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What is the point or heart of this parable? We can say that it
is about maximizing whatever opportunitiesGod and time give us to
expand the Kingdom. Or we can say that if you are a true disciple of
Jesus you will show the evidence of living a fruitful life for His
glory as we wait for His return. The wicked servant
in V.26 is called "lazy" because he didn't invest
his one talent and bring a return on investment to the master. He
wasn't productive with what he'd been entrusted. The
others were. Again we have the two basic classes of people.
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Let's think about this element of trust involved in V.14
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted
his property to them." We saw this in a previous parable about the faithful
and wise servants in 24:45. The master put the faithful servant
in charge of the other servants of his household. In this parable
the master puts his servants in charge of his property. It is amazing
that God entrusts us with his property. He expects us to handle it well
until Jesus returns. 1 Cor. 4:2 "Moreover, it is required of stewards that
they be found trustworthy." This too is at the heart
of the parable. What counts to God: that we be faithful. In the parable
they are entrusted with the master's commercial interests, his money.
But we know that money and commerce are not on God's priority list.
What is? This parable isn't about being a good businessman or frugal
with whatever money you have.
What are we entrusted with that is so important to God? 1 Cor. 4:1
tells us: "This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ andstewards of
the mysteries of God." The mysteries of God are the revealed truths
about God and salvation in Christ alone that we have
in the Word of God. We have to take every opportunity
that we can to invest these mysteries in the lives of other people
(starting with ourselves!)and then let them produce whatever fruit God gives. O
what a great privilege and what a great responsibility.
We have the mysteries of God, those truths that God has revealed
to mankind, through Christ and the Bible.
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You are ready for Christ's return if you are busy investing
the mysteries of God in Christ in the lives of other people wherever, whenever
the opportunities arise. You are not ready for his return
if you don't know how to invest these mysteries or if you are slack
and refuse to take the Holy Spirit ordained opportunities that come
your way. That is why Paul told Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:2 "Preach
the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with
great patience and careful instruction."
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Sometimes our first response to this requirement of investing
the mysteries of God is to say: "I can't do that!" "I don't have the
kind of talent or skill it takes to be good at that!" "I am not as good as so
and so at telling others about the mysteries of Christ!" Sounds like Moses
in Exodus 4:10-13 "But Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent,
either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech
and of tongue." Then the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who
makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore
go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."
But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." God got angry
at Moses' resistance to accepting his assignment to tell Pharaoh of the glory
of the God of Abraham! Neither is God pleased when we refuse to tell other people
about the mystery of Christ and the Cross!
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We can't miss in this parable that the servants were given different
amounts of talents, 5-2-1. People are given different amounts of
responsibility according to their different levels of ability.
V.15 "…each according to his ability." You are not required by God
to be great, but to be faithful, that's
the issue. The man with 2 talents should stop comparing himself with
the man with 5 or 10 and thinking that because he's not a John Piper,
God doesn't really think so highly of him. Each of us is called
not to underestimate our talents but work up to our individual capacities
for the Kingdom of Christ.
There's a clear 'principle of individuality' at work here. What God
looks for is your heart attitude. We see that in V.16 "The man
who had received the five talents went at once and put his money
to work and gained five more." He wasn't a foot-dragger, excuse-maker, opportunity-squanderer
like Moses was at first. Some believers are like that for their entire
lives, never investing the mysteries of God in Christ with anyone!
The point is in this parable that EVERYONE gets at least one talent
to invest and he should do his dead level best to make
it productive. The point is that if you know Christ
and you want to be ready for the return of Christ, they you should
be investing the gospel of Christ in the lives of people!
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The master gave the exact same commendation to both men who used
their talents. V.21 & V.23 "Well done, good and faithful servant!
You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master's happiness." Both men had produced a 100% increase
from where they started. "Their initial endowment
was different, but each had achieved the same rate of return, and
the master's commendation is as warm for the less fully endowed as
for the more favored." (France) So, we all should make peace with
our own limitedness and seek to be as fruitful as we possibly can
the way God made us and in the opportunities God provides
for us, all to His great glory.
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The wicked, lazy servant made tons of excuses even though he
knew the master expected every servant to work hard with
his talents. He has everything taken away from him and given to the man who had
10. V.29 has a great principle in it: God will abundantly
reward those who are faithful, more than abundantly reward
them! As we persevere in the Christian faith, we can expect
in the last judgment of God an extraordinary reward in heaven!
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V.30 is chilling: "And throw that worthless servant outside,
into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." He
represents people who knew about the gospel but had
never applied it first to their own lives, let alone invest
it in the lives of others. Darkness, pain, regret, sorry, crying, anguish…all
these are realities that await those who reject Christ
and are not ready at the parousia. "This language of ultimate judgment
is deployed again to warn the reader to take the parable's message seriously."
(France) Do you take this parable seriously this morning, my friend?
Which servant are you? Will you be commended or exposed
in the last judgment when the Master returns?
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Now we have the majestic climax of all the parables about the parousia.
We see the majesty of Jesus in V.31 -32 which pictures the great Son of
Man taking His rightful place as Supreme Judge over all
the nations. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,
he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations
will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put
the sheep on his right and the goats on his left."
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The unmistakable theme is "separation." The sheep
are separated from the goats. The wheat and tares were allowed to
grow together during human history, but now there is the harvest
and separation. In Mt. 13 we read similarly: "Once again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all
kinds of fish. 48When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up
on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw
the bad away. 49This is how it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and
throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth." O how this should affect us deeply in prayer, witnessing
and living for Christ! Who are the sheep and who are the goats?
The sheep are people who know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior
from condemnation. They are the ones who, when they stand before God in the final
Judgment, will be admitted to eternal heaven only because
they trust totally, fully, utterly and completely in the blood of
Jesus as their reason for not being sent to hell for their sin. The goats
are the people who thought they knew Jesus, thought they were religious
enough, who thought they knew a little bit about the Bible, thought
they were good enough to gain merit and enter heaven because of
their behavior in life and who thought Jesus would recognize their goodness
and be OK with what they had accomplished on their own
in life. They were severely self-deceived, self-righteous and shocked
when Jesus put them on His left and not His right hand. They are thrown into the
fiery furnace to suffer the same eternal fate as the devil!
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The Son of Man is supremely skilled to do the separating. He knows
his own. Not one of them will be mistaken
for a goat. Aren't you glad that the Son of Man doesn't miss a single
one of his sheep in the final separation!! How shocking,
how serious, how dreadful, how exciting,
how eternal this amazing scene will be!
V.34 is the Christian's glory! "Then the King will say to those
on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." All
our spiritual blessings come directly from the Father. We are under
the waterfall of Father's favor and grace. We have an eternal, imperishable
inheritance waiting for us, the New Kingdom. Mt. 5:10 "Blessed are
those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."This
kingdom was not an afterthought or a Plan B; it was prepared for
the elect from before the beginning of the universe!
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Contrast the word "Come" in this verse with the word
"Depart" in V.41! Which word do you want to hear
from the lips of Jesus when he looks you in the eye?
Contrast the eternal destinies mentioned here "take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you" with "into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels", in V.41. O that we might
get some sense of eternity! We are so short-sighted.
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I want to end on the glorious note that those who fully trust
Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness
that they need to enter eternal glory will enjoy an eternal, never-ending,
indescribable life of joy in the very presence of Jesus
Christ when they die or He returns! There are no words to capture
the glory and intensity of eternal life with Christ! It is our future
hope, our encouragement when life gets tough, the source
of our spiritual energy, the vision that keeps us focused
when the spiritual warfare of this life threatens to bring us down.