SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Please take your Bible and open it to Matthew chapter 25.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 25, as we are in the middle of this chapter, with another parable, the third parable in this section.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 25, beginning in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: I forgot to take note of which page in the pew Bible that is, but it's in your bulletin, I believe, on the front cover.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 25, beginning in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to read verse 14 through verse 30, if you would follow along with me.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be reading from the English Standard Version.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is speaking here, and he's speaking about the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, For it, that is his kingdom, will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them to entrusted to them his property.
SPEAKER_01: To one he gave five talents, to another, two, to another one, each one according to his ability.
SPEAKER_01: Then he went away.
SPEAKER_01: He who had received the five talents went immediately and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
SPEAKER_01: So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
SPEAKER_01: But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
SPEAKER_01: And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, look, you delivered to me five talents.
SPEAKER_01: Here I have made five more.
SPEAKER_01: I will set you over much.
SPEAKER_01: Enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_01: And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents.
SPEAKER_01: Here I have made two talents more.
SPEAKER_01: His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little.
SPEAKER_01: I will set you over much.
SPEAKER_01: Enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_01: He also, who had received the one talent, came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.
SPEAKER_01: So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
SPEAKER_01: Here you have what is yours.
SPEAKER_01: But his master answered him, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and you gather and gathered where I scattered no seed.
SPEAKER_01: Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
SPEAKER_01: So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
SPEAKER_01: For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.
SPEAKER_01: But the one who has not, even what he has, will be taken away.
SPEAKER_01: And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, and that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
unknown: D.
SPEAKER_01: L.
SPEAKER_01: Moody once said, Everyone who wants to, everyone wants to enjoy heaven after they die.
SPEAKER_01: But they don't want to be heavenly minded while they live.
SPEAKER_01: Negatively, Moody's assertion describes the point of this parable.
SPEAKER_01: Now you will remember at the beginning of Matthew chapter 24, the disciples asked Jesus to tell them when he would be coming in all of his glorious power to reign as Israel's king.
SPEAKER_01: But the Lord responded to them that they cannot know.
SPEAKER_01: They were to wait diligently, always ready for his return.
SPEAKER_01: But as we saw last time, waiting is difficult, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus told two stories to illustrate that his followers are to wait faithfully, always prepared for his coming.
SPEAKER_01: Moody's statement applies to those two parables at the end of chapter 24 and the beginning of chapter 25.
SPEAKER_01: In essence, saying, not everyone who claims to be Christian will wait diligently and faithfully, always ready and always prepared.
SPEAKER_01: True believers in Christ will be ready, but many will be swept away to unexpected judgment at his return.
SPEAKER_01: That theme continues in this story, beginning in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot know the timing of the Lord's coming, so we must always be ready.
SPEAKER_01: We must wait with readiness, with preparedness, with faithfulness, always ready for the Lord to return.
SPEAKER_01: And this parable continues that same thing, but it takes a slightly different direction than the previous two.
SPEAKER_01: There's a master, like there is in the first parable at the end of chapter 24, a master who is a prosperous businessman, or maybe a landowner with expansive holdings, who rents out, who leases out his properties and expects payment, expects a return on the crops that are raised there.
SPEAKER_01: If there are no crops raised, or if the renters do not provide a capital return to him, then they're out.
SPEAKER_01: Income new renters.
SPEAKER_01: He goes away for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: And the timing of his return is unknown.
SPEAKER_01: And in the meantime, his servants are to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And as we see in Moody's quote, two of these servants possess the right mindset, while one does not.
SPEAKER_01: So we could say that the point of this story is that we must wait for Jesus to come back for us, and we must wait with heavenly-mindedness.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, we shouldn't be so heavenly-minded that we're of no earthly good, right?
SPEAKER_01: So perhaps it would be helpful to restate Moody's assertion as we consider this parable.
SPEAKER_01: We could say that in response to God's grace, genuine disciples will serve Jesus in the present while we wait, hopefully, for his return.
SPEAKER_01: There are three parts to that statement that will guide us through this story.
SPEAKER_01: There's the grace of Jesus, there's service to Jesus, and there's waiting hopefully for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let's consider those aspects, beginning with the grace of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This story ends dramatically with judgment.
SPEAKER_01: So beginning with grace is significant.
