Grab your Bible and turn to Matthew 25. We are in a series of studies on the parables of Jesus. And this morning we’re come to look at the parable of the talents, a message I’ve called Do Your Best. The series is called Famous Short Stories. Whatever being faithful to God’s calling and gifting means for each of us, the Lord Jesus ought to find us doing it to the best of our ability with our God-given talents while time remains. That’s the message of the parable we’re about to look at this morning, the parable of the talents. Let’s put the text in its context before we go any further. This is in the context of a sermon taught by the Lord Jesus Christ focused on the end of the world and the big events surrounding it. This is The Olivet Discourse.
If you go to chapter 24 verse three, Jesus is asked by his disciples what will be the sign of his coming on the end of the age. In chapter 24 verse six and 14, the idea of the end of history is mentioned. That’s the context, that this planet has an expiration date and that will be determined by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the meantime, his disciples are to live in the light of the end of all things and they’re to remain alert and alive at his coming. Chapter 24 verse 42, you get that thought. “Watch therefore for you do not know what are, your Lord is coming to see him.” In verse 44, “Therefore be also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
And in the parable just before our parable of the 10 virgins, that parable ends with this admonition, verse 13 of chapter 25, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” And that readiness, that alertness, that preparedness is to be worked out in using your talents for the Lord Jesus Christ. The parable of the talents answers the parable of the 10 virgins. The parable of the 10 virgins is be ready, be alert. And the parable of the talents that follow it tell us this is what it means to be ready. Discover your giftedness, marshal your resources, apply your time for the Glory of God right up until Jesus comes.
Douglas Webster in his book in the parable says this, “Jesus prepares us not only his first disciples but also his last disciples for his coming. Jesus dampens speculation and ramps up readiness. His sermon calls for commitment, not curiosity, patient endurance, not complacency.” So that’s the context, you and I using our time and our talents and our treasure to multiply them for the good of the Kingdom, the end of the world should find us in the middle of our work for God and his Kingdom. The parallel proverb actually is Luke 19, and in that parable Jesus makes that famous statement that his disciples are to occupy until he comes. They’re to work, they’re to be busy about Kingdom business until he comes.
When Jesus comes, he ought to find us on the job so to speak, given our best with what God has given and what Providence has provided. So there’s several things here. If you’re taking notes, here’s an outline. We’re going to look at the delay, the delivery, the demand, the delight, the denunciation. Just quickly, the delay. The story is cast, verse 14, in the context of a wealthy man who travels into the far country. And as he leaves he gives resources and responsibilities to three of his servants and he expects them to steward those gifts to the benefit of the master. And the implication is that he will be gone, but upon his return, he will demand a return on his investment. This is verse 14, “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his servants and delivered his goods to them.”
If you scroll, look at verse 15, you’ll see that those talents were given due to the man’s ability and then the man immediately leaves. And then in verse 19, upon his return after a long time, he’s going to settle the accounts. So the parable is about the meantime while we wait for the end time, the world is moving in the direction of Jesus and that gives us direction. The world is going somewhere, the Lord is returning. Therefore, we’re to make the most of our gifts and opportunities for Kingdom advancement. The doctrine of the last things is not a matter of escapism, it’s a matter of enthusiasm. It fires us up, it focuses our minds and it marshals our energy in the direction of serving the Lord. In fact, if you go to 1 Corinthians 15, you see the doctrine of the rapture, you see the promise of our future resurrection and the implication is what, “Therefore, be always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain.”
When I was growing up on the other side of the pond, preachers often told the story of Lord Shaftesbury. He was a man of wealth. In the 19th century, he was an Earl, and he was known as the Poor Man’s Earl, because he spent his life bringing reform to the treatment of the insane. He pioneered legislation on the exploitation of young people in labor factories. He sponsored low-cost urban housing, he sought to establish schools with free education for destitute children. And all that he did in the present and all the energy that it brought was driven by a focus on the second coming. In fact, Lord Shaftesbury, his name was Anthony Ashley-Cooper, lord Shaftesbury said this, looking back on his ministry that was very impactful and influential, he said, “I do not think in the last 40 years I have lived one conscious hour that has not been influenced by our Lord’s return.”
