The Talents

This morning we're in the middle of a series on the parables of Jesus.

Jesus told stories of everyday life in order that he might make a spiritual point very often.

! So before we come to preach God's word, why don't we bow our heads and pray together.

Our gracious Father, we thank you for your word.

And we thank you that the Lord Jesus taught us that your word is truth.

And Lord, we pray that as we learn together today,

Father God, you would not make us just want to be receivers of information,

but Lord, we might become agents of transformation.

Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Lord, we pray that those of us who are laborers would do what we can to bring your kingdom.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So as I said, we've come this morning to a point where we're talking about the parable of the talents,

which is the scripture that Catherine just read for us.

It's a parable which I think, like many parables, is prone to misunderstanding.

If you are a entrepreneur in this congregation and you are thinking to yourself,

well, here's biblical justification for market capitalism,

you're probably not really understanding it.

And I want to labor, if I may, this morning, a little bit on the introduction

because it's really important that you understand a little bit about the background to this.

And to know that, we need to look in the previous chapter, chapter 24.

And in that chapter, Jesus himself is prophesying the events that will precede his return to earth.

And it's a pretty shattering resume, I think you would agree with me.

Let me just read a little bit of that.

He says,

Watch out that no one deceives you, there will be deception.

Many will come in my name, claiming I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

See that you're not alarmed.

Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be famines, earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of the birth pangs.

In other words, what's about to follow in chapter 24 is Jesus addressing his disciples.

We know that he was talking to his disciples because it tells us in chapter 24 and verse 3,

as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately.

Tell us, they said.

Tell us, when will the end happen?

And what will be the signs of your coming and of the end of the age?

The rest of chapter 24 and 25 is there to prepare disciples, people like you and me,

for that time when the Lord will return.

And I know that it's 2,000 years now since Jesus said those things.

And though in our heads we know that Jesus promises to return, in our hearts,

many of us, I think, find that very hard to appropriate.

I love the story of the Methodist minister who was approached by the Jehovah's Witness leader.

And the Jehovah's Witness leader said to the Methodist minister,

could we borrow some chairs from your church for our Sunday night meeting?

The Methodist minister was interested into why this might be and asked,

why do you need more chairs for Sunday evening?

He said, well, we've calculated that the world will end on Sunday evening at 8 o'clock.

The Methodist minister looked distinctly worried.

He said to the men, so when will I get the chairs back?

And the Jehovah's Witness said, Monday morning.

The point is, the idea of the Lord's return is a little distant to us.

And yet, it is very central to the core teaching of the New Testament,

and indeed the Old Testament, as we heard a little earlier from the book of Malachi.

There is more about the Second Coming of the New Testament than there is about Holy Communion,

than there is about lots of subjects which are second nature to us.

But we tend to be a little iffy around the Second Coming of Jesus.

First time Jesus came, he came not to judge, but to save.

The second time Scripture teaches us, he will come to judge.

Friends, there will be a day when you will face judgment.

I don't know how much time you think reflecting on that.

But you will be judged.

If you are a believer, then you will not be judged on your family relationship with God.

You will be judged on whether you, if I might quote Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9,

Ephesians 2:8

you will be judged on, have you received Christ by grace through faith?

That's God's amazing plan to help human beings like us escape the consequences of our sin.

It is by grace you've been saved through faith, so that you can't boast.

And this parable is one of those parables,

which is meant to prepare us for that time when the Lord will return.

That's the most important thing to remember about this.

If I were to put it in a simple sentence, I would say,

the meaning of this parable is,

when the Master returns, will he find you faithful?

And by faithful, the Bible doesn't just mean, you know,

faith like it's some kind of abstract gas that, you know, I might breathe in occasionally.

It means that you have trusted the promises of God for your salvation.

And it also means that you've worked hard to build his kingdom here on earth.

And here's the massive distinction.

You will not be saved by your effort.

You don't need to be.

But as James put it in chapter 3 and verse 17 of his book,

he said,

faith without action is what?

