Matthew 25:14-30 -- “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” “Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.” “And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.” “But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.” “After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.” “And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.” “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” “He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.” “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:” “And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.” “His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:” “Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.” “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.” “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
l. INTRODUCTION -- THE CONTEXT OF MATTHEW 25
-The words and works of Jesus Christ are like no other. There was a way that He could tell stories like no one else. He could weave the parable with such intrigue and action, but most of all with such feeling. No one could take fields and seeds and plows and wineskins and coins and sheep and even boys and make them speak like Jesus could.
-The same is true with Matthew 25. It was His last sermon. It begins in Matthew 24 and can even referred to as the Olivet Discourse. This message came in the waning hours before He was to go to the Cross. The emphasis of His words involve the Second Return of Jesus Christ.
-In teaching the disciples of His return, Jesus moves through a series of parables:
Matthew 24:32-33 -- The Fig Tree
Matthew 24:43-44 -- The Parable of the Goodman of the House
Matthew 24:45-51 -- The Parable of the Faithful Servant
Matthew 25:1-13 -- The Five Wise Virgins and the Five Foolish Virgins
Matthew 25:14-30 -- The Parable of the Talents
-The last two parables involve two major issues in the lives of men who are awaiting the return of the Lord.
(1) The Parable of the Virgins -- Deals with the fate of the unprepared.
(2) The Parable of the Talents -- Deals with the tragedy of wasted opportunity.
(3) The Parable of the Virgins -- Deals with the waiting of the return of the Lord.
(4) The Parable of the Talents -- Deals with working until the return of the Lord.
ll. THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS
-The tone of the parable involves that of a landowner who is going away for a extended period of time. Before his departure, he calls his servants in and gives them various portions of his properties. To one he gives five talents, to another he gives two talents, and to another he gives one talent.
-One writer has valued a talent in those days to be worth, $29,085.00. This is a fairly substantial sum of money. It is enough to give any man a foot hold in the business world. Thus, the man who received just one talent, had enough money to get him started in some particular venture that would have benefited the master.
-To not do anything is enough to ruin men. Because of the servant not investing his master’s money, he brought himself to loss. The man who does nothing with what God has given to him, will have both suffering and loss to deal with in the end.
-No man can afford to wait until eternity before beginning to work. Things will wither if they are not used. The blacksmith’s arm, the welder’s strength, the eye of the scout, the craftsman’s delicate finger, even the mind of the student will wither if it is not used.
-The master was gone for an extended period of time, while he was gone, two were working, and one was waiting. The workers worked, and the waiter, waited.
-When the master returned from the far country, he called for his servants for a time of reckoning. When he began to evaluate the efforts of his servants, he found that two of his servants had invested in their money and had doubled the return. For that there was great reward.
-The principle involved is clear. God never demands things from men which they do not have. Men will never be equal in talent, but they can be equal in effort. The man who is punished, is the man who will not try.
-The man who had been given one talent had done nothing with his talent. He was cast into outer darkness, away from the presence of the Lord.
lll. THE INVESTOR
-What was it about the two men who had invested their talents? What particular things did they understand that the man with one talent did not understand? There are a series of principles (life-guides) to be received from this parable of the Lord.
-Character does not come by inheritance. Men may inherit inanimate things such as land, estates, thrones, and crowns but in the spiritual realm such is not to be. It takes certain elements of sacrifice and desire before one will reap the harvest of spiritual returns.
A. The investor, first of all, must have something to invest.
-We have been filled with the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 -- “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
-Before one can ever make an impact on the world for God, there will have to be that initial investment of the Spirit.
Gideon was a man in the poorest tribe of Israel, but God invested some leadership abilities into him and he took them to a victory.
Moses was a man who could not speak, but God invested some leadership abilities into him and he led the children of Israel out of captivity.
David was a man removed from the pastures and the keeping of sheep, but God invested some leadership abilities in him that caused Israel to expand their lands and power.
Amos was a herdsman.
Peter was a fisherman.
Matthew was a publican.
A little boy gave a lunch.
B. The investor must be willing to take a risk.
-This involves the elements of sacrifice and of faith. There is always a certain amount of crime involved with caution. The man who was given the single talent proves this. We must be willing to invest what has been given to us.
During World War ll, in the Pacific theatre, a sailor in the United States submarine was stricken with acute apendicitis. The nearest surgeon was thousands of miles away. Pharmacist Mate Wheller Lipes watched the sailor’s temperature rise to 106 degrees. His only hope was an operation. Lipes said, “I have watched doctors do it I think I could. What do you say?” The sailor consented. In the wardroom, about the size of a pullman drawing room, the patient was stretched out on a table beneath a floodlight. The mate and assisting officers, dressed in reversed pajama tops, masked their faces with gauze. The crew stood by the diving planes to keep the ship steady; the cook boiled water for sterilizing. A tea strainer served as an antiseptic cone. A broken-handled scalpel was the operating instrument. Alcohol drained from the torpedos was the antiseptic. Bent tablespoons served as retractors to keep the incision open. After cutting through the layers of muscle, the mate took twenty minutes to find the appendix. Two and a half hours later, the last catgut stitch was sewn, just as the last drop of ether gave out. Thirteen days later the patient was back at work.
