Parable of The Talents | Mark Makary

Good morning.

Good morning.

For uh those of you who are new with us and visiting this morning, um, a special welcome to you.

Uh, my name is Mark McCary.

I have the joy of serving as one of the elders here at Redemption Newmarket.

Now, over the past year, we've been intentionally folding in the parables of Jesus, whenever not taking up our larger book study.

And that's exactly what we're gonna do this morning.

This morning we're gonna be uh again pausing our study in Ecclesiastes to take up the parables of the talents.

So if you can turn with me uh to Matthew 25, and we're gonna just dive right into God's word this morning.

Now, if you don't have a copy of God's word, there'll be ushers walking down the aisle, and uh you just raise your hands and they'll get a copy of God's word into your hands.

Now, if you don't own a copy, this is our gift to you.

No need to give it back.

So to give you some context to where we are in the Gospel of Matthew, we we we are near Jesus' uh end of his public ministry here on earth, about that final week where he's about to be crucified.

And Matthew has been building towards this moment for several chapters now.

In fact, this started way back in chapter 21, where like that you know famous scene uh uh that we're familiar with, where Jesus enters in Jerusalem and the crowds greet him, praising Hosanna, Hosanna, praising him with his lips.

But then we see a steady increase in conflict where Jesus reveals what happens, the destruction that occurs when we praise him with our lips, but our but our hearts are far from him.

And so as the crowds grow increasingly hostile to Jesus, Jesus turns to his disciples and prepares their hearts, prepares their hearts for his departure, his crucifixion, and ultimately his return to heaven.

And so today's parable is really a response to one of the disciples' questions, and we can find that question in chapter 24, in verse 3, where the disciple asks this of Jesus.

He said, Jesus, sorry, the disciple says this, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the ages?

Now Jesus responds to their question in essentially three parts.

The first is he gives them some of the signs.

He says that many will be led astray.

There will be wars and famines and earthquakes, and many will betray you and hate one another.

He even says that the disciples themselves will be subject to this, and even to the point of death for his name's sake.

But Jesus also provides hope in the gospel.

He says, one who endures to the end will be saved, and that the gospel will be proclaimed to all the nations before his return.

And so Jesus doesn't only just share to them some of the signs to come, he shares with them two other parables.

The first parable being the parable of the ten virgins, where Jesus illustrates what it means, or sorry, Jesus illustrates the importance of being ready.

And then he shares today's parable, the parable of the talents, where Jesus outlines what it looks like to be ready.

And that's where we're gonna spend most of our time this morning.

The main point of today's parable is that we are entrusted to serve.

That we are entrusted to serve.

In today's text, we're gonna see where we get our talents from, how we are to exercise them, and why we are to use them.

So let's get at it.

If I can ask you to stand with me as we read Matthew 25, starting at verse 14.

For it will be like a man going on a journey, who 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.

And 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 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 five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered me five talents, here I have made five talents more.

His master said to him, Well done and good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over litter a little, I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your master.

And he also who had two talents came forward, saying, Master, you delivered me two talents, here I have made two talents more.

And 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 one talent came forward, saying, Master, I knew to I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.

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, saying, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed, then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was mine with interest.

So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.

For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance.

But for the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away, and the and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

You can be seated.

So the the first point we are we're gonna draw out from the text is this my talents are given from God.

My talents are given from God.

So this parable speaks of a wealthy man uh who owned property who needed tending to, who also has distributed an enormous amount of money to his servants.

Now, eight talents to be precise.

And to put that into perspective, remember that a talent was roughly 20 years worth of wages.

So this was no small amount.

Now, each servant received a differing amount based on their ability.

One was given five talents, one two talents, one one talent.

And then we are told that this man entrusted his property to them as he went away for a bit.

Now, of course, this being a parable, Jesus doesn't want us to take this parable literally, and he wants us to search for that spiritual meaning behind what is being said here.

And so this man, this owner, this master, well, he represents Jesus.

The servants here represent those who profess to be followers of Christ.

And the talents, well, well, the talents represent more than just money.

And from the surrounding verses, we can derive that a talent means this.

Perhaps the clearest and simplest definition I can put forward will be behind me.

A talent is every blessing God has entrusted you with.

And this goes way beyond our understanding of what we typically think of a talent, like our natural abilities.

And it's so important to understand that it is every blessing God has entrusted you with.