SPEAKER_01: The conclusion identifies this as a kind of scary story.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't end joyfully, it ends with potential real judgment.
SPEAKER_01: But as F.
SPEAKER_01: D.
SPEAKER_01: Bruner commented, Jesus tells scary stories because he loves people and he wants to save them from messed up lives and ruined eternities.
SPEAKER_01: So it's a measure of grace for Jesus to tell this frightening story for the world to hear through his disciples and for us to pick up and read.
SPEAKER_01: Read this.
SPEAKER_01: Hear this, hearing God's grace to you.
SPEAKER_01: The characters in this story have been consistently understood throughout church history as referring to Christ as the master and humanity as the servants.
SPEAKER_01: And among human beings are those who trust and hope in God and those who do not.
SPEAKER_01: And we've already seen that in this chapter and in the previous chapter.
SPEAKER_01: We've already seen that displayed in the days of Noah.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen it displayed in the parable of the righteous and the wicked servants and in the bridesmaids.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone in each situation is the recipient of some measure of God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: The testimony of Noah before the flood was a measure of grace to the unbelieving world.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible calls him a preacher of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: That's a measure of God's grace, that they were prepared for judgment.
SPEAKER_01: The fact that the wicked servant in the first parable worked for the master was a measure of his grace.
SPEAKER_01: That five foolish bridesmaids were invited to the wedding is a measure of his grace.
SPEAKER_01: In this last story, three slaves were given vast sums of money to steward while the master is away.
SPEAKER_01: One slave is given five talents, another is given two talents, and one is given one.
SPEAKER_01: That is grace.
SPEAKER_01: We must see all throughout this message of Jesus to his disciples that he is gracious again and again and again.
SPEAKER_01: But we are immediately at a disadvantage in understanding this grace, at least in this parable, because of the word talent.
SPEAKER_01: Talent in English refers to abilities, things that we are good at, that we have strengths in.
SPEAKER_01: And that definition often confuses us in our thinking about spiritual gifts, too.
SPEAKER_01: We can confuse them with natural abilities as human beings or even as strengths or abilities that God gives us.
SPEAKER_01: But abilities are not what is given in this story.
SPEAKER_01: The master does not give his servants abilities.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the end of the story.
SPEAKER_01: The single talent given to the last slave was taken away from him and given to the first one.
SPEAKER_01: That really doesn't make sense if we understand this as an ability.
SPEAKER_01: God would take an ability away from somebody and give it to another.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't really fit with what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: And if we understand this as spiritual gifts, well, we know that God doesn't give spiritual gifts to unbelieving people.
SPEAKER_01: And so how would an unbelieving person be given a spiritual gift and have it taken away and given to a believing person?
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't really make sense with all that's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: We need to understand that Jesus referred to an amount of money when he spoke about a talent.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a talent was technically a weight, roughly equivalent to the amount that a soldier could carry on his back.
SPEAKER_01: Roughly 75 to 100 pounds.
SPEAKER_01: When a talent referred to money in the Roman world, it was used to refer to the highest denomination in our terms of money.
SPEAKER_01: So if we're talking in terms of US bills of$1,$5,$10, 20s, 50s,$100 bills, a talent would be equivalent to us saying$100 bill.
SPEAKER_01: It's the largest common denominator.
SPEAKER_01: Similarly, we think of a hundred dollar bill as being equivalent to$100 bills, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what we think about in our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Similarly, in the first century, a denarius was compared to a talent.
SPEAKER_01: Now a denarius was generally a single day's wage for the average worker.
SPEAKER_01: A talent was roughly equivalent to 6,000 denarii or 6,000 days' wages.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let's try to put that in perspective, right?
SPEAKER_01: I use the phrase a vast sum of money has been given to these servants.
SPEAKER_01: To put that in perspective, the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median weekly earnings in the United States for the first quarter of 2023 was$1,100 per week.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do the math for you.
SPEAKER_01: That equates to$220 a day.
SPEAKER_01: So our$220 a day is roughly equivalent to a denarius in the first century.
SPEAKER_01: And if we use that to convert all of this, this is what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: The five talents is roughly equivalent to$6.6 million.
SPEAKER_01: The two talents is roughly equivalent to$2.6 million.
SPEAKER_01: And the worthless servant was given$1.3 million.
