#412 Does God Settle Accounts?

Part of the bonus materials I offer on this podcast are regular sermons from my friend Jim Bachman. He's the pastor of Stevens Valley Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He's been my pastor for now 20 years. Even though Gracie and I moved out to Montana a year ago, Jim and I are in regular contact several times a week and he's just a great friend and he's been a big part of me wrapping my head around the things of God in the midst of our craziness. You know, you ever felt as a caregiver nobody's really seeing this or paying attention and certainly God's not seeing it?

I mean, where's the justice? Where's the good and loving God? And you're watching these terrible things and you're having to deal with these harsh realities as a caregiver. And that's been my journey and I don't think I can be the only one. And so Jim has shepherded me through so much of this from hospital rooms to just sitting over a cup of coffee and just trying to hash some things out.

And I felt like that this message particularly would be meaningful to you as a caregiver. Do you ever feel like God's noticing? Does he settle accounts? Is stewardship important? Do these things mean something in the economy of God for us as fellow caregivers?

And yes, he does do all of those things. He settles these accounts. This is important. He sees what's going on and this is meaningful. And stewardship is meaningful for you and me. Is it you and me or you and I? You and it's for us. And what we do on this show is we educate, empower and entertain.

And I told Jim, I said, let me handle the entertaining part. You just keep educating and empowering. I felt like this would be a very timely message for those of us who are in the trenches as caregivers and wondering, wow, where is this going?

Is there going to be any type of recognition, affirmation, fairness, justice, all those kinds of things. I felt like this would be important for us to hear as caregivers. If we can get our hearts right, it gives the rest of us a fighting chance. I mean, the rest of our lives a fighting chance. You know, like if my head and my heart space are so squirrely, then my wallet, my relationships, my body, my job, all those other things are in bad shape too.

And they're going to soon follow. But if you can get your head and your heart right and live peacefully with these things, you give all the other parts of your life a fighting chance. And that's kind of the overarching message of what we do here is pointing a path towards healthiness for us as caregivers. And today's message from Jim will help you do that and point your heart to a place of healthiness.

Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. Here's Jim Bugg. Let's turn in our Bibles to the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel. Today we finish our series of sermons on the parables, much to my disappointment.

I hope it's to your disappointment as well. I have enjoyed refreshing myself once again with these magnificent ways in which the Lord Jesus was able to communicate his word, veiling it, veiling the truth to unbelievers, but revealing truth to his people. We're looking at Matthew 25 verses 14 through 30, the parable of the talents today. Last week we looked at the first 13 verses of the chapter, the parable of the 10 virgins or 10 bridesmaids, five of whom were wise and five of whom were not wise, five of whom were foolish. They were foolish because they weren't ready for the coming of the bridegroom. They didn't bring enough oil. Their torches burned out.

They went to purchase more at the corner market. And while they were gone, he came. And when he came and the event began, the marriage supper began, the door was shut to the everlasting dismay of the five foolish bridesmaids. This parable before us today tells us a little more about what it means to be ready.

What does it look like? What does it really mean to be ready for the coming day of the Lord? This parable this morning, the talents, as well as one last week, are a bit unusual in this respect. So many of the parables we've considered were addressed to the religious authorities of the day. They were a response to criticism from the church leaders of Jesus' day.

But this parable and the one last week are different in that they were addressed to the disciples. And so more specifically, perhaps than the others, this one today is addressed to you and me. So he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Thank you, Lord, for your word. And we thank you for the cumulative effect of your word, your spirit leading us into truth and convicting us of sin and righteousness and judgment. And we pray this morning that your Holy Spirit will descend upon us in a new and fresh and powerful life-giving way and be our preacher and give us ears to hear and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. Thank you for bringing us together today. And we pray that we will suffer no more interruptions, but rather that things will open up more and more. And soon enough, we will celebrate communion as we so often do and hasten those days. But nonetheless, we thank you for this time together and the sweet fellowship that we enjoy through Christ our Lord, whose name we pray.

Amen. Matthew 25 verse 14, for it will be like a man going on a journey who called in his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with him. And he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over little.

I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents.

Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little.

I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. 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. So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.

Here you have what is yours. But his master answered him, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 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. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Amen. All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Amen. A talent was worth a lot of money. In fact, one commentator speculates that one talent then was worth about $350,000 today.

