Several years ago, I remember listening to a woman from my church as
she lamented and shared how insecure she felt around other women in
her church.
I'll call her Margaret. She was intimidated by the natural
abilities and talents of the other women in her church. And
when I asked Margaret why, she was able to formulate a long list of
reasons of why she felt so insecure in the presence of her friends.
As she compared herself to these other women, Margaret wondered how
it was that she could ever begin to make a difference; how it was
that she could even begin to do something as significant as that
which she saw her friends doing in the life of her church.
One of her friends was a gifted Bible study leader who led a weekly
Bible study. Another was a very gifted pianist who regularly
accompanied the choir and led the congregation in worship.
Another had gifts of administration and leadership - that special
ability to get the job done.
And as I continued listening, I observed that Margaret is really like
so many of us; Margaret was unaware that God had given her unique
spiritual gifts - talents that were uniquely hers. But anyone
who knows Margaret would tell you that she does have unique gifts.
She has both the gift of hospitality and the gift of mercy. In
fact, whenever there's a social function at the church, Margaret is
there in the kitchen with the other volunteers, cooking dinner for
some two hundred people. Whenever the nursery is short-staffed,
Margaret's there in the nursery, and you should see the joy beaming
from her face as she holds one of those little babies in her arms.
But Margaret was discouraged because she doubted that anything she
did was really significant when she compared her life to that of her friends.
Like Margaret, I think many of us doubt the importance of our own
efforts, of what it is that we do. And we spend much of our
lives envying the giftedness of others rather than cultivating the
gifts that God has given to us.
As we read through the Gospels, there's something that stands out to
me, and that is Jesus' teaching is really marked by stories or parables.
And this summer, we are examining some of these parables in our
Sunday morning worship services.
You see, like every great teacher, Jesus understood the power of a
story to tell truth. Stories bring to life statements of faith.
Think about Nathan the prophet. Remember when Nathan went
before David and he had to rebuke him for his relationship with Bathsheba?
Remember what he did? He told a story. Stories have a way
of penetrating into our minds and our hearts. And it had a way
of convicting David as Nathan shared that story.
And so Jesus tells parables. These stories help us to
understand what it's like to live in the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom
of Heaven.
Parables are really a unique kind of story. They're different
than allegories in that there is really only one major point to a parable.
And so as we read a parable, we have to continually ask ourselves:
What's the main point of this story?
In our Scripture reading this morning, Jesus tells this parable about
talents, about the management of the talents and the gifts that God
has given to us. And in telling the story, Jesus is expounding
on an important truth. Namely, each one of us has been
entrusted with a gift, with a special talent, with a unique ability,
and that gift is intended to be used for his glory.
As we heard Mary sing this morning, "To God be the glory, great
things he has done." You see, that's why we have spiritual gifts
so that we can share God's love with others, and so that we can, in
the process, glorify our Creator.
In Verse 15, we read that the master gave each servant talents
according to their abilities. In Jesus' day, a talent was a
piece of silver, and it represented a very large sum of money.
Now, it's near impossible in contemporary life to really equate what
a talent would have been exactly in our monetary circumstances today,
but scholars suggest that the talent was worth as much as 15 to 20
years of wages for a common laborer. One talent. So some
suggest it might have been as much as a million dollars. That's
a large sum of money that the master is entrusting with his servants.
And our English word "talent," as Liane reminded us this
morning, actually comes from this parable because there's that
association between the word talent, that silver coin in ancient
Greco-Roman society, and abilities. The master gave each
servant talents according to their abilities. And so around the
15th century in England, a "talent" came to be a word that
was associated with the unique gifts and unique abilities entrusted
to us.
When we come to a personal and saving faith in Jesus Christ, we are
given spiritual gifts - special abilities. And spiritual gifts
are different than natural talents in that spiritual gifts are
intended to be used to glorify God and to build up the Kingdom of God.
Now sometimes our spiritual gifts may actually coincide with our
natural talents, but that isn't always the case. Spiritual
gifts are meant to build up the church, to advance the Kingdom of
God, and to share the love of God with those who do not yet know his name.
Reading from I Corinthians 12: 4-6, we read, "There are
different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. There are different
kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of
working, but the same God works all of them in men."
This morning's parable highlights this all-important truth.
Each one of us is responsible to use our gifts, our talents, for
God's honor. But many of us find ourselves sitting on the
sidelines like Margaret did for years, wondering if there's really
anything that we're doing that has lasting value. We doubt
ourselves, and we minimize the importance of what it is that God has
called us to do.
But as I read this parable this morning, I'm reminded that this kind
of thinking flies in the face of what Jesus teaches. As
followers of Jesus Christ, we have a mandate to use our talents, and
we bear the responsibility of using that talent, using that unique
giftedness, for God's glory.