SPEAKER_01: You total that all up.
SPEAKER_01: That's roughly$10 million that this guy's handing out to his servants.
SPEAKER_01: By the median income, that equates in the first century world to about 23 years of working with no vacation days.
SPEAKER_01: In our world.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, in our world.
SPEAKER_01: That's five days of working, five days a week.
SPEAKER_01: In the first century, they worked six days a week.
SPEAKER_01: So on six days a week, that would be roughly 19 years of labor for one talent.
SPEAKER_01: For one talent.
SPEAKER_01: That's what these servants received.
SPEAKER_01: Beyond being outrageous, those sums reveal two truths.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, they show the position of the master.
SPEAKER_01: However, we describe him, he is successful, he's wealthy, he's influential.
SPEAKER_01: We might even say he's powerful.
SPEAKER_01: But beyond that, they reveal his astonishing grace.
SPEAKER_01: The language used here may indicate that these sums represent the entirety of the master's holdings, of his interests.
SPEAKER_01: He's getting ready to leave for a very long time, and he hands everything in this world that he has over to his servants to increase, to do business with, so that when he returns, he receives even more back than he graciously gave.
SPEAKER_01: He provided all that was needed to continue his interests in his absence.
SPEAKER_01: But he's also wise because he knows exactly what each servant is capable of.
SPEAKER_01: He knows their strengths and he knows their weaknesses.
SPEAKER_01: He knows that some are simply not able to handle the six and a half million dollars.
SPEAKER_01: Yet his grace is so astonishing that the one who can't handle the six and a half is still given$1.3 million.
SPEAKER_01: And that one turned out to be wicked and worthless.
SPEAKER_01: Swept away to judgment like the people of Noah's day.
SPEAKER_01: Like the wicked servant in the first story and the five foolish bridesmaids.
SPEAKER_01: But look at look at how astonishing his grace is to all of them.
SPEAKER_01: That reveals to us that the Lord Jesus is exceptionally generous with his grace.
SPEAKER_01: Even to those who are foolish, wicked, and unbelieving.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: Even the most worthless of servants received the grace of the Master.
SPEAKER_01: Think of the disciples hearing this story.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, there's Peter, James, and John.
SPEAKER_01: The trustworthy three.
SPEAKER_01: Except Peter had his ups and downs.
SPEAKER_01: But among them also was a man named Judas.
SPEAKER_01: The keeper of the money bag.
SPEAKER_01: Holly untrustworthy.
SPEAKER_01: Scriptures say that he helped himself to the money bag.
SPEAKER_01: So wholly untrustworthy that he took the master's grace and he sold it to betray the master.
SPEAKER_01: Yet he also received grace, did he not?
SPEAKER_01: We must notice the amazing grace extended by the sovereign Christ to all people while he was away.
SPEAKER_01: Judas received the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ for three years.
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't have put up with him for that long.
SPEAKER_01: But look at what grace is given to people.
SPEAKER_01: But what exactly is that grace?
SPEAKER_01: If it's not human talents or abilities, then what is the grace given to all people?
SPEAKER_01: Is it money?
SPEAKER_01: Is Jesus talking about finances here?
SPEAKER_01: That would be hard to justify because the grace given to these three factored into their eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And nowhere in Scripture does God say money factors into your eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Some argue that God's gracious gifts here are spiritual gifts because of the similarity of language that we find here and in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
SPEAKER_01: But God doesn't give spiritual gifts to unbelievers, and in the context of Jesus' speech, the last servant was swept away as an unbeliever in judgment, yet he was still given a measure of grace.
SPEAKER_01: So spiritual gifts are hard to reconcile with what's here.
SPEAKER_01: So what is Jesus talking about?
SPEAKER_01: If the master in the story represents Jesus and the servants picture believing or unbelieving human beings, what do the talents represent?
SPEAKER_01: Well, as with several aspects of chapter 24 and 25, there's a lot of disagreement.
SPEAKER_01: But most people would agree that the point of the story is stewardship while the master is away.
SPEAKER_01: While you're waiting, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Specifically, what are you doing with what belongs to the master while you wait?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus ascended to heaven yet promised he would return.
SPEAKER_01: While he was away, he has dispersed something.
SPEAKER_01: And this parable's concern is what people do with that something.