You see, it’ll do that. If you live consciously that the master has gone but the master is coming and when he comes, he will demand an accounting of our time and our talents and our treasures, that indeed, that doesn’t slow you down, that spurs you on. Number two, the delivery, the delay, the delivery. That was pretty self-explanatory. The delivery is that the master leaves, and he entrusts into the keeping of his servants certain talents. And here’s the point, he expects him to manage them and multiply them for his benefit. The term deliver is not to be taken lightly. It speaks of giving something over to others for their use and care as a responsibility, as a stewardship, and a profit is expected from what has been given.
Just in terms of context to our story, the word talent, it’s not a small thing. In fact, in terms of what it was worth and what it was valued at in that day, one writer says this one talent would be worth 20 years wages in Jesus culture, five talents would be worth 100 years wages. So see, I just want you to get the measure. The implication is they were given the stewardship of gifts that were of tremendous value and they would be held accountable for that.
Now, what does the talent symbol, let’s just pause a moment. What does the five talent symbol? What does it symbolize? What does the two and the one talent symbolize? Well, I take a broader view rather than a narrower view. Some view it as the Gospel or the deposit of the Word of God, and certainly there may be merit to that. My old professor at the Master Seminary and a member here at Kindred, Dr. Ross Kupp, takes that view in a book on the parables, but I take it more widely. I think it encompasses a lot of things, certainly encompasses the Gospel, the treasure that is the Word of God, but I think it encompasses spiritual gifts, natural talents, potential, opportunity, providential favor. In a real sense, it’s all of life turned to the Glory of God.
That’s 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you do with whatever you have by implication and whether you eat or drink, you do it all to the Glory of God.” Guys, so as we read this idea about talent, it’s your work, it’s your health, it’s your family, it’s your church, it’s your nation, it’s all to be leveraged in a manner that pleases God and advances his Glory. To borrow the words of Paul, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 or Galatians 2:20, “The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God. I relate everything about me and everything I have to Him, and therefore what I have and where I go, I dedicate it to Him. I want to invest it for His Glory because you see, He poured himself out for me and He poured himself into me by the Holy Spirit and he’s looking to return on all of that investment.”
So let’s look at a couple of things by the way, in terms of what we call here, the delivery. I want you to notice that what was given was given universally. All three servants are given talents and resources to use. No one is left out. One is given five, one is given, one is given one, but no one is given none. And they all have a responsibility to do something with what they have been given. No one is without talent. No man in this tent is without talent as we described it broadly. You’ve got the gift of time, you’ve got the gift of ability, spiritual endowment. You’ve got the gift of tremendous freedom and wealth in the United States. You’ve got the gift of a good local church where you can hear the Word of God and be discipled and grow. You’ve got the talent of a nation that has been the beneficiary of so much sacrifice and good in the past.
And the question is, what are we going to do with all of that? There’s no overruns in God’s Kingdom. Everybody gets something and so we need to pay attention to what God has called us to do. What’s your calling? What’s your gifting? What do the opportunities tell you? What does the bent of your heart tell you? What does the area you’re most effective in tell you? We all have a shape. You’ve heard that cross-stake. You want to kind of get a sense of what you ought to be doing. Someone has said, “Well then, look at your shape. What is your S? What are your spiritual gifts? H, what is your heart, your desire? What is God laying on your soul? Or A, abilities. Beyond spiritual gifts, what are your natural abilities, talents? P, what’s your personality that plays into it? And then E, what’s your experience looking back on your life? What have you done and what have you done well? Does that not purport to what you ought to be doing more of?”
I was at a Bible study at a golf club recently and we were talking about this issue of giftedness and calling and it was kind of sad in that a number of men around the table up in years really hadn’t discovered their giftedness, their talent. You can’t be muddling around. That’s not where you want to be when you’re 70, brother. God has given you talents, he wants to you to use for his Glory. Number two, it wasn’t, these gifts weren’t just given universally, they were given uniquely. You’ll notice that the text tells us that in verse 15 that they were each given according to His own ability. Each servant was addressed as an individual and the Lord looked at a certain man, said, “I can give him five.” Looked at another mindset, said, “I can give him two.” And looked at another man and, “I can give him one.”
