OPEN: Does anybody know what is the highest mountain on earth is? (Mt. Everest)
This mountain is located in the Himalayas on the borders of Nepal and China.
And because it is the highest mountain on earth, it is a popular destination for mountain climbers. But you need to have a lot of money to do this particular climb. It presently costs climbers about $20,000 to make it to the top of Mt. Everest.
Mt. Everest is a popular destination for mountain climbers, but that doesn’t mean it’s a safe place to be. This isn’t a tourist attraction like an amusement park. This mountain is an extremely dangerous place to climb. It’s said that the bodies of over 200 people are still up on the mountain. Climbers who’ve died on the slopes of Mt. Everest.
One climber noted:
“There are times when you literally have to step over somebody’s body to get to the top,”
One of the most tragic deaths occurred about six years ago (in May of 2006). A 34 year old Englishman named David Sharp managed a solo climb to top of Everest and was making his way back down when he began to suffer from hypothermia. He sat down and eventually he died. But as he lay dying - 800 ft one of the Camps on the mountain –he was passed by 40 other climbers who were headed for the summit. And not one of those climbers made an attempt at a rescue.
APPLY: Now, why did these 40 climbers leave Sharp to die?
Well, because they were on their way to top of the highest mountain in the world.
And they’d spent 1000s of dollars the privilege.
If they turned back now… they might never make the summit.
So, they just walked past the body… of a man they figured would die anyway
I want you to hold that thought in your mind for a couple of minutes. We’ll come back to this story at the end of the sermon. But for right now, let’s take a look at our text for this morning.
Here in Matthew 25 - Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Church) is like a man who gave his servants a huge amount of money, called “talents”.
What’s a Talent?
Well, several chapters earlier (in Matthew 20) Jesus told a parable of workers hired to work in a vineyard. We’re told in that parable, that a Denarius was a day’s wages. And we know from other sources that one talent was worth 6000 Denarii.
Doing the math: It would take a person working 5 to 6 days a week for 20 years or more to earn one talent. So, if (say) we earned $30,000 a year for the next 20 years - that would make a talent worth around $600,000.
That’s ONE talent.
Does that sound like a lot of money to you?
The point the parable was, that each of these servants in the parable received a TASK they could do. Each of them was given something that the Master wanted taken care of. Each of the servants was given a responsibility the Master believed they could handle.
Last week, we learned that each of us is a servant of God
Romans 10 tells us that part of becoming a Christian is confessing that Jesus our LORD (Lord was a master, or slave owner). That means, that when we became Christians we should have given Jesus ownership of our lives.
He is the Master, we are His servants.
Now, fast forward to Matthew 25 where Jesus is teaching us that each of us (as servants) have specific tasks that HE wants us to accomplish. Each of us has been given “talents” that He wants us to use for Him.
Ephesians 2:10 tells this very thing when it says: “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS that God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Now these “good works” (mentioned in Ephesians 2) have great importance to God.
That’s why Jesus used MONEY to get His point across.
A lot of money!
A talent was worth $600,000 in our economy.
That much money can get our attention real fast!
And Jesus used this valuable “talent” to drive home the fact that God has given us some valuable things to do for Him. No matter what I do for Him it has great value… because God said it did.
Colossians 3:23 tells us “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”. It doesn’t matter if we’re doing things for Him in the factory or in the field. If we do what we do for Him… Jesus says that is of great value in Heaven.
Now, that said, we need to realize that EVERY task God gives us is highly valued by Him. Some people have the mistaken impression that – if they don’t have certain “showy” talents… their talent(s) are not that important to God.
But That’s Not True!
Notice the Master gave different talents to each servant – for a reason.
“To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, EACH ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY. Then he went on his journey.” Matthew 25:15
The master gave each servant EXACTLY what they could handle. And it didn’t matter to the Master how many talents each servant was given. All talents were equally important to Him.
For example: When the servant with 5 talents came back with 10 talents for His master, the master said: "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!” Matthew 25:21
And guess what – when the servant who had 2 talents doubled it for his master, the master said: "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!” Matthew 25:23
It didn’t matter if the servant had 5 talents or 2 talents.