A dead thing.

We're not saved by our effort,

but we are saved for effort to bring the kingdom of God in.

Christianity is not a spectator sport.

Because faith without action is a dead thing.

Now, I want to teach you something really fundamental

in terms of your journey through life with Jesus Christ.

And it's to do with the way that we interpret the Bible.

There are basically two fundamental ways that we think about the Bible.

Two words that sound a bit tricky.

The first one is the word exegesis.

If you've not got your teeth in properly, don't say it.

Exegesis.

What that means is,

and Luther put it very well,

Martin Luther the reformer,

Martin Luther said,

let the text speak for itself.

In other words,

exegesis is taking the Bible,

trying to explain the context,

as I've just been trying to do,

trying to explain the language,

as I hope to do,

and to interpret the meaning of it from the text.

And where the text is obscure,

what people who believe in exegesis do is,

they use the Bible to interpret other bits of the Bible.

So we don't just take one verse and build a doctrine on it.

We look at the whole of Scripture

and build our doctrine upon that.

Since the end of the 19th century,

another way of interpreting the Bible has gathered pace.

It's called eisegesis.

And eisegesis is where we read back into Scripture

our own ideas.

It sounds weird that anybody would do that,

but trust me,

that explains a lot.

And as we'll see in a few moments' time,

this parable,

and the way it's been interpreted in history,

and more recently,

explains very well

what eisegesis is.

I want to tell you that I think you're very blessed

because in this church,

we believe in exegesis.

We believe that we should let the text speak for itself.

But there are many churches up and down this land

that believe in eisegesis.

And the problem is,

it's not quite as clear-cut

as I've just made it sound.

I think there are moments

when those of us who are into exegesis

actually do read back in the Scripture

some of our ideas.

So in this church,

we don't insist that every woman

comes to church with a hat on.

We don't tell people what they should eat.

Oh, you shouldn't eat seafood or pork

because the Bible says so.

I mean, you might not eat seafood or pork

because you're a vegan or a vegetarian.

That's a different reason.

So it's not quite as clear-cut as I made it sound.

But generally speaking,

we would stand on the side

of letting the text speak for itself.

Now, this parable is very interesting to me

because historically and traditionally,

the church has interpreted

this particular parable in this way.

The first thing is,

in the parable,

the church has obviously equated

the master in the story

as God or Christ.

Secondly,

it's interpreted the servants

as believers entrusted with gifts,

abilities, resources,

and opportunities.

The third part of the interpretation

is that talents relate

to our God-given resources.

When the Bible's talking about talents,

it's not talking about talent

in the way we usually think about it.

It's not thinking of Britain's got talent,

which apparently it does.

It's thinking about talents

in the sense that

our translation of the Bible

that Catherine read for us

talks about bags of gold.

It was about money.

And in fact,

one talent in today's money

would be 20 years' wages.

So you're given five talents.

You've been given

a hundred years' worth of wages.

The first two servants

in the traditional interpretation

are faithful disciples

who use what God gives

to advance his kingdom.

The third servant

is unfaithful,

lazy,

and fearful,

and who fails to use

God's resources

for God's purposes.

We can say with confidence

from the traditional

reading of this parable,

firstly,

that the Master will return,

Christ will return.

I've taught you about that.

Secondly,

his servants will be judged

by the Master.

And thirdly,

their family relationship

with God

won't be brought into question.

But more along the lines

of what did you do

with what God gave you?

Now, I want you,

if you would,

to contrast this

with the modern

eisegetical interpretation.

In that interpretation,

the Master

is a wealthy,

exploitative landowner.

The servants

are agents

of the Master's exploitation.

The talents

are vast sums of money

obtained through

unjust systems.

The first two servants

are complicit

in that exploitation.

And the third servant

becomes the hero

under this interpretation.

The morally courageous

whistleblower

who refuses

to be complicit

with unjust systems.

