Risky Business

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Don Filcek; Matthew 25:14-30 Risky Business

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You're listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak takes us through his series on the book of Matthew called
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Not Your Average Savior. Let's listen in. Filsak, I'm the lead pastor here, and I am really glad for all of you.
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Otherwise, it would be awkward for me standing up here talking to an empty room, but for more reasons than that, I don't know about you, but I have found that the gathering of God's people on Sunday mornings has been an anchor for me in the last year.
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Anybody willing to raise your hand and testify that that's true of you as well? It's been kind of an anchoring point, a centering point of my week of kind of coming back and realizing that I'm not alone in this fight for faith.
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I hope you also find comfort and encouragement and accountability in the weekly gathering of God's people. There's something that's great about, again, just keep that continual cadence of life of coming back together.
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We're not a perfect church, and I think we all know that, but we are being perfected. We don't always get it right, but we know the one who always gets it right.
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We are not there yet, but we're on a journey that ends there, and so how many of you are glad for that?
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Like glad that we're in progress and God is working on us individually, and in the individual work that he's doing in our lives, he's bringing us together corporately to be stronger, and so our text this morning reminds us that the destination, the there, affects the journey.
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How many of you know that you start at a point in the day and you end at a point in the day, and that's a trajectory, right?
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That's a direction. Your day goes in a direction. You guys already knew that, right?
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So that's just the reality and the cadence of life, and the way that life comes at us is that you start at a point, you end at a point, and all of those days piled up together end up and result in a trajectory of our lives.
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We have to keep the compass, therefore, always in front of us, moment by moment and day by day, keep the compass in front of us to get to the place we want to be, and in our text,
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Jesus reminds us of the end so that we can set our daily journey accordingly, so that we can start off today saying, where do
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I wanna be at the end of the day, and then Monday, where do I wanna be at the end of this week, and where do I wanna be at the end of the month and at the end of the year, and we can keep that in front of us.
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Throughout the section of scripture that we've been looking at, Matthew 24 and 25, known by scholars as the
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Olivet Discourse because it was given by Jesus to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, that's where it gets its name, all one big chunk of teaching that we've been studying for the last several weeks, but it really has amounted, this portion of the
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Olivet Discourse has amounted to kind of a wave of parables, a wave of stories, and ultimately with the focus on the fact that Jesus will indeed return for his people.
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It's been kind of focused on the future with a mind to the way we live in the present, but what we do or don't do while we wait shows whether or not we're really all in with him as where we've been the last couple of weeks.
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How we live this life shows whether we're in with him. Now, the big idea from this text, if you're a note taker and you kinda like that big idea, is that God has entrusted all of his children with responsibilities consistent with our abilities.
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Let me say that again. God has entrusted all of his children with responsibilities consistent with our abilities, and he has an expectation that the thing he has entrusted each and every one of us with here and now will grow and produce interest before he returns.
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So let's open our Bibles, if you're not already there, to Matthew chapter 25, and we're gonna be looking at verses 14 through 30.
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We'll read that together here in a second, so it's helpful for you to have that in front of you, so grab your phone or your app or whatever.
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If you brought a paper, copy the Bible, great. Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30, and let's take this on as God's holy and precious word to us recast, a word that desires to transform and change us in the hearing of it, the believing of it, and then the going out and living according to it.
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So Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30. A little bit of a larger chunk of text this morning. For it, and you gotta go back to verse one to see what it is, the kingdom of heaven.
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For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
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To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his ability.
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Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded them, and he made five talents more.
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So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
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Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them, and he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying, master, you delivered to me five talents, but I have made five talents more.
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His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little.
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I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had two talents came forward saying, master, you delivered to me two talents.
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Here, I have made two talents more. And his master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.
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You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, master,
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I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scatter no seed.
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So I was afraid and I went and I hid your talent in the ground. Here, have what is yours. But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed?
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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.
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So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have in an abundance.
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But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.
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In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for a word that corrects our notions about the way that life should go for us in the day to day.
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We expect things to be casual and normal and kinda centered on us. But at the end of the day, we are brought up short in a text like this where we recognize that the very behaviors and actions and things that we do are actually feeding into a much bigger narrative, a much bigger picture of your desires for us.