The master told them both the same thing
“Well done, good and faithful servant!!!”
Now, why would Jesus tell the parable that way? Why teach us that the 5 talent servant pleased the master as much as the 2 talent servant?
Well - because God doesn’t look at your “talent”.
He looks at what you DO with that talent.
Some people say:
I can’t teach.
I can’t sing.
I can’t play an instrument.
I can’t do missionary work.
I can’t work on computers.
I can’t cook.
I don’t have a lot of money to give to the church.
I can’t do this… or I can’t do that.
And the list goes on and on and on.
They think they don’t have much to offer God because they CAN’T DO the BIG talent things. They don’t have showy or impressive gifts.
But this parable is saying:
God doesn’t care about what you CAN’T DO.
He cares about what you CAN do.
This parable is essentially telling us:
Don’t just sit there… do something!!!
Find something!!!
Create something!!!
Do ANYTHING!!!
But don’t just sit there and do NOTHING!
As Jonathan Winters once said: “If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!”
Find a way to serve God!!!
Now, I can’t emphasize enough.
God is NOT concerned with the value or the number of the talents you may have.
The master (in the parable) was as excited about what the 5 talent man did with his talents as he was with the 2 talent man and what he did with his.
The problem for some folks become more focused on the value of their talent than on what they can do with that talent. That was the problem for the the ONE talent man (remember him?). He was the wicked servant who did NOTHING with his talent and because he was totally focused on the value of that one talent.. but did nothing wit it.
In his mind, the talent was SO valuable, he was afraid of messing things up.
“Then the man who had received the one talent 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.
So I was AFRAID and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ Matthew 25:24-25
There are people in church who don’t do things for God because they’re afraid they’ll mess it up. They’re afraid it will make God mad at them. They’re afraid that God will hate them. They’re afraid they’ll do irreparable damage to God’s stuff. So, they just DON’T DO anything for God.
Now, I’ll let you in on a secret - it’s possible to mess it up. It’s possible to mishandle the talent God has given you.
But God is less concerned with you messing up than He is with you giving up.
That’s what THIS parable is telling us.
The Master wouldn’t have been upset with the “one talent servant”if he’d just gone out and put it “…on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”Matthew 25:27
He didn’t have to try very hard.
He just had to TRY!
If he’d have least tried the master would have been satisfied.
ILLUS: God’s approach to this seems to be little like the story of a minister I read about. The preacher was busy in his study preparing his sermon. He reached for a book and then remembered that he had left it downstairs. He called his little daughter and explained carefully where she could find the book.
Excitedly she ran down the stair and returned … with the WRONG book.
He kissed his daughter and said, "Thanks honey."
She left, feeling happy and contented… then he went quietly for the book he needed.
That father loved his daughter.
And he was satisfied with her effort, even though’ it was wrong.
What mattered to that Father was the fact that she was willing to be obedient and bring him the book she thought he wanted. That was far more important to him than the fact that she bro’t him the wrong one.
So, we don’t have to worry about “messing up”.
Because that’s not the problem here.
The problem (according to Jesus’ parable) was that the man was afraid of God… so he didn’t even try.
But others have another problem with people who focus on the value of their talent!
There are Christians who end up not doing anything for God because doing anything less than the most prominent of tasks would be beneath them.
They aren’t into doing menial work.
They’re not interested in small jobs
That sort of thing isn’t equal to their greatness.
Like the wicked servant, it’s the SIZE of the talent is what catches their eye.
But they’re not afraid… they’re just arrogant.
They’re looking for the $600,000 talent show.
They’re not interested in the small change
Unless you can give them a BIG job… don’t bother them. They’re not interested.
Notice what the Master says to the first two servants (it’s exactly the same)
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful WITH A FEW THINGS; I will put you in charge of many things!’ Matthew 25:23
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told this parable in a slightly different way and stated there:
"’Well done, my good servant!… Because you have been trustworthy in a VERY SMALL MATTER, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17
Notice what Jesus is saying:
God is watching to see what we do with “a few things”/ with a “very small matter”. And if we prove faithful with those SMALL things… then He’ll trust us with bigger jobs.
