Parable of the Talents Part 2

Matthew 25:24-35

Let’s continue our study of the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.

Slide: Last week we covered 3 main points:

1. Every servant receives gifts, each to their own ability.

2. We must be busy in our Master’s absence.

3. God gives us everything we have but on a loan.

We are going to finish the parable and look at another 3 main points this morning.

Slide: The first one being: The tragedy of wasted opportunity.

The servant with the 5 talents and the one with 2 talents were just rewarded by the Master. This pictures Christ rewarding believers the moment all believers are in his presence. Then the parable switches gears here. Although in the parable, everything kind of happens all at once, in reality the judgement of unbelieves will occur at a different time, at the Great White Throne judgement. But Jesus didn’t go into all of that in the story to keep it short.

We talked about last week that this reality of using what God has given us or not using them will manifest the children of God and the Children of the devil. It will clearly show who is who. By their fruit you will know them. And I want to clear this up later in the sermon, and spoiler alert in case anyone is panicking right now, truly saved Christians can choose not to serve (not that that’s right), but after being saved, they can hurt themselves by not using or wasting the opportunities God gives them.

I want to give an analogy that was given to me this week after my first sermon, and I think it ties in well here.

Slide: The church is not like a cruise ship, where 10% of people serve the other 90% who are relaxing, where the other 90% are in vacation mode. Because we are all in a spiritual battle.

Slide: NO, the church is like a battleship, where it’s all hands-on deck, working as a team, each having their own job, each to their own ability, and everyone serves the mission.

Imagine what would happen to the battleship, during war, if 90% of the crew wasn’t doing their job. How far would that ship go? How productive would it be towards the mission? Not very.  

Let’s look at the Parable, and now focus our attention on the one slave who was given one talent.

The Master now focuses on the one who did nothing with his talent, he just offered a self-serving excuse.

Matthew 25:18, 24-25 Find and Read

Verse 18 is basically saying, the one who received one talent did nothing with it. He buried it in a hole until the master returned.

Now let’s break down Verse 24 and 25, what this so-called servant is really telling the Master. He says: “I knew you to be hard man.” This person is saying, yea I know you but what you say for me to do is hard, it’s burdensome, like a boss who just orders his employees around and gives them impossible standards. Get this paperwork that would normally take weeks done by tonight. A hard boss.

Is that true of our Lord? Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Then the person says, you reap where you don’t sow, and gather where you don’t plant. He’s accusing the master of being lazy and manipulative. Like a CEO who gives his employees pennies while he racks in the millions not doing any work. Like a farmer forcing his employees to go sweat in the fields planting crops, while he sits at home in a lawn chair drinking lemonade under a palm branch umbrella, then takes all the harvest and profit for himself and gives them nothing. That’s what he is accusing the master of.

Then he says he was afraid of his master in verse 25. Now the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that’s true, but that’s not what this slave meant. MacArthurputs it simply this way: “this was not fear of reverential awe but of irreverent contempt. His relationship to his master was one of enmity rather than peace, hatred rather than love, and rejection rather than faith.”  

This slave represents a professing Christian who’s view of God is corrupt because their unredeemed heart is still corrupt.

In reality, this is like a person, proclaiming to be a Christian, meets Jesus Christ in the end and accuses Him of being hard, lazy, unmerciful, dishonest and manipulative. How well is that going to go over? Not great. We can now see why Christ’s language is so strong in verse 26.

Matthew 25:26-27 (Read)

He was wicked because he just rejected the attributes of God and insulted the Holy King of the universe, and he was lazy because he did nothing with the talent entrusted to him.

The master wasn’t affirming what the slave accused him of at the end of vs. 26. The master states that if that were true, why didn’t you do anything with my talent? If I were a mean hard boss like you say, that should’ve given you more motivation to get to work, but instead you were lazy. You could have put it in the bank, gained a little interest without having to do anything. Now, there’s not a lot of real application here, we can’t take our opportunities God gives us and put them in some spiritual bank and not do any work or never serve. The point the master is making in the terms of money, is that this slave was so useless and lazy, he did absolutely nothing with it, not even try.

Next Slide:2nd Main Point: Christ expects an increase from every Christian.

The main point with this slave was not that he was unfaithful with his talent, but that he was faithless. This slave (by saying what he said) proved that his identification with Christ was superficial and did not involve genuine faith or repentance.