Now, remember what we said, the one talent, that’s 20 years of wages, that’s no small gift, but the point is this, in the Kingdom of God when it comes to life and your accountability before Jesus Christ, there’s going to be no competition and no comparison. He just wants to know what you did with your one talent, what you did with your two talents, what you did with your five talents. We won’t be looking sideways at the judgment seat of Christ. We’ll just be looking into the face of the master upon his return where we give an account for what we did while he was gone. So the point is this, I love this point. Accept who you are, accept who you are and how God has gifted you. Don’t be embarrassed about who you are in the light of who others are. Be yourself.
That was one of the best pieces of advice I was given as a young preacher. I come down from the pulpit in my home church at Rathcoole outside Belfast and an old shipyard worker, a riveter by the name of Joe Law was an elder. He took me aside and he commended me, older men need to commend younger man and he sat me down and said, “Philip, that was good. I think God’s doing something in your life.” And he said this, “The other thing I like about you, you’re yourself and don’t ever change that. Only you can be you.” And Jesus acknowledges that, given universally, given uniquely, but you will notice given unevenly following on from the previous point, talents were distributed unevenly. One was given five, one was given two, and one was given one, and that’s true especially as it relates to spiritual gifts. We all have spiritual gifts, but we don’t have all the same gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 29-30, “Do all speak in tongues?” Implication, no. The Lord has given gifts sovereignly as he wills.
We all love the United States Constitution, but it’s a little bit of a fallacy to say that all men were created equal because they weren’t. They’re not. Some people are five-talent people, some people are three-talent people, some people are one-talent people. Again, remember the one-talent person’s valuable but we’re not to see him. Maybe if I was to give the founders the benefit of the doubt, maybe at its essence, just in its essence, we’re all the same, created in the image of God to get that. There’s a certain equality there for sure, but God’s giftings vary uneven, unequal. Some have more, some have less. It’s not bad, it’s not good. It just is. It is what the Providence of God has determined and if you can determine that and settle that, that’ll be to your good.
I mean, I was reading something of the life of Warren Wiersbe, who I’ve appreciated very much. Listen to this statement by him in a conversation on preaching and leading and giftedness. He says this, “I am a one-talented person.” I would’ve never thought that of Warren Wiersbe. I mean, the man’s impact is broad and wide and deep. “I’m a one-talented person, so it hasn’t been difficult to stay on track. God has enabled me to use words, speak them, write them, and that is all I have really done my entire ministry. I’m a teacher and a writer and what I write has grown out of what I’ve taught.” He determined a long time ago, this is the lane I need the run-in. This is where I excel. I’m not a five-talent person. I’m not a two-talent person. I’m a one-talent person.”
So given that reality, here’s the point. I want you to think about this, be the best you can be. The five-talented man was not any more complete than the two-talented man. We don’t have to beat or better others, but we do have to beat the tendency within ourselves to fall short of God’s Glory and His desires for us. That’s what we got to beat, that’s what we got to fight. God calls every man in this tent to be the best version of ourselves in Christ. And the church will be the better for it, and your family will be the better for it, and your neighborhood will be the better for it, and your employer will be the better for it. We don’t have to reach for the stars. We just have to reach our God-given potential, whatever that is, because you’ll notice before we get to the end of this study that the five-talented man, and then the two-talented man, were given the same reward. It’s not like the five-talented man who was given more in terms of responsibility, was given more in terms of reward compared to the two-talented man.
Both received what? “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a few things. I’m going to make you faithful over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” It’s not what you have but what you do with what you have. You don’t have to be the best, you just have to do your best. Nobody is better at being you than you, uniquely gifted by God, uniquely led by Providence. Failure, listen to this guy, failure is not failing to match other people’s talents. It’s failing to maximize your own.
I love the story of James Broadus. If you’ve been to seminary, that name might sound familiar. Most evangelical conservative schools in the preaching department, in the homiletics classes, they have you read a book called On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons by John Broadus. He taught at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville Kentucky. It reopened after the Civil War. He was a young professor and he was in his early semesters, and so he had prepared hard and he’d got a series of lectures on the preparation and delivery of sermons. And the chairman of the faculty, James Boyce, asked him, he said, “My dear Broadus, do you realize that you will have only one student in your homiletics class? And unfortunately, he’s blind.” This is the first class in Southern Seminary after the Civil War, one student and he’s blind.
