Talents
Notes
Transcript
Has anyone ever borrowed a car from a friend or rented a car?
We had to rent a car for a couple days a few months ago, from when our car was getting some work done on it.
And if you have seen our car you know that thing inside is trashed. I mean we have three kids and regardless of how hard we try it gets nasty, things get spilled, trash gets thrown, it seems like every-once in awhile theres a weird smell that we have to figure out where its coming from.
But when we rented a car, I am pretty sure that this car did not get anything on it.
I mean our kids were not allowed to eat in it, if trash got thrown on the ground, it got cleaned immediately,
And not just that but I vacuumed it and filled it with gas before returning it
Because when its not your you tend to take care of it better don’t you?
(and in this case it was because I didn’t want a $500 fine,
But typically when we borrow something we return it better right?
And really today we are looking at a story, not where they borrow something, but where they look over their masters property, while that master is gone.
And so today we will be in Matthew 25:14-30 and if you have been with us we have been in this series where we have been looking at these stories Jesus tells that we call Parables and we have brought this up every week but really a simple definition for a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
And so this is the last week of our series and we will just be starting in verse 14 and it says this:
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
So the master is going on a journey, and he entrust his servants with his wealth to manage while he is gone.
And I think this is a good reminder that before anything God has entrusted us with everything we have.
Because so often I think we get this understanding that everything we have is ours!
I mean this is our church
This my house
My job
My family
My time
My friends
And when we view life like this we will treat things like its ours right?
And I think sometimes we here this and go this is awful! Because I like deciding what I want to do with my life.
But can I just say how this is really nice,
I mean its almost like renting verse owning when unexpected things happen.
If you own a house, and all of the sudden your water heater goes off, and not just that but you discover you have a serius foundation issue, and then a tree falls on your roof and you need a new roof, and then the basement floods and it all happens within a week of eachother
If you own your house you are really stressed right? because you are going how in the world am I going to fix all of this!
But then if you rent, yes all of these things are annoying, and stressful, but you know what you ultimatley happens, you can go, this is not my problem!
Because this is not mine to begin with.
And this passage its a little different, but there is almost a peace that comes over our lives when w can say this is not my life, yes I want to take care of it and things to run well, but ultimately this is not mine.
So when things go wrong or different then what I plan, while it may be painful, theres a part where we can go God this is yours, and I am doing my best with what you have given
And the beautiful part of this God is going here is all of this for free!
And lets look at the next part because it says this in verse 15-18:
15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
So the master entrust them with talents and we are told He gives 5, to one of the servants 3, to another servant he gave 1.
And I am not sure if I am the only one who thinks this but does anyone read this and go why is God giving some servants a small amount and other servants more?
And I think in our culture this would have been on the top of our mind and it could play partly into how the servants have managed things the master has given before,
But it also has to do with the fact that throughout the old Testement the focus was never on how skilled the person was that God used or how much power they had, but the focus was actually usually more on their lack of talents and even their weaknesses.
I mean you run into a guy like Mosses who couldn’t speak, but God uses him to free the Israelites from slavery
You have Abraham who God promises something to Him at an old age where you would never think it was going to happen
You have Elijah who was considered one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testement, and their are verses that implied he was depressed.
And the list keeps going, but these are people with flaws that God would use over and over again to accomplish His purpose.
And I think on a practical note, when God is calling us to do something it actually has a lot less to do with how great we are, and more to do with how great God is.
God meets us in our weakness.
And lets get back to the second half of the passage and this is a little bit of a longer stretch, to stick with it. because it says this starting in verse 19
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ 23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
So the master comes to settle his accounts and see what has been done with what has been given,
And you probably saw what happened because the first servant says you gave me 5 here are 5 more, then the second one says you gave me two, here are two more.
And ther are two things that happen because the first thing is the master says I am going to give you more, because you have been faithful with the little
Anyone ever see that story that went viral years ago where a man traded a paperclip,
Because he started with a paperclip and then was able to trade it for a pen and then traded the pen for a door knob and then the doorknob for a small generator
And what happened was over time is he was able to trade up all the way to a house.
I mean he used the almost nothing that he had to do something really powerful.
And here is what I want us to get because God has given each of us gifts.
and its through our time, our talent, our finances
And shhe calls us to use theose things for his glory and when we do so often we see God gifting us with more chances to change others lives.
And this does not mean wow I am a CEO somewhere now, but this is when we build God’s kingdom instead of our own using, how he has gifted us, we get more oppritunities.
And what I want you to catch this because after the master says you get more, He says come and share in your Masters happieness.
Meaning when we build Gods kingdom we receive joy.
because its not, “ugh we have to do this” its “wow we get to be a part of what God is doing!”
But then in the story there is a third servant, and he immediately buried the talent he has recieved.
I mean this guy is scared that he will loose the precious tressur.
And I kind of get this because if you have ever carried around a lot of money it is scary,
awhile back I was orginizing a mission trip and long story short is we could not wire money to the project and had to bring it in cash.
And so for 2 week I was carry 30,000 dollars cash on me, you know what I did, I put that thing in a safe and it was still the most paranoid I have ever been.
And we kind of see this guy doing that. And the master goes why?
And he says I was ultimatley scared because I knew you would be mad if I lost it.
But the thing is we do not see God angry that he used the talent and lost it, but he is upset that he hid it.
And I think what it breaks down to is that this man did not understand His master very well, because he goes I know you were a had man and I was afraid.
And I think sometimes our mindset goes I am nervous that ill mess up,
And I think other times we go I am nervous that I will mess up, or not do something correctly, or we get nervous that we will loose what we have been given even,
But to often we forget that we have a God that blesses us when we bless others
And I think we get this mindset of survival rather then generosity.
And I guess as we close we can ask ourselves what are the areas that we are the talents that we have been given.
Because you might not know this (but hopefully you do) God has given you talents!
What would it look like to usse them for Him
And as we close we will be singing this song “I am available”
And this is a song we will actually sing the next few weeks, but what does it look like to say here you go God.
