Matthew 25:14-30 Making It Better

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Don Filcek; Matthew 25:14-30 Matthew 25:14-30 Making It Better

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan Pastor Don Filsack is preaching through a sermon series called the rest of the week loving
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God from Monday to Saturday Let's listen in Praise God Well, good morning.
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Welcome to recast Church. I'm Don Filsack I'm the lead pastor here and I'm glad that you're here glad that you've taken time out of your busy week to gather together as God's people and worship him
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Be sure to check out the connection card. I mean the worship folder that you received when you walked in It's got all different kinds of activities and events and different things that are going on in there
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So you can check that out But if you really want to get connected then fill out the connection card That you received you can turn that in in the black box back there
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If you do share an email address with us We do send out a weekly email called the ecast with a lot more than what you're going to get in here
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This is just a summary, but you get a lot of links and different connection points there So be sure to take advantage of that, especially if you're calling this your church
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I hope that you're receiving that ecast even if you're not reading it each week I know that sometimes we get in this pattern of you get a bunch of emails and you just kind of Mark is read, you know what
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I mean? And you don't necessarily read it But now you know where to go and get the information if you've got a question or you need something else
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So and then you received an offering envelope any offerings you would choose to give also go in that same black box on the table out in the hallway there
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Again giving is just a response out of the gratitude of our hearts for what God has done for us
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It is indeed a spiritual act and we don't want anybody to give because they feel pressured we want your giving to be out of the overflow and the abundance of what
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God has done for you and a Recognition that we're stewards of all that. He has given to us stewardship being a theme for this morning
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And so as we're diving in that's what we're going to be looking at and then remember that any any gifts that are marked expansion fund go towards our
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Our hopes and prayers that God would provide us a building a place for us to call our own and ultimately a place
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My vision for that is a place set aside in this community for For us to bless the community with that facility
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And that being an opportunity to loan it out and let them let it be used for a variety of different things But also primarily a place for us to gather together and worship in an environment that doesn't necessarily talk about eating smart on the walls
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And things like that and so if you've noticed some of the decor in here probably kind of background noise to you now
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But those are some sweet pictures of grapes up there and stuff. So This morning. We're wrapping up a five -part series called the rest of the week
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It's been my goal in this five -part series just to take this brief time From going marching through books of the
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Bible as you know that I do But take some time to bridge the gap between Sunday morning and the rest of our week by helping us to see from the pages of Scripture that there is a dignity and a significance to our daily work our vocations matter in terms of our
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Shaping our world and shaping ourselves I don't know if you've thought about that component of your work shaping you
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But it is an opportunity in your work and in your daily labor to actually become more and more
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Conformed to God's image how many of you had an opportunity this week to practice patience at your employer or In your vocation or in your home if you're a stay -at -home mom or whatever
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You've had an opportunity Monday through Saturday to practice patience. That's God's refining work in your life there's all different kinds of opportunities to have joy in the midst of things not going the way that they are that we intended for Them to go and that is right in the middle of our every day.
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God is working to shape us and so in our work, we have the chance to help shape our
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Society, but we get the chance to serve others and we get the chance to practice the righteousness that God has called each one of us to Take work out of the equation and our practicing righteousness
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Often amounts to like I've mentioned a few times praying before meals and showing up at church on Sunday morning
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Maybe reading a couple verses out of the Bible Regularly and then feeling bad if we miss a day or something like that But we have an opportunity to redeem a huge chunk of our time by recognizing how it connects in this
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Opportunity for God to transform us and change us and for us in turn to help love others and love
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God by our by our work Way back in the beginning God clearly conveyed what human existence is all about He instructed the first man and woman to be fruitful and multiply and to subdue to keep to work to cultivate and to improve
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The garden have you ever thought about that God told man from the very beginning created
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Man and woman in the garden and we have a tendency to think that that was a perfect place
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But in a real sense, we've been given a mysterious and glorious Place of joining with God in an ongoing process of creativity
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He's he's enlisting us for the betterment of the world There's this ongoing process of creativity of improvement and development that he laid upon humankind
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He didn't plop us into the middle of a fully developed universe With nothing further to accomplish could he have done so Yeah, but instead he actually created a world that he declared to be very good and then said go make it better go improve go
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Cultivate there was a task Responsibility on us from the beginning. He dropped us in this very good place and said take it from here
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Cultivate it explore it care for it Steward it as a gift from your master
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Steward it as a gift from the Almighty We certainly how many of you would agree with me on this?
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We haven't nailed that assignment very well Would you agree with me on that? We haven't nailed it As a matter of fact, we broke it with our sin and yet that assignment still continues even in a broken world that assignment to cultivate that that that assignment to care for and explore and and Steward this world and this morning we get we're gonna turn to a text
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I think probably a quite familiar text to many of us Where Jesus is going to give us a story about what it means to be a steward in the kingdom of God Even in a broken world.
