November 25, 2024 • 36 mins
What happens when you realize that your talents are not just gifts but responsibilities with divine implications? In this insightful episode of the Equipped for Life podcast, we unravel the profound lessons from the Parable of the Talents, challenging you to rethink how you manage the gifts and opportunities entrusted to you. We promise that by the end, you'll have a clearer understanding of the urgency and accountability that comes with being a faithful steward in the body of Christ.
Join us as we discuss the compelling narrative found in Matthew 25:14-30, highlighting the immediate actions of the servant who embraced his responsibilities with alacrity. We analyze the bold difference between purposeful action and the futility of inaction, encouraging an introspective look at our own responses to God's call. By contrasting the diligent servants with the one who hesitated, we seek to inspire you to overcome fear and excuses, leveraging your talents for meaningful growth and service.
Listen as we explore the true rewards of stewardship, which extend far beyond material gains to a fulfilling relationship with God. The master's equal praise for his servants underscores the fact that our works should emerge from a robust relationship with the Messiah, not from comparison with others. Reflecting on themes from the episode, we challenge the mindset of envy and excuses, urging you to confront and embrace the opportunities before you. Empowered living awaits those who recognize and cultivate their God-given abilities, promising not only personal joy but also a broader positive impact in the world.
For information on EFL, in person group studies, or donation opportunities please visit eflpodast.buzzsprout.com.
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Episode Transcript
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B.C. Vine (00:01):
Welcome back to the Equipped for Life podcast.
I'm your host, bc Vine, happyto have you back.
If you did not listen to ourprevious episode, it was an
introduction to the Parable ofthe Talents.
Today we are going to get intothe Parable of the Talents
covered in Matthew, verses 25,14 through 30.
(00:22):
But before we hop into that, Ido want to remind you that
Equipped for Life is a men'sministry, equipping men on their
spiritual journey.
We have classes or studiesthree times a week in person
(00:42):
Tuesdays, fridays and Saturdaysin the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
If you are interested in thosestudies, please go to EFLmencom.
That is EFLmencom.
We also have a YouTube channel.
We'd love for you to check outthe content there.
We are going to be acceleratingthe amount of content that we
(01:02):
produce different content types,probably going to add some
videos soon here Very, veryexcited about that and we have a
bevy of other activities thatare going on.
If you are interested in thoseactivities, you can contact Alex
at EFLmencom Alex at EFLmencomor you can go to EFLmencom for
(01:23):
more information.
All right, so once again, wehave been in a study on the
parable of the talents.
Last episode we did anintroduction to that parable and
today we're going to dive intoit.
Just to kind of recap, we werein Matthew 24, giving a
precursor to the parable andseeing how Jesus set this up in
(01:45):
the backdrop that this parableis within.
And it comes in Matthew 24,verses one through three, where
Jesus is leaving the temple andhe is talking to his disciples
and he gives a propheticutterance about how the temple
is going to no longer be thereand the disciples begin to ask
(02:06):
Messiah, give us an indicationof when this will occur.
And he begins to go into atelling of certain signs, rumors
of wars and wars and falseprophets and false teachers.
He tells them to not be ledastray.
He goes into a teaching on howthey should be prepared, by
(02:27):
giving an analogy of a masterwho goes away and the servant is
left in charge and that servantis a poor steward.
And then we also got into thebeginning of Matthew 25, the
parable of the 10 virgins, whichis a setup parable for the
parable of the talents.
And again, I think it'simportant for us to remember
(02:48):
that he's talking to hisdisciples here.
He's not talking to those thatare outside the body of Christ,
he's talking to the ones thatare crafted into the vine.
So, as you're listening to this, see yourself in these parables
, understand that it is us whohe is relating these particular
messages to.
All right, so, with that beingsaid, we are going to get into
(03:12):
the study on the parable of thetalents.
If you have your Bible with you, your Bible app, I would
encourage you to go through it.
I'm going to read the entirepassage and then we're going to
break it down.
All right, so let's strap oninto your seats and let's get
into it.
So this is the reading of theparable of the talents Matthew
(03:32):
25, verses 14 through 30.
Again, it will be like a mangoing on a journey who called
his servants and entrusted hisproperty to them.
To one, he gave five talents,of money, to another two talents
and to another one talent, eachaccording to his ability.
(03:53):
Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received thefive talents went at once and
put his money to work and gainedfive more.
So also the one with the twotalents gained two more.
But the man who had receivedthe one talent went off, dug a
hole in the ground and hid hismaster's money.
(04:13):
After a long time, the masterof those servants returned and
settled accounts with them.
The man who had received thefive talents brought the other
five.
Master, he said you entrustedme with five talents.
See, I have gained five more.
His master replied well done,good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with afew things.
(04:35):
I will put you in charge ofmany things.
Come and share your master'shappiness.
The man with two talents alsocame, master, he said you
entrusted me with two talents.
See, I have gained two more.
His master replied well done,good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with afew things.
I will put you in charge ofmany things.
(04:55):
Come and share your master'shappiness.
The one talent came, master, hesaid I knew that you are a hard
man, harvesting where you havenot sown and gathering where you
have not scattered seed.
So I was afraid and went outand hid your talent in the
ground.
See, here is what belongs toyou.
(05:16):
His master replied you wicked,lazy servant.
So you knew that I harvestwhere I have not sown and gather
where I have not scattered seed.
Well then, you should have putmy money on deposit with the
bankers so that when I returned,I would have received it back
with interest.
Take the talent from him andgive it to the one who has the
(05:38):
ten talents, for everyone whohas will be given more and he
will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have even whathe has will be taken from him
and throw that worthless servantoutside into the darkness,
where there will be weeping andgnashing of teeth.
So that is Matthew 25, verses14 through 30.
(06:01):
This is a very, very heavyscripture.
Note what we talked about inthe last episode.
If you weren't here, we talkedabout this idea of weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
So hold on to that.
That's a very important line,and the Messiah says that a lot
when he's talking about the endof the age or when he is what I
(06:21):
would call engaging indiscussion on separation right,
the wheat from the chaff.
Okay, the goats from the sheepand these kinds of dialogues
that the Messiah is engaging in.
He talks about the weeping andgnashing of teeth.
