Get Ready ‘cause Here I Come (Part 3) | Matthew 25:14-30 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] matthew chapter 25 as we're going to be but let me just first reference chapter 24 for a moment before we read from chapter 25 and pray in matthew chapter 24 jesus is giving to us roughly 15 major global events that are going to be happening on the world just prior to his second coming and we are seeing many of these events coming to pass in our own lifetime and if you weren't with us for chapter 24 here's just a highlight of 10 of those major global events just preceding the second coming of christ things like deception by false christs wars and rumors of wars famines around the world pestilences earthquakes the persecution of christians around the world are falling away from the faith unfortunately that's what the bible predicts increased wickedness decreased love and one positive thing is the spreading of the gospel globally well near the end of chapter 24 jesus concludes all his thoughts with this exhortation i'll just throw it up on the screen for you from chapter 24 verse 44 therefore you also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect and so at the end of matthew 24 and into chapter 25 jesus helps us to understand well what does it mean to be ready for his second coming and in order to help us he teaches three parables and again for those of you who are new to the bible or to christian terminology the word parable just simply means a story drawn from everyday life using everyday illustrations to express a deeper truth and so jesus often employed this communication tool teaching a parable a story drawn from everyday life to help his hearers or in our case his readers understand a deeper point now the main point of the parable we're about to read like the previous two because today's the third in the three-part series is the main point is again about a second coming he wants us to be ready he wants us to be watching to be prepared and so we're looking at each of these three parables today again the last of the three-part series that i've entitled get ready because here i come all right the temptations you gotta love them so today is uh parable number three it is the longest of the three parables and it is entitled if you look at your bibles starting at verse 14 there's a subtitle in my bible in most bibles that uh that tells us what this parable is about and it's called the parable of the talents the parable of the talents there in chapter 25 starting at verse 14. now before i read it a point of clarification when the bible uses the word talent it doesn't mean it the way that we commonly think we hear the word talent and we think about somebody who can really sing well or somebody who can dunk a basketball or somebody who can write a best seller or paint a masterpiece or build a house you know we we often think about talent as some exceptional human ability and then we you know we just are in awe of somebody like wow that person's got a lot of talent i mean we even have a tv show about you know america's got talent so i mean that's usually the way that we think of talent oh it's some exceptional human ability but when you read the word talent in the bible it never means it in terms of human ability the word talent in the bible was a unit of measurement it was a weight and it weighed roughly 75 pounds and it was always used in relation to money be it silver or gold so in the bible both old testament and new testament you can read references to a talent or multiple talents of gold or a talent or multiple talents of silver now to put it in a little perspective a single talent of silver back in jesus day was worth about 20 years of wages one talent was worth about 20 years of wages so now as we read here from chapter 25 i'm going to read verses 14 through 30 and now that you know that background you'll understand as the word is used here so matthew 25 starting at verse 14. jesus speaking here again this is a parable about getting ready for second coming for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them and to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to each according to his own ability and immediately he went on a journey and then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents and likewise he who had received two gained to all two more also but he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money after a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them keep reading on verse 20. and so he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying lord you delivered to me five talents look i have gained five more talents besides them his lord said to him 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 he also who had received two talents came and said lord you delivered to me two talents look i have gained two more talents besides them his lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your lord and then he who had received the one talent came and said lord i knew that i knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed and i was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground look there you have what is yours but as lord answered and said to him you wicked and lazy servant you knew that i reap where i have not sown and gathered where i have not scattered seed so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming i would have received back my own with interest so take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents for to everyone who has more will be given and he will have abundance but from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away and cast notice this and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth let's pray together father as we open up your word now we pray that you will