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We have to understand What we are What we are in truth what we're created to be and a good theology and a good life
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Always begins with a right understanding of who God is and a right understanding of ourselves
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We have to to be a well -rounded well -balanced individual requires a proper understanding of who he is
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But then equally a right understanding of who we are in light of that Who are we what were we made to be?
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Even in a broken world We must understand that we are Who we are
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My concern is that many of us don't spend our Monday through Saturday Considering that the appropriate title for ourselves is steward it's steward a lot of times we think of ourselves as owner or Doer Possessor and when we consider in our text this morning what a steward does
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It may be that finally this final text that we're talking about for work helps us to put our work in our vocations into perspective
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So I want us to open in our Bibles to Matthew 25 verses 14 to 30 If you don't have a
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Bible in front of you or a device to navigate over to Matthew 25 Then please raise your hand and there's some guys with extra
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Bibles back here just to bring you one We want everybody to have a copy of the Word of God and if you don't have one at home
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Please take one of those there's a there's some on the table out there that are just gifts So you can take that with you if you don't have a
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Bible but follow along as we read a Decent sized chunk of Scripture and a complete story that Jesus told
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Matthew 25 14 through 30 God's Word for us this morning For it
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It being the kingdom of God Jesus is this is Jesus speaking if you have a red letter version of the
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Bible The majority of this text is read this morning Jesus talking and he's talking about the kingdom says for it will be like a man going on a journey
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Who called his servants and entrusted to them his property to one? He gave five talents to another two 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 with 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
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Master you delivered to me five talents here. I have made five talents more his master said to him.
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Well done Good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a little I will set you over much
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Enter into the joy of your master And he also who had the two talents came forward saying master you delivered to me two talents here
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I've made two talents more 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 He also had received the one talent came forward saying master.
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I knew you to be a hard man Reaping where you do not sow and gathering where you scatter no seed
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So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground here you have what is yours
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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 want to have invested the 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 him who has the ten talents For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away and Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness in that place.
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There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship this morning
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Father I pray that you would drive deep into our hearts this understanding of what it means to be stewards of your kingdom father
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You have entrusted to us with you've entrusted us with a privilege to serve you to honor you to Expand and to create more and to do more and father these gifts these abilities come from you these
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Resources as we think about in the text are are ultimately yours We have nothing in that includes the the breath in our lungs.
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We have no guarantee that we are promised another minute on this planet And so from a place of humility,
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I ask that we would our Worship this morning our our praise in song would rise up to you
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Father that we would recognize that you are worthy and we are not and at the same time we have great value and great worth because we are created in your image and You love us
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So father, I pray that from a place of being loved we would sing these songs to you this morning in Jesus name.
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Amen Well, thanks to Josh and Sean for leading us in worship this morning. Glad that They have skills certainly that I do not so I'm grateful for them and I encourage you to get comfortable
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Remember if you need any any cold water coffee Donuts juice whatever you need there, whatever it takes to keep your focus on God's Word this morning.
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We want that to be the case If I were to ask you for a list of five nouns
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To describe your role on planet earth your role here
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What would they be? five nouns to describe your unique Function your unique role on planet earth.
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What would they be? now some of us might get really specific or more specific and say father or nurse or manager or driver or whatever some might say
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Christian or Student or doormat, whatever it is that you think you might be some may get really general and say worker or worshiper or Some general terms that would try to encompass more of your life depending on how you're put together
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You might be you know, hear that assignment and go I've got to cover all the bases And so I've got to get some more generic words in there
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But consider where the word steward fits into your Understanding the word steward not a word that we use very often
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And so probably not one that pump that pops to the forefront of your mind when I ask you for nouns that describe yourself
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But I hope that by the end of this message every single one of us would have steward in that top five descriptive words for our purpose on planet earth this role when properly understood and Properly undertaken
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Has the power to unleash us to live out all of our days for the glory of God all of the things that we do
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Bouncing back to his honor and to his glory So Jesus in the middle of teaching about his kingdom here in our text in Matthew chapter 25 if you're not
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I encourage you to have your Bibles open to that by the way as we're going through Matthew 25 14 through 30 and Here in the middle of this teaching about his kingdom.
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He describes it using a parable about business It's important for us to understand that this is a flat -out
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Economic illustration plucked straight out of the working world of people of his own time
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He's talking about business here and a lot of times in our minds We have a tendency to think of Jesus is talking about pie in the sky or ethereal things
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And he rooted his teaching where people lived in his time and in his era and he is indeed
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Talking about economics now have any of you ever really thought and considered that Jesus during his time here on this planet was involved in economics in business
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He was in a sense a business owner He was a carpenter who his livelihood came through the work and the product of his hands for 30 years
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He served well, I mean probably not from infancy, but for many of his 30 years
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He served as a carpenter working and figuring out how much to charge for his work I mean he had he had those kinds of things now.
