INTRODUCTION
SLIDE 1
- How many of us want to fail in our walk with Jesus? How many of us want to fail at life? How many of us want our children to grow up to fail?
- Failure is something that most of us want to avoid at all costs. We do not want to be known for our failures nor do we want to be known as a failure.
- What causes a person to be a failure in life? What causes us to fail in our relationship with Jesus? What causes the church to fail in her mission to spread the gospel of Christ to a lost world?
- I believe we do not plan to fail, but at times we fail to plan, which in turn will lead us down the path of failure.
- Today we are going to study the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25:14-30.
- In this parable, we have a story of three people with whom their master left them in charge of various amounts of money to manage while he was gone.
- This was not an uncommon occurrence in the ancient world. In many homes the slaves had close to total control of various aspects of their master’s home.
- The subject of this parable teaches us a lesson as to what we are to do with our time as we await the return of Jesus.
- It dovetails with the previous parable (The parable of the Ten Virgins), to show us how we are to keep watch during our wait for His return.
- In this story we will see that two of the servants were successful in the eyes of their master, while one was a failure.
- Why did the one fail while the other two servants were successful? Was the failure by accident? Did the master have it "in" for the failed servant, or was there more to it?
- Today we are going to look at three things the unsuccessful servant failed to do in his pursuit of being successful.
- Let’s turn to Matthew 25:14-30 as we look at "How To Be A Failure." As we look at this passage, we will see a lot of parallels to what Jesus wants us to be doing as we await His return.
- READ MATTHEW 25:14-18
- Matthew 25:14 - 18 (NASB) 14For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
- SLIDE 2
SERMON
We can become failures when we:
I. LIVE LIFE WITH NO IMAGINATION.
- In the parable, Jesus talks about a man who is about to go on a journey. While gone on this journey of unknown length of time, the master gives three servants some money to manage while he is gone.
- Notice in verse 14, Jesus says the master entrusted his possessions to these three servants. This word translated "entrusted" means to "to deliver to one something to keep, use, take care of, manage"
- These men were given total control of what the master had given to them.
- God gives us the church; He gives us charge over spreading the good news about Jesus to a lost world. We are entrusted with something that is very valuable to God, the souls of those whom He loves.
- We see that the servants who were given the five and two talents went out and doubled what the master had given to them.
- The story makes it sound like they did this in a one time act. It most likely took a lot of creativity and imagination on the part of these two servants to do what they did, along with a period of time.
- When the master gave his possessions to the servants, there was an expectation on the part of the master that the servants were to work hard to make the masters possessions grow.
- SLIDE #3
- We do not know what the two successful servants did to double what the master gave to them, but we do know what the unsuccessful servant did, look at verse 18, he went away and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.
- Once again, this was not an uncommon thing to do at the time; there were not banks on every corner like we have today.
- Why did the servant just bury the money? Was he lazy? Was he afraid? Were there other motives?
- One thing we know is the servant used no imagination, he just did the thing many others would have done; he buried it. Now that took a lot of thought and imagination.
- What happens when we quit using our imagination, what happens when we just get settled into a pattern of behavior that does not take us anywhere?
- Maybe the servant did not want to take the time to figure out ways to increase his master’s money; maybe he was too busy carrying out his own selfish business to be concerned with the assignment the master had given to him?
- Jesus has given us the assignment of reaching the lost. Part of being successful in that endeavor is for us to be creative in ways to reach people. Churches that have been successful are ones who are not afraid to try things.
- Maybe the servant was afraid to lose his master’s money, so he did the safe thing and hid it? Later we will look at that thought again.
- Can anyone tell me what KFC stands for? The restaurant.
- KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN.
- When I was a young child and throughout my teens, the restaurant called KFC was called Kentucky Fried Chicken. Why did the company change the name to KFC? Because it is shorter? NO! Back in the day we ate everything fried, if you lived on the farm, you ate everything fried in lard!
- With the health craze, KFC was worried that people would not want to eat at a place with FRIED in the middle of their name, given that fried food is not supposed to be good for you.
- What did the company do about it? They refused to change and went out of business? NO! They changed, the chicken is still fried, but you do not see it in the name now. They used some imagination and are thriving.
- Fear of failure will keep us from using imagination, when we live a life with no imagination, we can become a failure. The one-talent man used no imagination.
We can become failures when we: SLIDE 4
II. LIVE LIFE WITH NO AMBITION.
- What happened when the master gave the two successful servants their money?
- SLIDE 5
- Verse 16.
- He immediately went out and trades with them and gained five more.
- SLIDE 6
- Verse 17 says the one who received two did likewise.
