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This is a parable found in the context of
Jesus’ teaching on the end of the world. So far we’ve been challenged to be
watching because Jesus is coming...now we’re told to be working. Not just
looking for Him, but laboring for Him in the meanwhile because the time is
short, there is much to do, and once eternity begins we will wish we had
done more for Him!
If you are a serious Christian, then Jesus is
your boss, and you should work for Him. Don’t be the type that punches a
card before and after each service...you should be here other times during
the week, and out and about serving Him full time. We did a census and we
have plenty of Christians who consider themselves to have been saved to
sit...and they do it faithfully...but sitting and soaking leads to
souring...we are saved to serve! He’s our King, and we are servants in His
courts. He’s the Lord, and it’s a privilege just to be a peasant.
Psalms 84:10
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
There’s 2 periods of time in this parable:
The present day of responsibility
The future day of accountability
Right now we need to live in the present, but
be thinking about the future! We will one day be held accountable...
Don’t give God the leftovers of your life,
give Him your best! If you can be on time for work you can be in place and
on time on the Lord’s Day. If you can organize and plan a vacation then you
can plan and prepare your lesson for the little ones you teach. If you can
look at your calendar and set aside a future date for something exciting
then you can make God a priority in advance, and decide “As for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord!”
People are getting saved, and if you have
already been saved, you should be willing to disciple one of them. It will
be great for both of you, and God can do it thru you. God is not a beggar,
He’s God! But I’m a beggar and we need you!!
Remembering the future day of accountability
will turn a pew warmer into a servant of God! God might as well take you on
to heaven if you won’t do what He left you here to accomplish. And you
can’t buy God off...I’m glad if you tithe, but that is not why God left you
here.
1. The Servant’s Ability.
A “Talent” is a measure of money, not an
ability, but it applies just the same. In each case every one got a
different amount, but all got a lot, even if less than another. For
instance, the one w/ 5 talents got about 100 year’s wages! 2 talents = 40
years – 1 talent was still 20 years wages!
The Master represents the Lord Jesus, who
said I go to prepare a place for you. We are the servants in the parable.
The talents represent our abilities, our possessions, and our opportunities
to serve the Lord.
We all have time, talents, and treasures to
use for the Lord...and the key is not how much of each you have, but how
faithful you are with whatever you have.
Everyone has been given something. Each has
something in their hand. We all can serve God in some way! And we’re all
different because we are a body, and each one of us are body parts, and God
wants us to work together as a team...interdependence is the key word...we
need each other, and when you aren’t filling your place there is a hole left
over, and that’s not fair to the others, to God, and not even to you!
Many of you can do great things that I cannot
do. I can do some things I was designed and trained for...but we all are
necessary.
Ill.—Peter and Andrew were brothers, but very
different. One was loud, the other quiet, one spoke to crowds, the other
was more personable one on one. One had more strengths but also more
weaknesses, and Peter wouldn’t ever have seen thousands saved if he hadn’t
been won to the Lord by his own brother!
Ill.—Billy Graham was won by Mordecai Hamm,
who came thru Billy Sunday, who came thru J. Wilbur Chapman, who was won by
D.L. Moody, but Moody was won by his s.s. teacher in Boston when he was 17.
He was just a businessman named Edward Kimball, who went out after work and
visited every member of his class to ask them if they were saved. He found
Moody in the stock room behind the shoe store where he worked, and there in
a room full of shoes he led one guy to Christ, but also started a chain
reaction that won millions and is still in progress today!
Good thing Mr. Kimball didn’t bury his
talent, but used what little he had for God! He took his duty seriously,
and wasn’t just a duty Christian warming a pew. God rewarded not great
talent, but just faithfulness. You may not feel like you can do much, but
this is something you can do...you can be faithful with what you have!
The servant’s ability...
2. The Servant’s Activity.
v. 16 He went to work!
v. 17 He was just as faithful!
Don’t expect God to give you more until you
are faithful with what you’ve got. Do what you know, then grow. No
skipping steps!
God has blessed me w/a great church, and now
a worldwide ministry that I never dreamed of when I was starting out doing
my bus routes, puppets in jr. church, singing in choir, talking to a friend
on the street about being saved, starting a Bible club, going to nursing
homes, scrubbing toilets at the church, vacuuming acres of carpet, changing
the trash, wiping snotty noses, serving food, pulling weeds, picking up
trash, doing fundraisers, washing cars, recruiting kids for camp, driving
for trips, lettering the sign, etc...and by the way, I’m still doing most of
those things because I’m not above them, they are part of what has made me
who I am today...and if only I’ll be faithful today, God may make more of me
some day!!