SPEAKER_01: So what is so essential to steward well that would impact someone's eternal destiny?
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that we have to answer that question?
SPEAKER_01: Because two of these servants stewarded that well and were praised and welcomed into the master's pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: One of them did not steward it well, and was not only rejected, but sent to hell.
SPEAKER_01: We might be helped by remembering that this is a kingdom parable.
SPEAKER_01: Back in chapter 25, verse 1, it's a story told by Jesus about the realm in which he rules as sovereign king.
SPEAKER_01: We're reminded back in chapter 3 that Jesus began his public ministry by declaring that people should repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, namely because the king is here.
SPEAKER_01: The king is here, which means the kingdom is here.
SPEAKER_01: Repent, turn and follow him.
SPEAKER_01: Later, we heard that the good news of the kingdom is found in the king himself, and that the message of the kingdom is found in the words of the king himself, and that is good.
SPEAKER_01: News.
SPEAKER_01: Now hold your finger here and look back at chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 13 is often known as the parables of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Interestingly, we have parables of the kingdom in chapter 13 and parables of the kingdom in chapter 24 and 25.
SPEAKER_01: Are there any parallels in those parables?
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 13, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Then the disciples came to Jesus and said, Why are you speaking to people in parables?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you tell these stories that are so hard to understand?
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 13, 11, Jesus answered them, listen, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But to them it has not been given.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see the distinguishing aspects there?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody is receiving grace.
SPEAKER_01: Some are receiving more than others.
SPEAKER_01: For verse 12, for to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.
SPEAKER_01: But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
SPEAKER_01: This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
SPEAKER_01: Verse sixteen, but blessed are your eyes, disciples, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
SPEAKER_01: For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Hear then the parable of the sower.
SPEAKER_01: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes along and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Look down at verse 23, as for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.
SPEAKER_01: He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case, a hundredfold, in another sixty, and another thirty.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus talks about truly seeing, truly hearing the words of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the words of the kingdom that, depending on how they are received, ends up bearing fruit.
SPEAKER_01: So what do you think?
SPEAKER_01: Love to take a poll.
SPEAKER_01: We need one of those electronic clickers that you can respond to me, right?
SPEAKER_01: Do you see some parallels between chapter 13 and chapter 25?
SPEAKER_01: I certainly do.
SPEAKER_01: So what would it mean if Matthew did this purposefully and intended us to link chapter 25 with chapter 13?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it would mean that Jesus graciously bestows his word, his kingdom secrets, its treasures in his absence.
SPEAKER_01: He's given it to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He's given it to his world.
SPEAKER_01: We've already seen in chapter 24 that until he returns, the word of the kingdom, the gospel of his salvation, is going to continue to be proclaimed over and over and over again until the world hears.
SPEAKER_01: It is a grace given to the world to receive, to take up, and to steward well.
SPEAKER_01: It is the grace that we must have eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel of the kingdom is a treasure.
SPEAKER_01: But not all will see the value in the king's grace and therefore steward it well.
SPEAKER_01: Some, like Judas, will steward it poorly.
SPEAKER_01: They've graciously been given the secrets and the treasures of the kingdom in the word of Christ, but they do nothing with them.
SPEAKER_01: They don't even penetrate to the heart.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, those who genuinely trust in Jesus will make much of the treasures of the kingdom, just as Jesus said in Matthew 13, 52, where he said, Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of the house.
SPEAKER_01: What does the master of the house do?
SPEAKER_01: He brings out his treasures and he makes full use of those treasures for his own benefit.
SPEAKER_01: And so the servants in his absence are functioning in his place.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, beloved, as we gather here this morning, we possess the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We possess the word of the kingdom, the word from the king himself.
SPEAKER_01: We possess the good news of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We possess his very words recorded for us by Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: We possess the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: We possess the map of the narrow road to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We possess the sight to see the narrow gate.
SPEAKER_01: But with eyes of faith, we see that dimly now, and we look to Christ with hope and his return.
SPEAKER_01: And in his absence, he's given us these treasures of his kingdom to steward well until he returns.
SPEAKER_01: They are not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: These treasures and secrets of the kingdom are not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: Even Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: They are treasures of a far greater world.
SPEAKER_01: And it's there that we see the second part of our thesis statement from D.
