God generously gives resources to his followers. We have a responsibility to be productive with what we’ve been given. In fact, God will hold us accountable for how we’ve invested what he has entrusted to us.
This Sunday we learn what Jesus taught about investments.
Read MoreIf you would, take out a pen and a piece of paper. We’re going to take a little True/False quiz. I’m going to ask you a few questions and you can answer True or False:
- I have, at least once, spent money unwisely.
- I have, at least once, compared myself to someone else financially.
- I have felt guilt over the affluence of my lifestyle.
- I have wished I were more generous.
I want to make the confession part of this as gentle as possible, so I’ll put it like this:
How many of you have at least one “T” on your paper… or you’re sitting next to someone who has at least one “T”?
Here’s what I think happens for a lot of us. We live in a world where we’re bombarded with messages:
- Want more.
- Make more.
- Acquire more.
- Hoard more.
Sometimes we compare ourselves with people who have more than we do… and that stimulates the More Cycle.
Sometimes, we worry about the future — Am I going to have enough? And that stimulates the More Cycle.
Then somehow we’re exposed to the reality of suffering:
- We go on a mission trip to a developing country
- We see pictures of hungry kids
- We come to church and hear a message about money
- Or we read something in the Bible
And then we feel kind of guilty about how much we have.
When we feel that guilt, maybe we make a stab at giving, but eventually the guilt goes away.
And when the guilt goes away, we’re sucked back into the More, More, More Cycle.
Here’s what I think. I think that guilt alone is not enough to break the More Cycle or to develop the generous hearts that most of us want to have, and that God wants for us.
I think the only way to break through to that kind of financial freedom is to trust God enough to go on an adventure with God with our “Stuff.”
This brings us to the story we’re going to look at today. It’s a story Jesus tells about investments in Matthew 5.
It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.
So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.
But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
His master replied, ‘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 your master’s happiness!’
The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
His master replied, ‘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 your master’s happiness!’
Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
One of the key words comes right at the beginning of the story. It would have been very striking for Jesus’ listeners.
They would have heard something that we might not pick up on
immediately. Jesus says:
It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
In those days, there were no big corporations like we know them. Wealth was concentrated in just a few households, and this is one of them.
In this story, Jesus is talking about staggering sums of money. You won’t understand the story unless you appreciate that.
One talent was worth 10,000 denarii.
A typical laborer would work for a day and the wage would be one denarius.
So a single talent represented 10,000 denarii.
In that day, people lived from one day to the next. They didn’t have savings or 401K’s.
One denarius was a lot of money. Ten thousand denarii represented a staggering fortune.
So Jesus is talking about something that no one ever expected to happen.
If I were one of the servants, and something like that happened to me, it would have changed my life.
Given a chance like that, any servant would say: This is a chance for me to exercise initiative, demonstrate my judgment, test my skills in the marketplace, rise to a position of greater authority.
A man named Ken Bailey, who has written about this story, has said that there would have been, in that culture, an implicit promise to share in the profits of this deal as well.
You won’t get this story unless you understand that it starts for each of these three servants with the chance of a lifetime.
This is unbelievable! It is an act of staggering generosity on the part of the master.
And it’s a statement of confidence in the servants. Each of the servants would have thought: My master believes in me, and he trusts me.
This also explains another little phrase in the story. In verse 16, Jesus says:
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.
Of course he did! This was the chance of a lifetime. He went out at once so the master wouldn’t have a chance to change his mind… so he wouldn’t lose this opportunity. He went out at once.
It is very important for us to understand the answer to the question — to whom did the money belong? Was it the Master or the Servant?
This is the Master’s money. The Master is the Owner, and the Servant is a Steward.
We’ll never get the money deal right, and we’ll never battle the More Cycle effectively if we don’t settle the Ownership issue. And we all have a problem with the Ownership issue.
One of the most amazing moments in the development of a human being has to be when a baby says his or her first words.
Parents wait for that moment with great anticipation.
Some try real hard to accelerate it which they usually regret later on.
I know of mothers and fathers who spend hours coaching their kids to make sure the first word is “mama” or “dada,” depending on the gender of the parent.
That always seemed kind of silly to me, so I’ve never made a big deal out of the fact that all of our kids said, “dada,” before they said, “mama.”
Do you know what typically is a child’s first word after mamma and dadda?
No.