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I doubt that he ever gouged anybody. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm sure he did the best that he could with His skills and his abilities, but he was setting economic prices for things.
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He was involved in business. Have you thought about that? Probably haven't put much thought to the fact that Jesus was involved in business and he used a lot of his parables a
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Lot of his parables are Surrounding he certainly used agricultural things which was business in that time a pretty booming business pretty central thing to the economy of that day and age
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But he used flat -out Managers owners that kind of stuff and talked about it.
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Jesus didn't shy away from talking about business exchange transactions interest investment money and other business concepts these things show up in his parables in his interaction and He weaves a story for us about an extremely wealthy businessman here in our text that I read earlier
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Extremely wealthy businessman. This man was going away for quite some time So he decided to diversify his investments by placing a few guys over his wealth while he was gone
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He didn't want to go with one single brokerage So he he broadened out and he had three different guys Responsible for his money and the word entrusted in our text here shows a significant confidence and expectation
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On his servants. He is entrusting his wealth to them
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The wealthy man, of course retains the ownership of the property But he allows these other men to utilize his wealth for gain.
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This is the concept of stewardship Lester de
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Costa in his book work that I pointed out has been a resource that I've used And I and I showed you a few books last week
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He defines stewardship as this the way we choose to use Moment by moment all that God places on loan to us
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For precisely the purpose of testing the sculpting power of our vocation.
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Let me read that again Stewardship is the way we choose to use moment by moment all that God places on loan to us
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All that God places on loan to us, what do you own? What do you have that is of your your doing you've caused it you've brought it about It's on loan to us
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For precisely the purpose of Testing the sculpting power of our vocation are calling the shape to which
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God has has called us into usefulness to our community to our society to our families to our church to a whole host of people that we interact with and come in contact with that there's a shape to our
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Usefulness and we have this this mandate of stewardship on us to sculpt and to create within the realm of our giftings
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You think about that you have the power to create and to organize this great world that God and he's entrusted each one of us with this a specific set of skills in order to To benefit others to be useful to others.
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It's a glorious concept this concept of stewardship In other words, let me maybe
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Lester DeCoster's definition is a little too a little too academic so stewardship recognizes that we don't own it and And Simultaneously recognizes that we have a creative mandate to expand it
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We don't own it But we are mandated to expand it the it being specifically
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Different for each one of us as we're going to see in the parable some five some two some one but each one of us with a an endowment from God to expand and to improve the world around us and a lot of others through the skills and abilities that he's given to us through our means our resources the wealth of this man in the text by the way is
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Astronomical some of you maybe have heard this before to the first steward. He gave about 100 years of wages 100 years of wages a talent was the largest unit for measuring weight during this era
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So think like ton. Okay, so this is like a ton a talent is an actual
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Greek measurement of weight And it's estimated that a talent of silver would amount to about 20 years of labor
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So this wealthy man had how many talents to invest? Like quick trying to do the math he had eight talents to invest
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Meaning that he had at his disposal to invest 160 years worth of wages this guy wealthy
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He's extremely wealthy 160 years worth of wages now a quick word to clarify
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We get lost in this parable pretty quickly We interpret it quickly and lose let it lose its force because this parable is talking about money
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But it uses the word talent and because it starts to use the word talent. Where does our mind go? Your musical ability your gift of administration your this your that you know, and we go to talents
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Well, I I didn't even know this going into this as much as I've studied the Bible and going to Bible college and all of This in seminary.
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I did not realize that the word talent is actually brought into English because of this parable
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When you use the word talent, they have basically adopted the analogy from this back in ancient
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Language in the English language and that's the origin So this very parable is the origin of the word that you and I use regularly for talent ability.
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He's talented or whatever That's interesting. It's it's where this word comes from. So we borrowed from this parable using the word talent
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But remember in our text, what is a talent a talent is a unit of measure It's a it's a monetary thing a pretty substantial one
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I want to be I want us all to be careful in this process of understanding this to not jump too quickly over the
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Greek definition of that word It's a large sum of money and Jesus wanted his listeners
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He didn't want his listeners jumping over the analogy of money to gifts and abilities and you know what
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I have to contribute But this is a large sum of money and he wanted them to intentionally be thinking about money in this parable even though the parable certainly
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Certainly applies to much more than money as we drive through this and we get to the point of what Jesus is trying to communicate
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To us it is certainly more than money, but it must start with money According to the text according to what
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Jesus is trying to communicate to us He's using an analogy of money and he gives varying trust
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This owner gives varying trust to each of these three men to the first He gives five talents to the second.