SPEAKER_01: L.
SPEAKER_01: Moody.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, the changed one.
SPEAKER_01: Mine, based on D.
SPEAKER_01: L.
SPEAKER_01: Moody.
SPEAKER_01: In response to his grace, genuine disciples will serve Jesus in the present while they wait hopefully for his return.
SPEAKER_01: He gives out the secrets, he gives out the message, he gives out the hope and the life of his kingdom to everyone who will hear.
SPEAKER_01: Some receive more, some hear, some get it implanted, some less in proportion to their ability known only to the king, and that's the grace that leads to service to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The three servants in this parable are enslaved.
SPEAKER_01: But first century slaves sort of defy our modern understanding of slavery.
SPEAKER_01: Possessing another person as property was prevalent in the Roman world.
SPEAKER_01: Various estimates exist, anywhere from about 30% of people all the way up to 50% of people in the Roman world were slaves.
SPEAKER_01: Possessing another person as property was not uncommon, yet those people could be teachers, slaves could be accountants, they could be attorneys, they could be politicians, they could be laborers in every kind of field.
SPEAKER_01: In this case, they serve as investors, as businessmen in some capacity.
SPEAKER_01: But whatever an enslaved person did inherently represented their master.
SPEAKER_01: Some slaves, we have evidence of were allowed to earn their own money, be able to even purchase their freedom.
SPEAKER_01: But generally, what a slave gained belonged to his master.
SPEAKER_01: He worked for the interests of his master.
SPEAKER_01: And so without commenting on the morality of the system of Roman slavery, Jesus employed that image for his disciples to show how to wait for his return.
SPEAKER_01: They've asked, when are you coming?
SPEAKER_01: Good question, but sorry, you can't know that.
SPEAKER_01: So instead of telling you when I'm going to return, let me tell you how to wait.
SPEAKER_01: As you're waiting, I've given you my treasures.
SPEAKER_01: Make the best use of them from my kingdom until I return.
SPEAKER_01: He gave them, he's given us the treasures of his kingdom to steward well so that we can present kingdom investment returns when he comes.
SPEAKER_01: When Matthew included this parable in his gospel record, he meant these words to be directed to his readers.
SPEAKER_01: So whoever reads this record has therefore been entrusted with Jesus' words about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: That's grace.
SPEAKER_01: None of us can now deny that we've been the recipients of the King's grace.
SPEAKER_01: We've heard his words.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter how much you've been given to invest in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: What you've been given should be invested.
SPEAKER_01: That grace should lead to service.
SPEAKER_01: What matters not is how much you make, but how much you use the treasure for his sake.
SPEAKER_01: The first two servants, you'll notice, received the exact same praise and the exact same reward.
SPEAKER_01: The same thing was said to them in praise, and each one received what they had earned.
SPEAKER_01: They doubled their investment, they now have that doubled investment to go and to use for the king's service.
SPEAKER_01: Who made the most did not matter.
SPEAKER_01: What mattered was what they did with what they had.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me again.
SPEAKER_01: What mattered was what they did with what they had.
SPEAKER_01: You're hearing the treasure of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: What will you do with this treasure?
SPEAKER_01: At its simplest sense, at its most basic sense, the Lord Jesus is saying to you, I'm giving you a treasure of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: But you need to trust me.
SPEAKER_01: You need to put your faith in me as the king.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't put your trust in me as the king, then this treasure to you is going to be worthless.
SPEAKER_01: But if you've already trusted in him, that king, that treasure becomes a magnificent gift to you to make much of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What will you do with that treasure that you've been given?
SPEAKER_01: That treasure should be received with ears that hear, that that motivates a heart to see Jesus as worthy of all trust.
SPEAKER_01: And we place our faith in Him.
SPEAKER_01: And that faith and trust in Him makes that treasure given to us seem so much grander that we have nothing left to do but to go out and make use of that treasure.
SPEAKER_01: Will we receive it with joy and honor and praise of the king, or will we receive it with doubt and rejection and fear?
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting that research has shown that doubling one's investment would likely have been considered a standard reasonable expectation in the first century.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus isn't asking anything unusual.
SPEAKER_01: The master is not saying I'm expecting something extremely hard from you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just, I'm just, this is normal.
