Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen.
[00:00:01] So this morning, I'm going to speak about the parable of the talents.
[00:00:14] There we go.
[00:00:17] And yeah, it's not the easiest parable to speak about, but I think it's.
[00:00:22] It is really an amazing, amazing parable. First of all, just remembering the context that it was that Jesus spoke about it in. It was his last week in ministry before he was crucified.
[00:00:36] So he was preparing his disciples for when he wasn't here, when he had ascended. And, yeah, we're going to do a deep dive into that this morning. First of all, I thought it would be good to start off with the definition of what is a parable.
[00:00:55] The parable is a simple, relatable story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. And it's amazing the way when Jesus was on earth, how he often spoke in parables and how easy he made complex things.
[00:01:10] He made it easy for them to be understood.
[00:01:14] And so the parable of the talents. And it's amazing that from the outside, the parable of talents looks like a lesson in how we should not neglect our gifts and our callings in life.
[00:01:26] But when we look into it in more depth, we see there's so much to it. And hopefully we're going to touch on a few of those things this morning.
[00:01:35] So everyone don't look so excited. Hey, we're going to start off by reading it just so that we're all on the same page. So we're going to go to Matthew 25:14.
[00:01:51] For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one, he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey.
[00:02:11] Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents.
[00:02:19] And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also.
[00:02:23] But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.
[00:02:30] After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
[00:02:38] So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, lord, you delivered me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them.
[00:02:51] His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:02:56] You are faithful with few things, and I will make you ruler over many things.
[00:03:02] Enter into the joy of your Lord.
[00:03:05] He also, who had received two talents, came and said, lord, you delivered me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents besides them.
[00:03:14] His Lord said to him, well done, good and Faithful servant, you have been faithful over few things, and I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord.
[00:03:28] Then he who had received one talent came and said, lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
[00:03:42] And I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
[00:03:47] Look, here, you have what is yours.
[00:03:51] But His Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.
[00:04:02] So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.
[00:04:11] So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents.
[00:04:15] For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away.
[00:04:27] Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.
[00:04:31] There will be a weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[00:04:35] The Bible says that it's quite scary that last but seven times in Matthew, weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[00:04:41] So this is quite something to unpack. And let's look at it again. We can see that Jesus was in his last week or so of ministry. And if we look at Matthew from 24, he he starts preparing his disciples from when he's not there. He starts talking about the tribulation, he starts talking about his second coming, when he'll come back to earth again in Matthew 24. And then there's two parables. One, the Parable of the Ten Virgins, and this parable, the parable of the talents. And in those two parables, he's preparing us, his disciples, then the word us on how we should act between his departure and his return.
[00:05:25] Amen.
[00:05:30] And if we start again at Vors, there's vorse roles afterwards. By the way, maybe I've got that on the brain that forgot to be announced.
[00:05:40] If we start in verse 14, it says like a man traveling to a far country.
[00:05:46] And Also in verse 19, it says, After a very long time.
[00:05:51] So I think we can assume that the Master was away on a journey longer than a few months, if you take it in the context of the day and the traveling times involved and the far country, it doesn't say where, but I think we can assume that the Master was away for a few years.
[00:06:11] So we just need to look at this parable in that context.
[00:06:15] And his Master, it says in verse 15 to each, according to his ability, the master gave to his servants, each according to his ability, acknowledging that each servant had a different ability, and he gave them talents accordingly.
[00:06:33] And then I thought, let's look at a talent and what a talent is. Talent comes from the Greek world, Tantalon.
[00:06:38] If we need any pronunciation, we can always ask Spira.
[00:06:42] And a talent was 75 pounds of silver and one. So that's a lot. I mean you can barely carry that, that's like 30 kgs of silver.
[00:06:56] And one talent equaled 6,000 denarii.
[00:07:01] And to put that in context, average wages of the day, a basic wage was one dinari per day.
[00:07:08] So one talent was the equivalent of about 20 years wages.
[00:07:13] So the servant who received five talents, first thing he needed was an ox cart to take that away.
