The 40-Day Challenge is a series of sermons designed for your growth. It’s designed to motivate you to grow spiritually by forming 7 habits that Christians have used for centuries to grow in their faith. You have a card that was in your seat. Please put this in front of you for the next few minutes.
I want you to take a 40-day challenge with me.
40 days of Bible reading.
40 days of prayer
40 days of serving.
40 days of giving.
More details to come in a few moments.
I invite you to turn to Matthew 25 with me. Jesus tells a story that challenges us to consider our lives and possessions in light of eternity.
Jesus is on the Mount of Olives, which you can see directly over the valley into Jerusalem, no more than one mile away. This is known as the Olivet Discourse. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus tells the future. It’s clear Jesus is speaking about an event that hasn’t happened yet as He instructs us on what to do while waiting for His return.
Jesus groups this series of parables together to make His point. Parables were Jesus’ favorite teaching method. Each parable represents a small story with a big truth.
Today’s Scripture
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
Here are 3 servants and their master. The way these men respond to the responsibility given to them surprises us.
There are 3 parts to Jesus’ story:
1) There are the differing amounts He gives to each person (verses 14-15);
2) There’s the work done by each slave to make a profit (verses 16-18);
3) And lastly, the Master settles everyone’s accounts (verses 19-30).
The story isn’t difficult to understand, but the implications of His story intrigue us as they apply to our lives. Let’s identify some possible confusing items so you can benefit from Jesus’ story.
What is “it” in verse 14? If you go back to what is commonly known as the Parable of the Ten Virgins, “it” is “the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 25:1). Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins” in verse 1 and the kingdom of heaven will also “be like a man going on a journey,” He says in verse 14. So, we’re talking about the kingdom of Heaven.
Who is the “man” in verse 14? The “master” is Jesus. He’s also called the “master” 9 times throughout the parable. The “master” is the one who gives the talents to His servants, goes away, returns, and settles the accounts.1
What does the “journey” mean in the story? Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is “… like a man going on a journey,” which is the tension in the story. The “journey” is the period of time Jesus is away from the earth before He comes back at the Second Coming. Right now, there is around a 2,000-year delay between His first and second coming. The point of Jesus’ story is this: What will the servants do while the Master’s away?
Who are the “servants” in the story? The servants are people who say they are believers in Christ. The servants are professing Christ-followers.
What is significant about “talents” in the story? “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability” (Matthew 25:15a). You may read the word “talents” and think Jesus is talking about someone who can play the piano. No, the talent isn’t like a talent like this. The talent is money. The “talent” was the highest known denomination of currency in the ancient Roman Empire. This is obvious from the end of verse 18: “But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money” (Matthew 25:18). So, Jesus is teaching on money.
In ancient times, a talent could be comprised of gold, silver, or copper, and each of those would have different pricing points depending on the element. The talent was first measured according to weight, between 58 and 80 pounds. Did Jesus mean a talent of gold or silver? In Jesus’ day, a talent was thought to be roughly 6,000 denarii. Denarii were ancient Roman coins or our lowest form of currency.
Vast Sums of Money
Now, if a talent was worth 6,000 denarii, then it would take a day laborer twenty years to earn so much.2 This is an enormous figure. To help us understand Jesus’ story, I took twenty years and multiplied it by the median household income of North Richland Hills, according to the Census Bureau. I came up to a figure under $1.8 million dollars.3 That is a rough but conservative estimate. Again, this is a vast sum of money.
If you do the math, the first guy would have received around $9 million. The second would have received around $3.6 million. And the third one would have received $1.8 million. That puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
Now recall Jesus says, “…to whom much is given, must is required” (Luke 12:48). What’s your personal reaction to Jesus’ story? What do we learn from this story?
2 Takeaway’s
1. Jesus Watches His Investments
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property” (Matthew 25:14).
