The Power of Faithfulness: Transforming Little into Much

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Here we are. We

are here absolutely as opposed to there. In today's Friday, Yes, which

is your favorite day. It is my favorite. It's your favorite day because

you get to complain about the things you're mad about. And so today you're

going to be mad about the fact that we're not asking you what. What's

Chris mad about? What? I know what you mean? We're I know,

I know, she well does right. Oh, she put it in

here that we are pivoting a little bit. Okay, so it's fun to

see where our listeners are from. That's that's that only means it's going to

be next Friday. It just makes you madd I'm so angry. Well,

you might be angry about this this place. No, yes, see,

these people might make you mad. They're so mean, these people, the

people, that's right. So, uh, let's let's state a few fun

about this location. There's four of them, and we'll see if our listeners

can figure out what we're talking about. First, All right, you go

first, Okay, So here it is number one. It is considered to

be one of the most multi cultural cities in the world. I didn't know

that with more than one hundred and eighty languages that are spoken in the city.

One hundred and eighty languages, that is incredible. That's actually extremely interesting.

Yeah, you didn't know that one. And if they're listening from this

area, these people they already they already know, that's right, although if

they're speaking in one hundred and seventy nine other languages other than English, they

might not know what we're talking about. They have to be able to understand

as to listen. Okay, here we go. Number two. It has

the largest underground pedestrian system in North America, spanning more than thirty kilometers worth

of restaurants, shopping, services, and entertainment. Yes, there's a whole

ton of I've experienced this myself. Yeah, it's pretty amazing, isn't it.

It is very, very amazing. But there are several giveaways in that

last clue. Oh that's so funny. Yeah, here you go, all

right. Number four or number three. Movie stars that include that from the

city include Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, and Eugene Levy. Oh wow,

there you go. I knew I knew the first two. Yeah, I

didn't know Eugene knew. I knew Eugene was from this place, but I

didn't know he's from this city specific. Oh I see, I see okay.

And then number four, it is home to North America's only true castle.

Interesting, and what place is this? Toronto? Okay? Wow?

Yes, so you know those Canadians. The reason why you're mad is because

Canadians are just angry people. Yeah, they're so mean all the time.

Actually, Canadians are like the politest people. Yeah, so the most polite.

They always sorry sorry, yes, sorry, sorry a sorry. So

have you ever heard remember the game Angry Birds? Yes? So that was

invented by a kid from Finland Okay, Yeah, he's want to put together,

worked out the thing and it marketed and it did really well all over

the world Angry Birds, excepting Canada, and they had to change the name

to Sorry. I was so crossbirds because Canadians wouldn't play Angry Birds. Sorry.

I was so close. That's so funny. One of my best friends

in high school lived in London, Ontario, and I used to go and

spend big chunks this summer with them every year, ride the train as well,

hey, so when we got married, my wife and I July thirty

first, nineteen ninety two, by the way, Wow, we ended up

getting married, and you know how they do. We had five hundred and

ninety one people at our wedding, by the way, yeah, wow,

so big Italian wedding, and everybody gave them money. We had thousands and

thousands of dollars we collected. We counted them the next day, and we

knew that we were able to go pretty much anywhere on our honeymoon, like

anywhere, for the amount of money we got. We might not be able

to stay long, yeah, but you could go. But we could have

probably literally gone anywhere in the world. Yeah. And so I was an

easy person up until that point. I had never been to Disney World other

than when I was ten, and I was twenty one when I got married.

So I said, hey, I'd like to just settle for going to

Disney World. And my wife says, no, We're not going to Disney

World. She said, I'm going to go to Toronto, Ontario, this

place, right, yeah, And I said, there is no way out

of all the places in the world, if we're going to leave the country,

we're not going to go to Toronto, right, So what we ended

up doing is we compromised and we went to Toronto. Oh yeah for you

yeah yeah, wow, that's where I stayed. Yeah. So the idea

that it said it has the largest underground pedestrian system in North America, and

the clues were the kilometers, yes, in North America and North America.

Yeah, So it ended up turning. It turns out that we actually said,

oh, let's go, let's go, uh walk the underground. So

we went underground. We end up walking like hours and then it turns out

that it's such a maze. We didn't know where we were. So we

thought the number one, we're not walking back because we don't have it in

us to walk hours back. So we ended up just walking up out of

like a manhole, you know, like you know, popping up in the

middle of the street somewhere, and then catching a cab and saying, take

us back to a hotel. All right, So we walked that way underground

and then we came back the other way. That's a good idea. Cool.