Would you take that? That's a rhetorical question, of course you'd take that, and I suspect we all would be happy to have just one talent. Other commentators, by the way, raise the amount even more.

Raise the value of the talent above $350,000. That said, I don't believe that we're to limit the interpretation and application of the parable to monetary terms only. Certainly that's part of it. But rather I think we do justice to the parable to see the talent not merely representing dollars and cents but also privileges and opportunities that we have to enter the kingdom of God and to serve our master and our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in that sense this parable bears some similarities with yet another one that we studied weeks ago, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard whom you may recall received the same amount of pay no matter how long they worked.

Some worked all day, some worked only one hour, but the owner gave them the same amount and there were complaints about that if you remember. But the point of it all was that regardless of what they were paid it was a high privilege and a high honor to serve in the master's vineyard and not be left idle in the marketplace. And so let's talk this morning about the fact that God gives the talents and God settles accounts and God blesses faithful stewardship in that order beginning first of all with the fact that God gives the talents.

Verse 15, to one he gave five talents to another two to another one to each according to his ability then he went away. This point's probably so obvious that it ought not to take any of our time this morning. Perhaps I shouldn't even mention this. Of course God gives the talents, but I've noticed we forget. Have you noticed that? We have a nasty habit of somehow thinking that we just developed these talents and abilities and successes and opportunities and so forth. We like to enjoy a little recognition, don't we? We like to worship ourselves, truth be known.

And certainly this is one way to do it. But the Apostle Paul emphasizes this point. He says, what do you have that you have not received? Think of everything you have. Is there one item you can think of that you have not received from the hand of our bountiful God? Every ability, every dollar we have in the bank account, every friend we have, every success, every blessing has come to us not of our own merit, not of our own doing, but from the one who is the fount of every blessing. He's not the fount of most blessings and he's not the fount of some blessings, he's the fount of every blessing and the author of every good and perfect gift. That said, I quickly add that he does make distinctions among people. According to the counsel of his own will, he has that sovereign prerogative. To one he gave five talents, to another two and to another one. No one was under blessed.

It was a great honor just to have one talent. But he gave more to some and fewer or less to others. He doesn't give the same gifts to all of us and he doesn't give the same number of gifts to all of us, which sometimes is hard for us to understand because we're Americans and we believe in a democracy, we believe in fairness, we believe in equal opportunities for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, don't we?

That's just ingrained into our bones. But we need to understand that God is not an American and he's not president. He's not president God. He's king. And he's a king unlike any other king you've ever met or heard about.

He's king of all kings and Lord of all lords and he says things that shock us sometimes like, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. People say, whoa, that's not my God. That's not the God I'm going to worship.

Let me introduce you to the God of the Bible who summons you to worship him as he is. The older will serve the younger, he said. Well, that doesn't sound fair.

That doesn't sound right. You remember the story of Joseph? God told Joseph that he was going to exalt him, that his own brothers would bow before him and even his father would bow before him, as it were, which earned him a rebuke from his father and of course he was sold into slavery by his brothers. But was God right?

Is he ever not right? And sure enough, a few chapters later, what do you find but the father and the brothers bowing before Joseph, depending upon him for everything, sustenance and life. And so the point is that God doesn't treat everyone the same. He gave one five, one two, one one talent. He doesn't deal the same deck of cards to everyone, if I may use that metaphor. And sometimes people complain loud and long about the fact that other people are better off and other people are more blessed than they are. And jealousies can arise and the like, but God is the one who gives the talents and it's his sovereign prerogative to do so according to the counsel of his own will, which by the way does not ensure success as we define it. Just because you have five talents doesn't ensure any recognition or notoriety or success because that too belongs to God. Example, how many of you have heard of Matthew Robinson? He was around 85 years ago, a great sprinter. Does that help? I don't see any hands. Matthew Robinson, there's one. Good for you.

I need to meet you after the service. Matthew Robinson broke the Olympic record in the 200 meters in the 1936 Olympics, but you never heard of him because he didn't win the race. By a measly four tenths of one second, he lost to Jesse Owens, whom you have heard of, right? And Jesse Owens went on to live a life of great notoriety.