I was reminded of this several years ago, as I was watching a commercial.
British Airways came out with this wonderful commercial that was only
on TV for a few months. It was a wonderfully entertaining
commercial designed to emphasize the commitment of that airline to
customer satisfaction.
The camera zooms in on a British classroom with young students
dancing around chairs playing a game of musical chairs. And we
all remember how that favorite childhood game goes. As you
would dance around the chairs, there's always one more player than
the chairs, and with each stop of the music you remove a chair, and
whoever doesn't get to sit down, they're out of the game.
In this commercial, with each loss of a chair, the children's
individual personalities quickly emerge. A young boy is seen
trying to diplomatically solve a dispute between the last two
children standing as the music stops. And then there's a
caption that comes on the screen, and it says, "future attorney."
During another round, a young boy is shown racing someone to the last seat.
The caption reads, "future CEO." And in the very last
round, a young girl is seen getting up from her chair and offering it
to a girl that's crying in the corner because she doesn't have a
place to sit. And the caption reads, "future flight
attendant for British Airways."
It's one of those commercials that really restores your faith in
humanity, and for those of us who have traveled, it even restores our
faith in air travel.
But what I find so interesting about this commercial is the way that
each student participates in the game. The future attorney,
gifted in reconciliation, tried to settle an argument between his classmates.
The future CEO shows his competitive edge. And the future fight
attendant is the model. She's is supposed to characterize the
values of British Airways.
Think about that. Her actions reflect the values of the company
that she works for, and when we exercise our spiritual gifts, we
reflect the reality of our faith in Jesus Christ. We reflect
the reality of God's love within us.
The parable of the talents is a vivid reminder that we are called to
use our gifts in order to glorify God and in order to share his love.
The first servant takes his five talents, the talents that are
entrusted to him, and he works with them.
Now in the text itself, we don't really know what he did. We're
not given many details. We're simply told that the master
returned a long time later. And so we know that he must have
worked arduously, perhaps investing a talent here, a talent there,
and when the master returns, he's doubled the money.
The second servant manages to double the money as well. But
that third servant is so afraid of taking a risk that he takes the
talent and he buries it in the ground for fear of losing it. He
wants to take the safe route.
Now before you jump to any conclusions, burying money actually wasn't
all that uncommon during the time of Jesus. It was a very
common means of protecting your resources. And so I imagine
that the listeners would not have been so surprised by the details of
the story as they were by the outcome of the story.
But Jesus uses this story to highlight the danger of hiding our talents.
You see, many of us still want to bury the gifts that God has given
to us. Sharing what we have with others has the possibility of
encroaching on our lifestyle. It has the possibility of
bringing unexpected changes in our home. And as Mary reminded
us last week, we live in a world that tells us to protect what we have.
We live in a culture that's possessed with the idea of the good life.
I think I'm made aware of this nearly every time my wife and I go shopping.
As we walk through any major department store, there's something
within me that's made to feel like I need more. If only I had
that Palm Pilot, I could take better notes in my staff meeting.
If only I had that new cell phone, I could receive and get Email 24
hours a day. Although I don't know why anyone would want to.
And as we walk through a store, our list gets bigger and bigger as we
want more and more.
You see, our economy depends on our appetite for more. But
Jesus says, "There's so much more to life than this."
Jesus says, "Share what you have with others. Use the
resources that I've entrusted to you for the benefit of others."
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to live in the Kingdom of God.
But the Kingdom of God is not fully present yet. The Kingdom of
God will only be fully present when Jesus Christ returns. And
so we live in that present tension between the now and the not-yet,
the not-full manifestation of the Kingdom of God. But as
followers of Jesus, we have the gifts to pierce the darkness of this
world, to penetrate the world with his love and with his grace.
The first two servants in our story are really commended for sharing
what they have with others. But the third is punished for
taking what would be considered the safest course.
The action of this third servant really reminds me of a kind of
religious faith that is only interested in one thing, and that is in
not doing anything wrong. And their faith stops there.
The faith of someone who is so unwilling to take risks, to say,
"Lord, no matter where it is that you lead me, I'll go."
But the Christian faith brings it with it a mandate, a responsibility.
The Christian life isn't just about living a safe, well-organized life.
The Christian life is a call to service, a call to worship God, and a
call to serve others. And Jesus says that that is a lifestyle
of risk-taking. And as any baseball coach will tell you, if you
want to win the game, you have to take risks, and unless you touch
the ball, you can't even get charged with an error.
The Gospel of Matthew is a reminder to be about the business of God.
