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Please open your Bible to our New Testament Lesson, Matthew 25:14-30.
“For it will be as when a man going on a journey 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. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had 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. 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 more talents, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; 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 I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘you wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’
I want to ask you, what is your purpose at this moment? What have you chosen to do with the minutes and hours of your day and night? What specific purpose do you give to each day and night, to your existence?
Charlie Brown walked into the kitchen in his pajamas one morning and made an announcement. “I think I’ve discovered my difficulty with getting out of bed in the morning! I’m allergic to mornings!”
Many Christians are like Charlie Brown, allergic to mornings. We orient ourselves to the sunset and not the dawn of a new day. We live poor lives when we might be spiritually rich. We die before we really live. I believe that life is about faith, attitude and choices. We can have faith but out attitude and the choices we make determine often our destiny.
What am I talking about? Why were they picked? After all I am better than they are. They only picked her because she has a small build, good-looking hair and a cute smile. Why would they want someone old, bulging and with gray hair like me who has a large following? They picked him because he’s young, has a wife and family, and a full head of hair. What ever happened to company loyalty?
Did you catch something in our Scripture Lesson this morning? Jesus’ Parable of the “Talents” centers on a certain one-talent man. He could have been rich, but he settled for much less. He had no faith in himself and in his attitude he surveyed his past and determined his life would never be any different so why try? His choice was to defeat himself with his own personality and in this, he chose to die before he had lived.
One of the mistakes we are all guilty of is, we are so busy looking and comparing, and having a negative attitude. We often make the choice of our destiny and our negativity leads us to fail to recognize. We fail to recognize that God gives us all different gifts. All people are not created equal for all people have different skills and gifts. First of all we all need to recognize that God in His wisdom trusts us and in this we are important.
Listen to what Jesus, who was speaking of His preparing to go to His death and resurrection at Golgotha, did at the beginning of our Scripture Lesson.
Matthew 25:14
“For it will be as when a man going on a journey called His servants and entrusted to them his property;”
(In life even if we do not have the same gifts in our skills and talents we are equal in our responsibility irrelevant of how much God has given us.)
Matthew 25:15
“to one he gave five talents, (a “talent” is approximately $1,000.00 U.S. Dollars) to another he gave two, to another one, to each according to his ability.”
Did you catch it? “to each according to his ability,” which is determined by the wisdom of God and not me, or those of this world. It doesn’t matter what I think I can do. What matters, is what God knows I can do. Not what I know I can do or what I want to do or believe I am entitled to. Maybe that is what is wrong with our society today. We are so busy saying what we can do instead of listening to what God wants us to do.
Where is your ability? Where are you at this moment in your life? Feeling sorry for yourself because of your age, your lack of ability compared to someone else? Because you are in trouble and or you feel worthless, running yourself down instead of looking at the talents, and gifts, that God has given you? …Feeling you are at a dead-end street with nowhere to go and or turn to? Is your worse enemy those in the community or the person you see when you look in the mirror?
I remember when I turned fifty, which was brought home this week due to several friends’ parents turning fifty as they shared how their parents were depressed, as I was at fifty. If you’ve been there you know what I’m talking about. “I’M FIFTY! MY LIFE IS HALF OVER AND WHAT DO I HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT?” Do you know what reality is? Reality is our worst enemy, in the person we see when we look in the mirror. We are our own worst enemy who can put ourselves down emotionally and psychologically.
In studying the Bible we learn that Moses did not attend college, let alone seminary. Moses had a speech impediment, which made him wonder why he ‘of all people’, would be chosen by God. God had big plans for Moses in the form of a burning bush. Sampson was a wimp without his long hair and Jesus’ Disciples consisted of a tax collector, fishermen, a political activist, and a liar.
We learn in the New Testament Book of Luke 23:32, that “Two others (both criminals) were led out to be executed with Jesus. Finally, they came to a place called The Skull. All three were crucified there-Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminals on either side of Jesus.