So put a pin on that in yourmind or in your notes as you're
listening, because that's goingto be very important for us as
(06:41):
we get to the end of the study.
But let's break this down.
There's some key elements hereof the story that I want you to
be aware of.
You have the man or the master,depending on which translation
you're reading, whether it's ESVand NKJV and ASB, you may see
master.
And then you have the servants,which is another story element.
You may have yours may sayslaves, but man, master, the,
(07:06):
the journey, the property andthe talents.
These are the five main storyelements here in matthew 25, 14
through 30, the parable oftalents.
Once again, the five main storyelements in the parable of
talents are the man, the master,the servants, the journey, the
journey, the property and thetalents.
Okay, so be thinking about thatas we're going through.
(07:29):
So in verse 15 here, to one hegave five talents, of money, to
another two talents and toanother one talent, each
according to his ability.
The question you want to askher what are the key points of
observation regarding thetalents entrust to the servants?
What are the key points ofobservation regarding the
talents entrusted to theservants?
(07:51):
What I want to bring yourattention to is the ability
aspect of this Each according tohis ability.
You see, stewardship isimportant because a lot of times
we are not doing thingsaccording to our ability, we're
doing things outside of ourability, or we are being
dismissive about our abilitiesand we're not living up to our
(08:14):
stewardship responsibility overthe things that God has given us
.
To look at here is that fivetalents, two talents one talent
is not necessarily about whetheror not he trusted one over the
other.
More is that he gave themthings based off of what they
were able to do.
Right, what they were able todo, and I think that's important
(08:38):
, because all of us have thingsthat we're able to do, and God
has an expectation that we dothose things that we are able to
do and not focus on the thingsthat we can't do or focus on
what other people are doing.
All right, that's outside ofour control, outside of our
ability.
Focus on your ability.
If you've got gifts and skillsand talent, if you're sitting
(09:01):
around not using those gifts andskills and talent that God has
given you, that's a problem, andyou've got to really do some
self-reflection and figure outwhat's going on, what's
hindering you, what's stoppingyou, what is keeping you from
using your ability and being agood steward of what God has
given you.
All right, the next part ofthis this is interesting.
(09:21):
This is verses 26, or verse 16,matthew 25, verse 16.
The man who received the fivetalents went at once and put his
money to work and gained fivemore.
You have to ask yourself, asyou're reading this, what is the
meaning behind at once, at once, right At once.
(09:42):
It has a sense of urgency, doesit not?
There is an immediacy.
He went without reluctance.
He went quickly, with haste, togo and take care of the
responsibilities that he hadbeen given.
He went at once.
There's an emphasis on here thatthe Messiah wanted to
(10:03):
communicate, because a lot oftimes, god gives us a word or he
gives you something to do, andyou wait and you wait, and you
wait and you wait.
What are you waiting around for, right?
You are allowing fear oranxiety or worry or stress or
Bitterness, or all of thesedifferent things.
That's keeping you from doingwhat god has asked you to do,
(10:25):
and that's where we find doingwhat God has asked you to do,
and that's where we findourselves really in a quandary,
is that when God gives us a word, when God starts to turn your
heart towards something, to pushyou towards something, and
you're hesitant, right?
That's not the mindset of theservant that you want to be.
You want to be able to go atonce when God tells you, when he
(10:46):
moves you, when he leads youand guides you in a direction.
We want to cultivate thatinside as believers, as
followers of Jesus, where, whenwe're given something, we go at
once and we begin to make goodon what we have.
I mean, think about your lifefor a second, to make good on
(11:08):
what we have.
I mean think about your lifefor a second.
How often would you say thatyou went immediately and did
what God asked you to do?
How often, on the contrary, howoften do you ponder?
You ask people, you pray again,you pray again, you pray again,
you pray again.
You ask God, are you sure?
Are you sure?
Are you sure?
You see this servant?
He didn't do any of that.
He had full understanding andknowledge and he had full
(11:32):
confidence in his own abilityand he wanted to be a good
steward, and this is a reallyimportant point.
I think that's probably why hewas the one that had the five
right.
There's a reason why he hadmore responsibilities because of
his attitude, his disposition,his posture, the way that he
approached life allotted him tohave more responsibility.
(11:55):
You see, a lot of times we wantmore responsibility, but we
don't have this same attitude.
We don't have the attitude ofat once we have a delayed type
of obedience, a delay type ofresponse when God is calling us.
So think about that in your ownlife and where you can improve
those kinds of things.
You are listening to theEquipped for Life podcast.
I'm your host, bc Vine.
(12:16):
We are going through a study onthe parable of talents,
eflmencom EFLmencom if you wantmore information about who we
are and when to find ourin-person group studies, ok,
let's continue to go throughthis.
I want to look at the next partof this, and we see the
individual that had the five.
We see the one that had the two.
(12:36):
They both did the exact samething.
The one that had five, he madefive more.
The one that had two, he madetwo more.
They both were very diligentabout going and being good
stewards and making a return onwhat was given to them.
Okay, now let's observe thisindividual who had the one.
(12:57):
All right, and it says that.
But the man who had receivedthe one talent went off, dug a
hole in the ground and hid hismaster's money.
He dug a hole in the ground andhid the money.
So you have to ask yourselfhere what is the significance of
digging a hole in the ground.
What is the significance ofdigging a hole in the ground One
of the things that we talkedabout in the study and if you've
ever lived, for those of y'allthat have lived in the country,
(13:19):
or if you've lived in a farmingcommunity or if you've lived in
an area where you had to workwith your hands a lot, digging a
hole is a labor intensiveactivity.
There's a lot of work that'sinvolved in it and you typically
don't dig a hole for not Now.
Of course, if you were a littlekid, you know you may dig a
sand pit or a hole because youwant to dig, but as a grown man
(13:41):
no grown man is going out anddigging a hole for fun Okay, a
hole is dug because you'reirrigating it's, you're going to
put in a fence post, you aregoing to plant something.
There's a purpose in themeaning behind the hole.
Even if it was to bury thedeceased, there's a reason why
you're doing it.
You're not just arbitrarilydigging a hole.
(14:01):
So here this individual is.
He actually worked hard to donothing.
He worked hard to do nothing.
He dug a hole in the ground andhe hid the money in the ground.
He put the money in the groundright.