Wealth, a talent, intellect, a talent, influence, a talent, time management skills, well, that's a talent too.

You name it, a talent is every blessing God has entrusted you with.

And I use this definition very intentionally, and so it would be prudent just to break down the definition just a little bit.

Um, so let's just do that.

A talent is given by God.

Look at verse 15 with me.

Notice each talent, each servant was given their talents.

Yes, of differing amounts, but each were given it.

They did not earn it, they did not purchase it, they did not develop this talent, it was given.

And no servant's amount was insignificant.

You look at the servant who received the least amount, one talent, well, one talent is 20 years worth of wages.

So whether five talents or two talents or one talent, each were given something of great value.

A talent is also something entrusted to you.

Jesus didn't give you your talent so you can lord it over people, that you are more intellectual than them or more wealthy than them.

Nor has he given you talent so you can use it for your own leisure, your own comfort, your own pleasure.

He has entrusted you with the talent to use them for good.

You know, 1 Corinthians speaks about spiritual gifts, but the same principle can apply here.

It says that the give the giving of gifts are not for the individual who received the gift, but for the individual to use the gift to build up the body of Christ.

It is to be used for the benefit of others.

And finally, the last part of the definition: a talent is a blessing.

Look again at verse 15 with me.

Some were given more, some were given less, but all were given much.

See, we we are deserving of nothing.

That is the posture, our status, our starting point.

Romans 12, 6 says, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us by God, let us use them.

A talent is a blessing because it was given to us by God, through the grace of God.

And this is why, again, we intentionally define a talent as every blessing God has entrusted you with.

Now I know I went through that definition fairly quickly, but I also want to challenge us by adding a different perspective to how we view talents?

What if our talents weren't limited to where we excel in or what we have abundance of?

What if all this time we've had a limited view of what a talent is?

What if our talents also included our weaknesses?

See, if the apostle Paul can look at himself and look at his own thorn in the flesh and pray to God, a messenger of Satan to harass him and pray to God for that to be removed from him three times, and three times the Lord denies his prayer, and yet the apostle Paul can still boast all the more gladly about his weakness, so he's boasting in his weakness, so that the power of Christ may be may be displayed.

It seems to me that that certainly fits the definition of a talent.

Paul saw weakness as a blessing.

James, the brother of Jesus, says this in James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfasting have steadfastness having its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Trials test your faith, faith produces steadfastness, and having its full effect results in you lacking in nothing.

See, I don't know about you, but that certainly seems like a blessing to me to lack in nothing.

I sure want to be in that spot.

See, you you see, talents are not just strengths and abilities that the Lord has given us, but it's also the weaknesses, inadequacies, and limitations that He has given us as well.

And the reason for that is because with the right perspective, they too, they too, our weaknesses, can be used for kingdom work.

I'm sure I've shared this or it's been shared here before.

I find a quote from Alistair Begg really helpful.

He says this if dependency upon God is the goal, then weakness is the advantage.

If dependency upon God is the goal, then weakness is the advantage.

As paradoxical as that sounds, weakness is an advantage because coming to know yourself as a broken and weak sinner in continual need of God's grace will only drive further awareness and further dependency on an almighty, powerful God, King of kings and Lord of Lords.

And when you do that, man, that's a blessing.

That's precisely what I believe Jesus meant when he said, My power is made perfect in weakness.

See, it was it was always God's plan.

Throughout all of Scripture, from time and time after time, it was always God's plan to deliver his blessings through our weakness.

We we see it in Moses when he thought he was too incompetent to lead Israel out of Egypt.

We see in Paul when he thought he was too unworthy to be an apostle of Christ.

What we see in Timothy when he thought he was too inadequate to be the leader of the Church of Ephesus.

Each one of these men did not bring anything to the table.

They were equipped by God, and then God sent them out with the talents that he entrusted to them to do his work.

And so listen, God doesn't need your strength, he needs your weakness, he doesn't want your perfection, he wants your dependency, he doesn't want your merit, he wants your faithfulness.

The path of blessing is a course towards weakness.

So let's stop comparing our talents with one another.

Let's stop wishing we'd have talents that we don't possess.

Let's stop praying for our weaknesses to disappear before we can mobilize and serve the Lord.

Instead, we are to ask ourselves, what has God entrusted me with?

What has God entrusted me with?

Do you know the answer to that?

