A church member was angry and complained to the Pastor that the church had wastefully purchased five new brooms. He felt the expenditure was unnecessary. The Pastor mentioned it to the church administrator who responded; “No wonder he was upset. How would you feel if you saw everything you gave in the past year tied up in five brooms?”
God certainly doesn’t need our money or our abilities to do His work, He wants our hearts, thankful hearts that know we can never out give Him.
Jesus’ Parable of the Talents is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14-30. It is only written in Matthew’s Gospel and it is an important teaching. There is actually a grouping of three parables in this section of Matthew. Let’s set the stage. First, as a review, who was Matthew? He is the God inspired, Jewish author of the Gospel that bears his name. He wrote this most likely only twenty or thirty years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Nowhere in the four Gospels do we find a single recorded word that Matthew spoke; he did not write about himself, he wrote about the life of Jesus. We know very little about Matthew – the only thing we know for sure is he was a humble man who kept himself almost completely in the background throughout the life of Jesus and His ministry. Matthew was a tax collector – a publican! That is the last credential we might expect to see from a man who would become an apostle of Christ, a top leader in the church and a preacher of the Gospel. Tax collectors were the most despised people in Israel. They were men who had brought tax franchises from the Roman emperor, and then extorted money from the people of Israel to feed the Roman coffers and to pad their own pockets. When Jesus found him, Matthew dropped everything and followed Him. He became a man of quiet humility who loved outcasts and gave no place to religious hypocrisy – a man of great faith. He stands as a reminder that the Lord often chooses the most despicable people, redeems them, gives them new hearts and uses them in powerful ways.
Matthew’s Gospel is the bridge that leads us out of the Old Testament and into the New Testament. Not many people have studied what took place after the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi and the first Gospel of the New Testament, Matthew. It is very interesting time period and we’ll be studying just that in our Bible Study in awhile. It was known as the Intertestamental Period and it covered 400 silent years. Matthew’s Gospel is the bridge. He introduced a new King, Jesus, and He introduced a new people, the church.
Back to the Parable of the Talents: Matthew records this at the very end of Jesus’ life. Jesus had already made His triumphal, final entry into Jerusalem. He had already had conflicts with the hypocritical religious rulers, the Pharisees and Sadducees. He had already given us His greatest commandment, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus was preparing to be betrayed, arrested and crucified in a matter of hours, looking ahead to His glorious resurrection to fulfill His purpose here on earth.
This parable encourages us to be faithful in all aspects of our lives until Jesus returns again. We should be watching, witnessing and working. In doing so, we may not be successful or popular in the eyes of those around us, but if we are faithful we will be richly blessed and rewarded by God.
The Parable of the Talents – Matthew 25:14-30
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.
After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ’Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ’Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ’Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ’Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ’Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ’You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have at least deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
So let’s look closer at what we’ve read and apply it to our lives. First, a talent was a measure of weight, not a coin, so a talent of gold was more valuable than a talent of silver. It represented a lot of money; some scholars suggest twenty years worth of wages. The talents were given to the three servants according to their ability. So the first servant, because he had much ability, was given 5 talents, or 100 years worth of wages. The second servant had average ability and was given 2 talents, or 40 years worth of wages and the third servant with minimal ability was given 1 talent, 20 years worth of wages. In today’s economy, estimating an average annual salary, the first servant received $4 million dollars, the second received $1 million 600,000, and the third $800,000. Not bad money to invest.
Some will disagree but I believe this parable applies to abilities as well, and how we use our gifts. We all have been given gifts. Think about your life and how God uses you. Yes, He uses us through our financial giving, because we know our money isn’t ours to begin with. We are the managers, the servants of God’s money. How can we give back to God so that He can use us?
How can we give back to God the abilities He has given each of us, so that He can use us in a powerful way? If the Holy Spirit dwells in us, abides in us, then God can use us to transform lives. It should be our privilege to give back to God what He has given to us. It should be our privilege to serve the Lord and multiply what He has given us according to our abilities. I also believe we all have been given abilities, unique to each of us, but how have we multiplied them for the Kingdom of God? The three servants fell into two categories, simple as that; faithful and unfaithful.
The two faithful servants took their talents and put them to work for their Lord. The unfaithful servant was afraid, was not willing to trust that God would multiply his talent. In fact he was not willing to entrust God with what God had already given him. It was a free gift to use in faith. What did the unfaithful servant do? He hid his talent in the earth. Instead of using his abilities, resources and opportunities, he buried them! Was this a surprise to the landowner? Is it a surprise to God? Why do you think the unfaithful servant only received one talent to begin with? I don’t believe he was purposely doing something evil, but his sin was his lack of faith and trust. He was doing absolutely nothing. He was robbing the Lord of service and increase. He was in fact lazy and God could only use him in a minimal way because of this. He was afraid he might fail, so he never tried to succeed. Remember, when we pray for a good harvest, God expects us to say Amen with a hoe!
The two servants who put their talents, their money and abilities to work each received praise and joy. They started as servants and their Lord made them rulers. They were faithful with a few things, so the Lord trusted them with many things. They had worked hard and they were joyful in the process. They didn’t complain, they didn’t object, they worked hard to give something back. Their faithfulness gave each of them a capacity for greater service and responsibility. Pause for a moment and think about this in your own life.
I know these are secular examples, but in this economy many, many businesses, in fact most have cut way back. Owners are holding tight to what little they may have left. Do you know what the Irvine Company is doing in Southern California? They are in a huge building mode, they cannot build fast enough? Why? Because they have faith that this is temporary and when the economy improves, people will still want to live in California. They are trusting and taking advantage of opportunities. Have you driven on the outskirts of the greater Phoenix area lately? Pipelines are being laid, roads are being grated and thousands of houses are being built. Why? Because the city planners realize this is temporary situation and when the economy improves, more and more people will want to live and work in the Phoenix area. In both of these examples, opportunities are being sought after instead of opportunities that may be lost.
God works completely opposite of the way the world works. The world says take what you can, God says give all you have. The world supports attitudes of entitlement and God says “work hard for what I give you.” Jesus taught this, scripture supports it through the entire Bible and the parable of the talents is founded on it. “Well done, good” and what? Yes, “faithful servant.” God says, “Don’t be afraid, be faithful. Trust Me as you give of yourself and be faithful. I will reward you, and you will enter into the joy of your Lord”
What all has God given us? And what does God want us to do with it. He wants to multiply our opportunities so we can do more. God certainly doesn’t need our money or our abilities to do His work, He wants our hearts, thankful hearts that know we can never out give Him.