Here’s James Broadus answer. “I’m sorry to learn that he is blind, but I shall give my best. I shall give my best just as if there were 100 men in the class.” That’s the parable of the talents. You don’t have to be the best, you just have to give your best with what God has given you in the time that remains. We’ve got next, the demand. The demand, the assignment is followed by the accounting. After a while, the master returns to settle his accounts expecting a return on his money. This verses 15-19, especially 19, “After a time the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.” The word traded, as we noted earlier, means to work with resources, to invest with profit. And while the master was away, they were meant to invest those goods. And no doubt, maybe they started their own companies, maybe they sold products, maybe they partnered with others, but the point is that there was a day of racking, there was a day of reporting.
The master returns after a long time and he wants an account of how they lived and how they labored each day right up to the last day. For the Christian, this speaks of the judgment seat of Christ. I don’t have time to go into that in any great depth. We’ll be covering that in our prophecy series, but the judgment seat of Christ is a doctrine that reminds us that when the church is raptured, when the people of God are taken home, there immediately follows a tribunal. And if you know your Bible, you’ll know that Christians face three judgments. We face a judgment as a sinner, but thank God that judgment doesn’t fall on us because Christ was judged in our place, and therefore there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ, Romans 8 verse 1.
And then there’s the judgment of the believer as a son, not as a sinner, but as a son. We’re now in Christ, we’re now part of the family of God, and God will discipline us out of love when necessary. He’ll clip our wings when we start flying in the wrong direction. That’s Hebrews 12. Those he loves, he disciplines we’re judged as sinners. Thank God that judgment passed onto the head of Christ. We’re judged as sons, and then there’s coming a day when we be judged as servants, when we’ll give an account for our lives. I’m going to come back to this in a moment. You and I need to live with an eye to the judgment seat of Christ.
When’s the last time, and this is a good time of the year to think about it, you thought seriously about the judgment seat of Christ? Where your words will be wed and your thoughts will be thought upon and your works will be considered. Were they gold, where they silver, where they wood, hay, and stubble?I’ve said this before, but if you read the writings of Paul, Paul didn’t fear death. Paul feared living in vain, living an empty life, falling short of his potential, not rising to the level of his abilities. You can read about this. I’m not going to go there for the sake of time. Philippians 2 verse 16, 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 1, 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 5 when he writes to the Philippines and he writes to the Thessalonians, says this idea, “Hey, I hear that you’re running well and that’s good. It tells me that I haven’t run in vain. That all I did there stands and lasts and bears the imprint of God’s work, because I need to know that I’m not laboring in vain. I need to know my life is counting for eternity.”
The judgment seat of Christ will do that. Every day will seem more precious, every act will seem more significant, every failure will seem more serious. He’s coming to settle accounts. We need to be serious about that, we need to give our best to that. I’ve quoted this before. This is J.C. Ryle, “Never give way to the idea that you’re taking too much trouble about your spiritual condition, that there is no need for so much carefulness. Settle it rather in your mind. In all labor, there is profit, and there is no labor that is so profitable as that bestowed upon the soul. It is a maxim among Christians that the more they do for their religion, the more their religion does for them. Watch against the slightest inclination to be careless about the means of Grace. Beware of shortening your prayer, your Bible study, your private communion with God.”
“Take heed that you do not give way to thoughtless, lazy manner of using public services in God’s house. Fight against rising disposition to be sleepy, critical, fault-finding while you listen to the preaching of the Gospel. Whatever you do for God, do it with all your heart, and your mind, and your strength, and other things. Be moderate and dread running to extremes. In soul matters, fear moderation just as you would fear the plague. Fear not what man think of you. Let it be enough that your master says, ‘Strive.'”
Guys, there’s something worse than dying. You know what it is? There’s something worse than dying. It’s living in vain, living the life short of God’s Glory, living a life where you don’t give your best, living a life where you’re not pursuing the talents God has invested in you. Let’s move on to another thought, we’ll speed up here a little bit, the delight after the settling of the accounts, two of the servants come out to the good. These men have traded well. They have worked hard, they have doubled their master’s investment and trust in them. You notice in verse 21 and verse 23, the Lord said to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord.”
