“The Stories that Jesus Told”
Sermon # 4
“We are to be Stewards of our Resources”
or
The Parable of the Talents
Matthew 25:14-30
This morning we are in a series on the parables entitled “The Stories That Jesus Told.” If I were to ask you, “What is the most well known parable?” You would probably answer, The Good Samaritan. If I were to ask you, “What parable most displays the love of the Father?” you would probably say, The Story of the Prodigal Son. If I were to ask you “What is the most terrifying of the parables?” You would probably say, The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, which we examined last week. But if were to ask, “What parable has the most to say about how we live our lives each day?” We would have to say it is the parable that we are going to examine today called “The Parable of the Talents.”
Because for the next few weeks we will be looking at stewardship related issues I feel that I should say, “When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, “Does this hurt? How about this?” If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or, more likely, there’s something wrong, and the doctor will say, “We’d better do some more tests. It’s not supposed to hurt there!” So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger. Either the pastor has pushed too hard. Or perhaps there’s some-thing wrong. In that case, I say, “My friend, we’re in need of the Great Physician because it’s not supposed to hurt there.” [Ben Rogers - www.bible.org/illus/stewardship]
With that said, let’s turn our attention to the parable found in Matthew 25 beginning in verse fourteen. Let me speed things along by giving you a synopsis of the story before we look at it in detail. In this parable a man was going on a journey so he called his servants and divided amoung a large sum of money called talents. He gave five talents to one servant, two talents to another and one talent to yet another servant. Having distributed the talents, the master went on his journey with the expectation that his servants would be faithful while he was gone. When the master eventually returned, he called his servants to give an account of their stewardship. Two of the servants were found faithful returning double the amount that they had been given. The faithful servants were recognized and rewarded. The third servant however, had done nothing with what had been entrusted to him.
This story is addressed to us. As Christians we are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. We are like these servants who are awaiting the return of their master and this story has some lessons for us about what we are to be doing in the meantime.
Today we are going to discover five amazing principles about being a steward. [Some principles drawn from Brian Bill. “Using What God Has Given” Matt 25:14-20 www.sermoncentral.com]
The First Principle of Being A Steward is to realize that, What We Have Is Not Our Own. (v. 14) "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.”
What these servants were given was not their own it still belonged to the master it is called “his goods” and considered “his property.” Their job was to manage what they were given. Likewise we must remember that everything we have belongs to God. We are told in Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” And in Haggai 2:8 we find, “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Everything belongs to God and until we recognize this truth we will not be good managers of what has been entrusted to us. The biblical word for our position is steward. It’s not your time, your money, or your abilities. Everything you have is on loan from God, you own nothing.
What We Have Is Not Our Own and…
The Second Principle of Being A Steward is to realize that, We Are Given All That We Can Handle (v. 15) “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.”
This parable has been confusing to many people because of the word “talents” in the King James Version. To us, the word “talent” means an ability: like a talent to sing. But in the original Greek language, the word (talenton) referred to a huge sum of money. It’s value depending on whether it was a talent of copper, silver or gold. Some commentators say a talent is 6,000 denaria; one denarius is what a man would earn in one day, so 6,000 denaria would be 20 years’ income! To put this into terms of our econ-omy, using a minimal hourly wage, a talent would be the equivalent of about $300,000.
We also may find it a bit disconcerting that each of the servants in this story did not get an equal amount. The master gave to one servant five talents, to another, two and to another, one. We say, “Wait that is not fair!” But we have to realize that the master knew his servants. So He gives to them, “each according to his own ability.” Our job is not to complain if someone has been given greater more than us; our job is to make the most out of what we have been given.
If we cannot be a Moses we can be an Aaron. You may not be gifted to an Apostle Paul, but you can be among those unnamed saints who ministered to him from their substance.
Now back to the story. The Master gave the first servant five talents, which is about
$1.5 million; the second servant received two talents, approximately $600.000; and the third received one talent, or about $300,000. Even though there is a big difference between the five talents and the one talent, the man who received one talent was still entrusted with a huge sum of money.
Verses 16-18 show us that the master was correct in his assessment of his servants.
“Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.” (17) "And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. (18) "But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.”
The first two servants went immediately to work and through their work doubled their master’s investment. The third servant was not equally faithful; he went off and buried his blessings.
We Are Given All That We Can Handle and….
The Third Principle of Being A Steward is to realize that, We Will Be Accountable For What We Have Done With What We Have Been Given. (v. 19) “After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”
No one likes to even think that they are going have to be audited by the IRS. But one day we’re going to be audited by God. While most of us believe that on an intellectual basis we don’t live it out in our lives. The Apostle Paul’s warns Christians in Romans 14:12, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Wouldn’t it be a shame to be unprepared when we give this accounting? In 1 John 2:28 further warns, “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”
We Will Be Accountable For What We Have Done With What We Have Been Given and…..