1.1 A Talent
When a thoughtful Christian reads this or hears a sermon on this parable, we often think that talent is something other than money. We don’t have to limit Jesus’ teaching in this parable to money, but let’s not arbitrarily exclude money either.4 The story can mean more than money, but if you exclude money, you’re revealing your prejudice. God has given believers financial responsibilities.5 How we relate to money is a critical issue in our relationship with God.
1.2 His Property
We’d be wrong to fail to notice 5 important words at the end of verse 14: “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property” (Matthew 25:14).
If Jesus is the Master and the servants are believers, then the implication is obvious. Everything we “own” actually belongs to God. As any investment person knows, managing other people’s money is a responsibility.
1.2.1 Driving Limousines
Some of you familiar with my story know that one of the jobs I had during my seminary days was driving limousines. Think of it as a really nice Uber driver and you get the picture. From time to time, the customer would pay with cash. Now, if I were to drive a customer on a Friday night and he/she was to pay with cash, that cash would sit in my wallet next to my money. If you were to look inside my wallet, you could not distinguish between the two. Yet, I owed my boss on Monday morning that cash. It wasn’t mine although it really would have been nice when Traci and I were seminary students! Jesus is pressing a point here: everything in our wallets is His. Just as in the story, God is really gracious with us. Everything we have is given to us by God’s grace.
1.2.2 My Responsibility
My responsibility increases when it is someone else’s money. If I blow MY money, it’s one thing. If I blow YOUR money, it’s something else entirely. My responsibility increases when it is someone else’s money. So, Jesus tells us a story where it’s HIS money. The servants could use what the Master left. They could manage it, but what they could not do was own it. Jesus is telling us that everything we have is by the grace of God. Every possession we have is by God’s grace. We don’t own it. God lent it to us. Let me ask you a personal question: do you consider everything you have as God’s possession?
1.2.3 Working for Everything I Have
Some of you may say, “Oh, I’ve worked very hard; I am what I am because I’ve worked very hard.” If God had decided you were going to be born in a village deep in South America centuries ago, would you be doing as well, no matter how hard you worked?
[Pause]
1.2.3.1 More than Hard Work
Your wealth is more than your hard work. Your wealth is your abilities and opportunities, and God gave those to you. Be grateful for whatever wealth you have. The Bible says you are to remember the LORD your God is the One who gives you power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).
1.2.3.2 The Rich Grace of God
And this is A BIG POINT in Jesus’ parable. Yes, there’s a stress on the responsibility of handling the kind of money that Jesus speaks of here. But don’t forget, there is a tremendous grace operating under all of this. Let me ask you: would you like to inherit $1.8 million? Or, $3.6 million? Or even $9 million? Of course, we all would. God is graceful to us in forgiving us of our sins and putting His Son on the cross on our behalf. God is amazingly graceful with His children, and I’m not JUST talking about money. Everything You Have is A Gift.6
1.2.3 The Power of Money
The human heart is an idol factory, and one of our favorite idols is money. Money has a power over us, but money also makes us feel powerful.
1.2.3.1 Kansas Couple Living with Corpse
Did you hear about the Kansas couple who lived with their father for 6 years? Yes, you heard me correctly. The couple lived with her father and collected his pension and Social Security funds to the tune of $215,000! His mummified remains were lying in a bed inside the couple’s home. Authorities know when he died because of his pacemaker, and family and friends were given excuses as to why no one could see them or visit him!7 Money has a power over us.
