The Talents, Part 1

We've been studying the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've entitled the series, The Searchlights for the Soul. We've done that because it's the parables of our Lord that shed light on the condition of our lives. You see, there are a lot of people in the church who like to put on an act. You come in, you look like everybody else, you dress like everybody else, talk like everybody else, You even smell like everybody else. And so everybody thinks you're like everybody else. But in reality, that's just not the case.

And a lot of times people just go through the act. When in reality, they don't know Jesus Christ at all. They're like the ten virgins. We talked about them last week. They look like the five wise virgins, but the five foolish ones were not prepared. They didn't experience saving grace. They didn't have the oil. And so when the bridegroom returned, they were. were unprepared and therefore they were left out of the celebration. There are people in the church that are tears in the church and they look just like the wheat.

And we talked about a parable way back at the beginning of our study about the weed and the tears and how they look almost identical until the end of the age, until the harvest time and then they are separated. And unfortunately, there's a lot of people in the church today who come to church and unfortunately for them when the harvest time has come and the end of the age is here. When it comes time to be separated, they will be eternally separated from Jesus Christ. So I have a passion to make sure that that people understand for certain that Jesus Christ is Lord and King of their lives.

Tonight, as we talk about the parable of the talents, this is the second to the last parable we're going to cover.

So we've entitled them, the parables, the search light for the soul. As God sheds light on the condition of your soul through the stories that he tells. Let me read to you the parable, and then we'll discuss it.

Verse number 14, Matthew 25, for it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. And to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one, each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded, with them and gained five more talents. In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.

Now, after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. The one who also had received the two talents came up and said, master, you entrusted to me two talents.

See, I have gained two more talents. 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. And the one also who had received the one talent, came up and said, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered, no seed, and I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what it is yours. But as master answered and said to him, you wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

Then you ought to have put my money in the bank. And on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have, shall be taken away and cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The parable of the talents.

By way of the introduction, let me help you understand the context. Two things specifically you need to see. One is we need to be watchful. Number two, we need to be working.

In light of the fact that Jesus is going to be returning, we need to be watchful. That's what the parable of the Ten Virgins was all about. A parable of anticipation. It dealt with the attitude of those who were waiting for the return of the Lord. They waited with anticipation, expecting that their Lord would return. therefore they were ready when he returned. They were watching for his arrival. The five virgins who were foolish, they weren't watchful. And their attitude was such that we have all the time in the world to get ready.

Second of all, in verses 14 of following, we have the parable of the talents. It deals with the fact that we need to be to be working. There's something that we need to be doing while we tarry until, or we wait until our Lord comes while he tarries. You see, see it's important for us to realize that just because we're waiting for Christ to come we don't just sit around and do nothing. Paul wrote to those kind of people, remember back in Second Thessalonians, turn there with me if you would please.

Back in Second Thessalonians chapter three, he wrote to the Church of Thessalonica because there were some people who really believed that Jesus was going to come back at any moment.

They believed his return was imminent. And so they stopped doing everything. They stopped working. They became busy bodies. And Paul says, you can't do that. that? Listen to what he says. Verse number 10. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone will not work, neither let them eat. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busy bodies. Now such persons we command and exhorting the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.

But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him. And do not associate so that he may be put to shame and yet do not regard him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother you see we believe that jesus could return at any moment that doesn't mean that we dress ourselves in white robes and go on top of mount wilson and wait for his return no there's something we need to be doing we need to be working we're watchful that deals with our attitude now we are working that deals with our action or activity that gives us something to do and the parable the talents talk to us about our responsibility and the opportunities that God is given to us and the responsibility to fulfill the obligations he's placed before us.

You with me so far? Let me say it to you this way. If you go back to Matthew 24, I want to give you four principles to help you understand what you need to be doing in light of the return of Christ. One is you need to be earnestly waiting. That's what happens in verses 36 down through verse number 51 of Matthew chapter 24. You need to be earnestly waiting. In verses 1 to 13 of chapter 25, you need to be expectantly watching. In verses 14 to the verse number 30 of chapter 25, you need to be energetically working.

And if you tie in Acts chapter 1 in the last chapter of Luke, you realize that the last thing you'd be doing is enthusiastically worshiping. Because, you see, when Jesus ascended into glory, those disciples would go into the temple daily and praise God. And in Acts chapter 1, they devoted themselves continually to prayer. They had an attitude to worship, and they were enthusiastic about their worship. Those four principles should govern the way we behave in light of the return of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That's our introduction. Now, let's look at the instruction. And I want you to notice four things with me about this parable.

The responsibility, the response, the reckoning, and the results. Okay? First of all, the responsibility.

It says in verse number 14, for it is just like a man. What is just like a man about to go on a journey? Well, the kingdom of heaven. Go back up to verse number one of Matthew 25.

Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins who took their land. Now it says in verse number 14, for it is, what is? The kingdom of heaven is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. Christ is helping us to understand the kingdom of heaven. Now let me help you understand something.