speak to us through this parable that you would help us to be ready for your second coming that we would just not hear this but we would also be doers being ready anticipating joyfully your second coming and so we pray that you would just keep us focused in that way lord because we know that many things in this world can weigh down our hearts but we pray for your just clarity for your boldness for your perseverance that we would run the race and that we would finish well and so we thank you for this time and your word together today bless bless your word to us we ask in jesus name and everybody said amen well i personally think that this parable is the most difficult of the three parables to understand and for that matter to teach primarily because most bible commentaries that you read and or sermons that you hear about this parable tend to only interpret it with an eye on the practical and not an eye on the eternal now it's not wrong to look at this parable in terms of its practical aspects in fact we're going to do that a little bit ourselves today but i do think that if all you do is interpret this parable as a matter of practical advice for everyday christian living then you will miss the greater more important eternal meaning of this parable and i say eternal we know that it has eternal significance because of the way jesus ends the parable if you'll notice in your bibles again verse 30 i just want to highlight the way it ends in verse 30 jesus says then cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth now think for a moment when you hear the phrases outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth if you have any understanding of the bible you know that those are idioms that refer to what how there is eternal suffering here there are there are consequences when you read this parable of of eternal significance and so you know the bible speaks of hell as a place of unquenchable fire okay so they're suffering but oddly enough to to us it must be fire that does not cast off light because in addition to the bible saying that hell is a place of unquenchable fire it also says it is a place of outer darkness and it is a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth which is a an idiom for an idiom for um suffering you're like you know you're grinding your teeth and you're you're weeping you're in pain you're in agony you're in suffering so all of those terms are relative to an understanding of health so whatever jesus is trying to teach us in this parable it carries an eternal consequence which means that if you only look at this parable for its practical advice which again is nothing wrong but if you only look at it for its practical advice you will miss the greater eternal warning that jesus has in mind now before we get to the eternal perspective of this parable let's first look at the practical because i do think that there's value in seeing this parable as a way to help us understand principles for everyday living especially as as christians as followers of christ but again bear in mind that this parable like the previous two before it has to do with being ready for the second coming of christ so just you know bear that in mind because that's the context of what we're going to read here now having read the parable with you let me just break it down in practical terms this parable is about a wealthy man a wealthy employer who is going away maybe on vacation or a business trip and he's going to be away for a long time and he doesn't even say how long he's going to be away he just is traveling and before he travels he entrusts to his servants or employees a measure of his wealth and property for safe keeping to manage it while he's gone and he is careful if you noticed in the parable he is careful the employer is careful to entrust only certain amounts of his wealth and property to those individuals that he knows can handle the responsibility because in verse 15 he proportions out his wealth these different talents verse 15 according to their abilities that's important and he entrusts more to some than he does to others it is proportional to their ability now let me just pause here with a little commentary uh at this point because this is not showing preferential treatment because he gives one guy five and another guy two and another guy one this isn't showing preferential treatment this is actually honoring listen to this this is actually honoring each individual with what they could successfully handle some people get passed over for promotions and then they get mad and they complain i know i'm not talking about anybody here but i'm just saying hypothetically there are cases where people get passed over for promotions and they get angry about that kind of thing and you know by the way there might be illegitimate reasons why someone got passed over okay and we know that exists in in in the workforce and that's sad and that's wrong but that aside for the moment if someone is not qualified or doesn't have the proper skill set or or the job is beyond their ability to handle successfully then it is actually a merciful thing to pass someone over for someone else it really is because to entrust a high level of responsibility to someone who lacks the skill set or the job qualifications or the temperament or the desire would crush that individual if you load up someone with responsibility for which they are not prepared to handle you're setting them up for failure and this is not a good thing so this is not showing preference this is showing deference you're actually respecting the individual for what he or she is able to properly handle and you're recognizing that in order that they might be the most successful in this position this is leadership 101 folks you don't put people in positions or give