Are you using your talents? Do you play an
instrument? Can you sing? Can you wash a dish or pilot a broom? Can you
talk to people? You can serve the Lord!
It’s true, we are happiest when we do what
are made to do, but we need reminded of something important: Often God
won’t let us do what we want to do until we prove ourselves willing to do
something we don’t want to do.
I’m passionate about this, because we live in
the days of convenience based Christianity, and today more than ever people
do what they want to do, not what they need to do! We should be asking,
where am I needed, but instead we ask, what do they have that will do the
most for me?
My wife and I both could have gone into music
careers that would have included more fame and applause than what we do
today. I’ve had offers to travel w/ major national groups, we could focus
on recording and selling cds, but we don’t. We left a cushy, comfortable
position as Assistant Pastor in a wonderful place, making more money, doing
far less work, and why? Because servants aren’t celebrities. There’s work
to do, and it was on 9/11 that I knew we needed to launch out and get to
work. Don’t get me wrong...I’m not complaining and I certainly wouldn’t
change a thing...God has rewarded us richly, and I just want to share this
testimony, not in pride or braggingly, because it is humility that has
brought us to the place we are today! My wife could play the part of the
professional pastor’s wife, and bask in the glory of the position and the
honor, but where is she? Oh yeah, in children’s ministries, and other times
she’s serving behind the scenes...she’s like several of our folks that are
the glue that holds things together, and help things operate out of the
limelight, out in the trenches!
Our servants get here first, leave last, and
never stop in between! They don’t ask how can this church be a blessing to
me, but how can I be a blessing to this church! Is it the nursery, or
children’s church, on visitation, painting a big block wall? Lemme at it!
There ought to be a waiting list to be a
discipler, but oh there’s a waiting list alright...a list of disciplee’s
just waiting for someone who will be willing to help them!
As fruitful as our children’s ministries are,
there should be people beating down the doors to try to get in on it! But
no, we are reduced to begging year round to try to give some relief to those
who do it all, who by the way, love every minute of it and will keep on
until it kills them if we don’t step up to the plate!
The 3rd man in this parable was
given one talent.
v. 18 This is the person who could
help, but for some reason they don’t. Maybe it’s unwillingness, or maybe
it’s innocent and they just need to know they are needed, and to get
networked to the right area. Maybe they don’t feel qualified but tonite
they realize that the best ability is just ‘availability!’
A day of accountability is coming.
v. 19 These last days we should be
watching and working, because the ‘long time’ in this verse has come and
gone. Back then his return was not immediate, today it is imminent!
Look at the results for the faithful:
·Praise—vv. 21, 23—not praise of
men, but of the Lord...if that doesn’t motivate you, there’s a deeper
problem in your heart!
·Promotion—the same verses
indicate reward, and this includes our position in God’s Kingdom...be a
servant today and you may just be a ruler in that day!
·Punishment for the
unfaithful—v. 30—is this suggesting he lost his salvation? No! It suggests
that a truly saved saint will serve! Now don’t serve in order to be
saved...it’s not by works...just realize that tho’ serving isn’t the root of
your salvation, it will be the fruit of your salvation!
Or view it below if you cannot open the pdf, above...
TIME, TALENTS, & TESTIMONY
We have listed a few
areas of service, and we encourage you to prayerfully mark the appropriate
areas in the survey below. This will help us to see where your natural
gifts, abilities and training fit into the ministry of Grace Baptist.
If you are presently working in one of the areas listed below, mark the
appropriate item with a “P” – If you would be interested in helping in a
given area on a regular or occasional basis, mark the item with an “X.”
Challenge:
Everyone should be serving in at least 1 “Support” ministry [physical /
talent / behind the scenes] and
1 “Soul” ministry
[spiritual / directly promoting the salvation and growth of others].
“Soul” ministries are in bold.
Natural Talents / Abilities & Training / Experience
Believing that God wants me to be a good
steward of my time, talents and testimony, I gladly offer my personal gifts,
abilities and interests (as noted above) into the Lord’s service at Grace
Baptist Church.