So a lot of times you have tosay to yourself how often have I
done a lot of work for nothingIn my life?
(14:24):
How many times have I foundmyself, have I found myself,
doing a whole lot of work toaccomplish not?
Or you worked on things thathad no value, or you engaged in
activities, or you did thingsthat didn't have a return on it,
hard work that didn't bless God, didn't honor God, didn't bless
(14:46):
people, did not progress oradvance you, but it was a lot of
work for something that youthought was important, or you
thought that was significant,when it actually wasn't right.
This idea of fruitless work isthe same kind of thing that was
mentioned in Matthew 24.
And if you didn't get a chanceto hear that, you can go back
and listen to the last episode,where we did an introduction to
(15:07):
Matthew 25 here, in theintroduction to the parable of
talents, but we talked a littlebit about that.
This idea of fruitlessendeavors things that don't
amount to anything of value orof benefit.
And so here, this individual,this servant, he does a lot of
work for nothing, a lot of workfor nothing, right?
So let's.
Let's continue, though, becauseit gets worse with this, with
(15:28):
this guy.
He's he's not done here, butthe man that received the one
talent went off, dug a hole inthe ground and he hid his
master's money.
The other part of this, in thisvery compact version, you've
got to ask yourself is what isthe deeper meaning behind hiding
the money?
Why did he hide it?
It you've got to ask yourselfis what is the deeper meaning
behind hiding the money?
Why did he hide it?
It's a strange thing, right,he's on his master's property,
(15:50):
he's a steward of the propertythat you don't get the sense
that there's thieves around.
Okay, you don't get the sensethat there is anything that's
going to come and take the money.
The other two servants had noapprehension.
They went and they took themoney immediately and they
gained a return.
But he dug a hole in the groundand he hid the money.
(16:15):
Pirates and you know abouttreasure and buried treasure.
You typically bury treasurewith the intent of coming back
to it.
You're hiding it from someonethat you think will take it, but
your intention is to come backto it so that you can use it for
some gain.
Whether you want to buy thingsfor it, right With it, should I
say you want to use the treasure, and that's the reason why you
worked hard to find the treasurein the first place.
(16:36):
Or you stole the treasure.
In the case of a pirate, youwent to hide that treasure and
you want to come back at a timethat is going to be unbeknownst
to the person that's looking fortheir treasure and you're going
to take that treasure, you'regoing to use it for some purpose
, but this guy hiding it, it hadno value.
There was no benefit for himhiding the treasure.
You see, and you're going tosee the master later, how he
(17:03):
responds to this servant hidingthe treasure, and he gives him a
very logical response to thisparticular behavior and action.
But it's just more of this guynot really displaying the type
of behavior that you wouldexpect, somebody who is the
servant of the master.
Now let's remember the parallelsthat we're drawing here.
This is in the backdrop of theend of the age, from Matthew 24,
(17:28):
where Jesus is discussing whatit will be like in the last days
and he's talking about hisdisciples, his followers, who
have been entrusted withproperty, and when the Messiah
comes back, he finds them doingnothing.
So think about it.
The master went away on a longjourney and he was going for a
(17:50):
time that none of them knew whenhe was going to return, and
this guy dug a hole, he put thetalent in the ground and then he
sat around for the entireduration of the master's journey
.
Let that settle in for a second.
He did nothing.
He worked hard to accomplishnothing and then for the rest of
(18:14):
the time he did absolutelynothing, absolutely nothing.
And we're going to see how themaster responds to him here in a
second.
All right, let's continue as wego through Matthew 25, 19.
After a long time, the masterof those servants returned and
(18:35):
settled accounts with them.
So we just talked about thathere a little bit, a long time.
What does that represent?
Well, if you were here on thelast podcast, you know what we
talked about in terms of the endof the age and generation.
This long time is describingthe duration from when the
Messiah went to the right handof the Father after his
(18:56):
resurrection until his secondcoming, when he returns in full
glory.
Okay, this is the time periodthat we are in.
It is the end of days, it isthe last generation, if you will
.
Now, that word generation weuse in english can be confusing,
because we think about, youknow, gen z, millennial, boomer,
(19:18):
alpha generation.
We think of generations, moreso in these 10 to 15 or 10 to 20
year periods of time, whereashere, in the biblical context,
it's speaking of that time fromwhen Messiah left to when he's
going to return.
So this long time that themaster has been gone for, is
that period of time has beengone for?
(19:39):
Is that period of time and thesettling of accounts is at the
end of days, when your life issettled and you're having to
come and give accounts toMessiah for how you spent what
he entrusted you with?
Think about that for a second.
So, although it may appear thathe's not going to come, it's
going to happen when you don'texpect it.
(19:59):
And this is the reason why,from the last study, in the last
episode of Matthew 24, wetalked about not being
unprepared, making sure that youare prepared, because you don't
know the day or the hours.
What the Messiah said in 24, hetold the disciples that right.
And you don't want to findyourself in a situation to where
(20:19):
, when he comes, that right.
And you don't want to findyourself in a situation to where
, when he comes, you are caughtbeing unproductive.
You are caught being a badsteward and you ultimately have
a really sour attitude about thewhole thing, and that's what
you're going to see this servant.
But before we get that, let'slook at how the master responds
to the first two.
(20:39):
We forgot about them for asecond because we've been
focusing and talking about thelast servant, but let's go and
see how he responded to thefirst two servants that went
ahead and put their money towork.
His master replied well done,good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with afew things.
I'll put you in charge of manythings.
Come and share your master'shappiness.
(21:01):
The man with two talents alsocame, mastery, said you.
So the question here that yougot to ask yourself are what are
some key observations we cantake away from the master's
response?
(21:22):
What are some key observationswe can take away from the
master's response?
Well, one of these observationsis that he had the same
response for both of theservants.
Well done, good and faithfulservant.
Well done.
It wasn't that he gave the onethat five more praise than two.
(21:43):
He gave them the same amount ofpraise and, if you notice, the
reward was the same as well.
Come share in your master'shappiness.
It was the same reward, sameresponse, same praise, same
reward.
So a lot of times we get caughtup in the quantity, the five
and the two.
But it was not about the fiveor the two, because the five or
(22:05):
the two were given based off ofthe ability, but the return was
the same for both and he gavethem both.