[00:07:19] And the second thing was that's about a hundred years wages that his master gave him, entrusted him with.
[00:07:27] So if we look at, I mean I always liked to put things back into monetary terms. And price of wages varies obviously from place to place, country to country. But if we look at the price of silver today, that's one talent, it's worth $50,000.
[00:07:45] So it's quite a lot, substantial amount.
[00:07:47] And the first servant took his five talents and the Bible says he traded it.
[00:07:53] So trading in those days, you can let your imagine run away with you. But he could have been a grain trader. He could have bought and sold grain, wheat and barley.
[00:08:03] He could have traded fish, he could have traded, I don't know, pottery ware, cedar, building materials.
[00:08:10] But the nature of trading, if you think of it, there's what, there's an element of risk.
[00:08:18] Trading involves buying and selling and shipping, transporting.
[00:08:23] And in those days if you had to ship something from a far country, there were storms involved, we know that.
[00:08:30] Wasn't Paul shipwrecked twice just in his travels? Can you imagine, imagine trading vessels in the day, Quite a small vessel, quite a basic vessel, and the same tempestuous seas that these massive container ships have to contend with today. So trading was risky.
[00:08:53] We think that theft is an issue today. Well, thieves and robbers along the way on these trade routes were as much of a risk then as they were today.
[00:09:04] So the first servant who got five talents and traded with them, you can say there that there was an element of risk and an element of hard work. It didn't just happen. The fact that he took his talents and double them, it didn't just happen.
[00:09:20] There was an element of risk and hard work. We just need to keep that in mind.
[00:09:26] The second servant who received two talents, what did he do? The Bible doesn't say. All it says is that he gained two more.
[00:09:34] So let's say, for example, that he was a little bit more conservative.
[00:09:37] But he may have been a farmer. He may have grown a wheat crop or a barley crop. He may have planted an orchard or he may have bought a flock of sheep. And over time he sold that flock before his master returned and doubled his money. That flock of sheep he may have, obviously, the lambing that happened over the next couple of years, he was able to double his money.
[00:10:03] But that also involved what element of risk and hard work.
[00:10:09] Have we all seen the David movie?
[00:10:12] Okay, See the lion that David had to contend with? It's no joke. David looked after the flock.
[00:10:19] And it wasn't an easy task. There were predators, there was disease, there was famine in times of drought. How did you find food for these sheep?
[00:10:30] So I think we can assume that the second servant, who was given two talents and he was also able to double his money. There was also a fair amount of risk and hard work involved everyone with me so far.
[00:10:46] Then we look at the third servant. In verse 18, the Bible says he went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.
[00:10:55] So today that is something that we don't really understand today. If we want to sit on our money, the metaphor is to put it under our mattress.
[00:11:06] But Mark hall here has got a safety deposit box with cabs and he puts all his money in that.
[00:11:13] But in the day, an acceptable way of sitting on your money and protecting it was to actually bury it in the ground, believe it or not. And how do we know that?
[00:11:23] Because archaeological digs, the time have found jars, clay jars with money in them, next to dwellings where you open up the jar and then wrapped in leather are the silver or gold coins. So it was an acceptable way to store money.
[00:11:42] So the third servant, although he hid the money and buried it, he wasn't foolish.
[00:11:49] Okay, let's just remember that he did an acceptable thing.
[00:11:57] Let's move on now to verse 20, when the Master returns and wants to settle his accounts.
[00:12:04] To the first servant, he says, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with few things.
[00:12:12] Few things, Five talents, as we've pointed out. That's not.
[00:12:18] That wasn't a small amount.
[00:12:22] But what's the key word here?
[00:12:25] That's it.
[00:12:26] The key word is faithful.
[00:12:31] When the master returned, did he say, well done, cunning and wise servant.
[00:12:37] Did he say, well done, hard working servant who worked 18 hours a day.
[00:12:44] What did he say?
[00:12:45] Well done. Good, good infers an amount of diligence. Good and faithful servant.
[00:12:53] Okay, so that's what the Lord is calling us to be.