1.2.3.2 Monopoly Money.
Paul Piff is a psychologist and professor at the University of California, Irvine, and he studies how money influences human relationships. He says money has a corrosive influence on us. He did this experiment with a rigged Monopoly game. They randomly assigned one of the twwo players to be a rich player in a rigged game of Monopoly. The “rich player” got two times as much money to start. When they passed “GO,” they collected twice the salary, and they got to roll both dice instead of one. Here’s what the professor observed in the rigged Monopoly game in his own words:
“The rich player started to move around the board louder, literally smacking the board with their piece . . . we were more likely to see signs of dominance, displays of power and celebration among the rich players. The rich players actually started to become ruder toward the other person, less and less sensitive, and more and more demonstrative of their material success.”8
When the same professor conducted similar experiments with real-life wealthy individuals, he discovered identical results to the rigged Monopoly game. His experiments have tested individuals’ willingness to do the following:
to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, cheat in a computer game, share a monetary gift with strangers, and even take candy from a jar clearly labeled as being for children!
In every experiment, higher incomes were correlated with “mean” behavior!9 Here’s what the researchers concluded: “As a person’s levels of wealth increase, their feelings of compassion and empathy go down, and their feelings of entitlement, of deservingness, and their ideology of self-interest increases.”
Money has a power over us.
Money also makes us feel powerful.
1.2.3.3 Think about Giving
“For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 13:12).
Yes, everybody got something. But not everyone got an equal something. The Master awards faithfulness by entrusting even more responsibilities to His chosen servants. In effect, Jesus Watches His Investments. Any business owner watches his/her investment. Why would God be any different? Now, God won’t force you to give, but He expects you to be generous with the money He’s entrusted to you. God expects you to be generous to the poor and the needy. I don’t mean giving to street panhandlers but strategically thinking about how I can alleviate suffering. We are having a housing crisis in Fort Worth right now. What could you do about this? He wants you to study and discuss how to empower someone by giving His money in a scholarship to enable a young man or lady to succeed. What about giving to an abortion-minded young lady to encourage her to keep the baby? Giving to a Crisis Pregnancy Center and donating time and money could be personally life-changing for you in 2024.
1. Jesus Watches His Investments
2. He’s Going to Settle Accounts
“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them” (Matthew 25:19).
Each one of us is accountable to God.
2.1 We Already Know What’s Going to Happen
As I thought about Jesus’ story all this week, I was reminded of one of my favorite movies – Back to the Future. Remember when Marty goes ahead in the future and goes into an antique store of sorts where he finds a sports almanac? He realizes he can now go back in his time and bet on all the sporting events now that he knows the outcome. I don’t endorse betting, as I work too hard to give my money away. But if you absolutely knew the future score of the Super Bowl, wouldn’t you lay some money down as a bet? When you read Jesus’ story, here, you know your future outcome. You are in this story; you are one of these servants. Your future scoreboard is frozen in your mind. You know the Master is coming. You know He’s going to settle accounts.
2.2 Risky Behavior
This shouldn’t be scary but should spark some people here to take risks. You know your personal future scoreboard. Jesus is even telling us the world’s future scoreboard. There is no uncertainty in your personal scoreboard if you know the Lord Jesus. Take a risk by giving toward adoption because you know your future. Take a risk by funding world missions so a people group has access to the gospel. Take a risk by funding Bible translation to people who have never read of Jesus’ miracles. Take a risk by funding a God-honoring church to do VBS or camp to reach the next generation. Knowing your future with certainty should encourage you to do some risky Kingdom-Building risks. Now, what will you do to prepare for this day?
2.3 According to His Ability
“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away” (Matthew 25:15).
“For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29).
Yes, everybody got something. But not everyone got an equal something. Each servant was given a different amount. Plus, each servant had no say in what they received. The Master knew His slaves, and He knew their abilities. The Master likely knew the slaves for a long time. The Master made a judgment call on each one’s economic ability and doled out His money based on their ability. God doesn’t create us all equal in terms of ability.
2.3 Praise for the Faithful
When the first two servants invested well for their Master, Jesus praised them. If you are responsible and faithful with whatever the Lord’s investment is, you can expect to be rewarded. He may have given you one talent, two talents, or five talents. No matter how much He’s entrusted to you, if you are responsible and faithful with whatever the Lord’s investment is, you can expect to be rewarded.