More to steward, more to steward.
See, a lot of times I thinkthat we get off focus because
we're concerned about whatothers have, and you're going to
kind of see that in our lastservant, we're focused on what
(22:25):
others are stewarding when youshould be focused on your own
stewardship responsibility.
We're also focused very much onthe reward a lot of times,
because we look at things in thenatural sense Well, you know,
god, I did X, y, z for you,right, I prayed, I went to
church, I read my Bible.
(22:47):
I'm sure that you've heardindividuals that have been
disgruntled about God's timingor lack of response to a prayer
or a request or an ask andthey'll say, well, I don't
understand.
I've been reading, I've beenserving in the church, I've been
doing X, y, z, I've been goingto the food pantry, I've been
(23:07):
treating people well, but yet Idon't seem to be getting quote
unquote a reward.
I think it's because our mindsare confused about what the
reward is.
You see, the reward was themaster's happiness.
It was the master's presence,not the things that they gained
from the obedience or from thestewardship.
You see, the reward that wehave as Christians is the Holy
Spirit, is fellowship, isconnection and intimacy with God
(23:30):
, in close relationship with him.
It's not the work or the thingsthat we get as a result of the
work right, because works inthemselves don't bring about
light.
Works are results of a strongrelationship with the Messiah.
You see, we've got to changeour paradigm and this is a great
parable to help us do that.
All right, you are listening tothe Equipped for Life podcast.
(23:53):
I'm your host, bc Vine.
We are in discussion on Matthew25, verses 14 through 30,
otherwise known as the parableof talents.
We've just looked at theobservations of the master's
response.
We are going to continue inthis.
We are almost wrapping up thestudy.
Stay with us to the end.
You don't want to miss the lastpart of this lesson.
(24:14):
All right, what are some keyobservations we can take away
from the master's response?
We talked about that a littlebit here.
Well done, good and faithfulservant.
To both of them the reward wasthe same and the reward is the
relationship.
It is the fellowship and theopportunity to spend time with
the master and in his joy, inhis happiness.
Okay, now let's continue andsee what else we have here
(24:38):
Matthew 24 through 25.
We get back to our friend man,our guy, with the one.
He's having a hard time and ifyou thought that his behavior
was egregious at the beginning,it's about to get really, really
bad here in Matthew 24 through20.
We'll read through yes 25 here.
(24:59):
Then the man who had receivedthe one talent came.
Master, he said I knew that youwere a hard man.
We'll read through yes 25 here.
Wow, the question that we haveto ask is what do you notice
(25:23):
about the final servant'sperspective when he approached
the master?
What was his disposition, hisattitude, his feelings about
what was given to him?
I think the one thing that youcan look at is that, first of
all, he's extremely accusatory.
I mean, look at the accusationsthat he's levying against this
master.
I knew that you are a hard man,harvesting where you have not
(25:46):
sown and gathering where youhave not scattered seed.
The audacity here that he'saccusing the master of pretty
much not earning the abundancefrom the work, right?
The other aspect of this isthat he's not being honest
(26:08):
either.
He said that he was afraid.
Well, if he was afraid, thenyou think that his behavior
would have been a littledifferent.
He wouldn't have come at him inthis way.
A man that's afraid of someonedoesn't have this kind of tone
of disrespect, accusatory tone.
You know, if you're afraid ofsomebody, you're going to be
timid, you're going to be slow,to be critical or be harsh in
(26:32):
the way that you speak.
But he was very, very boldabout levying accusations to the
master.
Here you can also see that hewas a jealous man.
You get the sense that hedidn't think that what he got
was enough to do anything with.
He wasn't the one with the fireof the two.
(26:54):
You know, and I think about howoften in our lives we make these
kinds of statements.
Well, you know, if I just onlyhad what this guy has over here,
you know, if I lived in thisneighborhood, if I grew up over
here, then I'd be able to do X,y, z.
You know, if I only had thisopportunity, you know, if
somebody would invest in mybusiness, then I could fill in
the blank.
If I had her looks right, ifyou're a female listening to
(27:17):
this if I had her looks, or if Ihad his height, if I had his
stature, then I could do X, y, z.
But since I don't, then youknow, there's not much that I
can accomplish.
There's not much that I can do.
You see, we're envious ofothers and what they have,
instead of focusing on what wehave.
So whether you have five or twoor one, it's not relevant,
(27:44):
because the reward would havebeen the same.
Imagine a scenario in which theguy with the one goes and does
the same thing.
He takes one and makes one more.
It would have been the sameresponse.
Well done, good and faithfulservant, come share in your
master's happiness.
The same response you have beenfaithful with a few things,
(28:05):
with one thing.
I will give you one more thing.
He would have responded theexact same, but instead he takes
the one, he does nothing withit, he sits around and wastes
his time and then, when it'stime for him to explain what he
did, he makes accusations.
He says harsh things that arereally not true at all.
(28:29):
About the master Now, in caseyou didn't pick it up the master
in this story, of course, isGod.
And so if you look at ourselvesin the end times again, where
we are making the parallelbecause of what Jesus taught us
about how this particularpassage is placed right in his
dialogue to the disciples aboutthe end of days and the end of
(28:51):
the age, the master, of course,is God, the servant is his
disciple, and this is how thedisciples responding when it's
time to give account for how hespent his life.
Again, how do we interpret themaster's response here?
(29:12):
I'm going to read this nextpart of it.
I think it's interesting.
He says you should have put mymoney on deposit with the
bankers so that when I returned,I would have received it back
with interest.
You should have put my money.
So he's now responding to thisaccusation.
He said wait a minute.
Here you claim that I'm a hardman right, that's what you say
(29:34):
and that I reap where I do notsow and I gather where I have
not scattered seed.
That's your accusation, and youare afraid.
Well, if that's the case, thenyou should have taken the money
and put it on investment withthe bankers.
At least it could have gainedinterest.
That would have been the bareminimum, but you didn't even do
(29:56):
that.
You didn't even do that.
You did far worse than that,actually.
You buried it in the ground andyou sat around for the entire
duration of my journey and didnothing and just grew bitter and
spiteful.
You're disrespectful, you areextremely disrespectful.
(30:18):
And listen to what he says tohim.