MacArthur again states: “In much the same way, unbelieving church members live in the environment of God’s redeemed community and enjoy exposure to the teaching of His word and the fellowship of His people. But in spite of their spiritual privilege, they make no positive response to the gospel and therefore can render no fruitful service.”

- This is why the 3rdslave was lazy, because he was faithless and couldn’t produce any fruit.

- He wasn’t saved in the first place. Let me explain this, you see, this is church goer, who is not saved, has not given their life to Christ, excepted His sacrifice for their sins, but continues to go to church, experience some things of God in his holy household of people. This is like the master giving this slave the one talent, it’s not much, but unregenerate church goers (The tares) are given something in a sense when they mingle with the true children of God. (The Wheat).

- But what are they to do with the things given to them by God, things like fellowship, serving while in the church. Those things don’t bring salvation. But as they are superficially apart of the church, the hope is, they put their faith in Christ and become a child of God.

- You see, that’s where this slave messed up. He took the talent, did nothing with it, the talent that was supposed to lead him to put his faith in Christ alone. But he buried it, that’s why he was worthless and lazy.

- Slide: This is where a lot of people get it wrong. They think faith + works = salvation. That’s’ a false gospel and nothing will send a person to hell faster than thinking this way.

- Slide: The truth is faith = salvation + works

Slide: James 2:18 (Find and Read) But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

- Genuine work for God, meaning serving, sacrificing, applying Scripture to everyday life, those works, can prove a person has faith, or has been saved, it’s not the cause of faith.

Ephesians 2:10(Find and Read) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

And this is why the 3rd slave thought his master was a hard man. Unbelievers can’t understand the reality that Christ’s yoke is easy, 1. because it’s a spiritual reality. And unsaved people can’t understand spiritual things. This spiritual reality that Christ’s load is light, his yoke is easy. But we have to sacrifice everything, give our whole life to Christ, die to self and sacrifice and serve the rest of our days on earth? How is that light and easy?

Well, once saved, you have the Holy Spirit living in you, who regenerates you including your thinking, makes you wise by the Scriptures, transforms your mind (Rom. 12:2), and we start to see that this is a wonderful and beautiful thing that we start desiring to do. God grants us the abilities and opportunities to serve Him, the King of the universe. And there is no higher privilege. That’s grace. Sacrifice becomes joyful for us, it becomes second nature to serve God and serve others. Oh, almost like the two greatest commandments. It becomes joyful to serve God and to serve others purely out of love. (we can’t do it perfectly every time). But we want to do it, we desire it.

But, we are still sinful, we still live in the flesh, it’s not pure love a lot of times, that is why God revealed to us through His Holy word, that there is a reward system. Rewards are fun, it’s something else to look forward to. It shouldn’t be the main focus. But that’s what we teach the kids also, we memorize verses because we love God and love His word, but also to show your improvement and as a fun way to keep encouraging you all to memorize verses, we have an awards ceremony. And God does the same for us spiritually and eternally as well.

But before we get into the reward system that Paul explains, I want to clear this all up.

Scripture says that people who waste their opportunity, who don’t serve, who bury their talent in the dirt, don’t enter heaven, right? We see that here in this parable. Can true Christians be like the 3rd slave in a sense?

They can be the same in wasting opportunity, but they are not going to accuse and reject  Christ of course. That’s what made the 3rdslave so different as we talked about, it wasn’t unfaithfulness, it was his faithlessness. No faith to begin with. No relationship with Christ.

Can a truly saved Christian be lazy with the things God gives them. Yes.

Can a truly saved Christian be sad and disappointed with the opportunities God gives them. Yes.

Not good things, but Christians can do them.

Next Slide:1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (Find and Read)

- That’s true but can Christians do those things after they are saved? Yes. But there’s a difference, they aren’t practicing them, habitually doing them any longer, they are actively trying to stop them, these sins are diminishing in their lives, they are grieved that they are transgressing God’s law and sinning against Him.

- Saved people, God’s children, can live like unbelievers, sadly, and still fall into the trap of the devil. That’s not a good thing, they need to grow and mature in faith.

- So, I want you all to see that True followers of Christ can commit sins such as the 3rdslave in the parable, but still be saved because they have a relationship with Christ, they are sealed in him. This doesn’t mean we go on sinning, but Christians can still commit sins as the unbelievers do, the ones who won’t inherit heaven.

Matthew 24:24 (Find and Read), Jesus says even the elect can be deceived. The truly saved can still be fooled, especially if we are not enriched by God’s word every day.