Are you aware of the talents that the Lord has given you, that the Lord has blessed you with, that he expects you to use for him?

Is it your finances?

Is it your home?

Is it your ability to care for someone in a special way?

Is it your ability to ask insightful, meaningful questions and build those meaningful relationships?

What season of trial has the Lord put you in so that he can draw out a blessing of dependency?

What weakness do you have that could be used to bless others?

It's too costly not to know the answer to that.

Too costly not to know what God has entrusted you with, not to know what God has entrusted you with.

And I think there's real practical ways of identifying that, by the way.

There's no secret formula here.

Like let's start with just prayer.

Praying, hey Lord, show me the things you've entrusted me with.

Show me.

Like, let's not underestimate the power of prayer and the simplicity of it at times.

Or maybe self-reflection, right?

Like I know we're running at, you know, a mile a minute sometimes, our lives are very busy, but sometimes all it takes is just a pause over the things we're doing and a self-reflection over viewing your life and understanding what blessings are present.

Maybe ask a spouse or a friend.

I like to think our our church is small enough that between the elders, pastor, and small group leaders, we have a relatively decent gauge of what God has given you, what God has blessed you with, what God has entrusted you with to use for his kingdom.

And then I guess for those who do know, well, let's start with like praise God.

Praise God that you do know what God has entrusted you with.

And so this second point is for you then.

Point number two is my talents are exercised for God.

My talents are exercised for God.

The parable continues with the owner now gone, and the servant with the five talents and the servant with the two talents get right to work.

Notice a few things with me, okay?

First, the owner never needed to tell the servants what to do with their talents.

He simply gave it to them and expected them to manage it well.

Secondly, when the owner left, there was a sense of urgency.

There was a sense of urgency to do the master's work for the two first two servants.

Look at verse 16 with me again.

It says that the servants went at once.

They went at once, immediately began to trade them, immediately began to exercise the talents that they were entrusted with.

The first two servants knew what to do with what they were entrusted with, and so they exercised their talents to then multiply their talents.

Now compare that to the third servant.

The servant who received one talent.

Look what he does with his his talent.

Look at verse 18 with me.

He he doesn't go with urgency, he he doesn't use his talent, he doesn't multiply his talent, instead, he hides his talent.

And we'll get to what this means a little later, but ultimately, ultimately, what he does is he wastes his talent.

Now, after a long time, his master returns to settle accounts, to see what the servant has done with the talents that were entrusted to them.

And again, this is a parable, and so what this is representing really is Jesus' second coming, where he comes to collect his people, to be with them for all the eternity, but also to cast out all those who reject him into outer hell.

And so look at verse 20 with me.

It's subtle, but do you see it?

Notice how the first two servants respond to their masters.

They say, Master, you've delivered me five towns here.

Here is what I did with what is yours.

Five towns became five more, two became two more.

The servants understood that the talents they have, the gains they made, all that they have is the Lord's.

And we too need to recognize this truth that everything we have, our abilities, our talents, our opportunities, our resources, our time, our treasure is God's.

And then we too will hear the same words that Jesus said to both those servants, where he says, Well done, good and faithful servant.

And there's so much packed in Jesus' response.

Look at verse 21.

Now, there's a lot happening here, and and we can spend an entire sermon series on just breaking down Jesus' response in his text.

But then I realized how much work that would be.

And so we're not going to do that.

We're just gonna go a flyby.

But what we will do is dig into the two principles that I believe this is drawing out for us.

And so, just very quick overview of how Jesus responds.

He he says, Well done, praising the servant for being faithful over what he had.

He describes their character as good and faithful.

The servant was diligent in exercising the talents that they were entrusted with.

And then the servant's reward, and I use that term loosely for now, is both additional responsibility and more importantly, eternal fellowship with the Lord.

We get responsibility from the phrase, you have been faithful over little, I will give you, I will set you over much.

It just displays the vastness of God's wealth, doesn't it?

That five talents, a hundred years worth of wages, is considered little.

It also shows us that our earthly stewardship cannot compare to that of the age to come.

And we get eternal fellowship from the phrase enter into the joy of your master, again, sharing in the joy of Jesus' presence forever and ever.

And I know I went through that quickly, but what What does this all mean?

What are the principles that we are trying to draw out here?

And there are two.

The first principle is, and you know, consider this a sub bullet.

I kind of took that trick from Pastor Miles, so consider this sub bullet two from point two, or sub bullet one from point two.