Throw this wicked and lazyservant out.
Throw him out.
Take the one from him and giveit to the one who has ten, you
know?
Think about this.
How long do we wait for God?
How long do or should I say,how long does God wait on us,
(30:42):
for us to respond to his call?
You know, you have people thathave gifts and talents that have
been laying dormant for years.
10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years go byand they do nothing with it.
They're just sitting on it.
Excuses abound, all of thesereasons why they can't.
(31:03):
Bitterness grows, spite grows,envy for what others have, and
then, at the end of it, comesregret.
After a life that was wasted,you find yourself saying I wish
that I would have.
If only I would have startedthis have, if only I would have
started this sooner, if only Iwould have.
(31:25):
And that's not what we want tohave in our lives.
We want to be able to feelconfident, to be able to stand
tall, to know that we are doingwhat God has called us to do,
that we are being good stewardsof what God has gifted us with,
that we're using our gifts andtalents for a real reason and a
(31:46):
real purpose.
Okay, so the master here is notbuying the I'm afraid thing.
He's not buying the.
You know, I knew you were ahard man.
Here's your money back.
I didn't want any problems.
You know, think about this too,as well.
How often do we just tell God Idon't want to be bothered with
you, just take back whatevercalling you have in my life.
(32:07):
I don't want to be botheredwith that, just here.
Here's what belongs to you.
Take it and leave me alone.
But if that's going to be ourposture in this position, we
can't expect to haverelationship with God, right.
We can't expect to share in hishappiness, in his position.
We can't expect to haverelationship with God, right.
We can't expect to share in hishappiness, in his joy, if we
(32:28):
don't want to steward the thingsthat he's given us.
So you are listening to theQuiff of Life podcast.
I am your host, bc Vaughn.
We are getting to the end hereof the study and I want to read
this last part of it, of thepassage.
And he says to him, after youknow, he calls him the wicked
and lazy servant, and he takesthe one from him and gives it to
(32:50):
the guy that had the 10.
He says and throw thatworthless servant outside into
the darkness where there'll beweeping and gnashing of teeth.
That's a very, that's a verystrong thing to say.
So the question you have to askyourself is what is the meaning
of weeping and gnashing ofteeth?
Well, whenever you hear thatphrase being mentioned, that has
(33:11):
to do with this internalseparation from God, eternal
suffering, a place where God'sspirit is not present.
Because here's the thing.
A lot of times people will lookat hell, this concept of hell.
It's very uncomfortable becausepeople don't like to talk about
this idea of eternal suffering,but really, if you think about
(33:34):
it, it makes perfect sense.
If you don't want to spend timewith God on earth for the very
finite amount of time you have,why would you want to spend
eternity with him?
That doesn't really make anysense now, does it?
But I think that people havethis position all the time, is
that they want nothing to dowith God unless God is giving
(33:57):
them something.
And if you look at theirpriorities and the hierarchy of
where they place their things ofimportance, god is three, four,
five or six on the list.
They've got a bunch of otherthings that are above God, right
, and God gets pushed to theside.
I'll do that for God later.
I got to get to this first.
I'll do that later.
Yeah, yeah, I know what theBible says.
(34:17):
But, yeah, yeah, yeah, I knowwhat the Bible says.
But my politics, yeah, yeah,yeah, I know what the Bible says
, but but my traditions, yeah,yeah, yeah, I know what the
Bible says, but I'm just wiredthis way.
Yeah, yeah, I can hear Godcalling me.
You know, out of this addiction,but you know I like it too much
or I'm too far gone into it.
Right, we have all of theseexcuses and the reasons why, but
(34:44):
yet it's ironic because in thesame breath, you'll say that,
well, going to hell or havingeternal separation from God is
too harsh, but yet you don'twant to spend God time with God
anyway.
You're pushing him away out ofyour life on a regular basis.
It doesn't make sense thatyou'd want to be with him in
eternity, you know.
So I think that you've got toreally try to check your heart.
(35:05):
We all do right.
If we don't want to spend timewith God in this life, then it
doesn't make sense for him towant to spend time with us in
eternity.
I mean, just think about thisfor a second.
What if you had somebody in yourlife, a friend or family and
many of you may have had thisexperience before that the only
time they call you is when theyneed something.
(35:26):
They need money, they need aride, they need some food, they
need this, they need that, theyneed this.
And they call you all the timeand they need something from you
.
Okay, and you get to a pointwhere you say you know what.
(35:55):
I just don't see any benefit orvalue here in this relationship
.
It's very one way.
The only time you really callme is when you need something
from me.
I think that I'll cut thisrelationship off and I don't
want to be with you.
You're not going to beconvinced, are you?
You're going to say no, youjust want the things that I have
.
Actually, you like what I cando for you.
You actually really don't wantto be around me.
You don't even know me.
I can't remember the last timeyou invited me to lunch or you
(36:18):
invited me for coffee.
I can't remember the last timeyou just came over and talked to
me.
I can't remember the last timeyou asked about my day.
I can't remember the last timeyou gave me a hug.
I can't remember the last timeyou were there for me when I
needed somebody to confide in orI needed someone to talk to or
I wanted to share life.
In fact, the only time I hearfrom you is when you want
(36:40):
something.
So I am not convinced that youlove me.
I am not convinced that youwant to spend time with me, I am
not convinced that you want arelationship.
So therefore, no, thank you.
This is the same way with God.
We can't expect to get to theend of our days, the end of our
life.
We've been spending our entirelife 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80
(37:05):
years, 90 years avoiding God,pushing him away, not wanting
his presence, not wanting arelationship with him, and then,
at the very end, saying I wantto spend eternity with you.
That's just a nonsensical idea.
It's not rooted in logic orreason and really, if you're
honest with yourself, what youwant is to avoid hellfire.
(37:26):
That's it.
That's where the fire insuranceChristian comes from.
You don't want relationship.
You want a safety net to makesure that you're not going to
feel any hurt or pain orpunishment or suffering.
You don't really want to getclose to God.
You want God to leave you aloneand you want to ask him for
(37:46):
things when you need something.
And then you hope that at theend of this life you'll get to
escape hellfire.
