“SERVING THE LORD IN LIGHT OF HIS COMING”
Text: Matthew 25:14-30
Introduction: Romans 12:11 “Not slothful in business;
fervent in spirit; serving the Lord”
TEV – “Work hard, and do not be lazy. Serve
the Lord with a heart full of
devotion”
NIV – “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your
spiritual fervor, serving
the Lord”
PME – “Let us not allow slackness to spoil our
work and let us keep the
fires of the Spirit burn-
ing, as we do our work
for the Lord”
JB – “Work for the Lord with untiring effort
and with great earnestness of
spirit”
Jesus gave to us the parable of the talents as a means to encourage us and to urge us to be faithful in our work for Him until He comes again. The man
traveling to a far country, in the parable, represents our Lord, who is the absolute owner and proprietor of all persons and things. The servants represent Christians who are born in His house, purchased with His blood and employed in His work.
There is work to be done! This is not an hour in which we can afford to take our ease. This is an urgent hour and these are perilous times. We are living on the brink of eternity. The coming of Christ is imminent!
Luke 14:21 “Go quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor, maimed, halt and blind”
Rev. 3:11 “Behold, I come quickly”
The man traveling into a far country intended to be away for a while. Jesus physically left this earth but He furnished the church with everything necessary to carry on. We have been entrusted with gifts and callings to accomplish His work. The Lord is soon coming and we must serve Him with all diligence in light of His coming!
I. WE HAVE THE GOODS!
A. The master “delivered unto them his goods”
a. I Tim. 6:20 “O Timothy, keep that which is
committed to thy trust”
b. II Tim. 1:14 “That good thing which was committed
unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in
us”
B. We must not:
- Sell out through compromise!
- Squander it away carelessly!
- Trifle with His gifts!
C. “Straightway He took His journey”
a. The question must have come to them
immediately, “What can I do?”
D. Many people have to be supervised in order to get
them to work!
a. How many students will remain busy when the
teacher leaves the room?
b. How many employees will remain busy when the
supervisor is not around?
c. How many today have rose up to play, thinking
that the Lord has delayed His coming?
E. We should be asking, “What can I do?”
a. Job 7:20 “What shall I do unto Thee, O Thou
preserver of men?”
b. Ps. 116:12 “What shall I render unto the Lord
for all His benefits unto me?”
c. John 6:28 “What shall we do, that we might work
the works of God?”
d. Acts 9:6 “Lord what wilt Thou have me do?”
F. When you ask the Lord what He would have you do,
you can be assured that He will not ask you to do
anything that you are not capable of doing.
a. Jesus said of Mary, “She hath done what she
could”
b. She took an alabaster’s box of spikenard valued
at 300 pence (A year’s wages) and broke it open
and anointed Jesus.
G. While the servants with 5 talents and 2 talents
were already busy investing in kingdom work, the
servant with one talent took his ease and buried
his talent.
a. He had willfully hid his talent in the earth.
b. He wanted no yoke, burden or responsibility.
c. What a weariness it is!
H. He suffered from a condition that is so prevalent
today!
a. Just like those that have hung their harps on
the willows.
b. It is the spirit of Laodicea of lukewarmness,
laziness, and lethargy.
II. WE HAVE THE ABILITY!
A. The greatest energy shortage in the church today
is the unused potential within believers.
a. Did you know that the average person only uses
about 10% of their potential?
B. It will be a great day when we discover our
potential!
a. Our talents are not just a coincidence!
b. We are more than a number and a statistic that
is lost in a sea of humanity.
c. We are special in God’s eyes and He has gifted
us according to our ability.
d. We have shoes that no one else can fill.
e. Enormous amounts of potential waiting to be
developed.
C. We must give all that we have and all that we are
to God!
a. If we think little of ourselves then we will
produce little!
b. If we see ourselves as a failure, then we will be a
failure!
c. If we feel that we have little to offer then we
will contribute little.
ILLUSTRATION:
Johnny Weissmuller was called the greatest swimmer the world has ever known. Doctors and coaches around the world said that nobody would ever break the records that were set by Johnny Weismuller. He held over 50 records but today, there are 13-year-old girls that are breaking "Tarzan’s Records”
D. The lazy servant was looking for the easy way out!
a. It seems that everyone, these days, are looking for
a shortcut, a loop-hole, or an excuse to get out of
doing what needs to be done!
E. It is difficult to find very many “Good
Samaritans” anymore!
a. When a man fell among thieves on the Jericho road,
he was robbed, beaten, and left for dead.
b. A priest passed him by.
c. A levite passed him by.
d. But the good Samaritan saw that he was in need and
acted to help him.
F. Zig Zigler said, “You can get everything in life
you want, if you help enough other people get what
they want”
a. The way to the to is not “stepping on others”
but stooping to help others!
G. Matt. 16:25 “For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my
sake shall find it”
a. Jesus said, “What you keep you lose, and what
you lose, you keep!”
H. We will never be successful at anything we do if we
aren’t willing to sacrifice.
a. If we give little, we will receive little.
b. If we give much then we will receive much!
I. Some people go through life wishing and waiting
for a lucky break or some good fortune to fall on
them.
a. But sitting around hoping and wishing will not
accomplish anything.
J. The servants with 5 and 2 talents were excited
about their goals!
a. It’s distressing to see people with great
ability sitting and doing nothing!
b. When our talents and abilities are used, they
will increase and develop that much more!
