Does God really care how we live now?

“The Parable of the Talents”

(Matthew 25:14-30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 17, 2008)

Matthew 25:14-30 ¹⁴ "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, 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. 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 sowed 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.'

Introduction – “How long, O Lord?”

We have been considering together the exciting fact of a new resurrection age that will come with the return of the Jesus Christ. The people who first heard the words of Jesus and those who received their writings have long ago gone to be with the Lord. They faced the first of two very great events, their deaths. We are still waiting for the second event, the return of Christ, and the fulfillment of God’s perfect justice and mercy.

God gives us an informative passage in the Scriptures concerning those who gave their lives as a testimony of their faith. Though they are in a state which is “far better” than the present, they are eager for the second of those two great events, the return of Christ. This is what they say:

Revelation 6:10-11 ¹⁰ … "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" ¹¹ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

It will be like a man going on a journey… (14-15)

When our Lord was preparing to go to the cross, in his final days on earth, He told a story about a person of some means who was preparing to take a long journey. That journey has gone on for two millennia already, and it is good for us that it has. It will continue as long as needed for God’s plan to be completed. There is still time for more believers and even martyrs who have the privilege of serving the One who gave Himself for us. He is the man on a journey in this parable, and we are His servants. He has distributed His property to us. In the parable this is a weight of an unspecified metal that would amount to a substantial amount of money, many years worth of wages. The unit of measurement in Greek is “talanton” from which we get the English word “talent.” It is actually from the use of that word in this parable that we have come to use this word to talk about the abilities that we have been given. That seems to be the point here of this sum of money or property. We all have been given our lives, our abilities, our personalities, our heritage, our sorrows, our pain, all that we are and all that we have, all that comprises God’s providence in our lives, and this is what is represented here by the giving of various numbers of talents.

The variety of gifts given by the Master is something to think about. We should not be surprised that people are different. The Master distributed the property according to each man’s ability. We are not all the same, and it is a very good thing that we are not. We know that the abilities that we have today were distributed to us by God. We also know that He chooses our time and place. All of this works together to give each of us a variety of opportunities over the course of our brief lives. The Lord expects us to think of these things as His before they are ours. We need to use these things well, because the gifts and the fruit are all the property of our generous Master.

The story tells us that the Master went away. This refers to the ascension of our Lord. He did go away, but He is somehow with us and He will come back. We need to answer to Him for our lives.

What they did with what they were given (16-18)

As the story proceeds we see that two of the servants did what they were supposed to do. While one earned a surplus of five talents and the other two talents, that difference is to be expected because of what they were given and their various abilities to work with what they had. So far so good.

What is strange is the activity of the third servant. He takes the one talent, digs a hole, and buries the money. This seems an unusual thing to do, especially in contrast to the activities of the other two servants. This must refer to those who do not use what they have been given by God in an appropriate way. It may refer to our money, but it is about more than money. It is about all that makes us who we are. We are either using what God has given us or we are burying these gifts for some reason. We wait to hear this man’s explanation to try to understand why anyone would have done what he did.

After a long time… (19-28)

Our Lord is coming back, and the Master in the story returns. He returns after a long time, but He has not forgotten what He left behind and what He expected His servants to do in His absence. He came back to settle His accounts. The Lord will judge. We should care more about this than what anyone thinks of us. The first two servants speak as those who are aware that everything they have belongs to the Master. “You delivered to me whatever I have, and I now present to You all this and more, for it is all yours.” The response from Him is wonderful. These men were faithful over a little. Whatever we may have in this life, it is very little when compared with the resurrection age that is coming. The Lord will set these men over much. Better still, they will enter into the joy of their Master.

The story of the third man is so different. He begins by talking about the Master, but not in any way that anyone would want to be with him. A greedy man might want to be in the good graces of a Saddam Hussein or an Idi Amin, but he could never feel safe in their presence, no matter how much he received from their treasuries. They were brutal dictators who could turn on anyone in a moment. The third man treats the Master as if He were one of their number. He does not seem to like the Master. He says, “I knew you to be a hard man.” Is the Lord who gave His life for us a hard man? If He distributes us many gifts out of the everything that belongs to Him as Creator and Provider, and if He only asks that these would be used in accord with His good ways, should He have to face an accusation that He reaps where He did not sow? Back in the old days of Eastern Europe, the Russians reaped where they did not sow, and there have been many colonial powers that took advantage of other people by the force of their military might. Do we want to put Jesus Christ in that group? Does He gather where He has not scattered? This third servant says he was afraid of the Lord, and that was why he buried his talent. “Here, you have what is yours.”

The Master does not accept this assessment and defense. The One who loved us so supremely through His death on the cross sees everything rightly. He is not the wicked one. He is not lazy or abusive. This man is an evil servant. He is covering over his laziness with a transparent story that does not hold up to scrutiny. The Master exposes the lie. If the servant thought that His Master was a hard and demanding man, then He should have at least kept the money with bankers where it would have earned interest. No, the servant was lazy and hateful. He did not want to serve the Master. Perhaps He thought that the Master might not return. Perhaps he did not want to see any gain coming from the Master’s resources, because he knew that any increase would go to the account of the One He did not like. Therefore, the talent he was given long ago that he thought so little of will now be given to the one who handled five talents so well.

An abundance (29-30)

To everyone who has, more will be given. They will have an abundance when the Master returns, but to the one who has treated His Master’s gifts as if they were nothing, even what he has will be taken away. The language of eternal punishment is again used at the close of this parable. The Master speaks of a place of outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He calls this third man a worthless servant.

This same Greek word translated “worthless” is used one other time in the New Testament. Jesus speaks about all of us being “unworthy servants” so that we understand that everything that we have from the Lord is by grace.

Luke 17:7-10 ⁷ "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

How could we be judged to be good servants? What makes for a truly excellent servant? The best servant would have the greatest ability, the greatest faith, the greatest purity, the greatest diligence, and would use it all to make the right offering to His Master. Jesus came as this greatest of all servants. When He did all that ever could have been asked of a good and faithful servant, He took the punishment of a worthless servant on the cross. His worthiness was so great that death could not hold Him. After His resurrection and ascension, He distributed His abundance to people like us. He had so much goodness that it could never run out. He did great things with what He had. He cares about what we do with what we have. You mean something to Him. If you do not know that, you will never see Him as the great God that He is. He only asks for your whole life, but He has so much for you when He returns.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why is Jesus telling a story about a man who went away on a journey, returning after a long time?

2. What could it mean that the ones who were faithful over a little will be set over much?

3. Where did the third servant go wrong?

4. What do we learn about the coming resurrection age from the conclusion of the parable?