The kingdom of heaven is the sphere of the rule of God. That's what the kingdom of heaven is. And you can look at the kingdom of heaven two ways.

You can look at it internally and that which is invisible. or you can look at it externally and that which is visible.

We know of the universal kingdom of God, that God is the king of the world. We also know of the spiritual kingdom of God. That is, when we give our lives to Christ, he comes into our hearts, he rules and reigns, and we submit ourselves to his kingship because he's the king. Matthew 18, verse number three, reads this way, except ye be converted and become as little children, You shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The only way to get into God's kingdom is to submit to his rulership, is to do what he says, to believe in him, to humble ourselves, and to beg for mercy. And so we realize that the sphere of God's rule is in our hearts. He rules in us, and he rules through us. And so we, because our citizenship is not on earth, but in heaven, we are demonstrating to the people all around us what the kingdom of heaven is like because we are submitting to the rulership of the king. And so we're putting our king on display as we submit to his lordship so others will know that we serve another king, that we submit to his rulership in our lives.

That is a spiritual kingdom. That's important. And we know that one day there will be a literal kingdom, right? We know that one day, Jesus Christ is going to come back to earth. He's going to rule from the throne of David, from the city of Jerusalem, and he will rule for a thousand years on this earth. That is so important. That is so good to understand. So we believe in the kingdom of heaven. But you can look at the kingdom of heaven another way.

Because there is a universal kingdom of heaven, there's an aspect of the kingdom of heaven where it involves everyone who is a, attached in some way or another to a church or to the church. Let me explain it to this way.

The kingdom of heaven could be the realm where people identify themselves with Christ, although they might not be Christians. How do you know that? Go back to Matthew 13. Remember Matthew 13? In Matthew 13, it says, verse number 24, he presented a parable to them saying, remember Christ is talking to his men. the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field but while men were sleeping his enemy came and sow tears also among the wheat and went away it's the parable of the wheat and the tears and if you're with us in that study you know that the wheat are the believers and the tears are the unbelievers and if you read on in verses 36 and following he explains the parable of the tears and the wheat to the disciples and talks about how they at the end of the age, at the harvest time, when the king returns, there's going to be a separation of the wheat and the tears.

And we learned that in the church of Jesus Christ, there is going to be the growing together of the wheat and the tears until the end of the age. Because there are a lot of people who look like Christians, who act like Christians, but really are not. And the only way we really truly know is at the end of the age. And Christ says, this is the way the kingdom of heaven is like.

It refers to all those who identify themselves with Christ. You can read about it in Matthew 13, verse number 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind. And when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach and they sat down and gathered a good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age, the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous and will cast them into the furnace of fire.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So we realize that the kingdom of heaven, all right, is that invisible rule of Christ in the lives of people, those who really truly know him as Lord and Savior. And that there will one day be a literal kingdom on this earth. That's why we pray, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And yet, there is a part of the kingdom of heaven that relates to those people who identify themselves with Christ. Isn't that the way it is in the church?

Sure it is. It's that way all the time. People come to the church. People come to Christ Community Church. For the majority's sake, most people are saved at Christ's community. But there are always people who come who do not know the Lord. And we don't necessarily know who they are. we just know that they come. We know that because later on down the road, they get saved, they give the life to Christ, and realize they've been here for a month or a year or two years or three years or five years, and all of a sudden, bang, they give the life to Christ, and we thought they were Christians all the time, right?

But they weren't. They were tears among the wheat. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel so that those who are tears in the church will become wheat, right? Those who are the bad fish will become the good fish. as the parable the dragon that says. We don't necessarily know who they are, so we just preach the gospel to everybody. So people will know the truth about Jesus Christ. And so, Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possession to them. The kingdom of heaven is like this man who was about to take a long journey. In Bible times, when you took a long journey, it was a long time. You couldn't take an airplane. You couldn't take a train. You couldn't drive your car. You had to walk. You had to ride a donkey. Yeah, it took a while. Okay? And so they would go for maybe six months, a year, two years before they would ever return.

So while they were gone, they had to entrust their possessions all that they had to their slaves that worked for them, that were a part of their lives. And that's exactly what this man did. And so while the servant was or while the master was away, the servants would take care of the possessions of the master. And the parable can be applied to all those who externally identify themselves with Christ's church. Why? Because Jesus Christ in the parable is the one who went away. for a long journey. And in so doing, he entrusted his possessions.

He entrusted those in his church with certain resources. This is a very important parable. And you'll see this as it unfolds. Because you see, those in the church who are true believers understand that what they have is to be used for the glory of God. Those who are the false believers don't get that. And they don't do anything with what God's given to them. they sit dormant in the church. But the believer, he does something, as the text says, immediately after the master leaves. He goes to work.

The text says that he delivered unto them goods. He gave them his possessions. They were his slaves, his due loss, and that could be a slave or it could be used in reference of as an employer. Maybe they were artists, craftsmen, traders, people who had a good mind for business. And the text says in verse number 15, and to one, he gave five talents to another two and to another one, each according to his own ability, and he went on his journey. In other words, he gave them something he believed that they could handle.

