Parable of the Talents

Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind… You've been faithful over a few things, and I'm going to make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. I mean, can you imagine what it would be like to hear that from Jesus? Have Jesus look you in the eye at the end and say, I know you. The door's not shut to you.

I'm so happy you're here. Well done. Those are the words we long to hear from our Lord. But in the parable of the talents, a servant hears the opposite message, you wicked and lazy servant.

Today on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. R.C. Sproul looks at this well-known parable of Jesus and helps us see that there's only one way to avoid being unprofitable servants. In this session, we come to the last of the parables that we'll be examining in this particular series, and it's also the longest parable that is found in the Gospel According to St. Matthew. It's one of the three that Jesus gave to warn people of the suddenness of His coming. And as I mentioned in the parable of the ten virgins, that His coming can be seen eschatologically at the end of the age or in our personal eschatology, where we may meet Him in the next hour.

And we don't know the day or the hour of our own death, but we are to be prepared as Christian people for His coming, either at the end of our lives or at His return at the end of the age. So let's look now at the parable of the talents, again in chapter 25 of Matthew, beginning at verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two and to another one, to each according to his own ability.

And immediately he went on a journey. And then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents beside them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents beside them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. And then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.

So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now the first thing we have to say about this parable is what I hope would be obvious to most of you that it's not a parable about various talents and gifts of abilities that God gives to us in this world. Here the use of talent does not refer to a particular skill that you or I might have.

It refers to a unit of currency that was the highest unit of currency among the Jews at this time. So a talent was a considerable amount of money. One talent would be usually somewhat equivalent to a whole year's wages for many people. And so this man who goes on this journey to a far country who is wealthy enough to have servants, he's also leaving a substantive amount of money in their care during his absence. And so he gives to one of these servants five talents of money, again a considerable sum. And then he gives to the second servant two talents of money, and to the third a single talent.

And we're told that he distributes these monetary substances according to his perception of their ability to be productive and fruitful with the money that he entrusts to their care. Now some people see in this parable a strong case for capitalism. Oh, it certainly doesn't oppose capitalism. I don't think that the primary point of the parable is to enjoin a particular economic system upon us, such as we call capitalism. But what capitalism has in common with the wisdom of this parable is the whole principle of deferred gratification and the principle of investing your capital in such a way that your capital works for you and increases your prosperity.

And it frowns upon wasteful consumption or frivolous spending of things or the idea of immediate gratification, where if you get your paycheck, you can't wait to go out and spend it on your latest toy. But rather the idea is to grow your resources by wise and frugal investment. Now again, what this has in common with capitalism historically is that the idea, as I said, the idea is to have your capital working for you, but that you be prudent with the use of whatever capital you possess, that you use it in a way that will increase its value rather than diminish its value. And so here the master is asking his servants to be prudent and wise investors so that they will be productive, that they will be fruitful with whatever they have received, which is on loan from their master because they themselves are not the owners of this money that has been entrusted to them. This also speaks to the Christian principle of stewardship. A steward in the ancient world was not the owner of the house, but he managed the finances of the house.

He was principally involved in oikonomia, and the word economics or economy comes from that Greek word oikonomia, which literally means house law or house rule. And it is the word from which we get the concept of stewardship, that the person who is put over the management of the affairs of the house is expected to handle those goods of which he is a steward, but not the owner. And by extension, the Christian faith sees that everything that we have, including our skills and abilities, are gifts from God, and we are called to be stewards of everything that we receive from the hand of God. You know, early on in my teaching career, teaching at the university at a Christian college, I remember giving an examination. Not one, but at least five students who were doing poorly on the test would say to me, Professor, I'm sorry I'm not very well prepared for this examination, but I hope you won't hold it against me because I want you to know that my heart is filled with love for the Lord Jesus, and I try to do what I can.

I try to do what I can. In fact, last week, instead of studying, I was visually involved in the evangelism outreach, and as a result, I didn't do so well on this test. That's the kind of stuff I would get from students. And I would tell them, I said, you know, you seem to have a good grasp of the doctrine of justification by faith, and I want you to know that as far as the kingdom of God is concerned, the only way you will ever be justified is by faith alone. But in this classroom, it's justification by works alone.

I'm glad that you love Jesus, but I hope you love Him enough to be more diligent stewards of your time here in college and start studying for your tests and using the abilities that He's given you. Now, there was this idea, and then I found it widespread throughout evangelical Christianity, that all you need to have is a loving heart and a warm heart, and since justification is not by works, we don't have to work as Christians. How can you read, even have a cursory reading of the gospels and not see the emphasis that our Lord put on productivity, on fruits?

The tree that doesn't bring forth fruit is worthy only to be cut down and cast into the fire. By their fruits, you shall know them, not by their words, but by the stewardship of the faith that they profess to have. And so, as Christians, we should be diligent. And one of the principles that we saw at the time of the Reformation was Luther's concept of the priesthood of all believers. And in that concept, he was not trying to get rid of the idea of the clergy.

He knew that there was a specific function that the clergy were called to perform, and the main function they were called to perform was to equip the saints for ministry, that every Christian is in the ministry. Every Christian has to participate in the mission of the church. You may not be an evangelist.