Luke 23:39-43 tells us,
“One of the criminals hanging beside Jesus scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself-and us too; while you’re at it! But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then the criminal said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Let’s look together in the New Testament at Matthew 25:16-21
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them (Judgment day with God) And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’
Matthew 25: 22-23
And he also who had received the two talents came forward saying, ‘Master, you delivered me two talents; here I have made you two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’
Then the one who felt he did not receive what he should have and what he received didn’t matter, for what he received wasn’t significant compared to the others. Matthew 25:24-30.
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, (“hard man” to have high standards and hate careless ways) reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow (winnow: plant seed); so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground (he put the money in the ground to keep it safe and not lose it to anything). Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! (That’s a terrible way to live if you are going to serve me) You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there, men will weep and gnash their teeth.
We are not equal in that we all have different gifts that God has given us but we are equal in the care of the responsibility that God has given us for the gift we have. The one talent person is just as responsible for their talent as the two-three-five-ten-talent person. In the Apostle Paul’s words we are “co-labors with God.” We may have different abilities, but we are equal in are accountability to God for how we use them.
The poet reminds us, “God drops no churches from the skies, but out of men’s hearts they must arise.” We, you and I, all of us, are God’s tenant farmers. God has given us talents and gifts to develop, and use in His honor, irrelevant of our age and or mobility. God also rewards us for using our gifts. This is what the master of the parable of the talents did. He settled accounts on his return. Two servants were rewarded for using their gifts in increasing what they had.
What kind of people were the five and the two talent men? They were devoted to their master’s work, which is called being faithful, that means faith and work. They did not sit around complaining about what they did not have compared to someone else. They simply took what God gave them and put it to use. Maybe the one-talent man was afraid to venture out for fear of losing what he had.
A man use to say when working day by day, “I can’t hardly wait until I retire.” And then after retirement he came to see that retirement is not an early goal in life. He went on to say that the government can give you security, but not life. Medical science can give you more years, but not purpose in those years. Technology can give us convenience, but not fulfillment. All of us need a purpose in our lives worthy of eternity. That is lifelong service to God.
The difference is not the amount, the difference lies in our attitude. Do you take the gifts God has given you to serve God or to serve this world looking for a worldly reward? Are you listening as God speaks? Romans 12:2-3
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God which God has assigned him.
A young man was seen pedaling around a college campus with a T-shirt on that read, “I’m going to be a doctor.” A sign on the back of his bicycle read,
“I’m going to be a Mercedes.”
An individual was on top of the world with several college post-graduate degrees, making fantastic money and benefits and on top of the world, until they became critically ill looking death directly in the face. In their deathbed, they asked God, “How can I use this to serve you?”
Here is the question of this sermon: Are you reaching your full potential where you are at this moment to serve God? Whether you have suffered some blow in your life or simply because you long in your heart to be more like Jesus? Are you moving forward in your spiritual life or are you standing still saying “I’m going to be”?
“I’m going to be” while making excuses like the man with one talent.
You see the sin of the man with the one talent was that he wanted to receive without venturing out in faith and investing what God had given him. Sin is more than something we do. Sin can be the things we know to do and do not. The servant with the one talent lost what was entrusted to him. Worst yet, he was lost himself.
Today, this moment; is full of countless possibilities in our lives giving the day a purpose will enable you to fulfill the exact possibilities that align with that purpose.
As we close, I encourage you to step out not into the world, but in faith, to use the gifts that God has given you. Don’t say, “I’m too old,” share your wisdom with others in church, in Sunday school, in the public schools, as a volunteer.
Don’t say, “I’m a felon, I’m a crook,” share with others through writing, through telling your story so that others may know what led you to where you are and not go down that same path. For the true sign of intelligence is not how many talents you have, how much education, wealth, status, what you drive, wear or live. The true sign of intelligence is the ability to communicate, share, what you know so that others may learn and grow from your life experiences. In the end money and degrees, titles, and wealth and comforts are irrelevant. What is relevant? Let them realize you care. What is relevant?
‘Well done good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’
Father God, in our lives may we not dwell on what we do not have but focus on what we have and how we can use where we are, not where we want to be, to serve you and better another’s life. May we give today a purpose, a rich, wonderful, meaningful purpose and live today at its best while not worrying about tomorrow. May we remember we our worthy as the words of the song of hope tells us. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see. Amen.
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