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You who have given us everything are the Master and the Lord and the
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King who at the end of the day has the right to reconcile accounts for what we have done with our time here.
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So Father, I pray that that reality would press deep into each soul here, particularly those who have faith in you to recognize that this is about those who have faith and trust and we see an example of one who does not.
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And so Father, I pray that that reality would not get muddied in this message that at the end of the day, no one would walk out of here trying better without faith in you, but they would come to trust you as a good and kind Master first and come to recognize the forgiveness that's been offered us in Christ and then go out and live out of gratitude and joy, serving you, gladly bringing return to you.
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I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, everybody, so get comfortable and keep your
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Bibles open in Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30. I'm just curious, just to get to know you guys a little bit more in this process, how many of you have heard this message before?
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You've heard this text? And so that's what I expect, is I expect most of you have almost,
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I mean, you're familiar with the story and some of you have probably likely even heard a message on this story or read a book that talks about the story or something to that effect.
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And so it's a very common text, but I want you to try your best this morning to look at it with fresh eyes.
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It's always the challenge when we come to the text of Scripture is like, you can read the story of David and Goliath and just brush past that thing because you've heard it before.
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But try to look at it with fresh eyes, try to listen and listen particularly for what the Spirit wants to press on your heart, where you live today.
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Because where you live today and what you're doing today and what God wants to speak into your heart might be different than the last time you read this passage.
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And so how many of you have heard the old adage, to whom much is given, much is required? To whom much is given, much is required, and that's actually
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Scripture. That's a good message. But in our passage, and that's true, but what about the person who's given little?
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Ask yourself that question. So to whom much is given, much is required, but what about the person who's given little?
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Is there anything required of them? Well, this is a passage where Jesus is gonna kind of tackle the answer to that second question.
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And what we see in this passage this morning is that to whom anything is given, something is required.
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Think that through. To whom anything is given, something is required.
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In heaven's economy, in heaven's economy, a faith the size of a mustard seed,
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Jesus taught, can move a mountain. It's a significant thing if you've been given even the smallest, smallest fragment of faith.
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It is an immense gift. It is a powerful thing you've been given. If you're given even the tiniest gift of faith, there is an expectation in the economy of heaven that you will produce a return on what has been invested in you.
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Now in verse 14, Jesus tells us he's going to tell another parable that is similar to the one that we looked at last week.
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You can see it right there in verse 14 as he starts. For it will be like a man going on a journey.
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He's giving a story, and it being the kingdom of heaven that he already talked about back in verse one.
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Last week, the emphasis, of course, in that parable was on being ready for the long haul of the return of Jesus, being prepared to wait, being prepared for a marathon and not a sprint in terms of your life.
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Being ready to shine out light in your last days just like you are right now, just like you were early on in your faith.
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His people will not run out of oil from the text last week, but will be prepared to shine his light right up to our very last day.
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But now he tells a parable that defines more of what we're supposed to be doing during this time of waiting. What is his expectation on his servants while we await his return?
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In the kingdom of heaven in verse 14, it will be like a man who leaves on a journey, but before he leaves, he calls three of his servants in to his presence, and he calls them to be stewards of portions of his wealth while he's away.
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Now Jesus had told his followers he'll be going away and he will return, and it's clear that this parable is about Jesus departing and returning in the future.
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This is about Jesus. They've asked him, when will you return? He said, I'm not so concerned and I'm not gonna tell you when.
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That's not for me to tell you. Only the Father in heaven knows when he's gonna tell me it's time to go, but let me tell you about what
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I expect of you while you are waiting. And he doesn't give his three servants equal responsibilities.
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You see that very clearly in the text. Instead, he gives them various sums of money and the text tells us, according to their ability.
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He knows his servants. He knows us. He's put us together. He's given us different responsibilities, different tasks to accomplish in his kingdom.
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Now I wanna point out that actually the English word talent, I mean, you know, talent, like I can tap dance, or I can dance, or I can do this or that or whatever, you know, like those kind of talents, play guitar, sing, those kind of talents come from this passage of scripture.
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We took that word out of the Greek and brought it over into English and we used the word talent accordingly, but that goes straight to the application and misses the point of the text a little bit.