Amryn’s first word was mo. She couldn’t pronounce the n so it became mo. It was really cute.
“Amryn, share with Lily?” Mo!
“Amryn, it’s time to go to bed.” Mo!
Mo! Mo! Mo!
Psychologists tell us it’s a very important word. Mo!
They say it helps the child individuate and set boundaries and assert their own sense of identity and autonomy.
Psychologists say the “no” stage is a good stage, although most psychologists who say that have never had children of their own.
So there’s the “no” stage and then there’s another word toddlers use a lot.
It usually comes when someone else wants to play with one of their toys; when someone tries to wear their clothes; when someone wants to taste some of their food; they say this word.
It becomes a favorite word, especially if they have a sibling close in age… and the word, of course, is… “mine.”
They’re kind of like the seagulls in Finding Nemo. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.
“My toys, my stuff, my room, my food, mine!”
And of course, none of it’s theirs. A two-year-old didn’t earn any of that Stuff. It’s just an illusion.
Only a two-year-old can be that foolish, right?
My Stuff!
I have a lot of two-year-old in me, and maybe you do too.
Really, this whole message could be a short one, if we could just get the Ownership deal right.
If I go through life acting like an Owner, then I say: It’s my Stuff!
And if I’m feeling generous, maybe I’ll give you some of my stuff… but it’s mine.
A Steward says: None of it is mine. None of it is mine. It’s been entrusted to me, but it belongs to someone else. So God, what should we do together with what you’ve given us?
Ownership is a myth. Stewardship is a reality. Ownership is a myth—a very enticing and a very convincing one in our society—but Stewardship is the reality.
This will become very clear, Jesus says:
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
God, who is the giver of every gift, will be the one who settles accounts. He will balance the book.
Now, this is serious… but the writers of Scripture believed this was good news.
They longed for the day when God would come back and set things right… settling accounts with all the powers of this world.
And we understand this, don’t we?
In little ways there are times when we long for people to be held accountable for their actions when we don’t have the power to get them to do it.
Have you ever had to go through the maze of managed health care?
There was a time when I tore my pec muscle snowboarding. I had to go through more trips to different offices, labs and medical centers than I knew existed.
I had to fill out insurance paperwork that I couldn’t figure out.
I finally got the surgery set up for about a month after the injury.
It was set up at a certain location, but then the office called and said that the insurance doesn’t cover that location so they switched locations.
Then they called back and said the insurance covers that location and the doctor, but his assistant is not available at that location, so we would have to change locations and time.
They said we would be able to do the surgery on an outpatient basis, which sounded good until I found out they also do heart transplants, lung removal and major brain surgery on an outpatient basis.
Have any of you ever had frustrations with medical care?
One of my favorite stories that has to do with medical care is about accountability in this field.
A doctor, a nurse, and the CEO of an HMO die. They all appear before the gates of heaven.
St. Peter says to the doctor, “Why should I let you in?”
The doctor says, “Well, I did the best I could. I didn’t save everyone, but I saved as many as I could.”
St. Peter says, “Okay, go on in.”
The nurse comes up and says, “Well, I had to deal with a lot of doctors and that was difficult, but I did the best I could and saved some.”
St. Peter says, “Okay, go on in.”
The CEO of the HMO comes up and says, “Well, there was a lot of bureaucracy and red tape, but I did the best I could.”
St. Peter said, “Okay, go on in… but I can only let you stay two days and then you have to leave.”
Here’s the deal: The writers of Scripture looked forward to this.
Everyone who ever sits in a situation where they feel like, “Man, I wish people were held accountable,” longs for this.
God takes this very seriously. He takes this business of settling accounts very seriously.
One day the Master comes back to settle accounts. One day, the Master comes back and says: What did you do with the Stuff I entrusted to you?
That day is coming for all of us, Jesus says.
One day, we will stand before God.
God will say: “You know, I gave you the chance of a lifetime. I gave you a body and I gave you a mind and I gave you work that you could do. Maybe I gave you a house to live in, maybe a portfolio. What did you do with it? How did you bless the world with it?”
Now, let’s talk about the “settle accounts” thing. That’s the sobering part of the story.
The fact that He’s the Lord of the Gift and gives this once in a lifetime opportunity, that’s good news.
The accountability thing …that’s sobering news.
There’s an odd tendency in human beings to think that we can worm our way, or charm our way, or finesse our way out of the consequences of our actions.