And those of us that are theelect and the chosen, we want to
spend time with God everywhere,all the time, in all ways, in
all manner, and we are takingour skills and our gifts and our
(38:10):
talents and we are going atonce to put them to use for our
Messiah, for our King, becausewe love him and we want to share
in his happiness.
You are listening to theEquipped for Life podcast.
I'm your host, bc Vine.
This has been a discussion onthe parable of talents.
We hope that you have enjoyedthis lesson.
(38:30):
Be strong on your journey.
Welcome back to the Equipped for Life podcast.
I'm your host, bc Vine, happyto have you back.
If you did not listen to ourprevious episode, it was an
introduction to the Parable ofthe Talents.
Today we are going to get intothe Parable of the Talents
covered in Matthew, verses 25,14 through 30.
(00:22):
But before we hop into that, Ido want to remind you that
Equipped for Life is a men'sministry, equipping men on their
spiritual journey.
We have classes or studiesthree times a week in person
(00:42):
Tuesdays, fridays and Saturdaysin the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
If you are interested in thosestudies, please go to EFLmencom.
That is EFLmencom.
We also have a YouTube channel.
We'd love for you to check outthe content there.
We are going to be acceleratingthe amount of content that we
(01:02):
produce different content types,probably going to add some
videos soon here Very, veryexcited about that and we have a
bevy of other activities thatare going on.
If you are interested in thoseactivities, you can contact Alex
at EFLmencom Alex at EFLmencomor you can go to EFLmencom for
(01:23):
more information.
All right, so once again, wehave been in a study on the
parable of the talents.
Last episode we did anintroduction to that parable and
today we're going to dive intoit.
Just to kind of recap, we werein Matthew 24, giving a
precursor to the parable andseeing how Jesus set this up in
(01:45):
the backdrop that this parableis within.
And it comes in Matthew 24,verses one through three, where
Jesus is leaving the temple andhe is talking to his disciples
and he gives a propheticutterance about how the temple
is going to no longer be thereand the disciples begin to ask
(02:06):
Messiah, give us an indicationof when this will occur.
And he begins to go into atelling of certain signs, rumors
of wars and wars and falseprophets and false teachers.
He tells them to not be ledastray.
He goes into a teaching on howthey should be prepared, by
(02:27):
giving an analogy of a masterwho goes away and the servant is
left in charge and that servantis a poor steward.
And then we also got into thebeginning of Matthew 25, the
parable of the 10 virgins, whichis a setup parable for the
parable of the talents.
And again, I think it'simportant for us to remember
(02:48):
that he's talking to hisdisciples here.
He's not talking to those thatare outside the body of Christ,
he's talking to the ones thatare crafted into the vine.
So, as you're listening to this, see yourself in these parables
, understand that it is us whohe is relating these particular
messages to.
All right, so, with that beingsaid, we are going to get into
(03:12):
the study on the parable of thetalents.
If you have your Bible with you, your Bible app, I would
encourage you to go through it.
I'm going to read the entirepassage and then we're going to
break it down.
All right, so let's strap oninto your seats and let's get
into it.
So this is the reading of theparable of the talents Matthew
(03:32):
25, verses 14 through 30.
Again, it will be like a mangoing on a journey who called
his servants and entrusted hisproperty to them.
To one, he gave five talents,of money, to another two talents
and to another one talent, eachaccording to his ability.
(03:53):
Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received thefive talents went at once and
put his money to work and gainedfive more.
So also the one with the twotalents gained two more.
But the man who had receivedthe one talent went off, dug a
hole in the ground and hid hismaster's money.
(04:13):
After a long time, the masterof those servants returned and
settled accounts with them.
The man who had received thefive talents brought the other
five.
Master, he said you entrustedme with five talents.
See, I have gained five more.
His master replied well done,good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with afew things.
(04:35):
I will put you in charge ofmany things.
Come and share your master'shappiness.
The man with two talents alsocame, master, he said you
entrusted me with two talents.
See, I have gained two more.
His master replied well done,good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with afew things.
I will put you in charge ofmany things.
(04:55):
Come and share your master'shappiness.
The one talent came, master, hesaid I knew that you are a hard
man, harvesting where you havenot sown and gathering where you
have not scattered seed.
So I was afraid and went outand hid your talent in the
ground.
See, here is what belongs toyou.
(05:16):
His master replied you wicked,lazy servant.
So you knew that I harvestwhere I have not sown and gather
where I have not scattered seed.
Well then, you should have putmy money on deposit with the
bankers so that when I returned,I would have received it back
with interest.
Take the talent from him andgive it to the one who has the
(05:38):
ten talents, for everyone whohas will be given more and he
will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have even whathe has will be taken from him
and throw that worthless servantoutside into the darkness,
where there will be weeping andgnashing of teeth.
So that is Matthew 25, verses14 through 30.
(06:01):
This is a very, very heavyscripture.
Note what we talked about inthe last episode.
If you weren't here, we talkedabout this idea of weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
So hold on to that.
That's a very important line,and the Messiah says that a lot
when he's talking about the endof the age or when he is what I
(06:21):
would call engaging indiscussion on separation right,
the wheat from the chaff.
Okay, the goats from the sheepand these kinds of dialogues
that the Messiah is engaging in.
He talks about the weeping andgnashing of teeth.
So put a pin on that in yourmind or in your notes as you're
listening, because that's goingto be very important for us as
(06:41):
we get to the end of the study.
But let's break this down.
There's some key elements hereof the story that I want you to
be aware of.
You have the man or the master,depending on which translation
you're reading, whether it's ESVand NKJV and ASB, you may see
master.
And then you have the servants,which is another story element.
You may have yours may sayslaves, but man, master, the,
(07:06):
the journey, the property andthe talents.
These are the five main storyelements here in matthew 25, 14
through 30, the parable oftalents.
Once again, the five main storyelements in the parable of
talents are the man, the master,the servants, the journey, the
journey, the property and thetalents.
Okay, so be thinking about thatas we're going through.
(07:29):
So in verse 15 here, to one hegave five talents, of money, to
another two talents and toanother one talent, each
according to his ability.
The question you want to askher what are the key points of
observation regarding thetalents entrust to the servants?
What are the key points ofobservation regarding the
talents entrusted to theservants?
(07:51):
What I want to bring yourattention to is the ability
aspect of this Each according tohis ability.