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He gives two and to the last he gives one talent a Lot remember that talent is a lot of money and and I cannot help but imagine that the rich man has some sense of Decreasing trust in these stewards.
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It says he he gave them each according to their ability. Well, who is the judge of their ability? The master was the judge of their ability and there is certainly some sense of decreasing trust in these various stewards
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But he gives all of them. This is key. He gives all of them a shot at investing his resources
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All three of them have an opportunity to invest do they not? five two
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One and they all have the opportunity Two quick observations about this not all are given the same level of resources
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We know that right experience that in real life Not all in this parable are given and Jesus is reflecting real life
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And he says not all have the same resources at their disposal Not all have been given the same measure of wealth not of not all have been given the same amount to invest
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Not all of us have and then to carry it forward into the analogy Not all of us have the same giftings and abilities and all of these things
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We certainly don't all have the same amount in our bank accounts But all are given the same opportunity to expand to invest to create and develop the resources of our master
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Secondly, I noticed no argument from the stewards absent is their cry of unfair he gets five and I only get two and then the guy with two says well the guy with the guy with one says well
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At least you got two. I got I got just one That's gone that's not here and I think that this is a valuable observation only in that all three of these men
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Understood themselves to be stewards. They knew this guy wasn't handing out as wealth as a gift for Christmas This was a responsibility on their shoulders right
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So that I can imagine that the one who received the guy who received one might have gone whoo
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Less risk, right? You might have that expectation that there would be not Why didn't you give me five but man,
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I don't think I could handle five Have any of you ever felt that way in life kind of glad that you didn't have that responsibility
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I mean people who have you ever heard the interviews with people who have won the lottery and wish they hadn't They actually wish that they had now from our vantage point it's like oh, come on I could handle a little bit of that right?
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Could you? Could you would you want to maybe like give me a shot?
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Just give me a chance to see right? It's it's it's not always a good thing to be entrusted with more right?
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They all understood themselves to be stewards And knowing our position is being those who are going to give an accounting of our stewardship we may find
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Ourselves at times grateful that we haven't been given more to whom much is given much is required with his wealth unevenly dispersed
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The wealthy man took off and was gone according to verse 19 for a long time
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And what is easily overlooked in this text is the labor the effort the risk and And what
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I would suggest to you is not a stretch to say probably some sleepless nights on behalf of these stewards
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But at least we are told that the most trusted steward at once Literally the text says worked with his talents at once ran out with the five talents and began his work
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Now when I say you might be confused when I say sleepless nights There's an investment going on here.
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There's work that's going on here. There's labor that's going on and expanding this money and It's a long time the text tells us in our minds.
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We we go right through dad I did that and it's a pretty quick transition over that long period of time
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But there's a long time that goes on where there's ups and downs in the market and there's investment and there's
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Exchanges and there's probably sowing some seeds in a field and hoping that the harvest comes in Sometimes it's a good harvest and sometimes it's not and the implication by this phrase long time is that years transpire?
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Before there's a reckoning Sounds kind of like life
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Years that go by now. Is there a day of reckoning coming for our stewardship? Is jesus giving an illustration of what you and I are doing here on this planet?
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a long time passes But at once the guy with five goes out and immediately invests
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Seeks to grow and to improve upon his master's estate Now we don't find out how the first or the second steward doubled their trust, but I can assure you it was not easy
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It's assumed that these guys did not double the money by interest by the way Simply because the rich owner is going to eventually indict the lazy guy by saying at least you could have invested it with the bank
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He didn't say at least you could have done what these other guys did He says at least you could have invested it with the bank.
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So telling us that this was not Invested at five percent and sit back and let it roll Okay, this was work.
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This was toil. This was labor This was ups and downs and and calluses on their hands and a sweaty brow to turn this money around We have a tendency to think okay.
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This these these stewards are Investment analysts or our work in the market, but there really wasn't a stock exchange back then
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Mutual funds were not an option They're barely an option now, right? Invested in antique cars or something.
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I don't know The implication throughout the text is that the two good and faithful stewards
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Improve the estate of their master through hard work and business savvy The phrase traded with them by the way, i'm not i'm not trying to work this because you go traded with them
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Oh, it says right in the text on I disagree with you because it says traded with them The technical term there in greek is worked them
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If you translate it literally he these these two stewards worked the talents
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They worked them Nobody takes five million and turns it into ten million on behalf of another without some significant risk agreed
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You don't just turn that around without some risk involved in it And so the man entrusted with five makes five more
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The man entrusted with two makes two more and the man entrusted with one Makes one more
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End of story, right? Is that how it goes? They each doubled it and off we go
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Of course not The last man entrusted with one made squat
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He went home dug a hole in his backyard. I kind of laugh at that a talent
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Of silver big hole He at least worked hard at burying it Okay, that's a pretty big hole to bow to bury a ton of silver, right?