Anyone in here ever try to finesse a police officer out of a traffic ticket?
“My speedometer is broken.”
“I didn’t see the sign.”
Or have you ever tried to bluff your way with a lame excuse for being late… maybe to a teacher or your boss… or even the friend or spouse you’re sitting next to right now?
This tendency to try to worm or charm our way out of the consequences of our actions starts very early in life.
A friend of mine was telling me about a time when one of his children was being very squirrelly at dinner — clearly headed for trouble.
He warned this seven year old that if he didn’t settle down there would be serious consequences involving the availability of Mr. Nintendo.
Then there was a spill… and the squirreliness just continued, and he said, “Okay, you know the consequence.”
Then this child got a strange gleam in his eye, pulled a dollar out of his pocket and said, “Maybe Mr. Washington can change your mind.”
That kid has some things to learn about Mr. Washington and his friends.
To try to help human beings see what is really a quite serious truth which we tend to evade or deny because of this tendency that we all have, Jesus tells this story.
The Master comes back. Two of the servants have invested what their master gave them with courage and skill, and the third one buried it.
Then he tries to finesse his way out of trouble.
The thing that is interesting to me is that it is the one-talent guy who does this.
Jesus does something unusual here in this parable.
Usually, when He was telling a parable about honoring and pleasing God, there would be two characters in it: one who does the right thing and one who does the wrong thing.
For example, the parable about the wise man who built his home upon the rock, and the foolish man who built his home on the sand.
Or the story about the Pharisee who prayed with arrogance and pride, and the tax collector who was humble.
In this story, there are three characters. Why?
One of them gets five talents, one of them gets two talents, but both of those men receive the same commendation from the Master.
The reason is: Jesus wants to teach that it’s not about how many talents you are given. It’s not about how visible your accomplishments for God may appear to anyone else. It’s not about how big your portfolio is. It’s not about any of that Stuff.
Comparison is so destructive.
Notice, in the parable of the talents, there are no “no-talent” people in the story. There are people with varying numbers of talents, but there are no “no-talent” people in this story…
…and there are no “no-talent” people in this room either.
I want to point out a practical implication right here, and that is – we must come to cherish and value the gifts God has given us.
It’s interesting that in this story, of the varying amounts of gifts, it’s the one talent man who buries his.
Maybe he thinks his talent is so small that he doesn’t count. Although we know to Jesus’ listeners even that one talent is an extraordinary gift.
Maybe he wishes that he was one of the other servants.
There is this universal tendency to compare talents.
We compare ourselves and wish we had what belongs to someone else –
- their physical attractiveness
- or success
- or achievement
- or marriage
- or car
- or hair
- or body type
- or ministry
- or money
- or whatever
A part of the lesson of this story is: I must ruthlessly refuse to compare my talents with anyone else… because it will make me miserable.
What’s worse, if I spend my life wishing I had the talents that belong to someone else, I will discount and bury the unique treasure that God has given to only me.
So I must come to identify and develop and invest and cherish and celebrate the gifts that have been given to me… and you need to do the same for the gifts that were given to you.
God gave us these gifts and he is very wise. He knew exactly what he was doing when he created you.
He didn’t make any mistakes… and he is well pleased that you exist with your own unique combinations of gifts.
He has entrusted to you everything you need to fulfill the purpose for which you were created…
And the only question that God is going to ask you and me is:
What did you do with what I gave you?
Not : What did you do with what I gave to someone else.
This is just about you.
The one-talent guy says to the Master:
I knew that you are a hard man, and I was afraid.
There’s another key word — afraid.
I think the reason Jesus used this word is because most people want to be generous. Most of us want to have giving hearts. What holds us back is fear.
- I’m afraid that when I get old, there’s not going to be enough.
- I’m afraid I won’t be secure.
- I’m afraid that I’m going to miss out on some kind of thrill.
- I’m afraid that I won’t look really important.
- I’m afraid that if I’m keeping score—and money is the way you do that—I’m not going to win.
- I’m afraid. I’m afraid. I’m afraid.
That’s why Jesus teaches so much about money. It’s really a trust issue. It’s a barometer that measures: What do I really trust?
So the one-talent guy tries to finesse his way out of this:
Verse 24:
“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
Now, you need to understand that the real issue here is the servant is attempting to evade accountability for his life.