You see, stewardship isimportant because a lot of times
we are not doing thingsaccording to our ability, we're
doing things outside of ourability, or we are being
dismissive about our abilitiesand we're not living up to our
(08:14):
stewardship responsibility overthe things that God has given us
.
To look at here is that fivetalents, two talents one talent
is not necessarily about whetheror not he trusted one over the
other.
More is that he gave themthings based off of what they
were able to do.
Right, what they were able todo, and I think that's important
(08:38):
, because all of us have thingsthat we're able to do, and God
has an expectation that we dothose things that we are able to
do and not focus on the thingsthat we can't do or focus on
what other people are doing.
All right, that's outside ofour control, outside of our
ability.
Focus on your ability.
If you've got gifts and skillsand talent, if you're sitting
(09:01):
around not using those gifts andskills and talent that God has
given you, that's a problem, andyou've got to really do some
self-reflection and figure outwhat's going on, what's
hindering you, what's stoppingyou, what is keeping you from
using your ability and being agood steward of what God has
given you.
All right, the next part ofthis this is interesting.
(09:21):
This is verses 26, or verse 16,matthew 25, verse 16.
The man who received the fivetalents went at once and put his
money to work and gained fivemore.
You have to ask yourself, asyou're reading this, what is the
meaning behind at once, at once, right At once.
(09:42):
It has a sense of urgency, doesit not?
There is an immediacy.
He went without reluctance.
He went quickly, with haste, togo and take care of the
responsibilities that he hadbeen given.
He went at once.
There's an emphasis on here thatthe Messiah wanted to
(10:03):
communicate, because a lot oftimes, god gives us a word or he
gives you something to do, andyou wait and you wait, and you
wait and you wait.
What are you waiting around for, right?
You are allowing fear oranxiety or worry or stress or
Bitterness, or all of thesedifferent things.
That's keeping you from doingwhat god has asked you to do,
(10:25):
and that's where we find doingwhat God has asked you to do,
and that's where we findourselves really in a quandary,
is that when God gives us a word, when God starts to turn your
heart towards something, to pushyou towards something, and
you're hesitant, right?
That's not the mindset of theservant that you want to be.
You want to be able to go atonce when God tells you, when he
(10:46):
moves you, when he leads youand guides you in a direction.
We want to cultivate thatinside as believers, as
followers of Jesus, where, whenwe're given something, we go at
once and we begin to make goodon what we have.
I mean, think about your lifefor a second, to make good on
(11:08):
what we have.
I mean think about your lifefor a second.
How often would you say thatyou went immediately and did
what God asked you to do?
How often, on the contrary, howoften do you ponder?
You ask people, you pray again,you pray again, you pray again,
you pray again.
You ask God, are you sure?
Are you sure?
Are you sure?
You see this servant?
He didn't do any of that.
He had full understanding andknowledge and he had full
(11:32):
confidence in his own abilityand he wanted to be a good
steward, and this is a reallyimportant point.
I think that's probably why hewas the one that had the five
right.
There's a reason why he hadmore responsibilities because of
his attitude, his disposition,his posture, the way that he
approached life allotted him tohave more responsibility.
(11:55):
You see, a lot of times we wantmore responsibility, but we
don't have this same attitude.
We don't have the attitude ofat once we have a delayed type
of obedience, a delay type ofresponse when God is calling us.
So think about that in your ownlife and where you can improve
those kinds of things.
You are listening to theEquipped for Life podcast.
I'm your host, bc Vine.
(12:16):
We are going through a study onthe parable of talents,
eflmencom EFLmencom if you wantmore information about who we
are and when to find ourin-person group studies, ok,
let's continue to go throughthis.
I want to look at the next partof this, and we see the
individual that had the five.
We see the one that had the two.
(12:36):
They both did the exact samething.
The one that had five, he madefive more.
The one that had two, he madetwo more.
They both were very diligentabout going and being good
stewards and making a return onwhat was given to them.
Okay, now let's observe thisindividual who had the one.
(12:57):
All right, and it says that.
But the man who had receivedthe one talent went off, dug a
hole in the ground and hid hismaster's money.
He dug a hole in the ground andhid the money.
So you have to ask yourselfhere what is the significance of
digging a hole in the ground.
What is the significance ofdigging a hole in the ground One
of the things that we talkedabout in the study and if you've
ever lived, for those of y'allthat have lived in the country,
(13:19):
or if you've lived in a farmingcommunity or if you've lived in
an area where you had to workwith your hands a lot, digging a
hole is a labor intensiveactivity.
There's a lot of work that'sinvolved in it and you typically
don't dig a hole for not Now.
Of course, if you were a littlekid, you know you may dig a
sand pit or a hole because youwant to dig, but as a grown man
(13:41):
no grown man is going out anddigging a hole for fun Okay, a
hole is dug because you'reirrigating it's, you're going to
put in a fence post, you aregoing to plant something.
There's a purpose in themeaning behind the hole.
Even if it was to bury thedeceased, there's a reason why
you're doing it.
You're not just arbitrarilydigging a hole.
(14:01):
So here this individual is.
He actually worked hard to donothing.
He worked hard to do nothing.
He dug a hole in the ground andhe hid the money in the ground.
He put the money in the groundright.
So a lot of times you have tosay to yourself how often have I
done a lot of work for nothingIn my life?
(14:24):
How many times have I foundmyself, have I found myself,
doing a whole lot of work toaccomplish not?
Or you worked on things thathad no value, or you engaged in
activities, or you did thingsthat didn't have a return on it,
hard work that didn't bless God, didn't honor God, didn't bless
(14:46):
people, did not progress oradvance you, but it was a lot of
work for something that youthought was important, or you
thought that was significant,when it actually wasn't right.
This idea of fruitless work isthe same kind of thing that was
mentioned in Matthew 24.
And if you didn't get a chanceto hear that, you can go back
and listen to the last episode,where we did an introduction to
(15:07):
Matthew 25 here, in theintroduction to the parable of
talents, but we talked a littlebit about that.
This idea of fruitlessendeavors things that don't
amount to anything of value orof benefit.
And so here, this individual,this servant, he does a lot of
work for nothing, a lot of workfor nothing, right?
So let's.
Let's continue, though, becauseit gets worse with this, with
(15:28):
this guy.