Nobody's heard of poor Matthew Robinson, whose brother, younger brother, by the name of Jackie, you have heard of, who was in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and broke the color barrier and so forth. And here's a man who was blessed with as many talents, Matthew Robinson, but nobody's heard of him and he lived a life of relative obscurity. God gives the talents. God gives the prosperity.

God gives the success or lack thereof. Secondly, God settles his accounts, verse 19. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with him. It was after a long time, you notice that language?

And last week, you remember the bridegroom? There was a delay in his coming. Both these parables are telling us the same thing, that God's not in a great hurry to settle accounts, that he's patient toward mankind, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, but it doesn't change the fact that the day will come and his patience will be exhausted and he will finally settle accounts. I remind you of another parable we studied, the parable of the unforgiving servant, the poor fellow who accrued a debt of 10,000 talents. That's a big debt. And what happened? It must have taken a long time to rack up that kind of debt.

And finally, the king came to settle accounts and he couldn't pay, so the king ordered he be sold, his wife, his children in order to pay the debt. The point is the time does come. It may be after a long delay. There may seem that way to us. He's right on schedule.

He's always on schedule. But to us, it may appear to be a long time. And so he's gone on a long journey, that there's a delay in the coming of the bridegroom. And because of these things, human nature again has a bad habit of presuming upon God's patience and gambling that he'll never get around to settling accounts. After all, things continue on as they always have, do they not? Where's the promise of his coming? Things continue as they have since the beginning of creation.

And we assume it will just continue that way. And we gamble that he'll never get around to settling accounts. And so the world mocks the idea of the second coming of Christ and scoffs at the idea that someday he will settle accounts and we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I like the story of the farmer who was an atheist, a hard-working atheist. And he enjoyed a great harvest one fall. And he bragged about it, wrote a letter to the newspaper, he lived in a little rural community. To the editor he wrote, I plowed on Sunday, I planted on Sunday, I harvested on Sunday, but I never went to church on Sunday, yet I harvested more bushels per acre than anyone else. A few days later someone responded and said, tell that man God doesn't always settle his accounts in October. Indeed he doesn't always settle his accounts in October, but he will always settle his accounts. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.

And there may be a long delay, there may not be. For the ten bridesmaids, it was that night, wasn't it, the bridegroom came. And for the rich fool who said to himself, relax, you've laid up ample goods for the future, eat, drink, and be merry, it was that night that his soul was required of him. And if you remember the story of the old King Belshazzar in Daniel's day, it was that night as well.

He saw the handwriting on the wall and he'd been weighed in the balances and found wanting. My guess is it will not be this night for you and me, but who knows the mind of the Lord, most not of tomorrow. And therefore we're to live in a state of readiness for the coming day of the Lord.

He will settle his accounts. He does give talents. And third, we see that he blesses faithful stewardship of what he entrusts to us.

Verses 20 and 21. And he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more saying, master, you delivered to me five talents here, I've made five talents more. And his master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little.

I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And I'll tell you, you will never hear more beautiful words than that. That should be the cry of every heart in this room that when the curtain falls on our lives and the play is over, as it were, and we pass through the pearly gates, we get to hear these glorious words from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords looking us in the eyes saying, well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of your master. He said the same thing to the man who was given two talents. He was productive. He produced two more talents.

Well done again. But to this third man who took his talent and buried it, who was not productive, who played it safe, who tried nothing and gained nothing, who didn't even invest his talent in the bank where it could make a little bit of interest, the words were not so beautiful. They're horrible words. Words we never want to hear, depart from me. Outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. These parables contain great encouragement time and again, but also great warning. There does come a day when the door is shut and the accounts are settled. What kind of steward have you and I been of all that he's entrusted to us? And this man just buried his talent, did nothing with the great gift that God had given to him, and everlasting punishment was reserved for him. Most of you know Joyce Wood, member of our church, a great English teacher in her day at Overton High School. Somehow we missed each other, for which I'm sure she's glad I was not her student, but she does not hesitate to give me assignments. And so I've been muddling my way through the inferno, and I'm in the depths of hell, I must tell you.

It's very slow going. I can't wait to at least get to Purgatory and eventually to Paradise. But I did notice that you scholars know more than I, but in the early portions of the inferno, shortly after Dante passed through the gate of hell, he heard many suffering souls. He writes, hear sighs with lamentations and loud moans resounded through the air, pierced by no star that even I wept at entering. Various tongues, horrible languages, outcries of woe.

