“The Parable of the Talents” – Matthew 25:14-30

Well, I have good news and bad news this morning. Let me give you the bad news first. A gentleman in our community has died. None of us knew him but he evidently knew us because the good news is that he had put in his will that Christ Fellowship is the sole inheritor of his vast estate and we have been given… one kazillion dollars!

That’s right. It is in the church bank account right now. Our money troubles are over. One kazillion dollars. That’s a lot of zeroes. Aren’t you happy? Now, the question is, what do you want to do with all that money? We can pay off the national debt. We can all become billionaires. We can throw a big party or build a new building, maybe put a big fountain out front. I know people love a nice fountain. I’m pretty sure that’s why so many go to FBC Dallas.

No, seriously, if money was not an issue, what would you like to see happen at Christ Fellowship? We could have enough money for anybody that wanted to go on a mission trip somewhere. We could expand our food pantry. Put in recliners to replace the pews. Give Ben back his microphone. What do you think?

Now, the question is, with all that done, what is going to be your responsibility in all this? Are you going to be the one to work in the food pantry? Are you going to serve meals, wipe down the recliners, clean up at the Bo and Sara Memorial Dog Park next door? What is your responsibility going to be?

Maybe a better question for right now is, what is your responsibility right now? What are you doing, not just for Christ Fellowship, but for the Kingdom of God right now? Maybe you think you don’t have enough of whatever it takes to do what God has called you to do. Maybe you think you don’t have enough time or talent or money to do what you are supposed to do. Did you know that God gives you just what you need to do just what He has called you to do?

As Christians, we all have gifts. We all have talents and abilities and opportunities to use those gifts.  We don’t all have the same time, talents or treasure but we are not all called to do the same things. God has given us all different talents and abilities and has called us to do different things. We know that God has called our church to minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated, but in that calling are many different needs that require many different types of people.

One of the worst things you can do, especially in a church setting, is to compare yourself to somebody else and to think you don’t matter as much as old so-and-so over there because their talents are different or maybe more obvious. Paul said in Romans 12:3-8, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, (and Todd would add, any less than you ought) but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Those are just some of the gifts of the Spirit. We all have different gifts, different talents and different responsibilities and I want you to keep that in mind as we read a passage in Matthew this morning. It is a parable that Jesus used to prepare His disciples – and us - for the end times. We are continuing our look at what we need to do to prepare for the Rapture and for the end times because you can’t help but realize, if you are aware of what’s going on in the world, that the return of Jesus is imminent and we want to be prepared when He comes.

Jesus wanted us to be prepared and so He told this parable of the talents. In some versions it might be called the parable of the loaned money or the bags of money or of the faithful servants. What I need you to understand is that in this parable, a talent is a measure of money. It’s not a talent as we know it. Commentators say a talent of money was anywhere from one to twenty year’s wages for an average worker back in the day. So, when Jesus says in this parable that the master gave a talent, it was money.

Now, here’s the twist. What Jesus was wanting to encourage was for us to use our talents, our gifts and our responsibilities in the same way two of these servants used their money talents. Does that make sense? I think it will as we go along. Let’s read Matthew 25:14-30.

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

When I was in middle school, I played on the school basketball team. Back then everybody was about the same height so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was I just wasn’t any good at it. I remember our coach telling us something like, “You can’t make the shots you don’t take.” So, I took that to heart.  I shouldn’t have. I couldn’t make a close-up shot but since he said you can’t make a shot you don’t take, I started chunking ‘em from all over the place. Needless to say, my basketball career was as short as I was.

I took the opportunity to shoot but that was not my talent. That’s not what God put me on earth to do, that’s for sure. Today, so many of us waste our opportunities to use our talents. We miss opportunities to minister to people, witness to people, listen to people, or in some way, just be a blessing to somebody else. We find ourselves too busy or we don’t have what we think we need. We think we have to have all the answers but sometimes people just need you to be there.

Sometimes we just aren’t sensitive to what other people need or we overlook the opportunity that we have. I’ll never forget the story about the shoe salesman that went to Africa. He was there two weeks and he wrote his company back a letter saying, “Please bring me home, nobody wears shoes over here.”

They sent another salesman in his place and in a couple of weeks, he sent a letter back to the company saying, “Please send all the shoes you can, because nobody wears shoes here!” When you live with a proper perspective on who you are in light of God’s Kingdom and what your responsibilities are to it, then you start to live the full and abundant life that God wants you to live like in says in John 10:10. (Repeat)

Also, when you live with a proper perspective on who you are in light of God’s Kingdom and what your responsibilities are to it, then you will start to be prepared for His coming again. That’s the point of these sermons lately, to help us all be prepared for the Rapture, when Jesus comes back to get us and snatches us out of this nasty old world to go and live with Him forever. Now, keeping in mind that the Rapture could happen at any minute, I have three brief things I want us to see in this passage.

First off, this is a parable and not an allegory. One of the differences is that in an allegory, every detail is pertinent to the message the author is wanting to tell. In a parable like this, it’s just the main theme that is important. Don’t get bogged down in the details. Every commentary I read would mention this and then so many would spend five pages detailing how many pieces of gold or silver was in a talent and how big the hole would have had to have been to bury it and what they stored it in and…just stop. That’s not the point.

I believe that for us today, we need to see that the first thing the trustworthy servants did was go immediately to work with what they had.  Do you see that in verse 16? 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work. It was the same for the servant with two bags. The emphasis is not on how much they had but on what they did with how much they had. They got busy. They went to work.

Now, let me ask a question. What was the original job of those servants? They were servants. They had full-time jobs just doing what needed to be done around the house and the property. But now the master tells them he has another, more important job for them and gives them what he knows they can be trusted with.