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And and he attempted I guess maybe he was maybe he was you know, planting a money tree What do you think was what do you what do you think was going to happen to that?
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He's like, let's see what happens if you bury it if you bury a ton of maybe some of it'll sprout. I don't know And the text tells us a long time past the stewards
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Beards grow long and their kids grow up and go off to college and the master comes home to settle accounts
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The master comes back Right from the get -go. He is super stoked When the steward who had been entrusted with five brings out ten, how did he bring out ten?
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Was there wheelbarrows involved with her? Oxen with carts to show the you know, all of the wealth that has been gained.
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It's visible This is not a bank statement that he offers him and he brings it out. I mean this is this is immense wealth
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And it's been doubled Boom this is like 10 talents brought out at once and the master offers a hearty one translation says bravo bravo
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Well done That would be a modern translation of this well done. Bravo. Great job
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And he offers two words for this steward and the second one as well good and faithful Good and faithful and these are relational words
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These are not business savvy words These are relational terms that he uses for the blessing and benefit that he has come into with this steward
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In other words this first steward that he commends has done What is beneficial has done? What is good has done?
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What is kind has done? What is helpful to his master? And he has acted faithfully showing loyalty and commitment to his master through his work through his work
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How has he demonstrated faithfulness? How has he demonstrated good intent towards his master towards his king?
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By faithful work Hard work for his king And what would have probably
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Caused a gasp among his original audience when jesus was telling this remember This is in a an original context where he's telling this story
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He gets to be by the way You're seeing a lot of jesus when you're looking at his parables because he's he's making these things up So you're seeing his heart and his his his eyes on the community and the culture around him
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You're seeing how he interacted with them and all of this He's the one telling this story and he has the master say this in the story
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This steward has been faithful over a little a little 10 million in cold hard cash
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Is a little Whoa, what do you want to kind of like this master?
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Has it going on? Okay. He's he's doing well If 10 million is a little and he says you've been faithful with a little
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You wait to see what i've got in store for you You've been faithful in just the little things
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A little bit of 10 million dollar investment that we've doubled here What? The master offers to set him over much
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The work is rewarded, of course with more responsibility. How many of you knew that that's where this was going? So there is more responsibility involved in this faithfulness begets more trust but also begets more
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Joy, according to the text At the end of verse 21. It's implied that the master's joy overflows
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Bubbles over to the joy of the stewards those first two stewards and they will benefit from this interaction
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Although it's not explicitly stated. It's implied that they will indeed benefit from the increase
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Whether that's through the master sharing some of that increase with them or just in general making their lot easier or better Is unclear but they benefit as a result of this goodness and faithfulness
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But the first two stewards received that same exact identical commendation And I believe that jesus didn't include the middleman just for dramatic effect
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But there's a reason that the middle guy is in here It's to let us be clear that it is not the amount that gain that's gained that matters
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It's not that it's five as opposed to two Now certainly the he keeps the proportion the same they both double the investment
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But faithfulness to improve things Is what mattered? You see that in the text it's faithfulness to improve that which they were entrusted with The one given a lot provided more increase the one given less provided less increase
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But both are declared to be good and faithful and both are entrusted with more and both are brought into the joy of their master
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They were given the one was given less and he increased less but he's still blessed by his master
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But things take a turn in verse 24 you see that The last steward breaks from the pattern of the first two by making excuses right away
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First two the pattern was identical in the way that they interacted with their master not this guy He makes excuses and what this final steward says about his master in verse 24 is not technically untrue
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But demonstrates a broken understanding And most importantly a lack of healthy relationship to his master
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There is a break in the relationship that's clear if you analyze and you understand this text
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He says you're a hard man Another way of saying that is you're a task master
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You are a driver who expects great things from your steward And he probably says it with a bit of a sneer
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Second you reap where you Didn't sow In other words you get the profit while we do the work
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Some people have an attitude about their boss that way about their employer that way some of us this is almost a direct
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Translation of the way that we feel about our employer I work I do all the work.
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I'm the one with the calluses. I'm the one with the sweaty brow I'm the one working hard and you're getting the increase You see the attitude and the heart there.