them responsibilities that would set them up for failure you want people to succeed so sometimes you pass over somebody and what is happening here as this this master or lord or the this employer is handing out talents he handles out these talents proportional to the ability of the people to manage these things and so the employer evaluates his employees and you look at this at the one dude and he goes okay this guy's this guy's a visionary this guy is also detailed which is a rare combination most visionaries are not detailed but i like this guy he's got a lot of leadership skills a lot of natural leadership and he's very faithful i'm gonna give him five talents second guy looks at he goes not really a visionary but he is detailed uh he gets the job done as long as you can give him the tasks and when it needs to be completed and the guy is dependable gonna give him two talents the last guy the employer looks at he goes you know i don't even know why i have him in the company to be honest with you i mean he can barely get dressed in here on time in the morning um but you know what once in a while he comes up with a pretty good idea and he's loyal so i'm going to give him one talent and that's what happens here now he doesn't tell them how long he's going to be gone and he doesn't tell them what they're supposed to do with the talents with the resources that he has given them he doesn't tell him any of that verse 15 just says that he goes away immediately on a trip and in verse 19 it says that the boss was gone for a long time but then he suddenly returns you see the the parallel in this parable right when jesus talks about okay there was this master there was this boss there was this guy in charge and he goes away and he entrusts things to the the people there who who are with him who work for him and he's coming back again and it's going to be sudden you see the language that he's using here right what he's communicating all right so he's gone for a long time he returns suddenly and when the boss returns it says in verse 19 that he settles accounts with each of the servants with each of the employees so there's a there's a day we must give an account and while he's away um when he comes back the first guy who was given five talents gives an account for what he did with the five it it says in verse 16 that he traded with them so you know he's he's trading them and he and it sounds like he's playing the stock market a little bit you know maybe maybe he's a good day trader so you know he buys low he sells high in a day and he's and he's making some profit and it and he doubles he doubles the five talents to ten and when his master comes back he gives him all ten said these are all yours now notice that he doesn't take a cut for himself he doesn't say well you know you only gave me five but while you were gone you know i have the brains and the ability and the wherewithal to make some money off of this which i'm going to keep for myself no he sees it all it's belonging to the master he's done well he's duplicated it he's doubled it and he gives it all back to the master and look at what look at what his boss says in verse 21 his lord said to him 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 so he commends them he commends this guy well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your lord the second guy comes along and he gives an account for the two which he had been given and the same scenario he's doubled the two now it's four and he gives all four back to the master and the master says almost word for word what he said to the first guy in verse 23 he says to the second guy his lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your lord same reward proportional to what they had been entrusted they had a return on the investment same reward but then the third guy comes along who did nothing with the one talent that he had been entrusted with in fact the bible says that he buries it he not only doesn't do anything with it he buries the talent and then when his master returns he just gives it back it says here this is yours notice again let me just read the verses again verses 24 to 28 verse 24 it says then he who had received the one talent came and said lord i knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed and i was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground look there you have what is yours verse 26 but as the lord answered and said to him you wicked and lazy servant you knew that i re where i have not sown and gathered where i have not scattered seed now by the way he's not agreeing with this employee's assessment of himself he's just simply restating it okay he's not saying yeah you i am that kind of a guy i'm hard to work for no he's just saying okay this is your perception of me so this is what you think you think that i read where i have not sewn and gathered where i have not scattered see verse 27 so you ought to have at least deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming i would have received back my own with interest so take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents now in practical terms all right before we touch on the eternal in practical terms again in the parable the master is clearly jesus he's the one in charge he's teaching us a deeper truth about his going away and coming again and just like the master in this story the employer goes away on a trip doesn't say where he's going or for how long or when he's coming back he just he just goes but then he comes back suddenly this is a picture of jesus he's gone away to prepare a place for us he's coming again to receive us we better be ready and in the meantime jesus the master the lord has entrusted to us some of us most precious valuable commodities that we have to guard and not only