It’s an interesting note that their faithfulness is tied to fruitfulness. “Well done, good and faithful servant,” but remember the guy with the five talents had turned it into 10, the guy with the two talents and turned them into four because I often hear this idea, “You know what? The Lord doesn’t expect us to be fruitful, just faithful.” Have you ever heard that? Not sure I believe that anymore given the fact that the Lord says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But these faithful servants were fruitful servants, effective man who doubled their effectiveness through hard work, wise choices, applied commitment. Let’s be careful about defining faithfulness as simply maintaining the status quo.
Please notice again that while they had different gifts and they returned different sums to their master, one brought 10 and one brought four having had five and having had two, each receive the same reward because proportionately the guy that took two and made it four, proportionately, he did the same as the guy who took five and made it 10. Each of them doubled their talent, their giftedness, the investment of the master. The praise is equal even though the gifts were unequal because the measure is not the other person but what the individual did with what was given. I want to say that again. It’s just important that you get this. The praise is equal even though the gifts were unequal because the measure’s not the other person, it’s the individual and what they did with what God had given them in the time that was allotted.
Listen to this, guys, the measure is not person to person. Don’t be measuring yourself to anybody in this room. The measure is not person to person. The measure is person to potential. That’s the measure. Are you becoming your best self in Christ and giving your best to the opportunities that are around you, what providence has provided, and what the spirit of God has endowed? I enjoy reading John Maxwell once in a while. He’s more of a leadership guru than he is a theologian, but some of his stuff is practical and helpful and in a little book I read a while ago called The Maxwell Daily Reader, John Maxwell says this, “More than 30 years ago, I memorized the quote that has shaped the way I live.” In fact, I think the quote is from Zig Ziglar, who was again, another kind of leadership guru in the church. And he said this quote, “My potential is God’s gift to me. What I do with my potential is my gift to him.”
That’s good. In fact, that just might be worth writing down and just meditating on and forgetting most of the rest if you don’t remember it. “My potential is God’s gift to me. What I do with my potential is my gift to him.” In fact, in that little devotional he tells a story about President Dwight Eisenhower who once told the National Press Club that he regretted not having a better political background so he would be a better orator. He said that his lack of skill in that arena reminded him of his boyhood days in Kansas when an old farmer had a cow to sale, the buyer asked the farmer about the cow’s pedigree, butter fat production, and monthly production of milk. The farmer said, “I don’t know what pedigree is. I don’t have an idea about butter fat production, but she’s a good cow and she’ll give you all the milk she has.”
Are you that kind of person when you get past all the fancy stuff and the way people measure life? Are you a good man? You may not be degreed, you may not be an orator, but you know what? The Lord knows and people around you know, but you’ll give all you have and you’ll do all you can. Now, we could go on a bit of a tangent here in time that old thing’s going to allow me to do this in any depth, but I want you to see that their faithfulness leads to reward. This is under the thought that delight, verses 21-23, the reward involves three things, commendation, well done, good and faithful servant, promotion. You’ve been faithful over a few things. Now you’re going to be ruler over many things and in invitation enter into the joy of the Lord.
But you will notice something very interesting that those who were given responsibilities and managed them well, the reward is what? They’re given more responsibilities to manage. One commentator said this, “The reward of a duty well done is a duty to be done.” And I just want to remind you and I that when it comes to service on earth connected to the thought of life in Heaven, and then on a new earth and a new Heaven, we’re not working ourselves out of a job so we can kick our feet up for all of eternity. Brothers, we’re working ourselves into a job, a greater job, a greater responsibility. His servants will serve Him. Revelation 22 verse 3, Heaven’s not some kind of retirement center where you get to play pickleball all day long and really get down to that golf score you’ve been working at for a little one.
No, it’s a work site where we get to succeed where Adam failed. He didn’t exercise godly dominion over the earth. He didn’t even exercise dominion over himself. No, that’s what Heaven’s about. The many things of the future world is brought about by our handling of the few things of this world. What about this question of rewards? It’s a thought that troubles Protestants because for us in a sense, works is a dirty word. We are very strong in the idea that Heaven’s not a reward. Our Protestant forefathers fought that idea and left us the great legacy of the five Solas, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Scripture alone to the Glory of God alone, so we get a little antsy when we hear the word works attached to reward because for us, Ephesians 2:8-9, we’re saved by Grace. God’s unmerited favor. It’s not the works that we do, it’s not according to works.
