Matthew 25:14-30 5/21/23 a.m. Senior Sunday
Good morning folks, thank you all for being here today. Today is the day we honor our Graduates. Remington Johnson and Chance Ramsey. I’ve known them both since they were born. Two fine young men. I’m proud of them. They have MADE IT!!! They are graduating High School.
(Present them with Bible)
Here’s just a real quick piece of advice for these two fellows. Something for them to remember that might help them. Bosses don’t usually accept Tardy Notes from your mother.
ILLUS: An 18 year old High School Graduate got hired by a hardware store. He showed up for his first day of work at 8 AM sharp. Right on time.
The owner of the store welcomed him, showed him around the store and then handed him a broom. He said, “Here you go, first, sweep out the store, then I’ll show you where the window cleaning equipment is.”
The young man said “Sir, You can’t be serious. I’m a High School graduate.”
“Oh, sorry,” says the owner, pointing to the broom. “No problem. I can show you how that thing works.”
Listen, we have all been given blessings. Some more than others. Just to be born here in the United States of America is a Great Blessing.
Both of you were born into GOOD FAMILIES, both of you have PARENTS and GRANDPARENTS who LOVE YOU.
To have a BIBLE BELIEVING CHURCH, full of GOOD PEOPLE who want to serve God is a GREAT BLESSING.
Can I tell you all of you folks something. When I was THEIR AGE I didn’t REALIZE how BLESSED I was. I didn’t realize how GOOD I had it. As time goes on I realize MORE and MORE how BLESSED I really am.
Can I get an AMEN here? Are you all kind of like me? As you’ve gotten older, you realize MORE and MORE how BLESSED you really are? So let’s take a look at one of the PARABLES of JESUS. It’s found in Matthew 25 and we’ll start reading at Verse 14.
“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
This was NOT an UNCOMMON THING for a wealthy man to do. When he was going to be gone for an extended period of time he would take his MONEY and divide it up among his most trusted servants. What else would he do with it? There were NO BANKS to put it in to draw interest. This was his safest bet. And so he picks out three of his servants and hands them the money.
Now a TALENT was NOT an ABILITY or a NATURAL GIFT as we think of it today. We talk about people having a TALENT for SINGING or ACTING or something like that. A TALENT was a MONETARY AMOUNT. One TALENT in those days was worth at least $1200 in today’s MONEY. And so he divides up his MONEY among three trusted servants. They were to use this money. Invest it. Loan it out. MAKE MONEY with MONEY. And then he leaves. And while he’s gone we’ll see how these fellows use the money. LET’S PRAY!!!!
I. So this fellow is going to TRAVEL to a far country. This wasn’t like it is now-a-days. He couldn’t just hop on a Jumbo Jet and fly around the world and be home the next week. This would take many months if not YEARS. He had to have someone he could rely on.
A. So he calls in his first guy. His number one trusted servant. Let’s call him John. “John, I’m gonna have to leave for a while. I need you to take care of the MAJORITY of my ASSETS. Here’s $6000. Use it wisely. You have the sharpest mind. You have experience at this. I know you’ll do great.”
Can you imagine the PRESSURE that this would put on you? What a responsibility.
ILLUS: I have a small, getting smaller everyday, self managed IRA from my former job. Someday it might be part of my retirement. But I’m the one who decides what to buy and what to sell. Sometimes I’m right and sometimes I’m wrong. Lately, with the economy being what it is, I’ve been WRONG more than RIGHT. But do you know who I have to BLAME for that? ME!!! MYSELF!!! And if I was SPENDING someone else’s money, it would make it that much harder.
And that’s where we find this fellow at. He’s got his BOSSES MONEY and he has to decide WHAT to do with it. So ... Verse 16 tells us that he “went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.” He DOUBLED the money. I don’t know how long the fellow was gone. How many months or years it took but those 5 TALENTS turned into 10 TALENTS. That $6000 turned into $12000. Man, that’s pretty good. I’m not sure how he did it. I wish I knew because I could sure use some pointers!!! It says he, “TRADED with the SAME.”
I don’t know if this means he went down and bought some ANIMALS and CLEANED them up and resold them.
Maybe he bought Real Estate, divided it up, and resold it.
I don’t know how he did it but evidently, he used GOOD JUDGMENT. He made GOOD DECISIONS.
B. Now let’s look at the next fellow. The RICH GUY sends his first servant, John, on his way and he calls in the SECOND SERVANT. We’ll call him Bob. “Bob, you haven’t been with me too long but you seem like an honest fellow. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. The few things you’ve done for me have turned out well. So I’m gonna give you part of my wealth. I’m gonna be gone for a while. Here’s $2400. Use it WISELY. So what happens? Well, Verse 17 tells us, “And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.”