Then Dante asked Virgil his guide, oh master, what is this I hear? What race are these who seem so overcome with woe? And Virgil answered, fascinating words, this miserable fate, suffer the wretched souls of those who lived without praise or blame, with ill band of angels mixed, who nor rebellious proved, nor yet were true to God, but for themselves were only.

In other words, they passed their lives in selfishness and apathy and indifference to the will of God. And so the vital question is, what have we done with what the Lord has given to us? Have we been indifferent? Have we been apathetic?

Even if we just have one talent, that's a great privilege and a great opportunity, much less five. Have we buried it? Have we used it? Have we hidden it or have we been productive? Has God given us money?

Great. One of my old friends used to say, happiness is a positive cash flow. There's a lot of truth to that if we're using it the right way. Are we using it the right way? Are we using what God has given us to spread the gospel far and wide or just to build bigger barns for ourselves? Has he given us the ability to preach? And I'm not just referring to this kind of preaching, but we're all called to proclaim the good news. How beautiful are the feet of those who spread the good news and how shall they hear without a preacher? But have we preached the whole counsel of God unashamedly without bowing and cowing to the cultural idols of our day in order to tickle the ears of our audience? Have we preached it unashamedly or have we compromised? Has God given us gifts of service?

What a wonderful thing to give a cup of cold water. Have we done it in Jesus' name because we love our neighbors ourselves or just to feel good about ourselves? How about children? Children are an unspeakable gift are they not? So have we given those few years we have to raise our children?

Have we been wise stewards of that and raised them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord or have we raised them in such a way as that they've been taught to be true to themselves only? You come up with your own illustration everything we have has come to us from God so what have we done with it buried it hit our light under a bushel or unashamedly preached and taught and lived and served for the glory of God and the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it means to be ready to have our boots on until the day we pass through the pearly gates to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness to seek him and find him and we seek for him with all of our heart none of this apathy and none of this indifference. Someone writes a little poem part of which says this we are not here to play to dream to drift we have hard work to do and loads to lift shun not the struggle face it it is God's gift.

You know for some reason reformed people are afraid to talk about good works I suppose we're we're afraid of being misunderstood and we love Ephesians 2 and we love verses 8 we love verse 9 we forget about verse 10 that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works true faith works true faith serves true faith preaches true faith shines. Are you ready? Are your boots on? How many of you know Ravi Zacharias?

I better get more hands on that. You know he went through the pearly gates this past week in my humble opinion perhaps a man without peer in terms of being an evangelist and a Christian apologist in today's world. He was raised in India of course and his ancestors were Hindu priests he was raised in the Anglican Church had no interest in the things of God whatsoever as a young teenager his mother took him to a poem reader who looked at his palm and said you will not travel far or very much in your life there's no future for you abroad. When he was 17 years old he tried to commit suicide and it was in that hospital bed that he put his boots on and decided to serve Christ and over the next 20 years God exposed the folly of that poem reader by having him preach in Canada in the United States to military prisoners in Vietnam to students in Cambodia and in one year alone of those 20 years he preached 600 times in over a dozen countries from England throughout Europe the Middle East and to the Pacific Rim and that was just the beginning of a lifetime of international ministry with a mission of helping the thinker believe and the believer think. He was a five talent man at least and he produced five more and as he passed through those pearly gates he must have heard well done which by the way can be translated as bravo did you know that bravo Ravi well done good and faithful servant he doesn't ask us to be Ravi Zacharias I'm relieved by that I trust you're relieved by that too but he does expect faithful stewardship of us and he promises to bless that to entrust even more to us so until the day comes and we pass through the pearly gates let's keep the boots on let us serve our master seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven so help us Lord we thank you for the for the the promise of these rich and beautiful rewards and just hearing the commendation from you Lord we we don't deserve it we know that but we yearn for it nevertheless and so please please help us we are prone to selfishness and to jealousy and apathy but help us to work and serve and preach and give for your glory for the growth of your kingdom fill us with your spirit we pray and cause your word to come alive in us give us faith what we cannot see or understand give us passion for your purity that we may one day here bravo well done good and faithful servant in Jesus name we pray amen.