- For these men to do this took some ambition on their part.
- Being successful in life takes a lot of hard work, being a true disciple of Jesus takes hard work also.
- People who are successful in life have goals, they are not afraid to work. The difference between a person who dreams of success and the one who succeeds is ambition and work. You need drive and ambition to succeed and then you need to work to make it happen.
- The first two servants received their master’s money and then proceeded to go out and do something with it.
- These two used the opportunity to serve the Lord before His return, which they eagerly anticipated. They willingly invested everything they had in service to their master.
- The third servant put aside what the master had given to him so he could continue on his own pursuits. It is very possible he may have thought himself a servant of his master, but his actions proved otherwise.
- What did this servant do the whole time the master was gone? What did the other two do? They were out working to please the master.
- Who knows what the one-talent person was doing with his time.
- This person was content to bury his master¡¦s money and if the master returned, give it back to him.
- How many of us have been given a lot of talent from God, only to bury it in the ground? We think that the day we stand before Jesus, we will give the talent to Him.
- It does not take a lot of ambition to bury what you have in the ground.
- As a church, what drives us? Are we driven to reach the lost or are we fighting to keep some status quo? Are we content with what we have to the point we will bury it in the ground and give it back to Jesus when He returns?
- To be successful at what we do requires us to have a lot of ambition which will lead to hard work.
- DO you become close to Jesus by accident? Why do some people grow in Christ, while some do not grow?
- Is it your ambition to grow? If it is you will put in the work to make it happen. DO you want to have a great relationship with your spouse? If that is your ambition, you will put in the work to make that happen.
- Great marriages do not happen by accident, people do not succeed in athletics by accident, and people are not successful in business by accident. All these things take the ambition to do it and the work to make it happen.
- For you to grow in Christ, it will take the ambition to do it followed by the work.
- As this church grows, it takes more work for things to happen. If it is our ambition to see the kingdom of God grow in Sierra Vista through the First Christian Church, it will take a lot of work and we must not be afraid to be creative in reaching people.
- When we live life with no ambition, this can lead to us failing at life.
- SLIDE 7
We can become failures when we:
III. LIVE LIFE WITH WRONG ASSUMPTIONS.
- What do you think the two servants who were successful were thinking?
- SLIDE 8
- The one-talent man had many false assumptions that led to his demise.
- I believe they knew the master was going to return on day and they were going to have to stand before him and give an account of how they handled the money the master gave them to oversee.
- I am not sure this was the assumption the unsuccessful servant was living under.
- If he really believed the master was going to return, why didn’t he do more with what the master gave to him?
- If I really believe that Jesus is going to return, shouldn¡¦t my life reflect that in the way I live? Let’s look at verses 24-27.
- READ MATTHEW 25:24-27
- Matthew 25:24 - 27 (NASB) 24And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. 26But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
- SLIDE #9
- In verse 24 the servant starts to attack the character of the master. Look at what he said about him.
- SLIDE #10
- In verse 25 the servant used this as his excuse as to why he did nothing with what was given to him.
- SLIDE #11
- The master debunks the servants excuse in verse 26-27.
- The master said if this excuse was true, then the servant should have put the money in the bank and earned the master some interest.
- He said if you really believed what you said you about me reaping where I did not sow, you should have also known I would have EXPECTED a return on what WAS mine!
- The master sees right through the excuse.
- SLIDE #12
- The real issue is that the servant lived under the false assumption that the master would not return and therefore he would not be held to account by the master.
- This is a false assumption that many live their lives under. One day we will ALL give an account before Jesus!
- I believe the master was not upset over the lack of return on the money as much as the lack of effort to make it happen.
- When we live with our heads in the sand, we are doomed to failure.
- Having little to work with is no excuse. Remember back in verse 15 we were told the master gave talents to each one according to their ability.
- The master was not looking for equal results, just equal effort. He knew his servants well enough to know their abilities.
- Notice the five-talent and the two-talent servants received the same reward in verses 21 and 23.
- They were expected to do the best they could with what they had.
- SLIDE #13
- One of the false assumptions we live under is that if we have what we perceive as little, that God does not expect much. As long as we believe that, we will not do much for God.
CONCLUSION
- There are many false assumptions we live under that will hurt us as we strive for success in life.
- The one-talent man failed his master and he paid a price for it.
- We need to realize that God wants us to succeed in life. We need to realize that God wants to tell us, "well done good and faithful servant."
- If Jesus stood before you TODAY, would He be able to say that to you?
- We need to realize the path to failure is- RECAP FINAL SLIDE. 14
- In two weeks, we will look at the Power of Encouragement!
