1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we continue our Stewardship Series, “Bringing Out the Best,” is taken from Matthew 25:14-30, it’s entitled, “Talents—The Joy of Investing Yourself,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Things are not always what they seem—including Jesus’ parables. What is the point of the story of the talents? The easy answer is that Jesus wants us to use what is precious for his work. That’s probably why the word talent has moved from describing precious money in New Testament Greek to describing precious abilities or skills in American English. But there is also a deeper meaning to this parable.
3. But, before we delve into the deeper meaning of this parable, let’s look at our text from Matthew 25:14-30. Jesus said this parable describing the Kingdom of Heaven,14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 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.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 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.’ 23 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.’ 24 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, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 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? 27 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. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 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. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
4. A talent was the largest measure of money in Jesus’ day and equaled the total wages of an ordinary person from between 15 to 38 years. Yet two of the servants went out and risked that money by making investments. What if they had lost the money? What would their boss have said then?
5. But it is the last servant, the one who does nothing with his boss’s money, who gets punished. Often you and I are most like that person. We may not take risks for God with our abilities, because we are afraid, first of all, that we may fail. The condemned servant says in Matthew 25:25, “I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” By burying the money, the servant thought it was at least safe. But he was disobeying his boss. The servant had been given the talent to use it.
6. The servant was afraid, second, that he would have to work. In Matthew 25:26 the boss says, “You wicked, lazy servant!” Does either adjective sound familiar? You or I won’t try to use a skill or ability that God gave us because we may fall flat on our face, and we don’t like to be embarrassed if we fail. Or we may simply be lazy and want always to receive rather than give. For those and other reasons we may not take risks with our talents, our abilities. As a result, they don’t get used very often. That’s our problem. God has given them to us to be put to use for him. When we don’t use our talents, our abilities, for the Lord, that’s sin.
7. That’s why Jesus took on the risk of the cross for us. Heb 12:2 notes, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” What did Jesus risk? First of all: to be crucified on a cross was considered a disgrace. His people, the Jews, would have to get over that shame before they could consider believing in him as the promised Savior. Jesus took a risk.
8. But Jesus also took a risk with the rest of the world; namely, that we are free to reject Jesus as the way in which God our heavenly Father restores our relationship of life forever with him. God forces no one to believe in him. When Jesus went to the cross, he knew that many would not believe in him as the God-man Savior. Yet Jesus took the risk, because it also was through this singular means that the Holy Spirit could work faith in the hearts of those who trust in him as their Savior and Lord.
9. As a result, Jesus calls us to be faithful and follow him. When Jesus returns as our Master, whether that is on the Day of Glory or the last hour of our own lives on this earth, we shall be gladdened to hear him say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Like the faithful servant and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are able to do what we know Jesus wants us to do with our abilities, even though it means taking a risk.
10. Dr. Chandrasekhar, a professor at the University of Chicago, in 1947 was scheduled twice a week during the winter to teach an advanced seminar in astrophysics. Because only two students were enrolled, most people expected the professor to cancel the class because he lived in Wisconsin and, after all, it was winter! But for the sake of the two students, he taught the class. He commuted 100 miles round-trip through backcountry roads in the dead of winter.
11. His students, Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee, did their homework. They benefited from Dr. Chandrasekhar risking his talents on only two people. In 1957, those two students won the Nobel Prize for Physics. In 1983, so did Dr. Chandrasekhar. For a faithful teacher, there is no such thing as a small class. For a faithful Christian, there is no such thing as too small a way to use a talent for our Lord.
12. There are many references in the New Testament that teach us the Holy Spirit gives us abilities (talents) to be used for God’s work. We can find those references in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, 1 Peter 4 & Ephesians 4. That’s what Matthew 25:15 says the boss did, he put the servants in charge of what was his, “each according to his ability.” What are your abilities? God calls us to use our talents in all of our lives in service to others and to the glory of God. What happens then?
13. Jesus’ example and his words point us to the result. Jesus goes to the cross and serves for the “joy,” Hebrews says. The boss says to the faithful servants in Matthew 25:21 and 23: “Come on in and share my joy.” It is the joy of Jesus in which we share when we use our talents for God’s purposes.
14. How can you and I “bring out the best” in our talents, our abilities, for our Savior? Jesus is the way in which God the heavenly Father “brought out the best”—in person. When we seek to use our talents and abilities to build up Christ’s church, including helping our neighbors in need, we will receive the joy of investing ourselves. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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