[00:13:00] For the man, the second servant, who was given two talents, the reward is the same.
[00:13:07] Interesting here. There's so much to this that when you really look at it closely, the master for the servant with two talents says exactly the same, exactly the same word for word.
[00:13:26] What does that mean?
[00:13:29] It doesn't matter how much we're given.
[00:13:33] The master gave each servant according to his ability.
[00:13:39] All that matters is that how we steward what we are given.
[00:13:44] Gideon. Amen.
[00:13:47] Gideon said that earlier. Hey, how you stewarded it, that is what counted. The reward for both the first and the second servant was exactly the same. Well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:14:04] Then the third servant comes to the difficult part.
[00:14:07] Lord, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown.
[00:14:13] A hard man reaping where you have not sown. And this is when I've often read this before.
[00:14:19] I've kind of looked at it and think, well, I don't really understand this. What is this meaning? If this is an analogy about Jesus, then how can Jesus be hard? But let's look at it this way. The Greek word word used here is skleros, which means hard, harsh, or unyielding.
[00:14:37] Was the master that?
[00:14:40] Well, did the other two servants think so?
[00:14:45] They didn't, did they? So the majority of the servants didn't think the master was harsh, but the third servant did.
[00:14:51] So I think we can assume that it was the perception that the third servant had of his master that was harsh and hard.
[00:15:00] And when we have that perception of our master, what does it make us do?
[00:15:07] It makes us withdraw and become unsure of ourselves. It makes us become scared of being castigated or shouted at. So we withdraw into ourselves and we hide. We hide our talents.
[00:15:24] But as we can see here, this wasn't the reality. It was the perception.
[00:15:28] And often we do have a perception of that, of our master. And how do we get that so often? Folks, there's a distortion from. Maybe our earthly fathers gave us the wrong impression of a father. If we had a father who was harsh, hard, and unyielding, then maybe that's the impression we have of our master. And when we get given our talents, then we do hide them.
[00:15:52] Maybe it was an impression that was given to that servant from the church.
[00:15:59] Maybe he was in a religious church which portrayed God as being someone who is vengeful and ready to mite out judgment as soon as you make a mistake.
[00:16:14] Whatever it was, Bible doesn't say, but it just said, the servant said, and I was afraid.
[00:16:24] So when we're afraid, what do we do? We go into survival mode. We fear condemnation.
[00:16:31] So our natural reaction to that is to have sympathy for that third servant, to say, well, he had this perception of the Master, so therefore we should feel sorry for him.
[00:16:42] And this is a part that's difficult to understand. So what does the servant say?
[00:16:48] You wicked and lazy servant?
[00:16:51] He doesn't deny that he's a hard taskmaster.
[00:16:57] He doesn't deny being demanding, but said, you should have put my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest.
[00:17:08] So if the third servant, I was just trying to imagine when I was preparing for this, if the third servant had done that, if he'd put that money, that one talent with the bankers, what would the master have said? He would have said something like this, you've been cautious with a reasonable return. I'm not sure he wouldn't have got the well done, good and faithful servant, but he wouldn't have been castigated and told you wicked and lazy servant.
[00:17:31] So a little bit difficult, but let's unpack this a bit more.
[00:17:35] So let's look at it as to what a life situation might be. Okay? So we can translate a talent into a gift, a role or a calling or a capacity that has been given to us by God.
[00:17:50] And in this, it's very important to note two things.
[00:17:53] The first is that the parable is talking about believers. Remember in verse 14, the master said who called his servants and delivered his goods to them.
[00:18:06] So it's not talking this, this parable is not talking about non believers, it's talking about believers. And the second thing is, was there a fourth servant who got nothing?
[00:18:17] No, all servants received something.
[00:18:21] So we all have one of those. We all have a gift, a role, a calling or capacity.
[00:18:28] So we need to look at it from that point of view as well.
[00:18:32] The first two servants, in the case of the first two servants, they were faithful in what God had given them, each according to their ability.