The Master's return

is the corrupt power

demanding profit

and punishing

non-compliance.

And the

main message

of that

eisegetical

explanation

is God's kingdom

is unlike

exploitative

economies.

Now, friends,

we will

have in church

this morning

different

understandings.

and I would

say myself

that the

more modern

translation

of that parable

I think

is making

some good points.

I just don't think

that those good points

emerge from this

particular parable.

Is that clear?

So it's making

good points.

I think our world

suffers from

exploitation.

We call it

greedy capitalism

these days.

It doesn't mean

that all capitalism

is wrong

or it has to be

you know,

it is inherently

greedy.

But it does mean

that you can't

use this parable

as a basis

to dictate

what economic

system

they will be.

So, my

introduction

over.

Verse 1

of chapter

25

tells us

it says

it will

be like

a man.

What is

the it?

It means

the end

of time.

That's what

Jesus has been

talking about

in chapter

24.

The parable

of the

ten virgins

the message

of that is

be prepared

for the

Lord's

return.

Incidentally,

there's a church

in High

Wickham

that used

to do

this

wayside

pulpit

thing

and they

would put

the titles

of their

sermons

on the

wayside

pulpit,

this big

kind of

notice board

and the

morning sermon

was about

the work

of Jesus

on the cross

and the

title of the

sermon was

What Can

One Man

Do?

In the

evening

they were

talking about

the parable

of the

virgins

and so

it read

on the

notice board

What Can

One Man

Do?

And then

it said

ten

unprepared

virgins.

Think about

it.

So the

it in this

story is

the return

of Jesus

and

amazingly

the master

calls his

servants

and entrusts

to them

his property.

Well

obviously

it doesn't

mean that

this is about

our material

goods alone

though it does

include them.

What it means

is that

God has

entrusted

to his

church

his disciples

a legacy

and the

legacy

is

put in

Matthew's

gospel at

the end

going to

all the

world

and make

disciples

of all

people

baptize

them

in the

name of

the

father

and the

son

and the

holy

spirit.

What God

has

bequeathed

to us

is the

task of

building

his kingdom

here on

earth.

And what

this

parable

gets

after is

what part

are you

playing

in that?

We have

three

interesting

examples

here of

people who

are playing

their part

or not.

The first

one he

decides to

give five

talents to.

It's

interesting

isn't it

that the

master in

this story

doesn't give

all disciples

equal talents.

The Bible

is very

clear that

we're all

equal before

God but

that's

different

than saying

we're the

same.

People have

different gifts

and abilities.

People have

different levels

of intellect.

We're not

the same.

And the

master hands

out the

talents on

the basis

of the way

he understands

it.

I imagine

the one who

got five

talents was

a very

entrepreneurial

self-motivated

kind of leader

in the

organization.

foundation

and the

master

takes the

view this

person can

be entrusted

with a

hundred years

worth of

wages.

The second

one less

so.

And the

last one I

think that

probably one

of these

people who

found it

even difficult

to get up

in the

morning and

get to

work on

time.

And he

gives him

one talent

and you

know the

way the

story goes.

The one

with five

talents

fulfills the

master's

confidence in

him and

makes a

load of

money.

The second

one does

pretty well

also.

The third

one.

And this

is the

terrible

point of

this service.

Of the

one who

went and

buried his

talent in

a field

and then

dug it

up when

the master

returns.

The

master's

judgment

over this

person is

take the

talent from

him and

give it

to the

one who

has the

ten

talents.

For

everyone who

has will

be given

more and

he will

have an

abundance.

Whoever

does not

have even

what he

has will

be taken

from him.

Listen,

I'm not

here this

morning to

shame you,

to make you

feel bad

about what

you're not

doing.

But what

I want

to do is

try to

encourage you

to believe

one of two

things.

The first

thing is

whether you

feel it

or not,

God has

given you

gifts if

you are

his disciple.

The Bible

gives us

some lists

of those

gifts.

