FAITHFUL?

FAITHFUL?

Matthew 25:14-30

¹⁴ “For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷     In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. ¹⁸ But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. ¹⁹ After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. ²⁰ The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ ²¹ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ ²³     His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴        Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? ²⁷ Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! ²⁸  Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. ²⁹     For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰ And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Last week, we looked at the first of the three parables that Jesus told in Matthew 25 as illustrations of the commands for us to be alert and ready when he returns at his second coming. It was the Parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Only the young women who provided enough oil for their lamps were allowed into the wedding party in that parable. Those not prepared for the long wait were excluded from the party.

The parable did not explain one thing: what we Christians can do to remain ready. If it is simply a matter of keeping enough oil in our lamps, then obedience to Jesus would be easy. All we have to do is purchase some old-fashioned oil lamps and buy up all the olive oil we can get our hands on. That sounds too easy, and it is.

Jesus leaves the details of what we should be doing when he returns to the next part of his sermon, the Parable of the Talents. I want us to approach today’s text by asking three questions. We will look for the answers to each question in the text of the parable.

The first question is, “What is a Talent?”

Many books and sermons on this Parable assume that Jesus talks about talents, as in natural aptitude or skills. That is one definition of the word, and it seems to fit what Jesus is saying and preaches well. Preachers can get much mileage from encouraging their listeners to use their natural talents and skills for the Lord.

There are two problems with that approach. One problem is that it tends to gear us toward a doctrine of righteousness by works. The slaves in the parable who had worked the hardest were commended, and the one who did the least was condemned. It is hard to reconcile that message with the message of the New Testament that salvation is by grace—that it isn’t earned by what we do for the Lord.

I assume that Jesus knew all about this righteousness by grace. Why, then, did he give us this parable? I think that all three parables in this chapter essentially teach the same thing: that this age in which we are living is going to consist of true and false Christians. There are going to be wise and foolish virgins. Some will get to the party; others will be left out. There are going to be good and faithful slaves and evil and lazy slaves. The faithful ones will be commended by the Master when he returns. The evil and lazy ones will be condemned to the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ There are going to be true sheep and sheep lookalikes: goats. The Lord will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. The sheep get to inherit the kingdom and will have permanent life. The goats get the fire and the permanent punishment.

So, the point of all three parables in this chapter is that some who claim to be Christians saved by grace will be true Christians. Others will be just pretending. The second coming is when Jesus will sort them out and show those truly his.

The parable of the Talents illustrates that true Christians in this age are going to be working for their Master, and they are not going to hide. True salvation is always by grace, but true salvation produces Christians who put their faith to work. So, this parable does not prove salvation by works. It demonstrates that salvation works. It changes people’s lives and makes them want to invest in the Master’s service.

I mentioned two problems with the approach that sees Jesus talking about talents as in human aptitude or skills. The second problem is that the word talent in the text is not the same as our English word talent. The word that Jesus used referred to a unit of currency used by the Greeks and Romans in the first century. A τάλαντον was a unit of weight. They had silver talents worth about 6000 days’ wages. A gold talent was worth thirty times more than that. So, the amount of money Jesus is talking about is at least 16 years and five months’ worth of income. It could be as much as 493 years’ worth of income.

In the parable, the Master distributed eight talents: Five to one, two to another, and one to another. That’s either 131 plus years of income or 3,943 plus years of income. That’s a boatload of cash! You see, the Master distributed all his property to these three slaves. They were left with an enormous amount to manage in their master’s place.

So, let’s get back to the question. I didn’t forget it. The question is: What is a Talent? When Jesus left, he commissioned all of us to manage his kingdom while he was in heaven. He gave us the keys to that kingdom to let others into it. That is the commission of evangelism. He told us to make disciples of all nations. That is the commission of worldwide evangelization or missions. He gave us the commands we have been studying for many years. That is the commission of being salt and light to the world. The next parable in this chapter focuses on that commission. He gave us a new commandment that we are to love one another just as he loved us (John 13:34). That is the commission of sacrificial love to other Christians.

The talents in the parable represent all that Jesus wants to do through us as we await his return. He wants us to bless others as he has blessed us. Now, let’s look further into the parable.

The second question is, “Why were the two slaves commended?”

The slave who had been given the five talents went to work right away and fulfilled the commission of his master. He gained five more. The slave who had been given the two talents went to work right away and fulfilled the commission of his master. He gained two more. Jesus commended them both for being excellent and faithful slaves. They did what he had commissioned them to do.

Here is a vital distinction we all need to recognize. The slaves were not commissioned to spend the money they had been given—that was not the work. The commission was to invest it.

I witnessed a missionary friend who decided he wanted to bless a young couple, so he gave them the money to buy all the products they needed to start a small retail business. The couple later came to him and told him they were in trouble. They had run out of products to sell. The missionary asked them what they did with the proceeds they had earned from selling the products they had been given. They said they used it to pay bills. That illustrates the difference between spending money and investing money.

Jesus is not calling us to merely enjoy all the blessings that he has given us. He has commissioned us to invest his blessings and to build his kingdom while he is away. In the parable, the two slaves whom Jesus commended were not praised for being decent private folk. They were commended because they took their initial gifts given to them by grace and invested them so that the Master’s holdings increased because of their hard work. That is why the Master called them good and faithful slaves.

The final question is, “Why was the one slave condemned?”

Hear me now; the message gets a little less comfortable here. The slave was not condemned because he refused to gather with all the other slaves for a worship service once a week. He was not condemned for refusing to boast to everyone about how blessed he was. He was not condemned because of the size of his original gift—it was small only compared with that of the other slaves. He was not condemned because he was given little. He was condemned because he chose to do nothing with the gift.

In the parable, the master takes away the one talent he had given and gives it to one of the other slaves. The other slaves had been obedient to their master’s commission. This slave also loses his status and is thrown into the outer darkness. He loses everything because he fails to follow his master’s instructions.

This parable teaches that authentic Christians will prove what they profess by what they do. It is not works righteousness, but God’s grace at work. It is a good seed producing a crop that, in turn, makes it possible to plant more good seeds. It is a tree that keeps growing until it fills the whole earth. It is good slaves doing what their master commissioned them to do.

LORD, thank you for the tremendous blessing of citizenship in your coming kingdom. While we have time, we want to invest our lives in shining the light of that kingdom and growing the population of that kingdom. LORD, make us people unsatisfied with merely spending your gifts. Please give us the wisdom to invest them. May your kingdom come, and your will be done. Amen.