Here’s what he’s saying:
“Don’t blame me. It’s your fault. The reason for my inactivity is rooted in my understanding of your character. That’s why I didn’t do anything.”
He’s just trying to avoid accountability.
And now there’s something of a surprise at this point.
Numbers of New Testament scholars point this out.
The surprise is that the master in his response does not contradict the servant.
Here’s what the master does not say in Jesus’ story. The master does not say:
“Friends, you’re misunderstanding me. Whether you use your money or waste your money doesn’t really matter to me. I see this is very painful for you, and my primary goal is to spare you pain so I’m sorry I brought it up.”
The master doesn’t say that… and it’s important for us to recognize this because sometimes people misunderstand the notion of God’s grace. They mistake grace for the idea that God’s primary goal is to spare people pain.
Take a look at how the master responds.
Verse 26:
‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?
You notice he just kind of lets the rip on his character pass.
He doesn’t remind the servant how generous he was in the first place. It’s kind of like he’s saying, “I’ll just let that one go.”
Then essentially what he says is this:
“You got this much right, it matters to me. Your life, what you do with what I gave you is a matter of supreme importance. It matters for you, and it matters for this world who desperately needs what God offers to be spread… It matters to me.”
Then he says:
“If that’s really what you thought, if you really thought that I was just this harshly demanding person, at least you should have done something. At least you could have invested the money and gotten interest. You could have done something.”
Now, here’s what Jesus is pointing out.
This rationale of the third servant is really just a smokescreen. It’s not a serious reason for his inaction.
This guy is just trying to finesse his way out of a ticket.
But that will not happen. The master is saying, “You cannot finesse your way out of responsibility for your life, not even by claiming to have misunderstood me.”
This is the God of the settled account, and he cannot be finessed.
And every one of us, of course, will be responsible for our one and only life — for the resources God has entrusted to us.
In this story the master calls everyone into a moment of accounting.
And this master has quite high expectations. He has no intention of settling for mediocrity.
You will be accountable for the stewardship of what the master has given you. This is the teaching of this story.
The God of the gift is also the God of the settled account.
If you think about it, who would want any other kind of master?
It’s interesting how Christians have wrestled with this story.
There was another gospel that was written in the second century… so it wasn’t historically authentic, but this story is included in it.
It was called the Gospel of the Nazarene.
It’s the same story, only the writer of that book decided he would improve Jesus’ story.
He adds a phrase to this third servant…
“And he squandered all his money on harlots and flute players.”
Apparently those were the two worst categories of people he could think of.
You see, he just had to make this guy do something that everyone could see was a horrible thing.
But that’s not Jesus’ story.
Jesus says the servant is judged not for doing horribly bad things — not stealing or embezzling or defrauding — but for doing nothing.
Take a look again at verse 26.
You always want to notice with Jesus the adjectives he uses to describe people… because they are well thought out.
What are the two words used to describe this servant?
wicked and lazy
We don’t use those two words together much anymore. We don’t use them much anymore period in our world.
Historically, laziness was taken so seriously by Christians that it was listed as one of the seven deadly sins.
Now-a-days, no one admits to that one.
If you listen to people interviewing for jobs, anytime someone is asked, “What are your primary weaknesses? What are your biggest flaws?”
What usually gets said?
“I work too hard. I just push myself too hard. I’m just too diligent and conscientious and too much of a perfectionist.”
When was the last time you heard of someone saying at an interview:
“My problem is I’m just too darn lazy… I can sit on a couch eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and watching TV all night long – that’s my problem.”
Jesus makes a very clear diagnosis about the human condition.
This man’s problem is wickedness and laziness.
We may not use those words too often, but Jesus assures us that human beings are capable of them – I am and so are you – so we had better take them seriously.
You know, this story could be called The story of the sin of unrealized potential
The willful refusal to invest and use the resources God has given us for the glory of the giver.
The willful refusal to choose risk and obedience, and to choose comfort and safety instead.
It’s the sin of unrealized potential.
I’d like to ask you to look at your own life and assess:
What has God, the giver of the talent, given to you that you need to invest in the kingdom?
Maybe it’s your mind. The human mind can be a place of unrealized potential.
It can just get saturated with whatever is in media or on television.
TV is a place where an awful lot of human minds just get buried and filled with junk.
