpose, until the time of His return.
The man going on a journey was… HIM. The servants He called… His disciples (past, present, and future). His property? The Lord has entrusted His property (gifts, abilities, responsibilities) to His servants.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
The Lord gave each servant a different portion of His goods to look after. The point is that each person was given a special talent (gift or responsibility). No one was left out (Ep. 4:7).
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Each servant was therefore expected to work and serve.
The Lord gave to each servant according to his ability.
5 talents
2 talents
1 talent
He left no one out, but He recognized the different abilities of each servant and gave the gifts that specific servant needed and could use. Now, understand this was no small gift - a talent is equal to 20 years wages for a common laborer. To put context here, even the person receiving 1 talent received and equivalent of $1.2 million in todays terms if we used the average US salary in 2023. 2 talents $2.4 mil, 5 talents $5.9 mil, for a total investment of $9.5 million in these three servants.
But…each had an equal opportunity to be faithful in using what God had given them. We are judged on our faithfulness, not the number or size of gifts we are given.
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.
Look at what the servants did...Two servants were responsible, very responsible. They went to work immediately. They lost no time and began to serve quickly. They were faithful and diligent. They used their abilities and energy immediately. They exerted themselves, expended their energy and effort to use what the Lord had given them. They were successful. Each one gained and doubled what the Lord had given him. Each servant’s gifts bore fruit in proportion to his gifts. The one given more (five talents) bore more (ten talents). The one given less (two talents) bore less (four talents). But both were equally successful, doubling what the Lord had given them.
EXCEPT the last servant. One servant was irresponsible. He simply did not use the Lord’s gift. But note: he was somewhat active. He spent time and energy to go out and bury the Lord’s gift—he hid it. His days, his time, and his energy were to be the Lord’s; but he took his life and days into his own hands. What was he doing? We are not told, but his efforts were not spent in the Lord’s cause. He served only himself. He was worldly, lusting after the flesh and possessions of this world. He was out to serve himself instead of God.
Note four lessons.
(1) Immediate work—immediate action—immediate use of God’s gifts are expected. Each hesitation—each hour—each day where maximum energy and effort are not given is a lost opportunity. Each lost opportunity equals unfaithfulness and slothfulness. What a strong example the two faithful servants were!
(2) The efforts of the faithful and diligent will bear interest (fruit). The servant who uses his gifts faithfully and diligently will witness a manifold increase in the goods of his Lord.
(3) A striking point: the person with one talent is as responsible to use his gift as the person with many talents.
(4) Too often, a person who is gifted with little feels his service matters little, that it is not really worth the time and effort it takes. This attitude forgets something: the gift is not ours; the gift is the Lord’s. It is to be used, and full energy and effort are to be exerted in its use. The use of a single gift is to occupy what days and hours we have on earth. We are to be faithful, even in the single gifts—always faithful and always using what we have for the Lord, even if it is a single gift. Look at what happens when the master returns. (Picture of Jesus’ return).
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
By the time Christ returns, it will have been a long time in the eyes of men. However, it will have been only a short time to Christ.
Christ says the Lord did return, and He returned to reckon with His servants, not with the world. Christ is talking about His servants in this passage—professing believers and church members, some genuine believers and some only professing believers, who are making a false profession.
We must always remember this: the Lord is not slack concerning His promise to return. He is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Pe. 4:5).
5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
He is ready now, but He is longsuffering, wanting more and more to come to repentance (2 Pe. 3:9).
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Jesus is coming back…and when He does, we (Christians) will be judged based on what WE have done with the talents, the investment, He has made in us.
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.’
Both the first and second servant acknowledged the investment, provided a return, and was given…get this…more work to do. God found them faithful over a little, and gave them more. All that the servants had was recognized as being given by Christ. There is appreciation, thankfulness, privilege, and a sense of responsibility expressed. The two servants had counted it a privilege to serve their Lord. He had given them purpose and meaning in life and the greatest privilege in all the world: the privilege of serving the Lord Himself. They were appreciative and thankful.
