"Talent"

If there was some point in your life that you heard about sin and that because of sin you were destined to spend eternity in Hell and separated from God, and if you then heard about the good news that Jesus died to pay for your sins and then rose bodily from the dead on the third day and ascended into Heaven with a promise to come back, then you heard what you needed to hear to become a child of God.

If you then felt sorry for your sin and from your heart asked God’s forgiveness and believed this good news you heard, then you became a Christian, and one of the first signs that you were born spiritually from above was probably that you wanted to tell someone. Ask yourself some questions; “Do I enjoy telling people what Jesus has done for me? When I have an opportunity, do I speak up for Jesus and tell people that He is coming back? Do I even think about Jesus outside of the church service and does He have a significant place in my life? Do I obey Him, or do I do what I want when it comes down to making a choice to obey or not?”

If you can be honest with yourself in answering questions like that, then you should be able to figure out if you are a true believer in Christ, or just playing a religious game that will eventually end in you being denied Heaven.

Now after talking about the signs of His return, Jesus told the parable of the ten virgins. Some kept their lamps trimmed and ready because they didn’t know when the bridegroom was coming, but others were not prepared when He came and got left behind.

In short, some were filled with the Holy Spirit and some were not. Sadly, the ones who were unprepared started begging the others to share some oil with them, thinking the others could help them, but they could not.

You won’t get into Heaven on the coattails of other Christians, just because you hang with them and know all the same songs and the same ‘church talk’. Each one will follow the Bridegroom home when He comes, based upon their own individual relationship with Him. If the relationship is not there, you won’t go. If you don’t have His Spirit in you when He comes, your lamp will be dark and He won’t recognize you.

Again, the point is made. Either you is, or you ain’t. There’s no in between.

Then Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the Talents. Now we’re not going to break this parable down line for line and try to analyze every part today. I just want us to think about why Jesus used talents as an illustration and how that translates to our present circumstances.

TALENTS ARE VERY VALUABLE TO GOD

First of all, notice that talents are valuable to God. Now a talent is not a coin, it is a measure of weight. So its value is dependant on whether it is a talent of gold, or silver, or some other metal.

In the same way, God has given people differing measures of talent and abilities. But we can glean from this parable that where men put the emphasis on the value of the talent, God’s emphasis is on how the talent is used; in one case, whether it was used.

Our first tendency, and probably the way this passage is often preached, is to think of the talents as musical abilities, athletic prowess, interpersonal skills, writing and so forth, and exhort Christians to put those talents to use in the church. I’m sure there’s a place for that sort of admonition.