[00:18:43] And sometimes we may feel that another thing the third servant may have is he had the least ability. Maybe he felt that he didn't have any ability at all.
[00:18:56] And sometimes we feel that some people have bigger abilities than us. They talk about the platform gifts, but are they any better than those who might be serving behind the scenes?
[00:19:07] There's an interesting story. When we were in river of Life Church and we had a visiting pastor from the uk and in his congregation, he highlighted two people.
[00:19:18] The one was the governor of the bank of England was in this congregation, and the other was a lady who had the most amazing ability to make sausage pie.
[00:19:30] Okay. We don't know what that is, but apparently it's a thing in the uk. Okay.
[00:19:35] And he said both those two people, they'd been given the gifts and abilities were vastly different, but they were both serving the church faithfully. So serving God faithfully with the ability that they'd been given.
[00:19:49] And I would say that their master would say, well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:19:58] And they were serving faithfully in what they were given.
[00:20:03] So let's not worry about what the other person was given.
[00:20:06] Worry about what you have, what the Lord has given you. That's between you and the Lord.
[00:20:13] And remember, it also says that the master gave those to his servants, each according to his ability, and immediately went on his journey.
[00:20:24] He didn't constantly check on them. He didn't keep writing.
[00:20:28] I don't know what you would do then in those days, write a tablet with a hammer and chisel and send it by donkey mail. He didn't keep checking on them, he didn't write them. There was no email in those days.
[00:20:41] No email, obviously.
[00:20:43] But it just said that he immediately, he gave those talents to his servants and he immediately went on his journey.
[00:20:51] So what was that? Inferring an element of trust.
[00:20:55] The master gives us those abilities and then trusts us with them, trusts us to be faithful with them, not. So.
[00:21:08] Trust us to develop those gifts and answer the calling. And as we looked at it earlier with the first two servants, there is an amount of risk involved.
[00:21:21] There's an amount of hard work involved.
[00:21:24] Amen.
[00:21:25] And sacrifice.
[00:21:28] There's also an amount of sacrifice.
[00:21:32] There's an interesting story in the latest sermon by Andrew Selley. I don't know if any of you listen to it on YouTube. It's been out about a week. He talks about early on in his Christian life, how the Lord convicted of him, convicted him to stop surfing.
[00:21:45] Has anyone watched it? It's quite amusing.
[00:21:49] And he said from the age he discovered surfing at the age of 10, he just was in love.
[00:21:59] All he wanted to do for the rest of his life was surf and travel the world and show people waves that they'd never found before. And then he met God, and he was early on in his Christian walk, and the Lord said to him, you have made surfing an idol. I want you to stop surfing for a season. He didn't know it was for a season then, but For a season. And he was like.
[00:22:22] And he said the same thing to his mate.
[00:22:25] And his mate was nearly crunched by a great white shark. Literally the week later. It was like a scene out of the movie Jaws.
[00:22:33] And he just, okay, okay, Lord. And then he immediately became obedient. But the point of the story is that there was sacrifice. He sacrificed something he loved for his master, for the Lord. Amen.
[00:22:49] Sometimes it's not easy to hear that they were faithful and. Yeah, and diligent, not maximized. Like I said, the Lord never wants us to be working to the bone or to have things out of kilter. Then other things suffer, like our families, just to be faithful and diligent.
[00:23:09] And then if we are faithful with a few things, the Lord will give us an increase. Verse 23, I will make you ruler over many things.
[00:23:17] And we may say, well, we don't want to be a ruler over many things.
[00:23:21] I'm just happy the way I am, Lord. Just leave me the way I am. I love you and I'm fine, and you're fine, and let's just leave it the way it is. But it's almost like in this parable, the Lord is saying, we can't stay still in the kingdom of heaven.
[00:23:34] Not so. If we look at verse 29, there's a clue there which points it to us.
[00:23:40] For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance.
[00:23:45] But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
[00:23:54] It's a difficult verse to read, but it's there, folks.
[00:23:59] The last servant, he was afraid he had the wrong perception of the Lord that held him back.