They still had to do the other stuff they were assigned to do originally but now they have greater responsibility. As disciples of Jesus, what is our main job? What is the one main thing we are charged with doing while we wait for Jesus to come again? In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells His disciples the answer. He is about to ascend back to Heaven and the last thing He tells them to do…”Go and make disciples…”

Now, I know most of you have jobs. Some of you are retired but none of us are free of the responsibility to do just what Jesus said to do. Do you realize that God is not near as concerned with your job as a welder or electrician or bookkeeper or teacher or cowboy or whatever you do to make a living as He is your job to make disciples?

God is not going to welcome us into Heaven with, “Well done, good and faithful servant. I am so proud of the way you got that contract and brought in that job under budget and under time.” He cares about our jobs and so should we. We should be the best employees or bosses the world has ever seen but that is not what ultimately matters.

What matters is, are you doing what you are supposed to do to make disciples with the time, talent and treasure that God has given you? Did you know that God allows or even causes us to go through whatever we are going through to set us up to make disciples right where we are with the resources we have been given?

Think about Esther. Oh, I love me some Esther. It’s the funniest, most comical book in the Bible. If you haven’t read it lately, go back and do it. Ladies especially love this little book. Esther is in position to speak to the king and save her people but what she was called to do was basically illegal and could result in her immediate death. But it was her responsibility and nobody else could do it.

When she said she couldn’t do it, her uncle Mordecai told her, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14)

As I have said before, God’s will is GOING to be done. The question is, do you want to be in on it and be blessed or do you want to face the consequences of not doing it as you sit back and let somebody else do it and watch them get the blessing?

Now, I hear what you are saying. You have a hard time telling people about Jesus. You just aren’t wired that way. It’s not natural for you and you are uncomfortable. Well, I’ll be honest. My first thought is, “You poor, precious little snowflake. Bless your heart. Let me get you a blankie so you are comfy since it’s all about you.”

But I’m not going to say that. I’m not. What I will say is that as disciples, at some point, you have to speak the words. I understand that we all have different gifts and that we are all called to do different jobs. I understand that you can’t preach it if you aren’t living it. But that’s why we talk a lot around here about being able to give your testimony and give it quickly. We always want to be ready, in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2) to at least say what God has done for us.

God has given us all different gifts and has put us each in different positions in life so that the whole world will hear and, who knows, maybe you are in the position you are in for just such a time as this. Maybe you are the only one that can reach your neighbor or your friend or co-worker or even your doctor. If so, what are you going to say? Are you ready? Are you using the talents God has assigned you?

Okay, I have to move on quickly now. Look again at verse 19. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” I think 2000-plus years qualifies as a “long time”, don’t you? Did you know that scientists are warning vacationers to Yellowstone National Park to be careful because the big volcano there could blow at any time? Yep. They say it will be a global event and could happen at any time. Evidently, they know that it happens about every 650,000 years and it happened last about 640,000 years ago so if you plan to go to Yellowstone in the next 10,000 years or so, be careful.

We tend to think of the return of Jesus in the same way sometimes, don’t we? “Oh, sure. Jesus is coming back any minute now.” *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* All the while we don’t live like we really expect it to happen. Well, you talk about a global event. Yellowstone has nothing on the rapture of God’s people. At the twinkling of an eye, Jesus says in Matthew 24 that, “This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your LORD will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Can you imagine how the world is going to react to that? Are you ready? Are you using your time, talents and treasure that God has entrusted to you? There is nothing in prophecy that has to happen before the rapture. It could happen at any time. It says in Hebrews 1:3 that when Jesus went back to Heaven, He sat down at the right hand of God the Father. But after watching all the pieces fall into place in the last few years and months and even days, I believe that Jesus has moved out to the edge of His seat and He is looking expectantly at the Father. He is just waiting for Him to say, “Son, go get your bride, the church, your disciples; those that I have promised you that will share in your glory!”

Now, look at one last thing really quick. Look at verse 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!’ For those two servants who were faithful and used their talents as the master wanted, this probably meant a welcome home party with a big feast. The master was glad to be back and wanted to celebrate and wanted his good servants to join him.

Jesus said in Revelation 22:12-13, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” So, in other words, He’s kind of a big deal. And when Jesus throws a party, I want to be there. When Jesus gives out rewards, I want mine. Don’t you?

I’m going to close with this. I know you have jobs. You have family. You have bills to pay and kids to raise and laundry to do and doctor’s visits without end. You are busy people. But listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. 14If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved-even though only as one escaping through the flames.”

What he is saying is that when we see Jesus, all our work will be tested and if it was done for the sake of eternity; if we used our time, talent and treasure – no matter how much or how little – for the building up of the Kingdom, then we will be rewarded. But it doesn’t matter how nice your house was or what kind of car you drove. It won’t matter how high up the corporate ladder you climbed or how hard you worked at your job. That will be burned up and you will be disappointed. You will be in Heaven and that will be great. Thank you, Lord. But it says you will suffer loss because your work was done only for the present.

What gifts has God given you? Can you speak? Can you pray? Can you sing? Maybe the best thing you can do is just give money. Maybe God has called you to be a missionary in the darkest jungle of Africa. Maybe. But maybe He has called you to be a missionary to your neighbor across the street or to tell your kids or grandkids about what Jesus has done in your life.

I’m glad you have a job. You should thank God you are able to make money and support yourself. But that’s not what you are called to do. It may be where you are called to be but it’s not what you are called to do. Go and make disciples. We are not guaranteed another breath.

If you are not a believer and disciple of Jesus Christ, then repent of your sins today. Turn away from that lifestyle and ask God for forgiveness and believe in Him completely for your salvation to Heaven and from Hell. Allow Him to change your life today. We may not have tomorrow.