guard we have to manage these things well so we are the servants in this parable servants that jesus has entrusted his things to while he is away and a talent in just practical terms a talent can represent any life resource that god has entrusted to your care now i think that there are six major ways that god entrusts things to us and all things can fall under these six major categories i'm going to say it quickly but i'll come back to each with a corresponding question i think that the main places where god entrusts us again i'm only talking on the practical level is with money abilities authority position and influence in regards to money if you are financially blessed the question becomes are you financially generous for the kingdom okay i'm going to give a corresponding question to each of these categories so when it comes to money if you've been financially blessed and you're a christ follower the question you need to ask yourself is am i being generous for the sake of the kingdom with what god has given me secondly in the area of abilities whatever you can do well think for a moment not not to brag about yourself but you do certain things well whatever you can do well are you doing it well for god third area is authority if you have been put in charge of things uh you're in a position of management uh are you using that authority to promote the kingdom the fourth category possessions maybe you don't have a lot of money per se but you have resources and possessions that can be used for the kingdom what are you doing with those resources for the glory of god fifthly position and this can be any kind of a status in life or position you know in employment so for example are you a mom a dad a grandparent are you an employee or an employer are you a student are you a teacher are you using your position or status in life that god has given you to glorify him and then last category is influence if god has opened doors for you such that you have opportunity to influence people whether it's a little or a lot of people are you using that influence to impact the kingdom so in summary here's the questions we need to ask ourselves what are you doing for god with what god has given you that's the practical question of this parable what are you doing for god with what god has given you and how do we use our quote talent to benefit the kingdom and glorify god now i'm going to on this practical level i'm going to give you just five quick observations from this parable that again i'm going to go through quickly but you can go on the teaching library later and put me on pause and write these down or if you can write really quickly here are the five things i think just practical observations from this parable the first one is this jesus the master owns everything we the servants only manage it so we got to remember that jesus the master owns everything we the servants only manage it number two jesus expects us to use whatever he has entrusted to us for his glory that's key he doesn't just give us things on loan to use solely for ourselves he wants us to be good stewards of it to use it for his glory number three don't be an idle person we should be busy during the time of waiting and faithful during the delay this is what he wants of us this is part of what this parable teaches in practical terms number four a misunderstood view of god is no excuse for poor stewardship this last guy who buries his talent says well i think you're harsh i think you're unreasonable okay whatever your perception of god is sadly if it's bad it's still no excuse for poor stewardship and the last one number five where there is no risk for god there will be no reward from god some of you in a practical way have the ability to be used by the lord in various ways but you just don't want to take the risk whatever the risk might be and i would just challenge you from this parable in practical terms that where there's no risk for god there is no reward from him but having said all that there is more to this parable than just good stewardship of money or abilities and in the last 10 minutes or so we have left i want to focus on the eternal aspect of this parable because i i can tell you i can't tell you how many in my opinion how many for example self-serving pastors have used this parable as a way to raise money for their church um god has blessed you with uh money with talents and it is it is a you know a unit of measurement in the bible and so therefore you need to use your money for the kingdom of god you need to give more to the church and you need to be good stewards of your money okay i've also heard this parable improperly taught as a way to shame people to serve god it kind of goes like this um you've been given some special talents from special abilities you got a voice to sing i can hear you sing i can hear you you've got a good voice you know what you need you need to be singing in a choir if you're not singing in a choir god's gonna take your voice away and give it to somebody else your tongue's gonna get tied by jesus if you don't start singing for the glory of god i don't know why i'm using a southern accent but i'm just telling you that i've heard that over and over again it's just like if you don't use god's gonna take it from you give it to somebody else and people have been especially like little kids get shamed into that kind of a thing and this parable is used to shame people like that so um among the different misuses of this parable um the problem with when people only interpret this in practical terms you know you've been given abilities and talents and and finances and influence all this stuff if it's only interpreted in terms of the practical advice then those people who are teaching it as only a parable about practical advice have a