It’s possible for us to go through life with minds that are just filled with jealousy, greed, anger, fear and so on.
Or our mind can be renewed. It can be invested in the kingdom of God. It can be filled with thoughts that are good and noble and true and courageous. But you will have to invest it. It will not happen by default.
Maybe some of you need to make that choice.
If you’re honest about it, I think you know the kinds of thoughts that just run through your mind all day long are not the kind of thoughts, that if you were to meet with God to settle the account right now, you would want to review with him.
Maybe you need to say, “For this next season of my life, I need to saturate my mind in Scripture. I need to take a verse like Romans 12:2:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
… and dwell on it over and over, hour after hour, day after day, until I come to believe it’s true.”
Maybe you need to read some books of truth and depth that stretch your mind… and have conversations of substance about things that matter.
Maybe it’s your material possessions. Maybe your bank account is a place of unrealized potential.
You can use money to just accumulate stuff or you use money to build the church of God and spread the Gospel around the world. You can use money to feed the poor who would starve to death otherwise, or bring healing to children who might die otherwise.
Your money can do that. Maybe you need to make a secret sacrificial gift this week. That’s an eternal investment.
Maybe it’s your time and your spiritual gifts… because they too can be places of unrealized potential.
You can just drift if you want to. You can just get up, go to work, go home, eat supper, watch TV, retire and die.
Or you can take every moment and say, “God, this is yours.”
You could offer your spiritual giftedness, not compared to anyone else’s, but as something you have discovered and developed and given back to God as only you know how.
I was thinking about something this week. There are about 1000 people that are a regular part of Blue Oaks.
- What if all 1000 of us around here had spiritual giftedness identified with great clarity
- And not only identified, but developed with perseverance
- And implemented with strength and boldness
- And given to God with humility
- And celebrated with joy
It would be something amazing!
You know, the master of this story had only two servants going on all cylinders. What if we gave him 1000?
We can!
The church is to be a place of realized potential.
Some of you have such amazing talents. You have resources of finances or networks or abilities that could produce huge returns for God…
And maybe the sad reality is, you’re just sitting on them. They’re just buried.
Let’s not be the one talent guy at Blue Oaks! Let’s not bury the gifts God has given us.
Let’s follow the example of the servant in verse 16 who went out and put his resources to work.
Someone was telling me about a man named John Bechtel.
John Bechtel and a few other people wanted to start a Christian camp for kids in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is a city where sometimes as many as 5,000 people live in a single high-rise on one acre of ground.
They wanted a camp where kids could get out into nature and meet God.
They found out that there was a company that had built a facility for one million dollars, and the company said they would sell this facility to John Bechtel and his group for $250,000.
One of John’s colleagues said: I’ll try to do some fund-raising on the side. For three months he worked at it, but he got nothing. No one wanted to give towards that.
He received one letter from a little girl in Georgia named Melinda Holmes. She wrote: Please find my ice cream money for two weeks enclosed. Please use it to
help buy a camp for young people in Hong Kong.
There was $1 inside the envelope. That’s all they got.
At the end of three months, the friend said to John: All we’ve got is a dollar.
And John said: Okay, I’ll give it a try.
Imagine this. He walks into the company and said: Didn’t quite come up with $250,000.
They asked: How much do you have?
I’ve got a dollar.
They sent the offer back to the Board where the answer was: Well, if the camp’s going to be used to help young kids, we’ll sell it to you for a dollar.
That dollar is framed now in the camp as a reminder of what God can do when someone is faithful.
As of today, over 1,000,000 kids have attended this camp in Hong Kong. Over 100,000 conversions (people coming to Christ) have occurred.
A little girl. One dollar. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things.
The Master is still looking for people that He can entrust Stuff to… people who will put it to work for his Kingdom.
I tell you, with no apologies, investing all you have in the kingdom of God is the greatest opportunity you will ever know.
Maybe some of you may feel like from a human perspective what you have to offer doesn’t count much and will never be very visible or very dramatic.
If that’s the case, then I want to say to you… we serve the God of the gift, and:
- The God of the gift could take five fish and two loaves and feed 5000.
- The God of the gift can take two coins from an impoverished widow and make it the lead gift of the whole campaign.
- The God of the gift can turn water into wine.
- The God of the gift can return sight to the blind.
- The God of the gift can take 12 bumbling followers and change the world.
He is amazingly resourceful, the God we serve.