You may not have that particular gift, but it's still your responsibility to make sure that evangelism is taking place. And there's no room for slackers in the kingdom of God. I mean, and I get this being the president of a Christian organization for 40 years. Every time you let somebody go, you get people saying, you should never, ever fire anybody in a Christian organization. It's just not Christian.

I say, I'll tell you what's not Christian—not working, not producing. And we would be remiss to keep people in this task, which has a higher calling than any secular task in the world. I've had people say to me with Maureen as my gatekeeper, you're harder to get ahold of than the president of the United States. And I said, I'm glad to hear that.

There's a reason for it. I have a far more important job than he does. My job is to care for the people of God and for their spiritual needs.

And so I will be held accountable. Let him who has the gift of teaching, let him teach. Let him who has the gift of preaching, let him preach. Let him who has the gift of generosity, let him be generous. We are all gifted by the Holy Spirit, every one of us, for ministry. And at the time of the coming of Jesus, he will have an accounting with us, not simply like these fellows with what they did with the money, but what we've done with that which he has bestowed upon us and given us the responsibility of stewardship for.

And I have to ask you, how would you feel if you were called into that account tonight? And Jesus said, I gave you this ability. I gave you this opportunity. I gave you this mission.

What did you do with it? Well, this is what happens. The owner comes back. Well, this is what happens. The owner comes back, and he says to the man who he gave five talents.

Well, what's the story? The fellow said, hey, here's your five talents and five more. I doubled your money. I've been trading, wheeling, dealing, being very careful and productive. And Jesus, being influenced by modern culture, by Marxism and the labor theory of value, said, you greedy person, making a profit? Why, I don't want to see profit.

I have a non-profit organization that I want you to be involved in. No, listen to what he says. And how would you like to hear these words from Jesus? He says, well done.

Well done. You're a good servant. You're a faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things, and I'm going to make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

I mean, can you imagine what it would be like to hear that from Jesus? Have Jesus look you in the eye at the end and say, I know you. The door's not shut to you. I'm so happy you're here. Well done, you good and faithful servant. You're trustworthy. I trusted you with five talents, and you turned them into ten. And because you were so resourceful, such a good steward over these little things, I'm going to make you ruler over many things.

Now, come on. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Then he turned to the second servant, and the second servant said, Lord, you gave me two.

Here's four. And Jesus said the same thing to him. Well done, you good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over little things. I'll make you ruler over many. Enter now into the joy of the Lord. Then we come to the climax of this parable with respect to the one who had received the single talent. And he comes with excuses, and he comes with accusations against his master. Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown.

No, of course not. I don't reap where I've sown. I bought the field.

I paid the man who did it. And yes, I reap where I haven't sown. Gather where I've not scattered seed. And so I was afraid. And I was scared to death that I was going to lose this single talent you entrusted me with, so I went and I dug a hole in the ground, and I ewed it in there.

I can go out and dig it up for you now and show you that I haven't lost a thing and give back to you just exactly what you gave to me. You were afraid. You couldn't take a risk. And to understand that you couldn't possibly grow what I entrusted to you without taking risks, they had to be wise, calculated risks, but your fear just let my money be buried in the ground. You could have at least, if you were afraid, you could have taken it to the bank, and it would have been safe in the bank, and whatever interest the bank earned, you would have been able to give me on this time of accounting. So the Lord said to him, you good and faithful servant?

No, no, no, no. You wicked and lazy servant, slothful servant. You knew that I reap what I have sown and gather what I have not gathered seed, so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.

So take that talent from Him. Give it to the One who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. Everyone who produces will be given more blessing, and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. You know, in and of ourselves, we're all unprofitable servants. Without the grace of God, we couldn't produce anything. It's the Master who gave the talents of money to these men in the first place. It wasn't their own. But the One who was lazy, who was evil, lost, what the Master had given to Him, and then the awful instructions, cast the unprofitable servants into the outer darkness.

You know what that means. Send them to hell. Send them where there will not be the joy of the Lord. Instead of the joy of the Lord, there will be only weeping. There will be only weeping, gnashing of teeth. What a horrible scenario that Jesus describes for the unproductive professor of faith who shows no fruit of that faith.

The plight of the unprofitable servant is the same plight of the foolish virgins of the previous parable. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be where the only sound I hear is the sound of weeping and the gnashing of teeth. I want to be where I hear the sound that says, Well done, you good and faithful servant. Enter now into the joy of your Lord.

And you know, as I heard R.C. wrapping up that message, I could only imagine the overwhelming joy he experienced as he heard those words more than three years ago. Well done. This week we have featured Dr. Sproul's series, The Parables of Jesus, and we've learned about the persistent widow, the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, and others. Let me recommend that you request all 12 messages from this series. We'll send it to you in a two-DVD set for your donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries.

You can find us online at renewingyourmind.org, or you can call us with your gift at 1-800-435-4343. You'll find hundreds of additional resources both online and when you download our free app. Sermons, teaching series, video and audio messages, and articles are available at the touch of a button.

Download the free app when you search for Ligonier. Next week we will study the religion of paganism. First, Dr. Robert Godfrey will show us how the Old Testament figure Samson was entangled by paganism but overcame it. Then Dr. Peter Jones joins us to discuss paganism in our time. I hope you'll join us beginning Monday for Renewing Your Mind. you