SPEAKER_01: This is what this is what happens if you if you invest.
SPEAKER_01: This is the standard common expectation.
SPEAKER_01: Disciples labor in his service, in his absence.
SPEAKER_01: And so he, the master, invests, if you will, in his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He hands out the secrets and the treasures of his kingdom to wisely steward to invest and then build and increase his kingdom until he returns.
SPEAKER_01: Those who take what he has given to build up his kingdom and to multiply it will receive praise and reward for bringing glory and honor to the king and his kingdom because it's not about you, friend, it's about him.
SPEAKER_01: But not all who receive the king's grace respond appropriately, do they?
SPEAKER_01: Back in chapter 13, those with faith in Jesus were given secrets of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: They were given the word of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: They were given the truths, the glories, the opportunity for true discipleship, but those who did not have ears to hear and eyes to see did not understand the kingdom's value, and so did nothing with it.
SPEAKER_01: Again, we might imagine Judas here.
SPEAKER_01: He received the king's grace abundantly during his time following Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And what did he do with it?
SPEAKER_01: It had no value to him.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine being given$1.3 million and throwing it in the fireplace.
SPEAKER_01: That's the equivalent of what we're talking about here.
SPEAKER_01: Seeing absolutely no uh, that's monopoly money.
SPEAKER_01: Just toss it away.
SPEAKER_01: So you can see why this begins with the reception, the genuine reception of the king's grace.
SPEAKER_01: There has to be faith and trust in the king to be able to see that there's even any value in what you've been given.
SPEAKER_01: What did the third servant do with the king's grace?
SPEAKER_01: He buried it.
SPEAKER_01: Now, before we beat up on him too much, burying money was considered safe practice in the first century, safer than the bankers.
SPEAKER_01: The rabbis taught that if someone received money and immediately went and buried it in the ground, and if that money was then stolen, they would not be at fault.
SPEAKER_01: Because they endeavored to keep it safe in the most protective way possible.
SPEAKER_01: Burying money was a means of protecting the investment.
SPEAKER_01: It was the safe thing to do.
SPEAKER_01: So the worthlessness of this third servant has nothing to do with squandering the master's resources.
SPEAKER_01: He went and dug up the money and handed it back to the master.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Behold, here's your money.
SPEAKER_01: And what happened?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't get anything.
SPEAKER_01: He wasted the opportunity to advance the master's prestige, the master's wealth, and the master's honor.
SPEAKER_01: He wasted the opportunity for reward and privilege.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: He tells us.
SPEAKER_01: He was scared.
SPEAKER_01: He thought more of his own life than the honor of the master.
SPEAKER_01: He was afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 25.
SPEAKER_01: So I was afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Afraid of what?
SPEAKER_01: More like afraid of whom?
SPEAKER_01: He was afraid of the master.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss what that implies.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't see the fortune given to him as gracious and as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: He saw it as a trap.
SPEAKER_01: He feared the master's justice more than trusting in his grace.
SPEAKER_01: And so the servant portrays the master as harsh and as a cruel kind of sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: He describes him as a landowner who requires payment from those leasing his land, and he doesn't put up with them.
SPEAKER_01: He's not sowing because they're sowing.
SPEAKER_01: He's leased out the land, but he requires payment.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't pay up, you're out.
SPEAKER_01: Put somebody else in there.
SPEAKER_01: Now keep in mind, there's nothing in this story telling us whether or not that was an accurate portrayal.
SPEAKER_01: What we see here is a one-sided description from the slave's perspective.
SPEAKER_01: That's just how the servant viewed the master.
SPEAKER_01: Much like someone today saying, Oh, there's no way that I could ever believe in a God who would send people to hell.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what about his grace?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he just sends people to hell.
SPEAKER_01: What about his mercy?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he just sends people somebody who can't get away from their own perspective.
SPEAKER_01: It's one-sided.
SPEAKER_01: The servant had no sense of the master's grace because he lacked trust in the master.
SPEAKER_01: He only possessed a fear of his justice.
SPEAKER_01: So rather than risk upsetting the master by potentially losing his money, he merely did what he had to do to survive.
SPEAKER_01: He justified his own actions out of concern for whom?
SPEAKER_01: Himself.
SPEAKER_01: One scholar wrote, while legal, the third servant's course of action does not represent an adequate response to his master's trust.