problem with verse 30 because verse 30 is where jesus concludes all of this and he says by the way that last unmerciful servant is to be taken and thrown into the place where there's outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth oh well wait a minute wait a minute are you saying if i don't sing for the glory of god i'm going to hell no no that's why if you only look at this for its practical aspect you are missing the eternal significance of this parable because for jesus to end this whole parable with that strong exhortation that warning at the end that there's eternal consequences it's got to mean more than just being a good steward or a good manager of the resources that god has given you and so here is the main point i think to this to this parable the eternal perspective that must be understood and that i think is sadly often overlooked now we've already identified the fact that the master slash lord in this parable is jesus he has gone away he's coming again that's clear it's also clear to us that we are the servants who will have to give an account for what he has entrusted to us while he's away so the question becomes listen to me on this what has jesus entrusted to you of greatest value and don't say a singing voice what is the most valuable thing that he has left with us wanting us to cherish and to duplicate what is it it's salvation it's the gospel it's the good news of jesus christ for the salvation of souls for whoever believes and receives and that's what carries eternal weight in this parable and that's important for us to understand you know when jesus tells us the great commission you know go therefore make disciples he's talking about duplicating what we have received from him as the most precious commodity ever given that's matthew 28 19 the great commission go therefore make disciples duplicate influence the world okay but in addition it's our own personal salvation that comes from our response to the good news the gospel our precious salvation that god has given to us this is his most precious commodity that he's ever entrusted to us what are you doing with that you see so a couple of verses to help us understand what i'm talking about from the scriptures i'll put it up on on the screen for you and this is this i'm going with the niv on this but it's second corinthians 4 5-7 for we do not preach ourselves but jesus christ as lord and ourselves as your servants for jesus sake remember in the parable the term for the boss was lord or master the parable for the rest of us the servants so in this verse we see that spelled right out verse 6 for god who said let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ but we have this treasure this valuable thing in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from god and not from us the reference to jars of clay is a human vessel we are made from clay we are just you know earth and vessels but god is entrusted to our earth and vessels the wonderful good news of the gospel we hold dear our salvation in our hearts and in our lives but it can't stay there this has to be duplicated we have to share what he has given us to a lost and dying world look at another verse paul would write to the church in thessalonica first thessalonians 2 4 but as we have been approved by god to be entrusted with the gospel this is what he's entrusted to us even so we speak not as pleasing men but god who tests our hearts so the whole idea here is that when god has given to us the good news of a life that can be totally transformed through faith in jesus christ who died on a cross for our sins we receive that precious gift he's entrusted our salvation and the gospel to us now what are we doing with that are we being faithful to what he has given us and are we using what he has given us to influence other people for the sake of the master so i'm convinced that a talent in this parable the treasure is salvation slash the good news of the gospel not just to hold to ourselves not just to clutch it to ourselves but to duplicate it with others so that when the master returns he will get a return on his investment the duplication of souls through the advancement of the gospel through us sharing about our own salvation in jesus christ but the only way to duplicate what he has given us is if christians are taking what he has left us the good news of the gospel and the gift of salvation and making him known to others listen this is the only explanation as to why the guy with one talent was judged and ultimately sentenced to hell in the parable because he saw god as unmerciful and so he didn't cherish what god had given him nor did he duplicate it he just gave it back here you can take it back i just buried it i don't really want it thank you very much and he gives it back and so in essence the master or jesus is saying in response to him if that's how you see me as someone unmerciful you think that i'm unmerciful and you reject what i have given you i.e salvation in the interpretation then there is no remedy for you you judge yourself and you will be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth the guy with the one talent had a wrong view of god saw him as unmerciful and rejected the treasure and he gave back what he had been given now what do you think would have happened when you think about the early church and how when jesus first died on a cross rose from the dead before and then he ascended back into heaven he entrusted the ministry of the good news and and the whole gospel and and you know the message of salvation he entrusts it and the bible says in the book of acts that only about 120 were gathered in the upper room after jesus ascended back into heaven that was the seed bed of the church can you imagine what would have happened if that 120 had just sat