6: A Life of Meaning Series
February 8th, 2008
Use it or Lose it
I have a problem. I am really not very good with subtlety. When my wife started working for the news she was a reporter. Then there was an opening for a weekend anchor position. She was the newest reporter to the station so she was the least likely to get the job. Of course my wife is awesome so when she applied they liked her best and gave her the job. We found out about it before it was officially announced, and it wasnt 100% certain. She had been tipped off by a friend and wasnt even supposed to know. So logically we knew we were not supposed to say anything. Well that week we were having dinner with one of her friends who was a reporter at the station as well and had been there longer than she had. He also had a reputation for blabbing everything he knew so it was really important he didnt find out. Knowing all of this for some reason in the conversation my mind blanked and I asked Erica about the promotion right in front of this other reporter. In an effort to discretely instruct me to shut my mouth Erica began to kick me under the table. Now a normal person would respond here by stopping, thinking, and closing their mouth. I for some reason responded by saying: Ouch¦Ouch why are you kicking me under the table? in a very loud tone of voice. Why on earth did I do that? Its not like a kick under the table is that subtle of a hint I mean a monkey with a mental handicap could figure that out. I knew why she was kicking me and I knew I should keep my mouth shut but for some reason I didnt. Now you may not be as socially challenged as I am, but I am pretty sure you have all done something like that. We have all said something or did something we knew we shouldnt without realizing it. At the same time we have all known there are things we should do that we havent done for no apparent reason.
Thats what we are going see in our text today as we look at Matthew 25 starting in verse 14 where Jesus tells us the parable of the talents. Now in this story we meet a master and three of his servants. The master is preparing to go away for a time and so he entrusts each of his servants with a large sum of money. One of the servants gets 5 talents. One servant gets 2 talents. The last servant gets 1 talent. When the master leaves the first two get to work trying to make more money for their master. This is obviously the reason the master left them his money. The third servant doesnt. He just buries the money. Why if the other two servants got straight to work does this third servant act differently? Why doesnt this servant use what the master gave him? The other two servants worked. So why does this third servant do nothing? Lets look at the text:
Mt 25:14 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. Mt 25:15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. Mt 25:16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. Mt 25:17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. Mt 25:18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his masters money. Mt 25:19 After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. Mt 25:20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ˜Master, he said, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more. Mt 25:21 His master replied, 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 masters happiness! Mt 25:22 The man with the two talents also came.˜Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.Mt 25:23 His master replied, 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 masters happiness! Mt 25:24 Then the man who had received the one talent came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. Mt 25:25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.Mt 25:26 His master replied, You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Mt 25:27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Mt 25:28 Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. Mt 25:29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. Mt 25:30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In the Greco-Roman world it would not have been uncommon for a slave or servant to have considerable responsibility and authority in his masters house. In fact sometimes being a slave to a powerful master made could make you more important than a common free man. So the master here entrusts each of these servants with a large amount of money. It is impossible for us to know the exact amount of money being described here since a talent was not a measurement monetary value but of weight. A talent weighed somewhere between 58-80 lbs. Its value was directly dependent on the value of the material it was made of. A gold talent would be worth more than silver, which was worth more than bronze. Yet even a bronze talent was worth an enormous amount of money. It would take a common worker about 20 years to earn a single talent if that gives you some idea of how big this is.
Each servant is entrusted with a different amount of money depending on their ability. The first two servants get to work immediately trying to earn more money for their master. This is what they were supposed to do. The third servant however does not. The other two obviously knew what their master was expecting when he returned so how did the third servant miss it? They had all been entrusted with a great responsibility. Why does the third servant do nothing?
Can you see him? I imagine him just sitting around while the other two servants run around working hard. The other servants work and work and he just laughs at them. He might even tease them a bit. After all when the master is gone there isnt all that much work for his servants to do. But why? Why doesnt the servant work?