Our works prove genuine faith.

That's the principle one out of the exchange between Jesus and the first two masters.

Sorry, Jesus and the first two servants.

Our works prove genuine faith.

And I want to be as clear as possible when I say this.

This exchange is not the servant working for his master's approval.

That is not what's happening here.

What is being revealed is the servant's faithful trust in his master.

The servant truly knows his master.

He is called a faithful servant because his work demonstrated his faithfulness, not the other way around.

That is so important.

He did not work to become faithful, he worked because he is faithful.

Okay?

That order is super important.

And I say that because some have read this parable and used it to justify that salvation is not by faith, it is by works, and that is not the case.

And so on the screen behind me, I believe is one of the clearest verses that speak to correcting this interpretation.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, I'll read it for us.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

See, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

It is Christ's atoning work on that cross that paid the penalty for our sins.

We didn't even desire that.

We didn't even want a relationship with God.

It was God who called us by his grace into that relationship.

And then it is through faith given to us by Christ that we can start even desiring one with him.

Nothing, nothing to do with our works.

And James, again, referring to that book, speaks about the relationship between our faith and our works.

He says, I will show you my faith by my works, because faith without works is dead.

Again, the order here is so important that good works does not attain salvation.

It is the evidence of it.

Alright, that's principle one.

Our works prove genuine faith.

Principle number two, faithfulness before fruitfulness.

Look at verse 21 with me again.

Notice the master's response to the first two servants, right?

Verse 21, verse 23, five talents, two talent servants.

Both servants doubled their talents.

Both servants had impressive returns, but practically speaking, the first servant made two and a half times more than the second servant, right?

So why then is the master equally pleased with them?

And that is because the size of their gain does not matter.

But what is important here is the fact that both were faithful in exercising the talents they were given.

See, God desires faithfulness before fruitfulness.

And you and I, you know, or maybe I'll speak for myself, like we often we often miss that, don't we?

Right?

Where we focus on the results of our works rather than the heart posture and drive behind them.

We focus on did the outcome of my efforts produce the expected results?

And if not, what would we do?

We start we start questioning ourselves, we start getting discouraged, right?

And and listen, I get that, right?

Like fruitfulness is a lot easier to identify than faithfulness, right?

It's easier to point out.

So for example, if if you are exercising your talent of care and you are walking alongside a brother or sister in Christ, and you're just pouring into them day in and day out, and praying over them, and just walking alongside them, and they never get better.

Well, what happens?

Well, you start questioning your am I doing it right?

Am I even gifted in this way?

Am I saying the right things?

This is such a waste of time.

Like, I'm not even helping at this point.

Am I even a Christian?

Like you start saying all crazy things.

And without visible, tangible results, we question our effectiveness.

Despite your care, despite practicing the one another's, despite your faithfulness, which by the way, you are being faithful when you do that, you're discouraged.

And you know why?

Because our hearts, our hearts crave the affirmation of results.

Our hearts crave the affirmation of results.

But praise God, because God doesn't work that way.

The principle here is faithfulness before fruitfulness.

In John 15, Jesus says this: Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he who bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

Our responsibility is faith-filled dependency on Christ.

And through that, through that dependency, the Holy Spirit will produce fruit within us.

Do you know that?

Like, fruit bearing is not our responsibility.

We cannot even bear fruit.

It is the Holy Spirit working within us that bears the fruit for us.

This is why in Galatians 5 it says the fruit of the Spirit, you know them love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control.

There is a reason why the Apostle Paul titles it the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of man, because man can't produce fruit.

It is the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to produce the fruit as we faithfully obey God and faithfully walk in obedience to God.

It is our faithfulness to God that will produce the fruitfulness as the Holy Spirit works within us.

And that's the objective truth of this section.

God requires your faithfulness, and he will produce the fruitfulness through you, whether we see it or not.

And so as we exercise the talents that we are given, I'm gonna ask a series of questions of whether that that is the case for us.

Whether we are exercising the talents entrusted to us by God.

First question.

What does your weekly schedule say about what you are investing in?

What does your weekly schedule say about what you're investing in?

Does it reveal an urgency to do God's work?

Or does it reveal a different priority in your life?

Is the use of your talents consistent with what you say you treasure most?

Is the use of your talents consistent with what you say you treasure most?

Or perhaps more directly, what are you doing with what God has given you?