in the upper room and died with it like well we're not going to really talk about this we're not going to spread the good news we're not going to share it you know for whatever reason and first century in particular because their lives could be in danger and we're just going to sit here we're going to cherish this but we're not going to do anything with it i mean the whole gospel would have died out with 120 had they not been faithful to duplicate what god had given them and to gone out and and to sow the seeds of the gospel and and this good news and so this is important for us to understand you know the great commission jesus expects us to take what he has given us and to invest it in the lives of other people that it might be duplicated i think that's the heart of this message now some of you might be saying to yourself well that's i'm not really good at that you know pastor g you get paid to do that kind of thing i don't i don't get paid to do that kind of thing i'm not very good i mean i'm no billy graham i can't go out and start sharing my faith and seeing people converted to jesus that's just not me i'm a little reserved and this is too difficult for me i'm no billy graham listen listen to me on this god doesn't expect you to be billy graham god expected billy graham to be billy graham and god entrusted to billy graham immeasurable amounts of quote talents that was his calling and billy graham was faithful to that calling until the day he died and tens of thousands and thousands of people got saved because he was faithful with the talent that god had given him you just have to be faithful with the talent god's given you you see you bloom where you are planted you serve where you're deployed nothing more nothing less but you still have to be about your father's business and think about your sphere of influence the position that god has called you to what he has given you and how you can use it to influence even if it's just one even if it's just one you don't have to be anybody else except faithful to god for who he has called you to be where he's called you to be and with the resources that he's given you for his glory listen i i will tell you this in all sincerity uh i've been in pastoral ministry now for about 34 years um and and i say this just as a matter of of giving you an understanding of what i'm talking about here because because i'm going to brag on my wife for a moment but i want you to hear just in in all humility and i say this for the glory of god over 34 years of ministry i haven't like documented the numbers but i've had the privilege that god has used me to probably lead thousands of people to christ okay but my wife left a teaching career when we first got married and started having kids to come home and teach our kids our three kids i'm trying not to get choked up i got choked up in the first service and i'm trying not to do it here and she exposed our three kids to the good news of the gospel and gave them a wonderful influence of a woman who loves jesus and wanted her kids to love jesus and they were exposed to the lord more every day through their faithful mom than hearing dad in the pulpit on a sunday or wednesday night but my wife is going to get the same reward i know she'll at least get hers she's going to get the same reward that i will and she's going to hear and i hope to hear well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your salvation because it's because listen [Applause] don't don't you think to yourself well i'm just you know i'm just a stay-at-home mom or or i i'm just a custodian at a school or i'm ju don't you dare do that because where god has planted you is where he wants you to bloom where god has deployed you is where he wants you to serve it's not a matter of of quantity okay it's a matter of faithfulness and god is calling us to be faithful with the good news of jesus christ that not only saved our souls but is something to be shared with others so that they also might be saved so that when the master returns he gets a wonderful return on his investment and so that every single one of us might be able to hear from jesus well done good and faithful servant enter the joy of your lord amen amen praise god let's pray together father we thank you for your word and we thank you lord that you have blessed us with the most precious commodity ever given the gift of salvation and lord you call us to be good stewards of everything that you've entrusted to us but especially that that we would be faithful to take the good news of the gospel of jesus and what you have given us and duplicate it for your glory there are people lord who need the gospel we know them we work with them they're in our families they're our friends we want to see the investment you've given into us to be duplicated in the lives of other people and lord we just want to be faithful with what you've given us and where you've called us to bloom where we've been planted to serve where we've been deployed so that when you come again you will receive a wonderful return on your investment and we will be able to hear you say those precious words well done good and faithful servant enter the joy of your lord thank you father that you have entrusted uh something very precious while you're away we pray that we might use it to advance the good news in the lives of other people to make an investment in those that you want to be saved lord and we thank you for the precious gift of our salvation through faith in jesus christ may you find us faithful lord while we wait for your blessed return we love you and we praise you together in jesus name and everybody said amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Id: aZLDUYrDYDc

Length: 40min 49sec (2449 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021