One could handle five talents, one can handle two, and one can handle one. He didn't give the guy who could handle one, five, because he knew he couldn't do that. So he gave the guy who can handle one, one, the guy can handle two, two, and the guy can handle five-five. That's pretty obvious. And so this man knew exactly what he was doing. doing. And so he went on his journey. Now, in English, we understand a talent to be something of our, of our, of our giftedness, something of our, of our skills.

A talent is something that we can do, all right? In Bible times, a talent, listen, was a measure of weight. You can read about it over in Revelation, chapter 16, verse number 21, where it talks about the hailstones that measure about a hundred pounds. The literal translation is that the hailstones that measure about the weight of a talent. Now, a talent is synonymous with something that you measure. And a talent could be a talent of gold, it could be a talent of silver or a talent of copper. But whatever it was, it was something of monetary value that this man would give to those in his sphere of influence something to multiply, something to work with while it was gone.

A lot of times those talents were put into bags. And that one bag weighed five talents, another bag weighed two, and one, of course, weighed It's not really how important how much money each servant was given. What is important is how each servant handled what he was given. You see, in the church, it's not important what you have. It's important how you handle what you have. That's the most important thing. All of us are gifted differently. All of us have different resources. God has made us all different in the church.

And God has gifted everyone in the world. And so what do we do with what God? God has given to us. That's very important for us to grasp. So the parable, the master represents our Lord, and those who are his slaves represent those in the kingdom of heaven that attached themselves to him in some way or another as the five foolish virgins attached themselves to the bridegroom in some way or another. And yet, they weren't prepared. And so the text says that this servant immediately with the five talents did something.

Immediately he did something. You see, the issue here is not what you have. The issue here is what you do with the opportunities you have to exercise the gifts or talents that God has given to you. And this man, and this is the response, point number two, says that verse 16, immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them gained five more talents.

In the same manner, the one who had to receive the two talents gained two more. So the guy with the two talents was just like the guy at the five. Immediately they did something. Didn't sit around. They did something immediately. Why? Because they loved their master. That's why. They loved their master. And they wanted to honor their master. And they wanted to glorify their master. You will note that the other guy, he didn't do anything. The guy at the one talent, he didn't do anything. He went buried his talent, but he did not go out and make a profit with his.

Isn't not true that the immediate response of someone who truly has a relationship with the living God responds because of the privilege he has to serve his God? Sure it is. Sure it is. You see, when you're in the kingdom of God and you're joining us with Christ and you're a servant of God's kingdom, you want to serve him. You want to honor him. You want to look for ways to put him on display. You want to look for ways to introduce other people to him. That's what you want to do because you love him.

The one guy, he wasn't into that. But the guy with the five talents, the guy with the two talents, boy, they went and they made a profit. Both of them did. You see, both of them had 100% return on their investment. The guy with five talents was able to produce five more talents. The guy with two was able to produce two more. It was the 100% return on their investment. That's important to note. The parable doesn't tell us exactly what he did. Maybe he bought a field, maybe he cultivated the field, maybe he produced some crops, maybe he bought a piece of land, maybe he turned around and sold it for a prophet.

We don't know what the man did. All we know is that he immediately went into action and it returned a significant profit. Likewise, in the Church of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to return a maximum product from the githiness that God's given to us, to be used in a mighty way to honor and glorify our Lord and to put him on display. You will know that the guy with one talent, he dug into the earth and hid his master's money. He hid it in the earth. Now, this is important because Jesus wasn't saying that those who are entrusted with little things will be unfaithful.

He's saying that even if you only have a little entrusted to you, you are responsible to be faithful. And this guy was not. And there came a reckoning. That's point number three.

The master would return. It says these words. Verse number 19. Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. He came to compare accounts. He came to see what they did with what he gave them. There's going to be a day of reckoning for every man. And God's going to want to know what you did with what he gave you. How you responded to the opportunities he placed before you. It's called the day of reckoning. And the guy at the five talents, man, he came, he was excited about telling, telling his master what he did.

And the guy, the two talents, he too was excited about telling the master what he did. That's important. Why? Because is it not true that when the Lord returns, that we had the wonderful opportunity to talk to him about what it is we did and stand before him, as the Bible says, unashamed?

As the Bible says over in 1st John 4th, 17, with boldness on the day of judgment? Sure it is. We're excited to tell him. We're excited to show him because one day there's going to be a reckoning in every believer needs to look forward to that opportunity to tell him about what he's done. Lord, this is what you gave me. Lord, this is what I did. It's not boasting. It's being responsible. It's showing him exactly what he did. You see, the talents represent your opportunity to exercise your abilities for the Lord.

Do you do that? If you're a believer this evening, are you serving the Lord with all that you have? You need to be. You need to be. Just praying. Thank you.