They're not

exhaustive,

but you

can read

about them

in Romans

12 and

1 Corinthians

12.

They're not

all spooky

gifts like

prophecy and

the gift of

tongues,

though they

are included.

But some

of them

are very

basic,

important

gifts for

the building

of God's

kingdom.

In Romans

we're told

that leadership

is important.

We're told

that administration

is important.

This is a

story that

tells us

that unproductive

disciples are

not really

disciples at

all.

And you

notice in

this story

that the

guy who

just had

one talent,

he says

this to

God,

Master,

I know

that you're

a hard

man,

harvesting

where you've

not sown

and gathering

where you've

not scattered

seeds,

so I was

afraid and

went out

and hid

your talent

in the

ground.

See,

here is

what belongs

to you.

See,

the problem

for this

guy is,

his idea

of God

was all

wrong.

The Bible

reveals God

to be

merciful.

This man

thought God

was just a

kind of

hard case,

impossible to

please.

We might

say that

this is the

kind of

person who

uses the

right language

around religion

but truly

does not

believe in

the God

of the

Bible.

Jesus

says,

doesn't he,

in Matthew

Matthew 7:21

7,

verse 21,

not everyone

who says

to me,

Lord,

Lord,

will enter

the kingdom

of heaven,

but only

those who

do the

will of

my Father.

God's

got a

plan for

your life.

And you

need to

work it

out and

you need

to go

do it.

I

wonder,

I

wonder,

how many

of us

sitting in

church today

are even

aware that

God gives

us gifts,

but secondly,

if we are

aware of

that,

do we

know what

those gifts

are?

And there

are various

ways you

can discover

this.

I mean,

you can go

and talk

with a

friend who

loves you

enough to

tell you

the truth

and say,

if you

ever think

you're

leaning

towards a

particular

gift,

go and

talk it

through with

a friend

who you

trust,

who loves

you enough

to tell

you the

truth.

The reason

I say

that is

we can

be deluded.

We can

think we're

good at

stuff that

nobody else

on planet

earth thinks

we're good

at.

Imagine,

friends,

imagine a

church where

every member

took their

talents,

to use the

language of

the New

Testament,

and used

them to

glorify God,

to edify the

church,

and to

serve the

world.

Imagine,

we had

people,

as we're

blessed in

this church

with,

we need

some more,

but we're

blessed with

the ones

we have,

who have a

gift for

teaching our

children.

children.

Imagine that

the people

who were

teaching our

children were

the people

who were

gifted to

teach our

children.

Imagine a

church where

people who

preached

messages had

a gift for

communication.

What a

wild idea.

See,

that's the

way the

body is

supposed to

work.

Paul uses

that image,

doesn't he,

in 1 Corinthians,

when he

talks about

the church

as a

body,

where the

parts are

different,

but they're

meant to

work in

harmony with

one another.

I used

to do a

family service

talk in the

days when I

was keen on

that stuff,

and I

made this

giant

puzzle,

jigsaw

puzzle,

puzzle.

And I

take the

puzzle,

and we

talk about

it,

and each

puzzle has

a different

gift on it,

put it

together,

and then,

how frustrating

is this,

when you end

a puzzle and

you can't

find the

last piece.

So I

made a big

play of not

being able to

find the

last piece,

but of course

the last

piece had

the word

you written

on it.

And if

you're not

playing your

part, the

church can

never be

fully

functional.

Christianity

is not a

spectator

sport.

And you

remember that

there's a

very

interesting

little

verse here.

When the

master is

commending

the servant

who's made

five talents,

he says,

well done,

good and

faithful.

You've

been faithful

with a few

things.

I will put

you in

charge of

many things.

Come and

share your

master's

happiness.

I want to

end by

just reflecting

something that

I found

true,

having had a

ministry for

the past

30 years,

which has

taken me

into a

different

church almost

every Sunday.

And it's

this,

that there

are a lot

of people

who sit

in our

churches

frustrated

Sunday by

Sunday.