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So you're gonna have these fuzzy notions of what is a talent here. What you need to understand is a talent, according to this text and according to ancient culture and society, was a huge, huge measurement of money.
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That's what's going on here. He's not dispersing abilities to his servants. In the story that Jesus is telling, he's dispersing money, huge, huge sums of money.
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It's difficult to translate that ancient amount. By the way, talent is a measurement of weight and it's a huge, the largest in the ancient world, the largest measurement of weight, and when applied to finances, it was usually silver that was being weighed, and so the modern day value is on the conservative side, somewhere around two million dollars that this master is giving to, spreading out among these three servants, meaning that the first servant is getting about one and a quarter million dollars to invest for his master.
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The second guy is getting about half a million dollars to invest for his master, and the third guy is getting about a quarter of a million dollars to invest, and there is a large difference in those sums, is there not?
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A big difference, as a matter of fact, the second guy doesn't even get half as much as the first guy. You see that? On the flip side of it,
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I believe that it's with intention that Jesus uses these kinds of large numbers because even the one who is entrusted with the least investment from this master, who is
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Jesus, you know, when you bring the parable over into real life, the one who is entrusted with the least investment in the kingdom is still given quite a bit.
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How many of you think a quarter of a million dollars is still a pretty big chunk of change? That's still quite a bit of money to manage for somebody, and so maybe for some of you that's like, nah, it's got that in my wallet.
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Sweet. But not many of us, right? There's not many of us that can just kind of throw around a quarter of a million dollars and just kind of invest it in risky stuff.
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But you can see how comparison could be dangerous here among these stewards.
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Do you not already see it? Do you not see the potential for there to be comparison? He gave him one and a quarter and only gave me a quarter?
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What's going on here? But Jesus doesn't, hear me carefully, this is kind of intriguing. Jesus doesn't go into jealousy or comparisons here in the text.
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He's gonna deal with that, kind of let that work its way out in the storytelling. He's not gonna attack it head on, but it is gonna get addressed.
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So he has the master handing out, Jesus himself, of course, handing out the responsibilities with very little instructions, and then he leaves.
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Not a whole lot of detail. Not a whole lot of invested in this or start this kind of business or do that.
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No, he just, he gives them the money. You know me, you know what I expect you to do.
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Get to it. And he leaves. And we're told in verse 16, I love this, we're told in verse 16 that immediately, at once, according to the
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English Standard Version, at once, the guy who's given five talents goes out into business.
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This is an example, I believe, of enthusiastic service for his master. Enthusiastic discipleship.
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These first two stewards show themselves to be eager disciples of their master. Gladly and willingly and quickly and swiftly going out to try to make gain for the one in charge.
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They want, I mean, I hope you can see it just like I can in the text, having studied this and worked through it this week. They want to serve him.
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They go immediately. They want to honor him. They want to invest themselves for the purpose of whose gain?
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Their master's gain. The five talent dude went to some business and doubled it.
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How many of you would just say right away, like, I mean, even over a long haul, 100 % return, is that good?
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You want a piece of that action? You want to get in on that at the ground floor? You better believe it, right?
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Double my money? Sure. How many of you know that if it's too good to be true, it probably is? But that's what's happening here.
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100 % return, says Jesus. He's telling the story. He gets to call the numbers. And the one trusted with two talents, of course, we see in the text, did the same.
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Immediately went out, got to work, doubled his master's money. With the sums of money and the ancient culture and what we understand about it, you gotta, unfortunately, to be quite frank,
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I mean, money comes relatively easy in America. It does. I mean, you have to work to some degree and you put your toil and you put your energy in, but much easier than it would have in this ancient world.
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It isn't like these two stewards got in on the front end of the GameStop thing or just happened to buy some
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Apple stock in 1980 at their IPO or just got right on the front end of Dogecoin, whatever it might be.
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In the ancient world, this kind of return would have required significant risk and, equally, significant sweat equity.
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You need to remove from your mind any idea that these two stewards were merely sitting back, directing traffic as the money floated.
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You gotta remove that from your mind. They're there in the trenches. They're working. They're trying to get gain for their master.