It was a great thing--greater than any surgeon could ever have done. Not because it was better, but because of Wheller Lipes, the man who was willing to take a risk. (From Biblical Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Michael Green)
-Acts 9 tells of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. The great persecutor of the Church. The maniac who was basically a killing machine when it came to Christians. Now stricken with blindness. God calls on Ananias. God calls on a man whom not much is known about.
-The Bible does not record that he was a great prayer warrior. The Bible does not mention him being a great soul winner. The Bible does not mention him being a great preacher.
-The Bible mentions that he was willing to take risk. He was willing to obey the voice of the Lord. Despite his fears, despite what his natural eyes saw, despite the whispering voice of doubt, he took a risk.
C. The investor must be conscious of the overall scheme of things.
-He has to “see” the big picture. He has to have kept track with history and also have a plan for the future. Investors know the history of companies and products. They become students of history in the marketing venues. They understand what happens to blue chip stocks. They keep track on the different stock indexes. They not only observe the stock indexes, they track interest rates, they record the rate of inflation, and they monitor the employment statistics. They get a feel for the big picture.
-Martha, busy, scurrying, active, working in the kitchen. Mary, quiet, serene, sitting at the feet of the Master. Martha, pre-occupied, planning, thinking. Mary, contemplating, meditating, and taking the things Jesus said to her heart. Martha, bitter, complaining, comparing. Mary, quiet, treasuring, understanding. Martha worried about preparing a meal that would give strength for a day. Mary worried about preparing her heart so that it would have strength to last an eternity.
-What was the difference? Martha could only see for a day. Mary could see for eternity.
-Mary, investing, because she was conscious of the overall scheme of things. She saw the big picture. She understood one thing:
James 4:14 -- “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
-Sometimes it’s hard to see the whole picture. That is where one must allow trust to play into the picture.
Proverbs 3:5-6 -- “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
D. The investor must understand that wealth does not occur overnight.
-Great men and women of God will not be made in a single instant. There are things that one must endure and reach for in this walk with God.
2 Peter 1:5-10 -- “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;” “And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;” “And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”
-One must constantly be adding and looking for opportunities to grow in the Lord.
Yehiel Dinur was one of the principal witnesses in the Nuremberg war-crime trials in 1961. He was one of the few survivors of Auschwitz. In one of the film clips from Adolf Eichmann’s trial, it showed Dinur entering the courtroom and coming face to face with Eichmann. It was the first time that Dinur had seen him in twenty-years. Stopped cold, Dinur began to sob uncontrollably and then fainted while the presiding judge pounded his gavel for order.
Was Dinur overcome by hatred? Fear? Horrid memories? No, it was none of these. Rather, Dinur realized that Eichmann was not the god-like army officer who had sent masses to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. “I was afraid about myself,” said Dinur. “I saw that I am capable to do this. I am exactly like he.” The summation of Dinur’s terrible discovery-- “Eichmann is in all of us” --a horrifying statement; but it indeed captures the central truth about the nature that is in man. (Adapted from Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint Commentary, Unknown Date)
-That is what happens to men who quite investing in life and in their walk with God. They may feel like their returns are not paying off. Our prayers, our faith, our sacrifice, our commitment, and even our hope has the tendency to fade if we do not realize that spiritual wealth will not occur overnight.
-Often, time wears us down (it does me!). Time wearies us. Time worries us.
Matthew 25:19 -- “After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.”
F. The investor must be willing to make adjustments.
-I can withstand some criticism down here if I can here Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
-The man who refuses to make adjustments will find himself living in a stagnant world. There are seven steps to stagnation:
(1) We’ve never done it that way before.
(2) We’ve tried that once before and it failed.
(3) It won’t work.
(4) That’s not my responsibility.
(5) It can’t be done.
(6) It’s not my fault.
(7) We might fail.
G. The investor must understand that there will be some losses along the way.
-Every day will not be a gaining point. There will be times that the “market” does not grow as fast as we would desire it to be. However, consistent and diligent planning and follow through will gain the necessary foothold over the course of time.
-Every prayer that we pray will not be answered. Every time that we fast, it may not always bring the desired effect. There will be some losses along the way.
-There will be some times that we will warm to the wrong fire as Peter did when he denied the Lord. There will be times that we hurriedly unsheath the sword and swing it wildly and cut up what we did not intend to cut up as Peter did in the Garden.
lll. CONCLUSION
-Story of Brother J. T. Pugh getting the Holy Ghost at age seven. The only one to pray through in a three-week revival. When the evangelist was asked how the revival went, he replied that it was so-so, only one got the Holy Ghost. The value of one soul is incredible. It is called investing.
Philip Harrelson