After a long time the master comes back. The first two servants proved their worth by doubling what their master gave them. This of course pleases the master and they are rewarded for their faithfulness. Thus we see the intrinsic principle from Luke 12:28 from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. These two servants were faithful with what they were entrusted and they lived up to their masters expectations. He was not surprised at how much they made but pleased by their faithfulness and so he rewards them by letting them share in his happiness and increasing their responsibility. Then the third servant was called in to give a report of what he had done. The problem was he hadnt done anything. He hadn’t made his master any money. This third servant had nothing to show for what he had been given him.
Standing before his master this servant tries to open up by making excuses. In fact he even gets so bold as to accuse his master of exploitation and being too demanding. He complains that the master put him in a difficult situation. If he tried and failed he would have lost everything and incurred the masters wrath. If he took risks, worked hard and was successful he would see little fruits for his labor. So why risk so much with so little probable reward? This servant fails to recognize his responsibility to his master to carry out the work he has been assigned. He tries to hide this by blaming his master and making excuses. The fact is it was gracious for the master to trust him with anything. No matter how many reasons this wicked servant gives there is no excuse for doing nothing. He failed to do what he had been entrusted to do.
So everything he had was taken from him. He was cast from the masters home and into a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth. This description of where the wicked servant is thrown is the same as the description we are given for hell. The third servant knew what was expected of Him. He knew what his master was like and yet he did not act accordingly. Why? Why does the third servant do nothing? For the same reason we dont. We can look at this parable of the talents and shake our head at that foolish wicked servant all we want. We can think to ourselves: Why didnt he get to work? Didnt he know the master was coming back? Didnt he know the master would be angry at him for doing nothing?
When I was in High School I wasnt very popular. Honestly I had only one real friend. Her name was Alex. Well my Junior year I really found God and learned what a relationship with Him was really like. By this time Alex was my best friend. I tried to talk with her about God by inviting her to church. She got mad so I dropped it. From the time I started to really live out my faith and understand what it meant to be a Christian I had two years with Alex. Two years of seeing her almost every day. Two years of talking about deep personal issues. I had the relationship in place to tell her what she needed to hear. For two years I had one opportunity after another to share my faith with her and to help her find God. For two years I talked with her, spent time with her, and discussed every other issue on the planet with her but I didnt tell her about God. I didnt tell her of the love that Jesus had for her giving up His own life so that she could be freed from the pain she endured for so long. So that she could have life with Him. I saw her lost and alone so often in pain and I knew that I had the cure. I sat back and did nothing for two years while my best friend at that time walked further and further from God. Why? Why did I do nothing? I knew what to say. I knew what needed to be done and yet I did nothing. She may never find God because for two years I let one opportunity after another slip past. So who is the Alex in your life? Everyone of us has one maybe more. We have all missed opportunities. Most of us probably have an Alex in our lives right now waiting to be told about Gods love. It is our responsibility to tell them. God has entrusted us with as task. It is our job to tell the world about His love and His Son. So why do we do nothing?
We can ask why did this wicked servant do nothing but the bigger question is why do we. You see we are a lot like this wicked servant. We have been given talents. They are not the same kind of talents but like this servant we have been given resources from which we could do great things. Often times like this servant we sit back and do nothing with those talents. All the while people around us need what only we can give them and still we refuse to say anything. Why? Why dont we do anything? For the same reason this servant didnt. We dont really believe the master is coming back. It is that simple. This servant didnt think his master would return from his journey so he didnt bother working. This is why he didnt put the money on loan with a banker. If then he wanted to get it later he would not have access to it. This servant wanted to keep the talent for himself because he was convinced the master wasnt coming back. He buried the talent betting the master would not return. Bad bet. We may think him foolish but this is the same bet we make every day. When we dont tell our co-workers about Christ we make this bet. We make this bet when we dont risk our friendships by sharing the Gospel with them. We make this bet when we dont stand up at our malls, on our street corners, or in our schools to proclaim the love of God to the world. We make this bet when we dont walk up to total strangers and try to explain the good news to them. We may think the third servant a fool for making this bet, but it is the same bet we make every single day.