He did JUST AS WELL as the first fellow. The first fellow MADE 5 more talents and this second fellow GAINED 2 more. He DOUBLED what he had been given. Now I don’t know if the use of these two different terms, made and gained, really means anything. I kind of think of MADE being something that was BOUGHT, maybe FIXED UP and RESOLD. When I hear GAIN I think of more in the LINES of INVESTING. Loaning the money out and charging INTEREST. Financially backing a new START UP business. Or owning a PAWN SHOP.
Either way, these two fellows took what had been given to them and used it wisely.
C. And now, we’ll look at the third fellow. We’ll call him Dudley. Dudley comes in to talk to this fellow. He says, “You know Dudley, I’m gonna be leaving for an extended period of time. I’ve left most of my assets with John and Bob. But I want to leave 1 talent with you. Use it wisely while I’m gone. I know you haven’t been to school for accounting and you’ve made some mistakes in the past but DO YOUR BEST.”
So Dudley takes his TALENT. His $1200. And he digs a hole in the ground and buries it. You know what, this fellow that’s going on a journey could have done that. Dudley wastes the opportunity. I don’t think the fellow that gave him this TALENT really expected too much. Just a small return would have done the trick. Next time maybe he would have been ENTRUSTED with more. But no, Dudley DIGS a HOLE and hides it in the ground until his BOSS returns.
II. Chance and Remington, I want you to get this. Everybody here, get this. YOUR CREATOR has GIVEN you TALENTS. ABILITIES. Father God has INVESTED in you. He has BREATHED into you HIS!!!! BREATH of LIFE. He has given you the ABILITY to SPEAK. The ABILITY to reason things out in your mind. He has taken you ASIDE and SPOKEN to your HEART. He has DRAWN YOU to HIMSELF. And NOW you have some DECISIONS to make.
What are you going to do with these things God has given you? What will you do with the TALENTS and EDUCATION that ALMIGHTY GOD has BLESSED you with?
Because you do have a CHOICE. You see, the fellow that got 5 talents. $6000. He could have went out and dug a HOLE and stuck that MONEY in the ground until his boss came home. “Here you go BOSS, the 5 talents you gave me. I know they’re a little dirty, maybe a little tarnished but hey, I didn’t lose any.”
The fellow with the two talents could have done the same thing. They had a CHOICE.
A. The first decision you’re gonna make is whether to serve God or not. God has given every single one of us a CHOICE on whether to serve Him or Not serve Him. It’s up to us to decide.
In Joshua 24, he lays it all out for the people. He tells them in Verses 13-15, “And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Did you catch what he said there in Verse 13. God had given these people a LAND that they didn’t have to work for. Cities that they didn’t have to build. Vineyards and Olive orchards that they didn’t have to plant. These people had been BLESSED in a mighty way. Now they had to decide WHO they would serve. The gods, LITTLE G, that their fathers had served in Egypt or the True and Living God who had given them these blessings. Joshua said, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
You and I have been given a LAND that most of us didn’t have to work for. The United States of America.
We’ve been given PLACES to LIVE that we didn’t BUILD.
We’ve been blessed with BOUNTY. I’m not here to say that you all haven’t worked for what you got. I’m not here saying you don’t APPRECIATE your BLESSINGS. What I’m saying is that we have been given a LEG UP over most people in the world today.
The OLD SAYING, “I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps.” is just a BOAST that’s really not true. “I’m a SELF MADE MAN” is just a bunch of BALOGNA. There is NO SUCH THING. WE ALL HAVE BEEN GIVEN BLESSINGS!!! Now the question, “What are we gonna do with those blessings? Who are we gonna serve?” The GOD who has given us these blessings or the god of this world? The choice is up to each one of us.
B. And so we’ve established that we’ve been given BLESSINGS. Some 5 talents. Some 2. And others 1. So what are we gonna do with them? The first guy, John, took his TALENTS and MADE 5 more. The second guy, Bob, took his 2 TALENTS and made 2 more. But the third guy, Dudley, he chose to take his 1 TALENT and bury it. The BLESSING that he had been entrusted with. The OPPORTUNITY to do something GOOD. He didn’t even try.
So I guess the SECOND QUESTION I want to ask you today, “Are you willing to even TRY?” Because a lot of people AREN’T. They want to take the EASIEST WAY POSSIBLE through this LIFE.
In Matthew 7, Verses 13 and 14, Jesus is speaking here. And He tells the people that are listening,
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
The MAJORITY of people take the EASY WAY. The BROAD WAY. Just go along with the crowd way. They take the BLESSINGS of God and HIDE IT AWAY. You see, that’s the EASY thing to do.
And as we look again at the PARABLE that Jesus gave us, He basically tells the TWO FElLOWS, we named them John and Bob, the same thing in Verses 21 and 23.
“Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
And then this RULER went to deal with DUDLEY. The fellow who had been given 1 TALENT. Dudley probably thought, “Well, I only have one TALENT. If I USE IT I might LOSE IT so I’m gonna take the EASY, SAFE ROUTE. I’m gonna bury it in the GROUND.” The SAFE, EASY ROUTE wound up being the DEADLY ROUTE. The RULER says this in Verse 28,
“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.”
Then in Verse 30, “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
You know folks, we can take the easy route. Stand for NOTHING. Go with the FLOW. Don’t make WAVES. Just JOIN IN with whatever’s going on. Peer pressure doesn’t stop in Middle School or High School. It continues on throughout your entire life. We take the PATH of least resistance. We CONFORM to what the world wants us to be. You might say, “We play it safe” But Paul told us in Romans 12:1 and 2,
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We’re NOT called to PLAY it SAFE. We’re CALLED to go out and be a LIGHT for Jesus. We’re called to go out and tell others about Him.
ILLUS: On January 9, 1956, a team of missionaries landed on a beach along a river in Ecuador. They were there to Preach the Good News of Jesus to a tribe of Indians called the Waodani tribe. After they landed and set up camp they were attacked and speared to death. 5 men died that day. Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian. Some might say they died for nothing. But they’d be wrong. In a short time the news of their deaths spread around the world and a new group of missionaries came to take these men’s place.
Within two years of their deaths, Elisabeth Elliot and Nate Saint’s older sister Rachel, made a friendly and lasting contact with the Waodanis. Bible translation into the Waodani language began.
One by one, the men who committed the murder became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Steve Saint, Nate Saint’s son, spent much of his childhood among the Waodanis and became an adopted son of the tribe. He eventually married and took his own family to live for a time among them.
Jim Elliot said this shortly before he was killed.
“He is NO FOOL who GIVES what he CANNOT KEEP to GAIN that which he CANNOT LOSE.”
No, we’re NOT CALLED to play it SAFE, we’re CALLED to SHARE the BLESSINGS of GOD with others. We’recalled to live BOLDLY. So many people, especially in this DAY and AGE, LIVE however they want, and they USE the TALENTS that God has given them for SELFISH REASONS.
God blesses some with a SHARP MIND. They’re REALLY GOOD with MONEY. And what do they do? They take that TALENT and MAKE MONEY. Then they take that MONEY and MAKE even more MONEY. And then, instead of SHARING that BLESSING, they BURY it away in a BANK ACCOUNT SOMEWHERE for a RAINY DAY. Listen, there’s nothing wrong with MAKING MONEY. There’s nothing wrong with PLANNING for the future. There’s nothing wrong with having a good job or owning your own business. But you better be sharing those BLESSINGS with others.
God blesses others with different TALENTS. Like the NATURAL ABILITY to SING and PLAY an Instrument. And instead of using it to WORSHIP and HONOR Him, they waste it on the things of the WORLD. In this day and age we have SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES to use the the TALENTS God has given us but instead, they’re just WASTED.
I’m probably like some of you. I like the underdog. And this fellow that only received one talent was the underdog. I wish this story was different. I wish that Dudley would have succeeded. Went out and bought something with his 1 TALENT, worked hard and made another talent.
Then maybe invested those 2 TALENTS to make 4. I wish he would have BEAT OUT the other two fellows, but he didn’t. He didn’t even try. And for that, he was punished.
Folks, God DOESN’T REQUIRE you to be successful. All that He requires is for you to do HIS WILL. So many great men in the Bible were not successful.
Jeremiah wasn’t a HUGE SUCCESS. He CRIED, PRAYED and PREACHED to the people of Judah for almost 40 years and they didn’t listen. But yet he USED the talents God had given him and God blessed him.
The Bible tells us that Noah was a PREACHER of RIGHTEOUSNESS but yet the only people on the ARK were his own family. And yet, God blessed him.
Moses led the Children of Israel RIGHT UP to the edge of the PROMISED LAND but yet he never made it in. He was still blessed.
We’ve ALL been given TALENTS by God. We all have a responsibility to use them for HIM. But we ALL have a CHOICE. The FIRST CHOICE you MUST MAKE is to COMMIT YOUR LIFE to GOD. Accept His Sacrifice on the CROSS of CALVARY and put your TRUST in HIM.
And then we MUST DECIDE to USE whatever God has given us for HIS GLORY.
Back to Jim Elliot, the missionary to Ecuador. Shortly before he died there on that beach with a SPEAR thrust through him he said this,
“When the time comes to die, make sure that all you have to do is die!”
You see, there may not be time to REPENT. There won’t be time to DIG UP the TALENT that God has given you and use it. There won’t be time to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in someone’s life.
The TIME to do those things is RIGHT NOW.
Let’s Pray