The Fourth Principle of Being A Steward is to realize that, What We Do With What We Have Been Given Reveals Our View Of God (vv. 20-25)
•The Report Of The First Two Servants
(vv. 20-23) "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.’ (21) 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.’ (22) 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.’ (23) 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.’”
First of all, both of the first two servants received the master’s praise –“Well done, good and faithful servant.” I realize that there is the common notion that every Christian will hear Jesus says, “Well done” when he gets to heaven. I don’t believe that is true. I do not think that Jesus will say “Well done” unless we have done well.
Secondly, both servants received the promise, “I will make you a ruler” and both servants are invited to “enter into the joy of the Lord.”
I think that it worthy of noticing that although we may think that the amount entrusted to these servant’s is immense, the Lord count it only as being faithful over a “few things” (v. 23)
•The Third Servant’s Report (vv. 24-25)
The true character of the third servant was revealed as soon as he opened his mouth. I want you to notice that the third servant talked more than the other two combined. The first two servants use a mere sixteen words each to report their gains, but the lazy servant used 51 words in an attempt to justify why he had basically done nothing.
The servant that had been given the one talent hid the money and returned the entire amount to the master. He hadn’t lost it or spent it. It was all there, but the master was furious.
We are surprised, perhaps even shocked at his behavior. But in Jesus’ time, the opposite would have been expected. They were surprised not at the steward’s behavior but, at the master’s reaction. Burying valuables was a commonly accepted way of protecting possessions. To the listeners of that day, the third steward was behaving properly and responsibly. To them the other two stewards acted recklessly. To attain that kind of return would have required a high risk investment. [Mark Trotter. “What Are You Waiting For: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus.” (Nashville: Abington Press, 1992) p. 86-87]
A.W. Tozer was right when he said that what we think about God is the most import-ant thing about us. If we view God as a tyrant then we’ll filter everything through this lens. Some of you may be secretly angry with God because you think He did something, or didn’t do something that you think He should have. As a result, your view of Him is twisted. Your preconceived notions prevent you from seeing Him as a God of grace, and as a result you refuse to serve Him with what He’s given you.
Let’s look briefly at where a faulty view of God leads.
•It Leads to the Blame Game.
The very first words of the third servant’s mouth were designed to deflect the blame.
(v. 24) "Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. He says, “I always knew that you were a hard man.” He reveals that he thought of the master as harsh and hard, just looking for an opportunity to punish. Unfortunately that is exactly how some people view God. They don’t see God as the loving heavenly father portrayed in the parable of the Prodigal Son, they see him as a hard hearted heavenly tyrant.
Notice the master’s response to this man, (v. 26) “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.”
The master is not agreeing with the man. He is simply saying, “If that is what you thought of me. Alright, then why didn’t you act on that basis?” The problem is that the man never intended to act as his servant. He was pretending to be but he was not. The master accused the servant of being ‘wicked” the word means ‘evil, hurtful and malicious.” The third servant deliberately misrepresented both his master and himself. Instead of owning up to his guilt he behaves as if the master should have given him credit for being so cautious.
•It Leads to Fear. The third servant said,
(v. 25) “And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.” An improper view of God always leads to fear. His fear became an excuse for his failure to even attempt anything for his master. God would rather you attempt something great for Him and fail than to have never attempted anything at all.
What We Do With What We Have Been Given Reveals Our View Of God and…
The Fifth Principle of Being A Steward is to realize that, What We Do With What We Have Been Given Has Benefits Beyond this Life. (vv. 28-30)
Because he did not use responsibly what he had been given, he lost it all according to verse twenty-eight, “So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.” (29) "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. (30) And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
As true servants of the Lord we want to found serving Him to the limit of our capacity, so that when he returns, we will be found worthy.
Conclusion
When the Lord returns He is going to ask you only one question, “What Have You Been Doing With Yourself?”
So what does all of this mean? Mark Trotter has some insightful words in his book on the parables. “It’s like a master on a long journey who is delayed. He entrusted his teachings to his disciples. Some lived by his teachings, applied them in their daily lives, invested then, as it were, in the world. Some merely talked about their faith, especially to those who believed the way they did. Sometimes they didn’t even do that. They didn’t do anything. They buried their faith, saying, ‘After all religion is a private affair. It’s a personal matter. It’s really between you and God. Religion is to be there when you need it. So it’s here someplace, buried underneath all this stuff. Of course, I can’t find it right now, but I know it’s here someplace. At least I know where to look if I ever need it.’ That person doesn’t fare very well in this parable. It’s clear where Jesus comes out. Religion, he says, it’s not to sit on, or bury, or shelve or can or preserve, or even to pass to some-body else. Religion is to invest, use, spread, splurge, risk.” [Mark Trotter. p. 89]
That is what the Lord is saying this parable. What I have given you I expect you to spend, to use, to invest in the world so that the world is a better place because you were here!