Here’s your reward…
Your future level of responsibility is dependent on your present level of faithfulness.10 Your reward is greater trust and more responsibility. God rewards in the next life for faithfulness in this life. So many of you are doing this.
Let me show you one way that our church has been so faithful. Many of us had been praying for God to lower our debt to just under $800,000 by the end of the year. Your giving was marvelous, and I thank the Lord for working through you.
2.3 Condemnation for the Fake
Again, the first two servants were faithful. But what about the one servant who hid the Master’s investment?
Here’s what Jesus says: “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest” (Matthew 25:26b-27).
Jesus said, “I put my investment in your care and you did nothing with it. I only got back 100% of my money. I expected more from you.” Here’s a man whom Jesus is saying is a fake disciple. After all, the man had no idea what kind of Master He served.
Look what the 3rd servant says about the Master: “Master, I knew you to be a hard man … so I was afraid…” (Matthew 25:24a, 25a). Here’s someone who didn’t understand the Master’s magnificent heart of compassion.
2.3.1 Tithing
This isn’t just about tithing. Remember, all you are given in life is God’s possession. But think with me about this for a moment: if you are fighting God on tithing, what does that mean in terms of this parable? Tithing is returning just 10% of your income to God. This “wicked and slothful servant” returned 100% of the Master’s investment, and He was condemned. The “wicked and slothful servant” gave God back every penny He invested in Him, every single penny. Some of you are struggling about giving just 10% of it back and keeping the other 90% for your pleasure. If you only wished to give the Master 10% of His investment, what do you think He would say to you? If this guy returned every penny back to the Master and you are struggling with even giving 10% back to Him, what do you think He might say to you? I don’t think investing God’s money is JUST about giving, but it certainly starts with giving.
2.3.2 Starting to Tithe
Tithing is God’s minimum standard of generosity. Giving 10% is training wheels. God says. in effect, “My basic yardstick of gauging if you are generous is giving 10% away.” Now, some of you are skeptical because you think the pastor and the church are “after your money.” If this is your church home, you should put 10% in the plate or online. That’s God’s command same as I am not to lie to you. But if you don’t trust me, if you don’t trust us, find some God-honoring organization that you do trust. I believe in our church and our ministries, and I personally find it rewarding to tithe. Have a conversation with the people you trust. One of you wants to talk about money in the marriage, even if it’s a fight!
2.4 Summary
Those who serve the Master will have an abundant reward. Those who do not will be condemned. Every believer will give an account of their efforts in this life. You will give an account of your Christian life. Big lesson: Don’t Waste Your Life.
Questions to Ponder:
How am I putting the gospel to work in my life? What are you doing with what you have? What return am I making on God’s investment in my life? What profit will I show when Jesus returns? Believer, if Jesus returned today, would He be pleased with how you’ve invested your life?
2.5 An Altar
At the beginning of my message, I asked you to place the 40-Day Challenge Card in front of you. There are 7 ways you can best your use time for the next 40 days here. Bible reading, prayer, encouraging, tithing, serving, worshipping and witnessing.
EndNotes
1 Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth, ed. R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 739.
2 D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, edited by Frank E. Gaebelein, Vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 516.
3 https://census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/northrichlandhillscitytexas/AGE295222; accessed January 15, 2024.
4 O’Donnell, 740.
5 Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 261.
6 Randy Alcorn, Money, Possession, and Eternity (:Tyndale House Publishers, ), Kindle locations 3819-3823.
7 https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article284431680.html; accessed January 15, 2024.
8 https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean/transcript?language=en; accessed January 16, 2024.
9 https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean/transcript?language=en; accessed January 16, 2024.
0 http://ls.berkeley.edu/stories/archive/pschologists-study-begs-question-are-wealthy-more-rude; accessed September 1, 2015. Link could not be found in January 15, 2024.
11 David Gooding, According to Luke: A New Exposition of the Third Gospel (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987), 300.