[00:24:08] For that reason, he buried his gift.
[00:24:11] He did nothing with it.
[00:24:14] But it's interesting to note here.
[00:24:16] This servant, he didn't hide or run away. He hid his gift. But when the master returned to settle accounts, he pitched up there. He dug up that talent, and he presented it to his master. He wasn't a thief. He didn't steal.
[00:24:32] He didn't run away. He didn't squander it. He could have taken that talent, $50,000 worth. He could have lived the high life. He didn't do.
[00:24:59] Everyone good so far.
[00:25:08] So, folks, as Christians, as children of the most high God, we have a number of privileges not so at our disposal.
[00:25:21] It is a privilege to serve the Lord. But also there are responsibilities as well.
[00:25:28] And as this proverb so clearly highlights, we have to be faithful and diligent with the abilities and gifts that God has given us.
[00:25:41] On Judgment Day, when The Lord comes to settle accounts with us.
[00:25:48] What do we want him to say?
[00:25:54] Well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:25:58] Enter into the joy of the Lord.
[00:26:03] We don't want to be the third servant, folks.
[00:26:08] And the third servant didn't get it far wrong, but he had the wrong perception of the master and he hid his talent for whatever reason.
[00:26:18] Let's not bury our talent.
[00:26:20] Let us be diligent and develop it and steward it well.
[00:26:25] Amen.
[00:26:29] So, folks, I just feel that's we've come to the end of the word today.
[00:26:38] But I just feel that, first of all, I was that third servant for many years.
[00:26:49] I knew that the Lord had given me abilities, giftings, and I buried them.
[00:27:00] Yeah. So I'm here today to tell you that, but I'm sure you know that anyway.
[00:27:05] And then a few years ago, I was convicted. I had a new revelation who God was, and that convicted me to dig up my talent and to start developing it.
[00:27:24] So what I want to share with you this morning is if there's anyone else here who is in the same boat as me, who also may be in that position where you're sitting on your talent and it's not being developed, I want to invite you this morning to stand up. I would love to pray with you.
[00:27:42] There's no conviction. I was there just a few years ago, and I'd love to pray with you and that we can ask the Lord to show us how to work with that gift, what he's given us and to develop it and to be diligent stewards of that.
[00:28:02] Amen.
[00:28:04] So, guys, yeah, just please, anyone who feels in that position, I'd love you to stand with me this morning. And I'd love you to pray with you.
[00:28:18] Thank you. That guy at the back there.
[00:28:22] Yeah, guys, thank you.
[00:28:32] Already. Already by standing, the Lord is honoring your faithfulness and is pleased with that. That is the first step.
[00:28:43] So let's all close our eyes this morning just to give those. Maybe there's another couple of people who feel convicted to stand this morning. Everyone's got their eyes closed.
[00:28:53] The idea here is not to embarrass anyone. It's just to make a stand for Jesus.
[00:28:59] I'd like to pray. We just want to thank you, Lord, for everyone who stood this morning.
[00:29:04] We thank you, Lord, that you've convicted them through your word, that they have talents, abilities, giftings, beautiful giftings, Lord, that you've given us. You say that each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made. We thank you for that, Father. I just want to thank you for the beautiful talents and abilities that you give each and every one of us. And we are all made so unique and so different.
[00:29:26] We just thank you for those people who stood this morning, Lord, and have said yes, maybe I've been.
[00:29:31] I've buried my talent for whatever reason, maybe just for different perceptions, just different way that I've viewed things from just hardships that I've had.
[00:29:42] Different just life has happened. Sometimes it's just life that happens.
[00:29:47] Well, sometimes it is just not being obedient. We just thank you for whatever reason, Lord, that those people have stood this morning. I want to thank you for them. I want to thank you for their courage, for their conviction. I pray that you would honor them this morning, Jesus. And I pray that you'd be with them from now on, Lord. Help them, guide them and lead them. We pray through your Holy Spirit to develop their talents, their giftings and their callings to honor you so that at judgment day, Lord, that you may say, well done, good and faithful servant. We thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen.