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Nobody in the ancient world, hearing about a man doubling five talents, $1 .25
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million worth of equal equivalency, them hearing about that guy doubling that kind of sum, nobody would have assumed he did it with ease.
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Nobody would have assumed that he did so sitting behind a desk pushing paper, directing traffic.
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Everybody knew he had to have dirt under his fingernails to get this done. Verse 18 starts with the adversative, but we know that something is gonna go sideways in this story here.
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Well, the guy who received one talent did get some dirt under his fingernails. He dug a hole, dug a hole in the ground and buried it for safekeeping.
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Now the master has invested in him according to his ability, according to verse 15, and the master was wise to invest less in this last servant.
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I think it's worth noting here that this doesn't seem to be the most evil thing that the servant could do with the money.
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I fear to expose myself and say that even as your pastor, I can think of worse things to do with the money.
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How many of you can imagine more wicked things to do with a quarter of a million dollars than bury it in the ground so that you can give it back to your master at the end when he comes to call accounts?
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Some of us, as a matter of fact, just being honest, might see the wisdom and logic in this act of burying the treasure, right?
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Like at least it's safe. At least he secured it. It's not gonna get stolen and he's gonna have it there at the end.
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He doesn't risk any loss. He's pretty confident that it's gonna be a quarter of a million dollars when he digs it up, right?
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He doesn't steal it. He doesn't spend it on a new car or a new house or to pay off his own mortgage.
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He just buries it. After a long time, the master returned and immediately called the servants together to settle accounts.
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Can you picture it? What do you picture in your mind's eye as you picture these three men coming forward? I picture two men, pretty enthusiastic, and one of them a bit bummed that the master's returned.
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There's a reason for that, and we're gonna get there here in a second, but the day has finally arrived and the master calls them into his presence and there they stand.
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And I picture the guy who was given five talents nearly bursting at the seams, eager to show the master his increase.
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And the guy who was given two talents is no less eager to show that he has doubled the master's investment.
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These two guys are giddy, just like a little guy like that. And the first blurts out, you gave me five.
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Look here, master, five more. I picture him elated, joyful, look at this.
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Look at this. That pile became this pile. Check it out, five more.
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And his master gives him a four -fold approval, a pretty significant four -fold approval, an approval that ought to affect our day because who's talking, who's telling the story?
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Our Lord, our master, the one for whom we breathe, the one for whom we work, the one for whom we are toiling and getting our fingernails dirty, the one for whom we are relating above board with each other, the one for whom we are loving when we don't feel like loving, the one for whom we are serving when it's hard and it's difficult and we never know, when is he gonna return?
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That's the one that's telling this story, the one who is gonna reconcile your account, that one.
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And what does he say to the one who has served him, the one who has put his priorities forward in their lives, the one who has set their day and their trajectory with the compass of pleasing him?
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The servant receives beneficial titles, that's the first thing, beneficial titles, good and faithful servant.
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Sound like good titles coming from your master, coming from your Lord? You're a good and faithful servant.
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Wow, thank you. The second is he receives a commendation, there's really kind of two, well done is the first commendation and you have been faithful over little, two points of commendation.
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By the way, I just wanna point out, Jesus is telling the story, has the master say that $1 .25
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million is a little? Been faithful in little, do you see it?
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Isn't it kind of funny? You've been faithful in little, he says the same to the guy with half a million dollars and I think at the end of the day, it's legit primarily because who's the master?
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God, how many of you know that that's just little to him? That's not much, you're faithful in little stuff, peanuts.
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$1 .25 million, but well done, you've been faithful in little.
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The third commendation, the servant receives a greater, I mean the third thing that he receives, the third approval, a greater trust.
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I will set you over much. You've been faithful in little,
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I'm gonna set you over more. The servant is given an invitation, this is the fourth thing.
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Come on in, come on in to the joy of your master.
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I'm so delighted in you that my joy is overflowing and it's spacious and there's room, come on in.
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Come on into this joy and this gladness and celebrate with me. Now it's worth breaking out of the parable into the real world implications at this point.
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The one who is known by Jesus through faith in him and in that faith then, here's the key, in that faith and trust in him, and then invest their lives for him to the increase of their master will be rewarded accordingly.