What are you doing with what God has given you?

There are some people in this room right now that I just praise God so much for.

Like they have demonstrated time after time after time their just their faithful desire to serve the Lord.

Like when they're whenever there's a need, they're just relentless.

Their hands go up first.

They have shown a biblical approach to prioritizing God and God's people.

There are some here that I just I praise for the weakness they display.

That we've asked them to step into different ministries, like being a small group leader or attending the elder cohort.

We've asked them to step into new service areas like kids' ministry and the worship team.

And you know, each each of them were sharing feelings of inadequacy, feelings of insufficiency, feelings of just not qualified to serve in this way.

Yet, despite those feelings, they committed themselves to prayer.

They committed themselves to seeking wise biblical counsel.

And then they start to lean into just that.

And man, I just I just praise God for the faithfulness in that and and praise God for the fruit that He's produced through those actions.

And you guys know who you are.

I'm not, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna mention any names, but it certainly doesn't go unnoticed, and so just praise God for that.

But there's a big butt here.

There are some here that I see such talent in, such incredible leadership qualities, such incredible capacity, such incredible resourcing, and and and and they're being exercised in all the wrong areas of life.

And they're directing it, those talents to careers and hobbies and sports and your kids' activities, or even worse, just not directing them to anything at all.

And and and listen, like I can't qualify everything.

There's nothing wrong with directing your research your talents to those, but there is when they take the wrong priority in life, then they're a horrible thing.

And whether you realize it or not, you you are wasting the talents God has given you.

And sure, you may excel at work, or your kid may be the greatest soccer superstar, but what eternal value does that have?

Romans 14, 12 says, each of us will give account to God for our actions.

One day we'll we'll stand before God and have to articulate how we've used the talents he's entrusted us with.

And so I ask again, what are you doing with what God has given you?

Are they being used to serve God and his people?

And finally, the third point I want to bring out from the text is my talents.

My talents are judged by God.

The parable continues with a focus on the third servant, the servant who received one talent.

And look at verse 24 with me.

Look how the servant describes his master.

He describes him as a hard man, a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow, gathering where he scattered no seed.

And after being afraid of his master, he hid his talents in the ground until he was able to return the talent to his master.

And so the master responds to him saying, You wicked and slothful servant.

And just notice the contrast, the vast difference between the first two servants' response and this third servant.

The servant who put their talents to use, who exercised what God has entrusted them with, are described as good and faithful.

The servant who simply returned his talent, here, the third servant, is described as wicked and slothful.

Not because he did terrible, unspeakable things.

Not because he lost his talent in a bad venture or didn't make as much as the other servants in his return.

He is wicked because he failed to use what the master entrusted with him.

He is slothful because he lacked the desire to do the master's work.

And when we read this interaction, there should be a great weight that falls upon us on the seriousness and responsibility when it comes to doing the Lord's work, when it comes to doing, when it comes to exercising what the Lord has given us.

And in a moment of spiritual honesty, where do we stand with that?

Like when we reflect on our own lives, the talents that the Lord has given us, the blessings that the Lord has graciously poured upon our lives, how are we exercising them?

Listen, and don't read this section thinking that this servant here, the third servant, is like some horrific person who is actively working against his master.

You know, like when I read this servant, you know who, you know how I think about this individual?

I think of him as like the average Joe, right?

Like he's he's attending church regularly.

He's probably attending small groups from time to time.

You know, he's present, but not really, you know what I mean?

Like he he has talents, but is using them for his comfort, his own leisure.

But it's a posture like that, which is described as wicked and slothful.

And at the heart of it, at the heart of it, what we are seeing here is a servant who does not think well of his master, a servant who does not truly know his master, a servant who has not experienced the goodness of his master.

And this is why the servant is described as harsh and demanding.

It reflects an absence of the relationship with him.

He doesn't know him at all.

And this should be a real wake-up call for us.

Because our lives don't need to look like a train wreck for us not to know God.

We can simply be Sunday morning Christians and be on the same path of destruction as this servant.

And what do I mean by that?

I mean you can attend church.

You can serve here at redemption.

You can surround yourself with the Christian community and read and pray and give your money to the Lord and still not know and experience God at a personal level.

And that should scare us.

In Matthew 7, 22, I'll read it, listen to the words of Jesus.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.

It says, Many will find themselves there, many will appear to be serving him, many will know him intellectually.