Whatever

sharing in

the master's

joy is,

it's not

self-evidently

true.

true.

And,

you know,

that

experience,

which,

I mean,

there are

some companies

which are

really good

at,

but you

know,

when you've

got something,

either it

doesn't work

or,

you know,

I mean,

I am the

world's worst

do-it-yourself

guy,

okay?

I mean,

most of the

houses we've

lived in have

been a

testimony to

my bodging

attempts.

My shells

look great,

providing you

look like

that.

Okay?

And there

are two

words which

fill a person

like me with

fear,

and those

two words

are flat

packed.

And I

remember one

day I

got this

bathroom

cabinet

from,

I think I

can say

the name,

you guessed

it anyway,

Ikea,

flat packed.

Took me

four days

to get it

to the

point where

I couldn't

take it

apart and

I couldn't

finish it.

So I

took it

back.

And they

said,

you can't

bring that

back.

I said,

well,

I get that

in a way,

but here's

my point.

The

instructions

aren't that

clear.

And so I

said,

well,

what do you

want?

So I

said,

I want

my money

back.

And just

to conflate

the message

I got from

Ikea,

it was,

well,

you can

go and

whistle for

that.

Oftentimes,

we struggle

to get our

money back.

And I

say that

to you,

because

metaphorically

thinking,

I think

there are

people who

sit in

churches

Sunday by

Sunday.

And

metaphorically

speaking,

they want

their money

back.

I don't

mean they

want their

giving back.

I mean,

they're just

frustrated by

it.

And I

want to

leave you

with this

thought.

You want

to share

in the

master's

happiness?

Find out

the gifts

that God

has given

you.

Offer

them to

him,

and you

will find

a joy

that

today you

cannot

begin to

imagine.

But this

parable is

not just

about practical

advice,

it's about

an important

spiritual

message,

a chilling

spiritual

message.

And that

is,

for all

the talk

of inclusion

in our

culture today,

much of

which I

think is

very helpful,

some of

which I

think is

strange.

But the

frightening

thing is

the very

final verse

of the

reading that

we had.

It's the

kind of

verse,

I think,

that many

of us,

if we

had,

you know,

one of

those pens

that makes

writing

indelible,

we'd like

to do it

over this

verse.

The very

last verse

of the

parable of

the talents.

Speaking of

the servant

who had

buried the

one talent

he got

and then

tried to

give it

back to

his master.

The

master says,

and throw

that worthless

servant

outside into

the darkness

where there

will be a

weeping

and gnashing

of teeth.

the Bible

says,

you're God's

workmanship.

He has

crafted you.

I know

some of us,

I put myself

ahead of the

queue,

look in the

mirror and

think to

yourself,

I wish it

could have

just been a

little long

lasting than

it is.

But you're

God's

workmanship.

You can

look in a

mirror and

remind yourself

of that

every day.

I have

God's

workmanship.

He's put

me together.

Okay,

I've got some

stuff that

messes me up,

but Jesus

can heal me

from that

stuff and

set me

free.

Free to

do what?

Free to

do what I

want?

No.

Free to

do what

God wants?

Yes.

Go into

all the

world.

And make

disciples of

all nations

and baptize

them in the

name of the

Father and

of the Son

and of the

Holy Spirit.

That's the

work that

God has

entrusted to

us.

And

together,

God willing,

we have the

resources to

make that

happen.

And you

are part of

that picture.

Let's pray.

God, I'm

our gracious

Lord, we

thank you for

your word.

Thank you

again that it

is truth.

And Lord, we

really don't

want to just

be cold

processes of

truth.

But Lord, we

want to play

our part in

your great

plan to

save the

world.

world.

And Lord,

whatever our

gifts are, we

pray that you

would help us

to know what

they are and

to offer them

to you, that

we might glorify

your wonderful

name, edify

your amazing

church, and

serve the

world which is

in such need

at this time.

And we

pray these

things together,

Father, and

the people who

agreed said

together.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.