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But it's first and foremost, based on a relationship of love with the master, based on a relationship of trust with the master, based on a relationship that says, yeah,
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I can take risks for this guy because he has proven himself to be faithful and kind and good and loving to me.
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So I can risk. I can risk without fear of meeting him on that day because he's kind, because I've experienced him as good.
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How have I experienced him as good? Well, not everybody experiences him as good. Did you know that? We're gonna see that here in a second in the text.
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But how did you experience him as good? At the cross. At the place where he sacrificed himself for you and said,
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I love you so much, I would do this and will and did do this for you. So that then you go, wow, he loves me that much and has set me free by his love.
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Now I can serve him with gladness and with joy and not obligation and fear and duty and all of this responsibility and this heavy load on my shoulders.
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No, he took my load off of my shoulders and then he went on to say that his burden is light.
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It's joy. It's glad service for the return of our master. So what is the end goal of a life saved from sin?
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Well, here's the target and aim of life. The target and aim of our lives is to be well done, good and faithful servant.
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To be commended over whatever little role and whatever little part we've had to play and what really amounts to a massive, eternal, global kingdom.
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You've been faithful over a little, he says. Or to be granted more to do in his perfect new kingdom.
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I will set you over much. And I mentioned last week or a couple of weeks ago that at the end of the day, that can sound a little intimidating.
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How many of you are like, oh goody, more to do because I was faithful in doing some stuff? But at the end of the day, that misunderstands a little bit in terms of where we get that much and that's in an eternal kingdom without sin.
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And I mentioned this a while ago, but I would rather, and I think you guys would too, how many of you would rather lead a corporation on the new earth than a corporation here in this fallen world?
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Yes, I think we would. And I think that's where the reward comes in. And lastly, to be brought into this celebration of joy.
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To be invited in, to enter into the joy. We know that that's gonna be an eternal joy of our master.
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So where are we going with this life saved from sin and brought into a discipleship relationship with Jesus? Where does it go?
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Well, we work, we strive, we toil. We do get dirt under our fingernails for the joy and gladness of our master who is not stingy with his commendation.
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He is not stingy with titles. He is not stingy with his authority. He is not stingy with his joy.
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But he invites many and spreads his wings wide and says, come in. There's plenty of room in my joy.
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So that's where we're going. Remember that Jesus could have told the story any old way he wanted to. And at first reading,
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I think that second guy seems like filler. Can we already get a guy who doubled it? Why do we get another guy that doubled it?
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He can seem like just filler, but we find here in verses 22 through 23 that the whole purpose of the middle guy in the story, given two talents, is the reality that Jesus is not rewarding according to the sheer quantity of return.
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It's not because it was five and became 10 and that while those are big numbers, that's a lot of money, but at the end of the day, it's about faithfulness.
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So that returning two to four and five to 10 are equally commended.
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Faithful to what's been entrusted to you. Not looking around and going, well, how come
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I don't have what they have? How come I don't have theirs? Their talents, their abilities, their resources, whatever they're calling their responsibility, the trust of the master with 1 .25
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instead of just my measly half a million that I've got to invest over here. No, no, no. What we have here in the contrast between the first guy and the second guy, the five -talent guy and the two -talent guy, is the reality that Billy Graham gets no better commendation than a volunteer who faithfully teaches
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Sunday school to a handful of elementary students in a small rural church.
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It's not the quantity, but at the end of the day, it's the faithfulness.
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Do you get it? That's the key. So the point of the parable is that it's actively making a return on the trust that has been given to you.
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That's what Jesus is driving for. Jesus is not tackling the comparison head -on, but he's sidestepping it in verses 22 through 23, and for me personally, this is a great thing.
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I mean, the reality is as a pastor, there are some pastors who are entrusted with thousands. Some are entrusted with hundreds.
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Some are entrusted with dozens, and faithfulness looks like seeking to help people to grow where they're at according to the responsibilities right in front of us.
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Now, how many of you raise your hand and just admit that the comparison game runs strong in you? Me and Linda and three others, that's really awkward.
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So really, that's it? Okay, well, I don't need to go on to the next point then. Actually, maybe
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I need to belabor the next point to really kind of drive it home. But no, I think that all of us, to some degree, we can look around at others and we go, why are they given that?