But Jesus will respond, saying, I never knew you.

Why?

Well, there's no relationship, there's no affection for God.

And listen, I am, I want you to be clear, I am not trying to stir up any unhealthy doubt of your affirmation of salvation.

But the Apostle Paul tells us that we must examine ourselves to be sure that we are in the faith.

A wrong view of God leads to a wrong walk with God, and if never corrected, reveals an absence of a genuine relationship, a genuine affection for God.

And so the conclusion is verse 30.

We see the final judgment of a man who was entrusted to do his work of the master and just never got there, never did it, never exercised.

And the wicked and slothful servant is cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Again, an illustration of hell.

And so we can summarize it like this.

We can say that the first two servants were transformed by the grace of their master, having been given all that they ever could need.

And now I'm not even talking about talents.

I'm referring about the relationship that their master brought them into.

Isn't that our greatest blessing?

Like Jesus himself, a right relationship with God and affection for the one who loved us and gave himself for us.

Affection for the one who saved us from the penalty of sin.

So when he returns, when verse 19 is fulfilled, then we too can hear, enter the joy of your master and be with him forever and ever.

It's with that perspective, how can we not have affection for the one who poured undeserving, unconditional grace over?

And so with that, I I ask you this question What has my greatest affection?

What has your greatest affection?

Right?

In some sense, the answer to that is somewhat simple to diagnose, and in some sense, it's very complex.

Again, a series of questions that I that I trust that will help flush out our heart posture on this.

So I ask you, what occupies most of your time?

Thinking of your time, what occupies most of it?

What consumes most of your effort?

What consumes most of your thoughts?

Where do you spend most of your talent?

Where do you spend most of your treasure?

See your time, your effort, your thoughts, your talent, your treasure.

How can God have your greatest affection if these areas are not all completely his?

Nor does it work for you to give God all that on Sundays, but the rest of the week we're wasting our time, squandering our talents, and being careless with our treasures when it comes to kingdom work.

One who has the greatest affection has it completely, not just on weekends, not just on Sundays, but that affection permeates throughout everything we do, every relationship, every priority.

So I'll close with this.

I know I've asked many questions throughout the sermon, and maybe the Holy Spirit is really just stirring up a self-reflection on how we're using what God has entrusted us with.

Or perhaps we're wrestling with the right affection for God.

There's things in our lives that are waging war on the throne of our heart, pulling our affection, drawing our affection away from God to whatever that thing is.

You know it in your life.

And I just want you to know that there's just so much grace here.

Like God is so faithful, He's so incredibly patient with us.

You know what I love about this parable?

Like, Jesus desires us to exercise the talents for Him.

He desires our faithfulness, He desires our repentance, He desires that we work for Him.

And what's amazing is He actually equips us to do just that.

It's not too late.

And so I'll end by reading the same passage we began our worship service with.

And that is in 1 Peter.

Let this be the heart of our prayer this morning.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Christ Jesus, to him be belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Let's pray.

We praise you, Lord, for being a faithful God, a God who has equipped us and given us every blessing.

Lord, we just pray that we recognize the things that you've put in our lives, recognize the talents that you've blessed us with, recognize the weaknesses that could be used for your kingdom, Lord.

Lord, I pray that we just do not look to one another to see talents that we don't have or wish we had talents that you haven't given us, Lord, but we self-reflect and see the talents that you have entrusted us with, Lord.

Lord, give us a hard posture, give us a burning desire, Lord, to use the talents that you've given us, use the talents that you've entrusted us with for your glory.

As 1 Peter said, Lord, that you may get the glory forever and ever, Lord God.

Lord, stir us the right affection for you, Lord.

Help us see you and know you so much clearer.

Lord, we know that you love you.

And Lord, if our greatest affection is for you, Lord, Lord, I pray that our work demonstrates the genuine faith that we have, Lord.

And we just praise you for that atoning work, Lord, that we don't have to earn your approval.

But you have sent your son, Lord, who paid the penalty for sin for us, Lord, that you've brought us into the relationship with you, Lord.

Lord, we just praise you for the truth of salvation, that it is not by our own works, Lord, but it's you and your grace and your grace alone that has brought us and made us whole, Lord.

And we praise you for that truth, and Lord, as as as a return, Lord, we pray that we just Lord, we pray that we just faithfully serve you all the more, Lord.

We continue to worship you this morning.

Amen.