So, what small things can you do to show God you can be trusted with bigger responsibilities?
· Pass plates (don’t have to hold an “office” here to do this)
· Take part in the Prayer chain (a number of you have)
· Teaching Sunday School. You don’t have to be a “full time” teacher. There are times when the Sunday School Teachers need a break. They get sick. They go on vacation. Talk to Larry about filling in for these folks.
· Driving bus. I could drive it myself, I guess, but that leaves me less time to do what my job is really supposed to be about.
· Filling communion trays. What happens when somebody doesn’t fill the communion trays? That’s right, we don’t have any communion (fairly obvious I thought).
· Sound booth.
· Working in the Nursery
· Mowing the grass (we have a list for people who take that responsibility)
· Clean the sink in the bathroom, so the next person doesn’t see it a mess.
Then there are the small jobs outside the church walls you can do. The jobs nobody often sees or rewards your for.
· You can give money to the poor (Jesus taught you should do this secretly)
· Going to the nursing home – read to them, talk to them, etc.
· I recently heard about a man who goes to restaurant and finds people eating alone… he talks with them, ministers to them, prays with them.
These are just a few of the “small jobs” you can do. You might not get any “atta boys” or “pats on back” for doing them, but God watches… and He knows what you do for Him. And God rewards us for these tasks.
CLOSE: Now, having said all that, I want to add a warning.
In this congregation there are a number of people who take their talents seriously. There are a number of people who do the “small tasks” – both inside and outside the church building. I often brag about you to others that I meet because of the commitment you have to Jesus and His church.
And the warning I’m about to give is not something we have trouble with right now. But I’ve seen greater and more powerful churches than ours… fall into this trap I’m about to describe. This warning is to watch and make sure we don’t fall prey to that which has damaged others who have gone before us.
What is this danger?
What is this trap into which even great churches can fall?
It’s the trap of getting so involved with our talents that we forget WHY Jesus gave us those talents to begin with.
There are so many in Christendom who do all the small jobs, because they think that’s why they exist. They get so focused on keeping things running in church that they overlook why Jesus came.
You remember that story I told at the beginning of the sermon - about the 40 people who were so focused on the summit of the Mt. Everest they left a man to die?
There are whole churches like that.
In their rush to reach their full potential as workers in the church they walk right past the TRUE reason God called them to be workers in His church.
What is the TRUE reason?
It’s found in Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Our real task as servants of the most high God is bring the lost and dying to Jesus. If we forget that… we’ll end up leaving the people Jesus died for lying beside the road while we make a pretty church for us to be comfortable in.
We DON’T want to do that.
ILLUS: Just a few days after David Sharp died alone on Mt. Everest another team of climbers led by Andrew Brash of Calgary came upon a man named Lincoln Hall. Hall wasn’t dead. He wasn’t sleeping. He was just sitting there cross-legged at the edge of 10,000 foot drop - changing his shirt. He had his suit unzipped to the waist, his arms out of the sleeves. No hat, no gloves, no sunglasses, no oxygen mask, no sleeping bag, no mattress, no food or water bottle.
He just sat there - without proper equipment and barely clothed – and yet ALIVE.”
Brash and his team abruptly abandoned their climb to the top of Mt. Everest. They shared their oxygen with him until a rescue team could take him back down the Mountain. They didn’t make it to the summit. But they did something far more valuable – they saved life of a man who was confused and dying.
Those 40 climbers who left David Sharp to die have met with nothing but excuses and critism. But the climbers who rescued Lincoln Hall met with praise and admiration… as well they should.
We need to remember two things this morning.
1) God wants to give us responsibilities within His church… and He’s watching to see how seriously we take those tasks.
2) We must always remember the reason God gave us those tasks was to ultimately use them to reach the lost for Christ and find and rescue the dying.