Well, thank you for watching Toronto fans, yes and listeners. That's

amazing And I wonder how many people watch from Toronto. Yeah, yeah,

I don't know. She didn't say that. No, probably most most probably

most of the people Toronto languages. So I love Toronto except during hockey season

because the maple leafs are arch enemies. I see the red wings. Yep.

So there you go. Anyways, we are glad that you are listening.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. And our neighbors to the

north. Did you ever see the John Candy movie Canadian Bacon. No,

you've never seen that movie. I've never had. You have to go home

watch that movie. Oh wow. So he's a sheriff in Niagara Falls and

the president at the time of the United States, his numbers were plumbting,

and so his advisors come and said, well, you need a war.

That's what you need. Every every president has a war. It's good.

So they couldn't find the whole world was peaceful. So they decided they decided

to fake a problem. And they said, why is it that fifty percent

of the population lives within ten miles of the US border? Right, all

this stuff, and they start faking this like Canada is our enemy. And

John Candy is kind of a little bit of a crazy sheriff living across the

border, so he decides he's gonna invade and protect us from from Canada.

It's very funny. You never seen that movie? No, oh, you

guys see it Canadian Macon. Yeah, so that's that was my That's when

I learned to love the Canadians. Is from from John can Well. I'm

a John Candy fan, so I'll watch it. Okay, Well, I

can't believe I saw a movie you've never seen. I know. I feel

like, let's just close the whole podcast down. Today I achieved what I

meant to achieve today. Jesus healed the blind the lepers, and Jeff saw

movie. Christen, I saw a movie, a movie, yes, okay.

So today we are reading in Matthew chapter twenty five, and this is

all about how Jesus tells this parable of the loaned money. It's really maybe

you've heard the parable of the talents, right, talents? Yep? Yeah,

So here's what it says again. The King of Heaven can be illustrated

by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together

his servants and intrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave

five bags of silver to one two bags of silver to another, and one

bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities.

He then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of

silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant of two

bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant

who received one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and the hid

the master's money. After a long time, their master returned from his trip

called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The

servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver, came forward with

five more. Said, Master, you gave me five bags, I've earned

five more. The master was full of praise. Well done, my good

and faithful servant. You've been faithful in handling the small amount, so now

I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together. The servant who

received two bags of silver came forward and said, Master, you gave me

two bags of silver to invest, and I've earned two more. The master

said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in

handling the small amount, so now I'll give you many more responsibilities. Let's

celebrate together. Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said,

Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops where you

didn't plant, and gathering crops you didn't cultivate, and I was afraid I

would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look,

here's your money back. But the master replied, you wicked and lazy servant.

If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant, and gathered crops I

don't cultivate, why didn't you deposit up my money in the bank. At

least I could have gotten some interest on it. Then he ordered the money,

or ordered take the money from the servant and give it to the one

with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are

given, even more or will be given, and they will have an abundance.

But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be

taken away. Now throw this youthless servant into outer darkness, where they will

be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Ah, there you go. Wow,

turns out our king is an investor. Yes, and there's a reason why

he gives us wisdom and knowledge. And so he gave us a life to

invest. Just the other day, I was with my team, you know,

the arts team at our church, and we were talking about strategy and

talking about church growth and things like that, and then I felt the need

to Whenever you talk about like the business side of any type of organization,

like a church, you never want to make it seem like, you know,

it's it's about money, right, right, You never want to seem

like it's about numbers. Right. But at the same time we all know

that, Like, I apologetically celebrate numbers because every number is a soul,

you know, and Jesus very much cared about numbers, and God cares about

numbers, right. So it's one of these things where you sort of sway

back and forth and people, you know, you assume that people know the

heart of God. So you talk about numbers, you talk about money,

and you do it in the right way, and people have the right perspective

of God, then they understand that God has you know, he's a strategist,

he's an investor, right, and he wants us to be wise with

that which He's given to us. Right. But instead I have to apologize

and I have to say, hey, I know in this next few minutes,

I'm going to be talking about money and budget. But I don't want

you to get the wrong idea. It's not like I look at this as

a money thing, but money is involved, right, So anyway, I

just I just did that the other day. But anyway, all that to

say, this is a reminder once again that God gives us wisdom and knowledge

and wants us to be investors. He wants us to be wise is what

he's interested us with. By the way, couldn't this be misconstrued that God

is a bad servant or a bad master because he said, oh, a

Master, I know you're a harsh man, right, because that's supposed to

be God, right, it's the Master. And he says, because you

you harvest crops that you didn't plant, and you gather crops that you didn't

cultivate, I was afraid and so therefore I hit your money. Well,

first of all, I'm thinking, wait a minute, this guy doesn't know

God. This guy doesn't know the Master, because look how generous this man

is. And then he says to the servant, let's celebrate together. What

Master is going to celebrate with his servant? Nobody? Right? Right?