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Can you imagine how that could creep into the human soul? Jesus understands us through and through and he gives an illustration that just hits really close to home
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And that last point by the way is doubled for for impact and for effect He says you reap where you didn't you didn't sow and gather where you scattered no seeds
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It's doubled and that shows that this is a central part of the issue between the steward and his master He does the work his master benefits and that is stuck in the craw of the steward
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But with his words in verse 25 I believe he actually puts up a smokescreen So I was afraid and I went and I hid your talent in the ground here
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You have what is yours and he declares what he wants the master to believe was his motivation for not providing any increase
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I was afraid I say this is a lie Because jesus has the master in the story correctly diagnosed the problem in verse 26
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Said it's not fear Fear was not your issue Many times we throw out our own justifications our own excuses for our sin when the real underlying issue is something else
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Think in terms of like moses standing before the burning bush saying I ain't too good at talking
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An incorrect self -diagnosis God who had created his mouth had created him capable well capable of talking
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This steward stands before his master and says I was afraid but the master corrects him
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It says I heard you say afraid but I think you meant to say wicked and lazy You say that you're afraid but what
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I what I think you meant was wicked and lazy Jesus who gets to tell the story the way that he wants
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Has the master do the correcting? The lazy steward was wicked in his lack of relationship with his master.
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He did not have a heart to benefit the owner He didn't have a drive to gain for the glory and honor of his master
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Instead he had a wicked heart that said why should I work for you?
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Why should I Do all this work and you get the benefit and you get the gain and you get the honor and you get the glory
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Where's my honor? Where's my glory? I'm the one doing the work further
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He's identified as lazy plain and simple lazy
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He didn't want to take the time and the effort to do his job and do it. Well The master even further further calls him out on this on this sense of fear by saying something that I think should be helpful to all of us because Some of us in the room are legitimately motivated by fear.
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We're afraid to step out of our comfort zone We're afraid to give generously We're afraid to give generously of our time and our talents and our abilities and our resources and our money
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And so be so fear can really be an issue for us And so the master calls him out and I think this is helpful.
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He says you could have increased my money in a more safe avenue It's not all about the risk
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He's not just strictly commending the first two because you risked a lot they did They did risk a lot the one with five risked five talents.
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That's a lot to stand to lose There's a lot of risk involved in that but he looks at the guy with the one and he says you could have at least
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Thrown it in a bank account and made half a percent Right if that So he calls him out
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Maybe a quarter of a percent, right? And it doesn't end well for the final steward
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The talent is removed and given to the most trusted steward who now has 11 talents
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At his disposal to invest on behalf of the stew of the master And that worthless steward is cast into the outer darkness
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He's condemned for his wicked and lazy heart He had a wicked intent toward the master not a good intent a wicked intent towards his master
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So when you when you when you read this and you think man, that's harsh That's harsh man. The guy just got scared and didn't know how to got it.
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It's more than that Jesus is indicting. This man is being opposed to Him opposed to the master ultimately who's he opposed to?
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the illustration God That's wicked In opposition standing in opposition to god not desiring his honor not designing desiring his glory
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But trying to take that all on ourselves and it's it's something we have to battle against every day, right?
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You guys are cut from the same cloth as me and I assume you are because you all have a human heart So I know something about you I know that within each one of us here in this room is that tendency to take more glory than you deserve and give
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Less glory to god not give him the full glory. He is due right It's true of all of us
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And so this servant does not end well, and he's cast into outer darkness And jesus makes this
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What could be confusing statement? But i'll clarify it He says ultimately because everyone who has gained for Everyone who has gained for the master will be granted more but the one who has no gain even what he has
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Will be taken away This is a parable A story the word parable by the way means thrown alongside
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Parable just means thrown along thrown by thrown thrown beside us I think parabola, you know that that uh arc that you any of you remember that from geometry again what i'm saying?
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Um, it kind of comes from the same word. It has the the notion of throwing And you know when you throw something it comes back down.
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So that makes anyways Um, so parable is a story thrown aside alongside of life to highlight a particular reality when you hear a parable from jesus
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You are not looking to necessarily draw on an allegory an allegory is where every single component in the story
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Matches up with something in real life Parables are to get to a nugget of truth one primary point
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And I believe the main point of this parable Is that you and I are primarily created living and breathing to be stewards of the gracious and glorious endowments of god
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Everything we have comes from him this entire scenario assumes that you are a steward of the master
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And and some of you sitting here may not be stewards of the master Maybe in reality you look at your own heart. You look at your own life and you say
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I don't think I am I I don't think i'm serving anybody but myself Maybe as you analyze your own life
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You realize that this is a completely new concept that you are that you are indeed a steward who has been entrusted by god with many gifts and talents and resources and abilities
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I want to be careful To point out that it is not enough The call this morning is not for you to just strictly realize you're a steward the last steward
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Hear me carefully The last steward in the story the one entrusted with one. Did he know he was a steward? He knew he who he was supposed to be serving
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He knew that there was a he knew that there was a god. He knew that there was a master over him He knew there was even a day of reckoning coming
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Where's his destiny? Cast out He knew he had a master
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Knowing that god is there and that we should serve him is not what puts us in good standing Now I think that's enough
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There are a lot of people out there who are just serving some fuzzy notion of god some nebulous force out there that they think
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Well, that's an extrinsic motivation outside of myself. I could serve something that's out there
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You can be a steward and still be condemned You can know that there is a god and that is not sufficient to save you
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Each of us needs a healthy relationship of love of goodness and faithful service to our master and that is only available
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Once we come to understand his awesome love expressed for us at the cross of jesus christ That is the place
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That is the place where our breaking of the world and all of the messes that we create
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Have been dealt with God sent jesus christ to die As a sacrifice for our sins so that we can come into a properly motivated relationship with him of willing service
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Loving service to our god the third steward
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Saw his master as a tyrant The other two saw their master as worthy of their effort
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Worthy of their service and they wanted good for him And they served him faithfully
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So my first question for all of us today is quite simple hard to measure out
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Hearts are tricky Our motivations get muddy and I recognize that so this isn't a question.