They were bold in approaching the Lord: “Behold, I have gained.” Their boldness was not in a boastful spirit, but in a spirit that knew it had been faithful in what the Lord had said to do. The Lord commended the two servants and gave them great rewards: rulership and joy, the joy of the Lord. The Lord commended them for being good men (kind, gracious, moral, disciplined) and faithful in the trust (gifts) He had given them. They had worked and worked hard. They had been the kind of men He had wanted them to be and they had done the work He had wanted them to do. They were both good and faithful servants. The point is this: the first two servants worked at full capacity, exerting 100 percent energy and effort. Both increased the Lord’s goods 100 percent. Note the reward: both received responsibility over many things in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Lord rewarded both servants greatly. He gave them a twofold reward.
First, they were given rulership: the responsibility and rule over many things in the Kingdom of Heaven after the Lord returned. Second, they were given entrance into the joy of the Lord. The servants were to be ushered into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, where there is nothing but joy. The joy is the joy “of the Lord” Himself—a joy which He Himself possesses within His very being. Joy is the state of the Lord’s being because He is perfect; His perfection gives rise to a fulness of joy. Believers also experience this joy because of heaven, for heaven is perfect; and where perfection is, there are no tears, pain, or sorrow. There is only joy.
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.’
Note the servant’s reasons for not using the gifts the Lord had entrusted into his care. The unprofitable servant said that the Lord was too demanding, exacting, stern, and unsympathetic. He was a Lord who demanded too much and was too strict. He did not allow man the right to enjoy this world and its pleasures enough. The servant felt that if he spent his time in the service of the Lord, he would miss out on life. The demands of the Lord upon his time and affairs were just too burdensome. The servant was too involved in the world and its affairs to give that much time and effort to labor for the Lord and to concentrate upon His demands.The punishment for work not done will be stripping and separation. Christ covers three points in discussing this unprofitable servant. Remember: Christ is speaking of a person who professes and is in the church. He added that he feared—feared using and putting his talent to work for the Lord. Therefore, he hid the Lord’s talent and did not use it to increase the Lord’s kingdom.
God’s then condemns the servant; (look at the difference between what the Lord said and what the servant had to say). The unprofitable servant was wicked and slothful. He was wicked because he went about doing exactly what he wished to do, spending his time and energy on his own thing. He transgressed God’s command and will. He was slothful because he did nothing with God’s gift. He buried and hid it. The unprofitable servant was inconsistent, or perhaps a better description would be deceptive, double-minded, and self-contradictory. If he really believed the Lord was harsh and stern, he would have labored and worked his fingers to the bone. The servant was either lying or terribly deceived and self-contradictory—all in an attempt to justify his behavior. The unprofitable servant failed to use his gift. Christ was direct: the servant should have used the gift and served. He was without excuse.
After condemnation came judgment. The unprofitable servant was stripped of what he had. All that he had was taken from him. The servant’s responsibility—the glorious privilege of working for and serving the Lord—was not to be his any more. He was to have nothing else to do with the Lord. His responsibility was taken from him and given to the one who proven most faithful. The unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness. He was cast out of the Lord’s presence and banished forever. And there was no joy there, nothing but outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Many people today think God is hard, stern, demanding, and unsympathetic. They are unwilling to follow such a hard, narrow way. So they bury, hide their God-given gifts and travel along the easy, broad way. Others think that what they have is their own, and they can use it to live as they please. They think that what they do is no one’s affair except their own, not even God’s.
Few people feel any responsibility to God for what they have, and even fewer feel the necessity to serve God faithfully and diligently.
Doing nothing for God, is one of the great sins of professing Christians.
11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.
12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Sins of omission are as serious as sins of commission. Being idle and slothful, being complacent and doing nothing, being lethargic and self-satisfied—all are condemning sins: sins that condemn a person to outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We deceive ourselves. We rationalize their comfort, ease, and slothfulness by minimizing their gift. They think that they will be excused by denying their gift.
⇒ Inactive righteousness is as condemning as active wickedness.
⇒ Idle service is as condemning as a busy sin.
⇒ Sleepy concern is as condemning as stimulating flesh.
⇒ Indulging comfort is as condemning as assault and robbery.
⇒ Being unprofitable is as condemning as being evil.
Will we be one of the faithful servants, or like the unfaithful servant? We can’t just “play” church… It’s time to quit playing “Christian”, and to see what God expects from us and the talents He has invested in us.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Matthew: Chapters 16:13–28:20. Vol. II. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.