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Why are they given this platform or these resources to invest or whatever it might be?
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But take encouragement from this text. The guy given five talents to invest has more than double the second guy.
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And in verse 23, we find the identical, identical commendation.
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Faithful return on his investment in you is what he is looking for. And he's invested in you.
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If you're his child, he's invested in you. But now look at verses 24 through 30. The master comes to the guy with one talent, and I picture him kind of looking down at his feet, just thinking this through.
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He's already, remember that he's observed this. He's seen this. He has now, by this point in the story, has watched the guy with five return five more.
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He's watched the guy with two return two more. How many of you think he's starting to sweat? You might actually think that he's thinking he's done well.
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He knows he hasn't now. All of that pretense and any thoughts that what he's done has been acceptable is now out the window at this point.
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And the servant tips his hand. He thinks, and this is key, this servant thinks poorly of his master.
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He doesn't even like him. He has experienced the master, and this is a derogatory term, he's experienced the master as a hard man, as the
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ESV has it. Different translations say difficult man. Works well, too. You're a difficult guy to work for.
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You're a hard man. You're an exacting guy. And he says, you reap where you don't sow, and you gather where you scatter no seed.
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Well, what does he mean by that? Well, think about it. How many of you, like when you're getting ready to plant your gardens and you're throwing down your seeds right now, how many of you would just kind of expect those seeds to grow, those tomato plants to grow without planting anything?
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Now you got the perspective. You laugh about it because it's laughable, right? Like nobody expects to get salsa without planting the tomatoes first.
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This is a guy who expects really good salsa, no tomato plants. Like that's the perspective of this finally wicked and lazy servant.
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In other words, he thinks of this master as a difficult taskmaster who expects the impossible is what he's saying here.
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You expect the impossible. Now it may seem out of place that the servant would be talking this way. How many of you think this isn't gonna go well for him?
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Like he's insulting the master to his face, talking poorly of him while he's reconciling accounts.
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He's proving himself to be foolish. The word wicked is starting to come into focus here. The word lazy is starting to come into focus here.
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And his logic seems skewed except for the fact that the servant is trying to justify his inactivity. And how many of you know that when we start to self -justify, we start to look silly?
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So everybody else around us, I know what you're doing, but we don't, we don't have that self -awareness to when we start to self -justify, we start to say foolish things too.
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We start to say the dumbest things when we're trying to justify ourselves. And he is blaming, hear me carefully.
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You can look at the text again. He is blaming the master. He's blaming him.
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It's your fault. You're a tough guy. What he's saying in summary is simply this.
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You're scary. You're scary, you're exacting, and that knocked me off my game.
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Oh, so I was afraid of you, and so I went and I hid your money in the ground. I wouldn't normally do that, but you're so mean.
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You're just demeaning. And it would've been more risky with your investment if you weren't such a jerk.
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And I can imagine a bit of snark in his voice and a snarl as he says, here, have what's yours.
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Take it back. I didn't really ask for it in the first place. I hope you can see that we read it more tame than it is.
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When we blush over this and kind of brush over it in our quiet time and read through the Bible in a year and we get to this text,
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I know it. Two guys, one guy just kind of buried in the ground, I don't really know why that's bad, and move on.
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But there's something about the relationship here. I hope that you can see from verses 24 through 25 that there is a problem between the master and the servant that goes far beyond investments, aptitude, or even laziness.
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The servant doesn't like the master. Do you see it? He doesn't want to serve this master.
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He doesn't even really trust the master. The last steward has a relationship to the master. He says, all right, it's based on fear.
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I'm terrified of you. He is, in this parable, he represents the current, modern, religious man who will try to get by in life not doing any wrong.
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I'm going to try my best to do no wrong, and then God will like me. When what the master desires is what, according to the text?
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The proactive doing of good. The proactive serving of others.
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The third guy, where is his focus? Himself. He doesn't want to get into trouble.
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Doesn't want to do anything wrong. Wants to make sure that he can't be accused of losing any of the master's money, and it's all based on fear of the master.
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Well, the master in this story responds logically. If you thought me to be so harsh, it's a question mark.