The only thing we contribute to salvation is the thing that makes it necessary, our sin, the sin that Jesus bore on the cross. But while we are saved by faith alone, the Protestant reformer John Calvin reminds us that saving faith is never alone. We’re not saved by works, salvation is a gift. Reputed righteousness is a kindness of God secured by faith in Jesus Christ, the perfect one, who offered the perfect sacrifice, but we are, according to Ephesians 2 verse 10, see unto good works, that’s Jesus teaching in John 15. We’re a branch attached to the vine and a branch attached to the vine bears fruit.
And when you and I put our faith in Jesus Christ, now we’re attached to him. We’re in union with him like a branch in a vine. And as we live our life in him, he produces his life in us and we bear fruit and we do works and we take on his likeness. We’re not saved by good works, but we are saved on the good works and those good works someday will be weighed, counted. And in the light of the quality of our good works, our eternal reward will be determined, not our eternal salvation, but our eternal reward.
Revelation 22:12, “Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according to His works.” Got to wrestle with that, guys. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 9-11, “We’ll all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive,” that’s a word of carries the idea, receive reward, “To receive the things done in the body whether they were good or bad or worthwhile or worthless.” I want you to hear this, the life we live now this Saturday in December 2023, the life we live now contributes to the life we will live after this life in the Millennial Kingdom and in the eternal state. That’s weighty. Today counts forever. Grace will get us to Heaven, but works will determine what we’ll do when we get to Heaven. I want to say that again. Grace will get us to Heaven but works will determine what we do when we get there.
If you want to follow up on this, read my friend, Mark Hitchcock’s book, Heavenly Rewards. I don’t have time to get into it, but Jesus is implying that the few things we do here will lead to many things we’ll do there. One of the themes of the New Testament is we’ll reign with Him, we’ll be part of Jesus’ administration of the new Heaven and the new earth. Read Mark Hitchcock’s book, Heavenly Rewards, or read Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven, and get into that. But be serious about this, you and I can enjoy an elevated joy in the Lord, a greater ruling responsibility in the Kingdom to come. Be like Jonathan Edwards as we move to our last thought. Jonathan Edwards, the revivalist, the theologian, the New England missionary. He wrote many resolutions when he was a young man. Read them, get a copy of them.
Here’s his number 22. You might write out some resolutions for 2024, some goals for yourself. That’s not a bad thing to do. Even if you don’t reach all of them, you’re reaching for them, which will make you a better man, which we all want to be. We don’t have to be the best, but we got to be our best. Here’s what he said, “Resolved to endeavor, to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can. With all the power might vigor and venom, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert in any way that can be thought of.”
2 John 8 warns us not to lose our reward. Every sin we commit, the reward quota goes down. Every assignment we fail to meet, the reward quota goes down. We rob ourselves of joy in the life to come. I could qualify that but I want to leave that because that challenges us. You don’t want to be saved as by fire. According to 1 Corinthians 3, “Heaven is not a reward but there are rewards in Heaven and what you do today or what you don’t do today will determine what you do tomorrow or don’t do tomorrow in the Kingdom to come.”
Let’s get to the last thought, the denunciation. We’ve looked at two good servants and what they did. Now we look at one bad servant and what he didn’t do. These verses, 24-30, this is the heart of the parable. Jesus makes more comment about the one-talent man than he does about the five and two-talent man. That’s the focus of the parable in many ways. The implication is this, you must never be Him. His poor showing is explained by weak excuses and implicit insults. You’ll notice in verse 24-25, he’s called to give an account and he says, “Lord, I buried my talent. You’re a hard man, you’re an opportunist, and I was afraid and I hid my talent, and here it is. I’m giving you back what you give me. No loss. I didn’t gain but I didn’t lose. Hopefully, Lord, that will please you.”
