Put Your Talents To Work, And Enjoy The Master’s Response

11.19.23 Matthew 25:14–30 (EHV)

14 “You see, the kingdom of heaven is like a man going on a journey. He called his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to still another one talent, each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The servant who had received the five talents immediately put them to work and gained five more talents. 17 In the same way, the servant who had received the two talents gained two more. 18 But the servant who had received one talent went away, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. 19 “After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 The servant who received the five talents came and brought five more talents. He said, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ 21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 “The servant who received the two talents came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 “Then the servant who received one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter seed. 25 Since I was afraid, I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 “His master answered him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter seed? 27 Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers so that when I came I would get my money back with interest. 28 Take the talent away from him and give it to the servant who has the ten talents. 29 Because everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 30 Throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Put Your Talents to Work, and Enjoy the Master’s Response

Did you know that 70% of lottery winners go bankrupt? It’s like giving a teenager a Lamborghini. It probably wouldn’t take long for him to get multiple speeding tickets and crash the car. He’s just not mature enough for such a thing. But when God gives out the talents in today’s text, He does it proportionately, each according to his own ability. He doesn’t set us up to fail by giving us more than we can handle. He knows what you can handle and what you can’t handle. And if you think about it, this changes as we go through life. We can handle more things when we grow in our experience. We can get more done in less time after we’ve done the same thing multiple times. Then when we grow older, we can’t handle as much because our minds don’t work as quickly and our bodies can’t handle as much effort either. Sometimes we can handle five talents, sometimes two, and sometimes one.

Even one talent is plenty. One silver talent was said to be worth 6,000 denarii, which was a day’s wage, so that would be over 16 years worth of wages. A gold talent was worth thirteen times more, so about 78,000 days wages. Even ONE talent then was worth a lot. It’s not like the manager was cheap with the guy who only got one talent. He was generous with all of them. That’s true of God with all of us as well. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” One talent or five, we all have many gifts from God in one way or another. And if we’re going to live our lives in faith, God wants us to believe that we have the exact right amounts of gifts that we can handle.

The servant who had received the five talents immediately put them to work and gained five more talents. 17 In the same way, the servant who had received the two talents gained two more. Notice the urgency in this - IMMEDIATELY. The first two servants were excited about their talents. They couldn’t wait to put them to work and gain more with them. They were also excited to speak with the Master when he came back. ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ It reminds me of a child that makes a painting and shows it to their mom or dad. “Look at what I did!” That’s how God wants us to work with what we’ve been given.