So, the question is, what does that look like in heaven? What happens to a Christian, who makes it to heaven but has wasted their opportunity on earth?

1 Corinthians 3:10a (Find and Read)

- Paul makes sure to give God all the credit here, as anyone should. He says by God’s grace he laid a foundation. We see in verse 11, the foundation is Christ Jesus. When someone is saved, Scripture says they have a firm foundation.

In 2 Tim. 2, Paul is saying how some speak godless and empty talk, departing from the truth by saying the resurrection already happened, there is no hope for you.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS,”

- So, if you have the foundation which is Christ and His salvation, Paul goes on to explain this foundation is a seal, you are sealed shut, the Lord knows who are His.

- This completely contradicts the idea of the resurrection already happening or losing your salvation. We are sealed, anything else is godless talk.

- God knows who are His and He is faithful to save them.

Then back to 1 Cor. 3:10, Paul says he laid the foundation. Meaning he went around evangelizing, spreading the gospel to the gentiles. Then he says, and another is building on it. Meaning whoever excepted Christ, or accepted that foundation, they themselves start building on it. But (3:10b) – Everyone must be careful how they build.

And as well will see in verse 13, the building materials are works, service, sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 3:11 (Read)

- We saw the foundation is Christ, but very important we see here too this is the only foundation. Christ is the way, the truth and the life, no one can get to the Father except through Him.

- Christ is the only way, nothing else is involved here in the foundation, in salvation.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (Read)

- Back up at the end of vs. 10, we saw each person must be careful how they build on the foundation.

- The works we do for the kingdom while on earth are the building materials.

- And Paul explains these materials in verse 12: Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw.

- Now we can’t see each other’s building materials because we can’t see each other’s hearts. Only God can see the heart.

- If we serve in some capacity out of pure love for God and love for others, not looking at ourselves at all or how it makes us feel, that’s like building with Gold.

- If we serve out of compulsion, thinking we must or it’s a burden, I’m just doing it to look good, or maybe I will serve every so often and only if it’s convenient for me, that might be like building with straw. (Just examples) And then you have everything in between depending on where your heart is.

But just like in the parable, Christ comes back. In 1 Cor. 3:13, Paul says for the daywill indicate it, talking about the return of Christ. Our works will be revealed, how? By fire. And the works that we do here on earth, for the kingdom, will be tested.

- Notice this small word in verse 13: and the fire itself will test the (quantity?) No, the qualityof each man’s work. Just like in the parable of the talents, how faithful were you in performing the opportunities I gave you.

- The one with five talents and the one with two talents, the quantity doesn’t matter, it’s the quality of the attitude, of the heart towards those “works” that counts.

1 Corinthains 3:14-15 (Read)

- As we look at the list of materials, it becomes evident which ones will get burnt up, then you see an increasing strength of the materials. Hay and straw, obviously when you burn those, there’s nothing left.

- Wood: depends on how long you burn it, but if it wasn’t very long, it might come out charred, and you have some wood left but not the amount you started with.

- Precious stones usually are not affected too much by fire, worst case, you take them out of the fire and scrub off the black soot and they are shiny again.

- But what happens if you test silver or gold by fire? What happens when they are heated up?

o They shine, they become more pure, they actually become better and shinier than they were before.

If your works remain, you get rewards, if your works are burnt up, you will suffer loss Paul says, but you yourself will still be saved, you just won’t have anything to show for your work here on earth. You get no rewards; you get no responsibilities in heaven. You still get to go to heaven because you put your faith in Christ alone, you had the foundation which is required to enter heaven, but you didn’t have the building, you don’t get a retirement check so to speak.

Referencing 2 Tim. 2:19 That foundation is a seal, you can’t lose it. I was a firefighter for a couple years, I’ve seen some pretty bad house fires where the whole structure burns up, but guess what is left: The foundation, it can’t be burnt up.

Olivia and I like to watch tornado chasers, sometimes they show the damage of massive tornados wiping houses clean off the foundation, but guess what’s still there? The foundation. In fact, if a tornado takes a house or a building clean off the foundation, they classify that tornado as an EF5 rating, the highest there is. We wondered, why isn’t there an EF6 rating? Because there’s no way to measure it, an EF5 tornado does the maximum amount of damage a tornado can do so theres no way to measure damage beyond that. Even the strongest tornado’s cannot uproot a foundation, that’s why I love this analogy in the Bible, salvation being like a foundation, nothing can destroy it.