So obviously the third servant did not understand or know the Master. Well have

you have you ever had an employee that just thought you were like the devil

incarnate? Yes? Right, So you've got all these other employees that think,

hey, I like working for this guy. He's pretty great. Yeah,

and then you get somebody who's just guessing. They're guessing what you must

be like. Well, hardly. It's because they're wicked. He says that

you're wicked and you're lazy. Right, So my boss is a jerk because

he expects me to produce something, right, and so I knew that you're

what you want is you want me to produce for you. You didn't produce

it, you just take it, That's what he's saying. But the Master's

saying, wait a minute, I gave you all that to invest to produce

it, right, And so so it's the it's not on the Master,

right, it's on the perception of the servant, right, and choosing to

be if the Master is bad and and and he's thinking that because because the

Master admits he says, if you knew, which means he is admitting it.

If you knew that our harvest crops I didn't plant and gather crops I

didn't cultivate. Then then that didn't make any sense, is what you're saying

to the man. Then you should have at least depositive because that earns interest.

But the thing about the Master is he doesn't explain why he's harvesting crops

they didn't plant and why he's gathering crops he didn't cultivate, which means that

God has his own reasons, and you can almost guarantee that they're not wicked

reasons. Well, God's not affirming that what that guy said is true.

He's only saying if you knew that that was true, or if you believed

that. Oh, so he's saying, then why didn't you do this?

Then why didn't you do it? Because even your complaints don't make it,

that's what he's saying, even your complaint doesn't make any sense. Yah,

yeah, yeah, okay, okay, right now, No, no,

lie, he did take what he didn't produce. The Master gives five and

gets ten back. He didn't produce that ten, right or the extra five.

It was the other guy that did. So it's the perception of this

guy, say, you're taking advantage of us, What do you mean,

because, like you pointed out already, what do you mean that the Master

goes in parties with them because they do such a good dobt right and honors

them? Yes, and who do you think is going to pay for the

ceremony because they're giving all the money back to the Master. And he said

a little bit, I'm going to give you even more, right, right,

everybody's having fun on that's right, this is all great, this is

great, right, But this this one guy has this, he's filling in

the gaps. He's decided he doesn't like the tactics of the Master, which

you know, I was in a conversation one time on an airplane and this

guy was saying, well, I'm an atheist, right. I'm like,

wow, I almost have never actually met an atheist. So you've proven there

is no God? Is that right? Right? And then he's like,

oh, maybe I'm just you. Pivn's immediately to agnostic and I said,

well, what's your influence for being a atheist? And he starts talking about,

you know, Christopher Hitchens and a bunch of these famous atheists, and

he quotes a couple of quotes by these guys that are just like angry at

God, mad at God. God's a monster kind of a thing. And

I was like, wow, is that your experience? And he goes,

yeah, look at I look at the world, and that's the way I

see it too. He said, Man, I just wish you knew what

I knew. I wish you knew Jesus like I knew Jesus. And he

goes, what do you mean? And I said, it feels like you

got most of that argument from a book, right, that somebody else told

you about. And I'm telling you, while I have a book the Bible,

my personal experience with Jesus is totally different than what you're talking about.

And he goes, huh. And so then it turned into this personal experience

thing. So is interesting this atheist guy, I hate God, right,

and he's just ascribing all these bad things about God. And I'm like,

that's just not my experience, right, right, And I think that's what

you got. You got two guys going this is great, right, and

and God blesses them even more. You got one that's going on. I

hate him. I hate everything about him. And he's he's a he's a

thief and a robbery. He's taking what's not his right, and so I'm

afraid of him. I'm just gonna go hide it. Well, you know

when you said that the master wasn't affirming that he planted, you know,

crops, or he harves the crop, same plant, even if he had.

What I was bailing to is I was bailing to the no explanation explanation.

Oh yeah, yeah, right, because oftentimes he's just you know,

remember when he hired workers in the vineyard and then he decided to be generous

and unfair in everybody's favor, and then he just said, hey, what's

my business? Is my business? So I'm assuming always that God's motives for

doing what he's doing is always good, and it may appear unfair to people

who are again in this case, judging him. And then he's just going

to be like, hey, that's my business. But he didn't offer explanation.

But you're saying, chances are that's what't even true. Well, so

it was a wrong perception. But he's like, even if that's your perception,

you just backed yourself in the corner. You should have done something right,

because he's what he's doing here is he's not affirming what the guy says

is true. What he's affirming is the fact that he's still the master.