But I want you to see his excuses. He shifts the blame. The master is hard and the economic circumstances were hard, but the master wasn’t buying what he was selling, because even if there was a half-truth in those lies, it was always the bank, that’s the master’s point. And he said to him, “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers at my coming, I would at least receive back my own money and some interest.” You’ll notice that Jesus makes clear in the telling of the story as the master speaks, the issue’s not the master, the issue’s not the market conditions, the issue is he’s lazy. “You wicked and lazy servant. You’re unprofitable.” And so as a result he is stripped of all his privileges and tossed out of the master’s presence to a place of darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. You’ll notice by that accounting, that’s Hell. This guy’s not a true servant, he’s a pretend servant.
Guys, there’s believers, there’s unbelievers, and there’s make-believers. You’ll find them in the church, but there won’t be much production. There won’t be much profit. Douglas Webster in his commentary on the parables, quoting from Helmut Thielicke, a German Lutheran pastor says this, using his Words in his own… “This servant is a picture of today’s self-centered individual who wants to preserve what he already has. He provides himself in his Christian tradition, baptisms, weddings, funerals, beautiful church music. He loves the organ and the liturgy, he wraps his religion in his chosen tradition and preserves it for himself. He provides prides himself in being balanced. He’s careful not to go overboard.”
Thielicke writes, “There are only really two ways to take all things seriously, either you renounce it or you risk everything for it, but there’s no third choice. The kind of Christian who is merely conservative and those who want only the Christian point of view, these people want this third choice, which doesn’t exist. Throw your Christianity on the trash heap or else let God be the Lord of your life. Let Him be that in dead earnest, let him be someone from whom you receive each day meaning and comfort, a goal for your life and marching orders. Don’t wrap him up in your handkerchief. You can only curse him or fall on your knees.” There you have it.
But before wrapping the sermon up, one last thought, brief. What strikes me and what stings me is the Lord’s anger and agitation towards passivity. To the sin of omission, this man’s sin was what? He buried his talent. He missed his opportunities, he remained undeveloped in his potential. And I want you to notice verse 26 again as we close, “But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant.” Wicked. That’s striking. Do you realize that the Lord used that word seldom? When he referred to the woman caught in adultery and John, he never called her wicked. When he called Zacchaeus to himself, that crooked tax collector, he never called them wicked. When he hung beside the thief on the cross, he never called them wicked. He called this man wicked. This man was not bad-bad. He was simply good for nothing, which is bad-bad.
Guys, as we close, it’s not good enough to do nothing bad. Sometimes we take solace, “Well, I’m not as bad as him,” but remember the measure’s not person to person, the measure’s person to potential. It’s not good enough to do nothing bad. It’s not good enough not to commit adultery. We must be a one woman man. It’s not good enough to keep the faith if we’re not sharing the Gospel and evangelism, it’s not good enough not to forsake the assembling of the church if we do an enthusiastically participate while we’re there. I look down sometimes the Sunday morning, I thank God some people are there, but they’re not singing. They’re not getting involved. It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough not to be drunk if you haven’t turned around and sought intoxication in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We must be aggressively active in the doing of good for Him to know to do good and not to do a James 4:17. What is it? Sin.
In God’s books, “To fail to obey a good command is as bad as doing a forbidden evil.” It’s not good enough to do nothing bad. You need to pursuing that which is good. Paul Powell says, “To fail to obey a good command is as bad as doing a forbidden evil.” Both are disobedience against God, the same God who said, “Thou shalt not,” also tells us many times, “Thou shalt.” To ignore God’s positive commands is as much a sin as to violate his negative ones. Not all the wicked people in town are in the bars or jails or porno places. Many of them come to church Sunday after Sunday, sit in comfortable pews, listen to beautiful music and biblical sermons, but never do anything about them. That is wickedness. Be challenged.
You know the story of D.L. Moody and the woman that criticizes him for his methods of evangelism? She finds him a little coarse and lacking in dignity across, Moody takes it on the chin, almost makes an apology. Says, “I’m not sure I like them myself, but I’m doing my best with what I have. What are you doing?” To which she replied, “Nothing.” To which he replied, “Then I like what I’m doing compared to what you’re not doing.” That’s where this parable ends. It’s not good enough not to be bad. You need to be aggressively and actively good, giving your best to what God has given you in the time that remains, because there comes a night when no man works, and we go to the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for our works that will determine our inheritance and the life to come. That’s why David Brainerd said, “Lord, help me not to loiter on my way to Heaven.”