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If you thought me to be like this, you thought that I was the kind of guy who gathers where I didn't sow any plants, and didn't sow any seeds, and all of that stuff, and didn't plant anything, then you could have at least invested the talent in a more safe investment, like the bankers, and got at least a little return.
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Like, if you loved me, you would have brought a little something. But the master calls this servant outright wicked and lazy.
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He gives him titles, too. Not well done, good and faithful servant. Poorly done, wicked and lazy servant.
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He rejected the authority of his master, had no real relationship to the master, and was unwilling to put in any effort to the blessing of his master.
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And so the master takes the talent from the wicked and lazy servant, and gives it to the guy with 10 talents.
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Now, an interesting observation that a couple of the commentaries, I didn't see it when I really studied it, and worked through it, and then a couple of the commentaries brought it to my attention, and that's just simply, the guy with the five talents, what does the text say he has by this point in the story?
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He's got 10. And now he gets another one. So yeah, somebody said 11. Yeah, he gets 11.
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It's an interesting side note that the first guy is still in possession of the 10. What does that imply?
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That he's been entrusted with the gain that he made to then in turn reinvest and make more for his master.
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The very promise of the master was, you've been faithful and little, I'm gonna give you more. He gets to keep the 10 and continue to invest.
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So now the point of the parable comes to a head in verses 29 and 30 here at the end.
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So let me paraphrase verse 29, because it can be a little bit confusing. What are we talking about here again? What are we investing?
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Whoever exercises, here's what you need to understand. The talents are opportunities. That's what that translates over into.
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So whoever exercises the opportunities that God gives will find more opportunity to serve him, more opportunity to bring gain to his kingdom.
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But the one who does not use those opportunities will lose them. That's what he's getting at.
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But a severe caution needs clarification and it's given by Jesus in verse 30. The worthless servant is really no servant at all.
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You need to have that perspective. He's no servant at all. And he will be cast into outer darkness where there is deep sorrow and anguish that causes the clenching of the jaw and the grinding of the teeth.
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A terrifying, terrible end. Well, you might be asking yourself a question.
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It's kind of fundamental and scary. How can Jesus send one of his servants to hell?
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Well, let me be clear that as I mentioned in a previous parable, there's a major theme about people who appear to be in that are not in, and that's a theme in the
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New Testament that's very, very consistent and strong. So there's a major theme of false teachers that will come in among the sheep and try to teach them false things.
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Wolves in sheep's clothing that will tear apart flocks and appear to be members, appear to come in among the sheep.
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Weeds sown among the wheat, as Jesus talked about in a different parable, not to be sorted out until the end of time.
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Consistent history has shown that churches get torn apart more frequently from the inside than out.
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Is that true? And how does it happen? I thought we were all believers here. I thought everybody would love
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Jesus. Well, some will be like that third servant who really don't have much about him in their heart or mind, have a whole lot here in their heart and mind.
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So the solution to this, hear me carefully, church. If you get anything out of this message, I wanna make sure you're paying attention to this.
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The solution to this problem that Jesus is posing here of investing a life for him is not merely to go out from here and get to work.
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There's a first and more fundamental assessment that needs to be made prior to that. There's a more fundamental application to this text.
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It is not about going out and getting to work, serving God so that you produce interest so that at the end he says, well done, good and faithful servant, and then you are entered in.
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But no, the first application is trust the master. That's the problem between the first two.
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That's the delineation between the first two servants and the last is trust in the master.
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The way we trust him matters because the way that the last servant categorizes the master is not all wrong.
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I want you to think this through with me for a second. He is difficult. He is hard to those who are outside of his love and protection.
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Some of you live some life outside of God's love. And if you've lived out there, you know how difficult religion can be.
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You know what an angst and a pressure and a weight is on your shoulders when you carry your own sins and you try to remedy them yourselves.
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How many of you know what I'm talking about? Some of you have been there. So when you're carrying your own weight, when you're carrying your own burden, it is tough, it is hard.
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He demands nothing less than perfection from those who would come to him and say, I'm gonna show you how awesome
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I am. He says, here's the law, do it, do it all.
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Fulfill it. Now I sent my son to fulfill it for you because I know you're not gonna accomplish it, but you know what,
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I'll let you give it a try. And it is the whole law or nothing if that's the pathway you choose to go.