But sadly, things can destroy the building itself, what kind of material have you built your spiritual house with? Gold? Straw? Will it get burnt up in the end?

How awful would it be to finally go get your retirement check after 50 years and you go to get it and they say here it is, right here in my hand, and they light it on fire, and poof, it’s gone. That would affect you for the next 20-40 years on earth. But in reality, what we choose to do down here will affect us for eternity. I want my fellow Christian brothers and sisters to get to heaven and Jesus Christ tell them, well done, good and faithful servant. Who in here wants to hear that at the end?

What happens to those who’s works are burnt up and they have nothing to show? What does Christ tell them? They still get into heaven. But what does Christ tell them? Idk, Scripture doesn’t tell us. But I don’t want anyone in here to find out the hard way. I don’t want anyone in here to experience whatever that is. It’s true there will be no sadness, Christ wipes away every tear, but you are still missing out on what could have been.

I said this last week, but I’ll say it again: You might tell Christ; I went to church every Sunday. He might say, that’s great! But what else did you do? How did you serve my bride, the church? How did you care for her? How did you sacrifice for her? How many people did you invite to my kingdom with the opportunities I gave you? What will be your response?

Go for gold. Be faithful in the opportunities God has given you. Be joyful: even if in human terms you think it’s small or insignificant. God gave it to you, be faithful with it.

Matthew 25:28-29 (Find and Read)

Paul says in Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

- Paul saw heaven, he came back to earth, was told not to say anything, but what he did say is that the glories in heaven, the rewards, the responsibilities that Christ has waiting for us, cannot even be compared to our sufferings here on earth, the blood, sweat and tears, the sacrifices, the persecution, the serving we do.

- It will all pay off in the end, beyond anything we can imagine.

- To everyone who has, the foundation and a building, more shall be given. More rewards, more responsibilities, greater glory, and they will have an abundance.

- Those who don’t have, namely, the foundation, what they do have will be taken away.

Matthew 25:30 (Find and Read)

Everything unbelievers have now from God, love, joy, the life they live on earth, will all be stripped from them, because they are going to place where God is not, and they will experience nothing of God because that was their choice.

Next Slide:3rd Main point: Don’t bury what God has given you in the dirt.

So, in conclusion, we have those who are faithful in their service to God who get massive rewards and glory in heaven, and a wonderful response from Christ Himself: Well, done, good and faithful servant. What a joy that will be to those people.  It doesn’t matter the job or the opportunities or type of service God gives you, be joyful with it, be faithful with it, put all your effort into it, and you will get the gold.

Then we have the faithless people, professing Christians who are unregenerate, unsaved, who have rejected Christ, who cannot produce fruit, who have buried their talent in the dirt because that’s the only thing they can do without a foundation, they go to the judgement, realize they aren’t getting into heaven, they come up with all these things, I did all these things for you, or I didn’t do anything and I buried what you gave me in the dirt, and then they hear the words, depart from Me, I never knew you and are thrown into the lake of fire for eternity.

Then there are saved Christians who choose to be disobedient to God’s word, choose to not serve or serve with wrong motives, and although they are saved, all their works will be burnt up when they get to heaven, they get no rewards, and we aren’t even sure what Christ is going to say to them when they get there. If you have nothing to show, it won’t be well done good and faithful servant. Well done for what? Nothing?

So, which one are you right now? Which one do you want to be? Don’t think for one second you are not in spiritual warfare right now. You might think you’re okay, everything is good, doesn’t seem like I’m in a battle. If you are a true follower of Christ, you are in a battle.

This spiritual battle is a battle over your mind. And one of the best and most effective tactics the devil has on people in America today: Cruise Control Christianity. Keeping you on vacation mode in your spiritual walk. If he can’t destroy you because you have the foundation, he will distract you. Keep you comfortable, but that’s his game, to take away your rewards in heaven. If you are in Christ, you have the foundation, just like a tornado, he can’t uproot that foundation but he can and he will tear your house down. To hurt your walk with Christ. To hurt your sanctification, your growing towards Christ. He can do that. Don’t let him.

I don’t know who you are, but if that’s you, I encourage you to step off the cruise ship and come join us on the battleship, start doing your part in your walk with Christ for your sake, in serving Him and His bride, the church body. Find out what kind of joy that brings. Eventually you will find out what that brings in eternity. It will pay off. Again, if you don’t know how to serve or what to do, come ask.