K. The lazy servant could have had a negative
influence on the other two!
a. Ten men, who had influence and used it in a
wrong way, kept the Israelites from the
Promised Land.
b. Ten negative men caused thouands to weep and
stop short of God’s promised blessings.
L. It doesn’t take a great multitude of people to
limit God!
a. One unsurrendered Christian can doom thousands
without Christ.
b. An unforgiving member of the church can
freeze out a revival.
c. A couple of board members or committee members,
without faith and vision, can hinder a great
work, which God wants to bring to the church.
M. Churches that have grown are churches that have
groaned!
a. We will die unless we grow and we will grow only
when we are willing to change!
N. One famous inventor said, “The world hates change
yet it is the only thing that has brought progress”
a. People resist change because it takes energy to
change!
b. It is easier to chew the fat than it is to walk
it off!
O. The sad thing is, those who refuse to change don’t
realize that there can be no improvement except
we change!
a. Words of discouragement are contagious!
b. People can give you a dozen reasons why they
don’t see the need to change.
c. They don’t like for the preacher to come in here
and make a lot of changes. So what do they do?
They make a drastic change themselves by
changing churches!
P. The servant that hid his talent had hard thoughts
about the Lord.
a. He said, “I knew that you were a hard man”
b. But this servant didn’t know the Lord!
Q. He said that he was afraid of the Lord.
a. Paul said that he had one fear:
Not Death – “For me to die is gain”
Not Suffering – “I will glory in my infirmites”
Not Loss – “But what things were gain, I
counted but loss for Christ!”
Not Loneliness – Though forsaken he said, “I
press toward the mark”
Not people – He stood before the heads of
government with great boldness!
b. His greatest fear was that he would fail in the
work of God and become a castaway!
R. The Lord said to the servant with one talent, “If
you believed that I was a hard man, you would have
put my money to the exchangers and at my coming I
would have had my own with interest”
a. You would not have buried your talent and just
sat on your hands but you would have been busy.
S. We need to strike while the iron is hot and move
quickly to seize the harvest that is so great!
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Napolean Hill, author of “Think and Grow
Rich” studied the lives of more than 500
successful men in America. He discovered the one
ingredient common to these successful people was
their persistence.
There was a young boy that was fishing
while an elderly man watched nearby. The
boy was having real good success at catching
fish. But he would measure them by his hand
and if they were larger than his hand, he
would throw them back into the water and
only keep the smaller ones. The old man
couldn’t stand it any longer and came over to
where the boy was fishing. He said, “Son why
do you keep the small fish and throw the large
ones back into the water?” The boy said, “I
can’t keep the big ones because all we’ve got
is a 10 inch frying pan”
T. We can limit ourselves to a 10 inch frying pan!
a. If we think no bigger, see no bigger, act no
bigger and expect no bigger, we will never see
the increase that God wants to send!
b. We reduce our potential by shrinking our hopes!
c. We need to enlarge our expectations!
U. Some have lost their vision for the harvest
a. They used to have dreams but now they have
doubts!
b. They used to see the future as bright but now
they see it as bleak!
c. They have allowed their better days to become
bitter days!
V. We can become a prisoner of the past!
a. We can be bound because of a dramatic experience
in the past.
b. We’ve tried that before and failed!
(Haven’t you heard, “If at first you don’t
succeed, try, try, try, again?”)
III. WE ARE JUST ABOUT OUT OF TIME!
A. The lazy servant reasoned that his master might not
be coming back at all.
a. There are many today, which have given up on the
Lord coming back!
B. It is simply history repeating itself. (If we don’t
learn from our past then we are destined to repeat
it)
1. Noah's Generation
a. They gave up on the idea of godly living and
they were not afraid of judgment.
b. They lived that way up until the very day
that the flood came.
2. Sodom and Gomorrah
a. They sinned blatantly and exceedingly before
the Lord.
b. They did not cease until fire and brimstone
was falling on the city.
3. Israel
a. The children of Israel gave up on Moses
coming back down from the mountain.
b. They turned away from God unto a golden calf.
4. Wicked Servant
a. He said, “My lord delayeth his coming”
b. He thought that he had time to live as he
pleased and that he would get things in order
before his lord returned.
5. Five Foolish Virgins
a. They slumbered and slept while their oil ran
out.
b. They didn’t expect the bridegroom to return
so soon.
6. Goodman of the house
a. He did not expect the thief and the thief
surprised him.
C. This slothful servant justified his laziness.
a. He buried his talent and reasoned that if his
master returned, then he would return it to him.
b. There was no danger of losing his talent with a
poor investment.
D. But just in case his master didn’t return, he
wanted to be able to keep the talent for himself.
a. He didn’t want to deposit the talent in a bank
where it would be recorded that it belonged to
his master.
E. After a long time the lord of those servants came
and reckoned with them.
a. The fact is, He did return!
b. What seemed like a long time was but a short
time!
F. There is going to be a day of reckoning!
a. Don’t ever think that you have gotten by with
wrongdoing!
G. Our Lord called this servant wicked and slothful!
a. He was cast into outer darkness.
H. We need to understand how serious the work of God
is!
a. God expects us to give to Him our best!
b. We must put forth our best effort.
Conclusion: Are you willing to give to God your
talents and abilities and allow Him to
anoint them and use you to bring about an
increase in Kingdom work?
It is time to dedicate ourselves and to
work harder than we have ever worked and serve
the Lord with gladness and a heart full of
devotion.
If we serve Him with our:
1. TIME …Our church’s activities will increase!
2. TALENTS … Our church’s potential will
increase!
3. TREASURES … Our church’s ability will
increase!