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And you're free to choose that pathway, but it is a hard, long road that will never result in your salvation.
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You can't be good enough. You can't accomplish it on your own. And so the only way given by which we can come into a loving relationship with him is through the way he has shown us his immense love for us.
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God sent his son Jesus to take on himself our sins so that anyone who acknowledges
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Jesus as their master and accepts his forgiveness and the love that he has showed us at the cross will be saved and brought into the household of loving servants.
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Ask yourself this question over this parable to see the heart of Jesus here as he tells this story. How can two guys eagerly go right out and serve the master while the other guy imagines it harsh and mean and not worthy of trust?
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What's the difference between these two guys and this one guy? The one who comes to the Father through Christ knows his love eagerly serves him.
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The one who does not come through Christ only knows his stern and severe commands. Application church, come to God through Christ and trust him as your king.
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Lastly, consider what this parable is calling you to today if you indeed trust
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Jesus. If you trust him and you've asked him to be your Lord and you've asked him to be your master, then let me encourage you this last thing, risk great investment for him.
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Risk investing your entire life for him. What led the guy with five to risk it all? That's a big chunk of change.
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He could've lost it. How many of you know that? He could've invested that in a business, and it would've been gone, and he would've had to stand before the master and go, you give me five, 10,
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I've got nothing. I've got nothing. What do you picture the master saying to that one who was a faithful servant who lost it all?
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Appreciate the effort. Appreciate it. Welcome into the joy of your master.
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Can you see that? Do you see God that way? Or do you see God going, you jerk, you lost all my money.
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Go with the gnashing of teeth thing. Is that the God that you serve?
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This text needs to correct that in your heart and in your mind. What led the guy with half a million of his master's money to enter into a risky business arena?
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Nothing was guaranteed in the ancient world. I suggest to you that in contrast with the last guy, we are meant to see a trust that leads to risk.
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The first two guys trusted the goodwill of the master enough to take risks for him. They were not afraid of him.
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They were not immobilized by the amount of trust he had placed in them. Why? Because they trusted him as good and loved him.
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That's it. What this means practically is that we have a limited amount of time on this earth to invest our lives for Jesus.
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He has given all of us resources, responsibilities, and relationships, and abilities that are given to us to invest in his kingdom.
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And the one who loves him will bring some interest. I love how the master says to the last guy, by the way, you could have at least went to the bankers and brought me a little interest.
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If you loved me, you would have at least wanted some increase. You could have at least invited them to church.
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You could have at least helped with the spring cleanup days at your church. Shameless plug. You could have at least opened up your beautiful home to hospitality, right?
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I don't mean to make a big deal, by the way, of the hierarchy of activities. I don't think that's beneficial or helpful because at the end of the day, whatever is done for Christ is taking us one step closer to that well done and good and faithful servant.
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How many of you look forward to entering into the joy of your master? Do you look forward to that? Do you look forward to his joyful smile as you show him the increase of the investment that he's placed in you?
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I'm convinced that if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you want to invest your very life in his ever -expanding kingdom of joy.
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And so ask yourself this morning as we come to communion, what is one practical thing I need to do in order to get investing for my master?
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If you belong to Jesus by faith in him, then feel free to go to one of the tables and take the cracker and the juice that reminds us of his body and his blood that was given up for us in sacrifice.
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And then let's go out from here trusting him, eagerly serving him while we await his return to settle accounts.
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And of course in all of this, don't forget at all in any of this process, how very much he has invested in you, let's pray.
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Father, I thank you so much for the investment that you've placed in us, the love that you've shown us so that we don't go forward in fear, terrified that we might screw it up for you, but we go forward in trust that you've given us that which is consistent with our abilities.
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I pray that you would make us faithful stewards of the great gifts that you've given to us. You have planted just tiny seeds of faith in our hearts that can blossom and grow into huge trees in which the birds of all of the nations can come and nest.
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And so Father, what you wanna do with one life who grasps this message is powerful, let alone a room full of people investing their lives for you.
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So Father, I pray that that would be a reality in this church, in individuals, and in this community. This community would just be blown away with the love that they see through Recast because we see ourselves as invested in your kingdom.