It's in Matthew's Gospel that we read the words of the Great Commission:
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
So being ready consists not in keeping our slates clean, not in
keeping this well-organized, safe life, but being ready consists in
this active, responsible, faithful service, which produces results.
There is no room in the Kingdom of Heaven for self-absorbed,
protective living. Sharing the message of the Gospel means that
we have to take risks. And it means standing by ready to share
our resources, our time, our energies, and our talents with others.
Let me give you an example. Dr. Henrietta Mears was probably
one of the most influential Sunday school teachers of the last century.
As the Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian Church
Hollywood during the 1940's and '50's, her classes were regularly
filled with literally hundreds of students wanting to absorb the
truth of the Gospel, wanting to make a difference in Southern California.
And both in and out of the classroom, Henrietta Mears mentored her
students, and her legacy continues today. Men such as Bill
Bright, Louie Evans, and Billy Graham give Henrietta Mears the credit
for the vision of ministry that they have today.
And through her ministry at Hollywood, Dr. Mears developed a vision
to supply Sunday School teachers all around the world with excellent
Sunday School curriculum and training material. Following the
death of her very wealthy parents, she was entrusted with a large estate.
And so Henrietta Mears invested everything that she had, her fortune,
her skills, and her time, and her gifts in teaching, and eventually
her vision gave birth to two major organizations that continue today,
Gospel Literature International and Gospel Light Press. Dr.
Mears lived by one single motto, and that is, "To know Christ
and to make Christ known."
Commenting on her accomplishments in ministry,
Dr. Mears humbly remarked, "There really is no magic in small
plans. When I consider my ministry, I think of the world, because
anything less than that would not be worthy of Christ, nor of his
will for my life."
That's the kind of passion that I long for. And that's the kind
of passion that I want for every single one of us in this room this
morning, a burning desire to share the love of Jesus, to share the
message of the cross with those who have not yet heard the Gospel story.
Dr. Mears took risks. She dared to believe that one person
could make a difference in the world for the cause of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "For everyone who has will be given more, and he
will have an abundance." When we come to faith in Jesus
Christ, we have a mandate to share the message of God's love, and God
equips us for the task that he gives to each one of us through the
unique gifts, talents, and abilities that he gives to us.
As we learn from our parable this morning, not everyone has been
entrusted with the same number of gifts. Some of us have been
entrusted with five talents, some with two talents, and some with one talent.
But if we focus on numbers, then we really miss the point of this story.
Because as we read this story, what we learn is that the servant who
was given two talents receives the same reward as the servant who was
given five talents. What's important in the Kingdom of God
isn't necessarily the gift given to us; what's really important is
what we do with the gifts given to us.
So often in our Christian pilgrimage, we'll look for avenues of
service, but we're not willing to take risks, and we're only willing
to look for those areas of service that will bring public recognition
and accolades. Convinced somehow that we're better than
everyone else, we say, "Lord, I'll serve you, but let me tell
you where I'd like to serve you." And we bargain with God.
"Lord, you know that I'm so much more qualified than Bob or
Sally, so why don't you give me their job? You know that I
should be in that position of leadership." In our
genuine desire to do great things for the cause of Jesus Christ, we
miss the numerous opportunities that are available at our doorstep
every single day.
And we're willing to serve, but only as long as we're guaranteed
power, prestige, and public recognition. Somehow we wrongly
prioritize spiritual gifts, responsibilities and ministries and we
mistakenly think that some avenues of ministry are so much more
important than others. We honor television celebrities who
confess faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ more than we would honor
the missionary who has spent a lifetime in the Philippines,
translating the New Testament into the language of the indigenous
people so that they could hear the name of Jesus. We applaud
the minister for a well-delivered sermon, and yet seldom do we honor
the church secretary who enables the minister to effectively pastor
the congregation.
What we learn from this parable is that within the Kingdom of
God, the television celebrity, the missionary, the minister, the
secretary, the engineer, the homemaker - and the list goes on and on
- each one has been given unique gifts, unique opportunities, and
when we think of serving God and loving his church, we keep looking
for ministries that will put us in the limelight. In response
to the commission, "Feed my sheep," we say, "Sure.
I'll serve you Lord, but let me tell you where I want to go this week."
But Christ calls us to serve wherever there is a need.
In the Kingdom of God, there isn't time to sit back and relish in our accomplishments.
Like the first and second servant, we have to go about our work,
investing our talents one after the other.
There is so much work to be done; the harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few. And in the Kingdom of God, the reward for a
job well done is what? More work. But one day, if we are
faithful, if we honor God by sharing the gifts he has given to us, we
will hear those treasured words, "Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in
charge of many things. Come and share with your master's happiness."
To God be the glory, great things he has done.
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