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You could probably answer sitting here It's a question You need to let roll over your mind and and think about it throughout the week and and if you're taking notes
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Or even if you're not taking notes pull out a piece of paper and jot this question down to be Thinking about and considering who are you serving?
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Who are you serving? This is a question not so much for this morning But it's a question that would be proven if if we could see your heart all week monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday
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Sunday back around again. It's it's lived out Certainly you might just say well certainly god knows that I love him.
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I showed up on sunday morning What about the rest of your week? What about the rest of your time You get a free pass on that or is that maybe the very central point of this stewardship that god has entrusted you with?
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Whatever you're doing monday through saturday as a part of that We need a healthy relationship through jesus christ
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Who are you serving second question I have for you Is to contemplate and consider what have you been entrusted with?
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What have you been entrusted with? The talents in the parable are monetary. They're they're actual money
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And and I think it's beneficial for us to start there in our understanding. We have all been entrusted with varying degrees of wealth, right?
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And yet the poorest among us are doing better than the majority of the people in the world, right?
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Some of us are are getting by just fine Others of us have significant resources above and beyond our expenses at our disposal and others are scraping by in desperate situations
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But all of us have been given what we have as a trust from god some five some two some one
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And I truly believe that our generosity is a good measure for our relationship with our master Stewardship to god begins with our material resources
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Jesus commended Uh a woman for giving a fraction of a penny in the synagogue the smallest unit
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Going from talking here about the largest unit of talent to the the smallest a mite
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And and she gave that and he pointed her out as an illustration and said this woman has given more than anybody else i've seen in here today and everybody's kind of Scratching their head going why she gave everything she had
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She gave it all That's that's it So it's not the amount that we have to give that's significant
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It's like it's not the two to two the two to four growth is less than the five to ten growth that the stewards worked
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Being faithful with what god has entrusted to us Do you see your bank account as a trust from god?
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Do you see your wallet as a trust from god? Or do you see it as just like hey, that's that's me time
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That's me stuff Think that through Do you give joyfully to the work of god?
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Do you give to the church I'm, not supposed to talk about that. This is recast, right?
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Do you? And I want you to answer out loud, but I want you to answer in your heart, you know, you know You know a definitive answer.
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You don't have to think about that one this week You already know If you give to god's work or not, and I want to confess just by way of of sharing a story with you
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I went lynn and I uh early on in our marriage. We went through a season where we did not give significantly to a local church
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Lynn and I gave to a lot of non -profit organizations But the church seemed honestly at that stage in our life like a less meaningful option for our money
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But as my understanding of god's central focus on his church grew My conviction that I should give significantly to the local church grew
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And my understanding that what did jesus leave that he did he create parachurch institutions he create non -profits
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Did he create all these things he left the church and said the gates of hell will not prevail against it
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So understanding the central role of the church in the advancement of the kingdom of god has moved lynn and I to shoot for at least tithing to our local church
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And when we can we try to give more And tithing being just 10 and by the way, don't get confused over that tithing is a is a measure that that um
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Many people take on and I think that's an encouraging and a great thing The average in america, by the way, you do the numbers go ahead and google this you can wikipedia this the average giving among church going people is about two percent
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It's about two percent of the income is is for people who attend church on a regular basis And the funny thing is there are some people who don't attend church that give more and they're giving it to Nonprofits and things like that and united way in different organizations
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Ten percent is the old testament concept that's spelled out for the law.
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There's no law God desires in the new testament era in the church area is cheerful giving
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But again, I I say that every week why we don't pass an offering plate is we don't want compulsory giving now
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Sometimes have you ever noticed that sometimes what you do by compulsion becomes a benefit and a good habit? Sometimes that's a good thing right like setting your alarm clock.