Right, that's what he's affirming. So if you knew I'm a master,

and you're afraid of me and you think I'm a jerk master, you should

have done something, you did nothing. And so when I look at that,

I think of it. You know, God's given us every resource we

have, So it's not just about my it's about everything. And he's given

us our time, he's given us our talents, he's given us the opportunities.

He's allowed you to be alive at this time in history. He's allowed

you to have the family that you had, the experiences that you've had.

He's allowed everything. He's given you twenty four hours a day, just like

he gave everybody else. He's all these things. Now, it's interesting because

it says that he gave it to them according to their abilities. Isn't that

what it says? Right? He gave five, one, he gave two

and one, he gave one according to the abilities, and he divided it

up in proportion to their abilities, which means none of them got more they

could handle, right, none of them, the Master knew exactly what they

could handle. And then so The measurement isn't how much do you produce.

The measurement is how well do you use what God gave you? Right,

So nobody's going to measure God is not going to measure any of our listeners

by what Jeff and Chris produced. God's not going to measure Jeff by what

Chris produced. Right. God's only going to measure us based on what did

you do with what I gave you? That's it. And by the way,

he didn't give you too much, and it's not too difficult. And

so I tell people all the time, you currently have everything you need to

honor God today. Everything you need you currently have to honor God today.

And then he says, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been

faith a little bit. I'm going to give even more. Let's go party,

right, And so it's so good when you've been faithful. So sometimes

you find yourself in a little role or a little job, or a little

thing, and you get frustrated with it because you think, man, if

I had a bigger job, if I had a bigger role, if I

had a bigger thing, I would be great at that. Well, then

be great at the little thing, because that's how God works, that says,

let me test you on the little thing, I'll give you more.

And we just had this conversation talking about staff members and things like that that

hey, he's spent being faithful with this little thing. It's time to let's

elevate him and bring him up a new opportunity because they've been being faithful.

And I just think if we can understand the importance of faithfulness, sticking it

out, doing the right thing, and giving God glory for what he gave

us, then we can trust it he'll give us more. Yeah. And

that's been my experience me too. Yeah. And so you know, think

about every person who well, I shouldn't say every person, I'm just gonna

say it feels like to me, every person that I admire and every person

that I know, you know personally and have you know, know the stories

there are great men and women of God. It feels like when they have

a lot of responsibility, a lot of influence, they've earned, you know,

top positions and and all these all these kind of opportunities, they all

seem to have a story where they pay their dues right, and it's it's

like, yeah, it's like I remember you know, back in the day,

they were just faithful, and they were faithful, and they were faithful,

and they started just like everybody else starts. And then what ends up

happening is is God rewards them and gives them more influence, more opportunities,

more blessing, and it just it seems like that's what ends up happening.

And the more faithful they are and the more talented and gifted they are,

it seems like God just gives more to them because they have more capacity.

Yeah, you know, it's just amazing. The first church I served in

on Staff, well, the first several churches, I certain it was fifteen

years. I was the everything else pastor sure sure. I literally mow the

lawn, join the club, change the urinal cakes in the men's room.

Right, I was the janitor. I was the everything else guy. And

it just seemed like it would never end, right. It felt like I

think I'm going to be And then I was poor my whole life. It

felt like everything it was just so hard, like it would never end.

And I could find myself on occasion if I didn't keep my heart in check

being a little resentful both of the call God had on my life making me

do this, and on the fact that I didn't have the other opportunities.

But I would say, now I look back, thank God. So many

times my wife would keep me heading in the right direction. Hey, be

faithful, be faithful, and God will bless us. And other times it

was me encouraging my wife. Hey, we just have to be faithful.

So we need to encourage each other. And I think it's neat that there's

three of them here and two of them did the right thing right one of

them didn't. I think we need to be on this journey with others and

understanding that we're all in this together. It's not just one of us and

it's just me. Right, This isn't a story of independence. It's a

story of individual responsibility. But two guys decided they could make it and they

were going to go forward. It was just the one who gave up and

quit and decided, I'm not even gonna get started. He never started,

right, right, that that's the failure was he never started, Yeah,

and not like that, but he buried it. And it says the master

return after a long time, Yeah, which means like this guy had nothing

could have you know, a long time means, yeah, he should have

at least gotten interest, well interest over a long time, right, It's

just it's not. Yeah. So I think sometimes our biggest mistake when we

don't know what we should do to give God a good return, our biggest

mistake is to do nothing, just bury it, right, right, So

do something and get some kind of return. And that's the that's the I

think the central message here of this this parable So it's great man. I

love that one. And that's our time and it's a great place to end.

So hopefully we will see you next time on the Bible guys. Mhm h