SPEAKER_01: The servant has violated some ultimate value or first principle.
SPEAKER_01: He brings his master's resources to no increase, and by that omission, he brings himself to ruin.
SPEAKER_01: And this fits right in with the biblical picture, friends.
SPEAKER_01: In reality, this servant blames the master.
SPEAKER_01: He blames the master's character for his own actions.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we see all throughout human history, beginning in the very beginning of your Bible in Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Oh God, it's that woman you gave me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh God, it's the snake.
SPEAKER_01: No, the real problem is you didn't trust me.
SPEAKER_01: Your faith was not wholly in me.
SPEAKER_01: And this is how many friends receive the got the grace of the gospel, the treasures of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: All people are called to trust in the Master and to hope for His return.
SPEAKER_01: That is His grace to them.
SPEAKER_01: He pours out His grace so that all are without excuse.
SPEAKER_01: They hear the word and they are urged to respond.
SPEAKER_01: Those who respond with trusting faith work to build up his kingdom with the treasure of the gospel, using the resources he's entrusted to them to make a profit, not for themselves, but for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They know the master through his grace, and so they act on that knowledge and grace to build up his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Ben Chenewath has rightly concluded, however, some sit on that knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: They keep it to themselves, they act in a way that does not result in profit for Jesus, and they are punished as a result.
SPEAKER_01: In that, they are treated as an outsider because they have revealed by their behavior that they are not true disciples of Jesus at all.
SPEAKER_01: To go back to chapter 13, it's having ears to hear, but not hearing.
SPEAKER_01: It's having eyes to see but not seeing.
SPEAKER_01: Put it in different words, this is the man who in a few short hours from this speech is going to go to the high priests and say, How much will you give me?
SPEAKER_01: If I give him to you.
SPEAKER_01: Who does nothing with it, not even believing it?
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: It's because the grace of the king is transformative.
SPEAKER_01: Those who receive it with genuine trust and love for him begin to see this this is this is not just a dollar bill.
SPEAKER_01: I've been given millions.
SPEAKER_01: Did you understand how transformative this is going to change my life?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_01: Those who receive it with genuine trust and love for him become enraptured by his grace, and they take what they've been given and they use it for his honor and his glory.
SPEAKER_01: And so first we must respond to his grace and become genuine disciples through faith in him by hearing of his word.
SPEAKER_01: Then we begin to serve Jesus in the present while we wait hopefully for his return, when he returns to reward and to praise all who invest for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And so in that we come to this last part where we hope for his return.
SPEAKER_01: We pass on the secrets of the kingdom, the treasures of the kingdom, we take them out, we say, Yes, I've been given Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go and let me tell somebody about it.
SPEAKER_01: There will be some who have ears to hear, some who don't.
SPEAKER_01: And in response to his grace, genuine disciples will serve Jesus in the present while they wait hopefully for his return.
SPEAKER_01: We wait for praise.
SPEAKER_01: And we wait for reward.
SPEAKER_01: But don't forget that this is a scary story.
SPEAKER_01: Because it warns us of the dangers of receiving the word of Christ the King and receiving it without faith and without acting on it in love.
SPEAKER_01: This story represents something, but it represents something that is very real.
SPEAKER_01: And because we do not know the time of the master's return, the time we have to respond and to invest in the message of the kingdom is unknown.
SPEAKER_01: While the story is scary, it's told out of gracious love because Jesus, our Lord and our King, desires to rescue us from a messy eternity without Him.
SPEAKER_01: He desires to rescue us from protecting ourselves so that we might labor in love and awe for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He graciously provides his word that leads us to salvation by faith, and we begin then to see the magnificence of his grace that motivates us to serve him using his resources for his glory, and may he find us doing that when he comes.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: May we hear your word with faith.
SPEAKER_01: May we see you in new light as a gracious King.
SPEAKER_01: Who trusts us with the message of the kingdom, the treasure of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: May we make much of it as we wait.
SPEAKER_01: Not so that we can we can say to the world, hey, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what I have.
SPEAKER_01: But so that we can say to a needy world, look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: For in him is your hope.
SPEAKER_01: And may we all hope for his return, serving him, waiting patiently, faithfully, with readiness.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, may it please you to say of all of us today, on that day, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.