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Is it a bad thing to set your well? If my heart's not in it, I won't wake up to read my bible in the morning But if my heart's in it,
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I guess i'll wake up. Oh didn't wake up again for the 60 year in a row, right? how many of you know that sometimes you have to you have to Put some structures in place to accomplish what you're what you're setting forward to do
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But I hope you're getting what i'm saying is that we we don't pass the plate because we don't want anybody to go
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Oh, there's that awkward like there's a plate here And I guess I better put something in people are watching me people see what's being given whatever we want it to just be
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Between you and god, but we want to we recognize it as a spiritual thing part of the stewardship
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All of our financial resources belong to god and giving of our first fruits to him each month serves as a reminder that it isn't ours
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We are just stewards and it's not Hear me carefully. It's not the 10 that we give away
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That is his and that's like ah 90 for self It's the 10 that reminds us that it's all his that's that's part of the motivation
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Is that that monthly or weekly reminder that hey, this is his his gifts his abilities his resources that he's given to me
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To be able to utilize for him We obviously also secondly as we're contemplating and answering this question.
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What have you even entrusted with we've also been granted Now we're going to get allegorical Figurative we are granted talents and skills and abilities
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I believe that when the final reckoning goes down, we will realize that our abilities and talents were on loan
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And they were on loan for the purpose of improving blessing cultivating and nurturing the world around us Whether that's through employment or volunteering or through staying at home with kids or whatever
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The stage of life that you're in you've been given a certain structure and a place to cultivate and nurture your world
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Some of us will go someplace tomorrow morning to produce a product Some of us will go someplace tomorrow and fix some stuff.
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Some of us will go provide a service to people Some will design stuff Some will not even leave their houses
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But will instead seek to train a child or two and in the process attempt to keep them alive one more day
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Good luck. Um Good luck Do you recognize your vocation as a stewardship for which you will one day give an account are you ready for this?
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Do you recognize that we will stand before jesus and he will talk to us about striker He will talk to us about ups
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He will talk to us about bronson and borges and volunteering at recast and our own businesses that we own
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And our parenting and fill in your vocation and he will talk to you about your work
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For your world Monday through saturday is not off limits.
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It's not like go stand before god and he's going to talk to me about my quiet time and whether I Did some evangelism and whether I attended church and whether I gave to the church and that's it
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Like that's the fly zone for judgment in our minds, right? And and the no fly zone is the rest of the time, right?
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Well, maybe parenting right maybe parenting or maybe being a good spouse. Maybe he'll bring that up What about what kind of an employer employer we were
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What kind of employee we were Whatever vocation about our volunteering
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Broadens life, by the way, this isn't meant to be a downer and a judgment. It broadens life to all of it being worship
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All of it being given over to our god all of it as an opportunity for us to reflect christ to our culture to reflect christ in our workplace
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I'm, not just talking about using christianese in your in your workplace Not talking about just being i'm certainly not encouraging you to be obnoxious to your co -workers
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You could get there Talking about you i'm talking about how you really literally do your work
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Do you do it for the glory of god? Do you recognize that it's a stewardship and you're serving him?
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to conclude Consider what is keeping you from investing more fully in this stewardship to which you have been called
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Are you fearful of risk? Do you have a wrong theology that tells you that god is going to get you if you fail
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The crazy thing is that the very thing that the evil steward feared or claimed to fear came to pass Because he didn't trust god, but instead despised him
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As we come to communion Let this title of steward sit on you for a minute
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Do you realize what you have been made to be? You have resources talents and abilities that are meant to that you're meant to cultivate
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And ultimately that are given to you to expand the glory of god for the betterment of your community And only those who have come through jesus christ can be labeled good and faithful servants
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I was going to say I don't know about you. But But I think I do know about you I think all of us in the room want to hear bravo
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I think all of us in the room want to hear well done by our master and my hope
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My hope for that began with with jesus christ covering my sins at the cross But it is slowly being worked out in my life by faithful service to him
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I love him And I want him to be pleased with my work Let's pray
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Father, I thank you for this opportunity that we've had to just reflect on this stewardship that's been given to us
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I thank you for this this amazing story of jesus that really brings this concept of stewardship alive
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And even translates well into our modern culture father just so clear that that we are understood by you and that you see what resides in our hearts and how we could easily slide into a poor motivation or a poor understanding of you or Seeing you as the one who sits and benefits while we do the work and father
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I pray that you would give us love you would give us joy You would give us a heart to do good for you because of what jesus christ has done for us father
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I pray as we come to communion and come to these tables Father that you would do business with each one of us in our own hearts recognizing that you are worthy of our service
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You purchased us with your blood you Seen fit to offer forgiveness and grace to us.
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So father, I pray that you would be honored as we Contemplate and consider this next week in light of an opportunity to come to the table and reflect on how our own inability to save ourselves
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But your great and gracious salvation that's provided through jesus that we might serve you that we might love you that we might willingly