He's he's not done here, butthe man that received the one
talent went off, dug a hole inthe ground and he hid his
master's money.
The other part of this, in thisvery compact version, you've
got to ask yourself is what isthe deeper meaning behind hiding
the money?
Why did he hide it?
It you've got to ask yourselfis what is the deeper meaning
behind hiding the money?
Why did he hide it?
It's a strange thing, right,he's on his master's property,
(15:50):
he's a steward of the propertythat you don't get the sense
that there's thieves around.
Okay, you don't get the sensethat there is anything that's
going to come and take the money.
The other two servants had noapprehension.
They went and they took themoney immediately and they
gained a return.
But he dug a hole in the groundand he hid the money.
(16:15):
Pirates and you know abouttreasure and buried treasure.
You typically bury treasurewith the intent of coming back
to it.
You're hiding it from someonethat you think will take it, but
your intention is to come backto it so that you can use it for
some gain.
Whether you want to buy thingsfor it, right With it, should I
say you want to use the treasure, and that's the reason why you
worked hard to find the treasurein the first place.
(16:36):
Or you stole the treasure.
In the case of a pirate, youwent to hide that treasure and
you want to come back at a timethat is going to be unbeknownst
to the person that's looking fortheir treasure and you're going
to take that treasure, you'regoing to use it for some purpose
, but this guy hiding it, it hadno value.
There was no benefit for himhiding the treasure.
You see, and you're going tosee the master later, how he
(17:03):
responds to this servant hidingthe treasure, and he gives him a
very logical response to thisparticular behavior and action.
But it's just more of this guynot really displaying the type
of behavior that you wouldexpect, somebody who is the
servant of the master.
Now let's remember the parallelsthat we're drawing here.
This is in the backdrop of theend of the age, from Matthew 24,
(17:28):
where Jesus is discussing whatit will be like in the last days
and he's talking about hisdisciples, his followers, who
have been entrusted withproperty, and when the Messiah
comes back, he finds them doingnothing.
So think about it.
The master went away on a longjourney and he was going for a
(17:50):
time that none of them knew whenhe was going to return, and
this guy dug a hole, he put thetalent in the ground and then he
sat around for the entireduration of the master's journey
.
Let that settle in for a second.
He did nothing.
He worked hard to accomplishnothing and then for the rest of
(18:14):
the time he did absolutelynothing, absolutely nothing.
And we're going to see how themaster responds to him here in a
second.
All right, let's continue as wego through Matthew 25, 19.
After a long time, the masterof those servants returned and
(18:35):
settled accounts with them.
So we just talked about thathere a little bit, a long time.
What does that represent?
Well, if you were here on thelast podcast, you know what we
talked about in terms of the endof the age and generation.
This long time is describingthe duration from when the
Messiah went to the right handof the Father after his
(18:56):
resurrection until his secondcoming, when he returns in full
glory.
Okay, this is the time periodthat we are in.
It is the end of days, it isthe last generation, if you will
.
Now, that word generation weuse in english can be confusing,
because we think about, youknow, gen z, millennial, boomer,
(19:18):
alpha generation.
We think of generations, moreso in these 10 to 15 or 10 to 20
year periods of time, whereashere, in the biblical context,
it's speaking of that time fromwhen Messiah left to when he's
going to return.
So this long time that themaster has been gone for, is
that period of time has beengone for?
(19:39):
Is that period of time and thesettling of accounts is at the
end of days, when your life issettled and you're having to
come and give accounts toMessiah for how you spent what
he entrusted you with?
Think about that for a second.
So, although it may appear thathe's not going to come, it's
going to happen when you don'texpect it.
(19:59):
And this is the reason why,from the last study, in the last
episode of Matthew 24, wetalked about not being
unprepared, making sure that youare prepared, because you don't
know the day or the hours.
What the Messiah said in 24, hetold the disciples that right.
And you don't want to findyourself in a situation to where
(20:19):
, when he comes, that right.
And you don't want to findyourself in a situation to where
, when he comes, you are caughtbeing unproductive.
You are caught being a badsteward and you ultimately have
a really sour attitude about thewhole thing, and that's what
you're going to see this servant.
But before we get that, let'slook at how the master responds
to the first two.
(20:39):
We forgot about them for asecond because we've been
focusing and talking about thelast servant, but let's go and
see how he responded to thefirst two servants that went
ahead and put their money towork.
His master replied well done,good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with afew things.
I'll put you in charge of manythings.
Come and share your master'shappiness.
(21:01):
The man with two talents alsocame, mastery, said you.
So the question here that yougot to ask yourself are what are
some key observations we cantake away from the master's
response?
(21:22):
What are some key observationswe can take away from the
master's response?
Well, one of these observationsis that he had the same
response for both of theservants.
Well done, good and faithfulservant.
Well done.
It wasn't that he gave the onethat five more praise than two.
(21:43):
He gave them the same amount ofpraise and, if you notice, the
reward was the same as well.
Come share in your master'shappiness.
It was the same reward, sameresponse, same praise, same
reward.
So a lot of times we get caughtup in the quantity, the five
and the two.
But it was not about the fiveor the two, because the five or
(22:05):
the two were given based off ofthe ability, but the return was
the same for both and he gavethem both.
More to steward, more to steward.
See, a lot of times I thinkthat we get off focus because
we're concerned about whatothers have, and you're going to
kind of see that in our lastservant, we're focused on what
(22:25):
others are stewarding when youshould be focused on your own
stewardship responsibility.
We're also focused very much onthe reward a lot of times,
because we look at things in thenatural sense Well, you know,
god, I did X, y, z for you,right, I prayed, I went to
church, I read my Bible.
(22:47):
I'm sure that you've heardindividuals that have been
disgruntled about God's timingor lack of response to a prayer
or a request or an ask andthey'll say, well, I don't
understand.
I've been reading, I've beenserving in the church, I've been
doing X, y, z, I've been goingto the food pantry, I've been
(23:07):
treating people well, but yet Idon't seem to be getting quote
unquote a reward.
I think it's because our mindsare confused about what the
reward is.
You see, the reward was themaster's happiness.
It was the master's presence,not the things that they gained
from the obedience or from thestewardship.
You see, the reward that wehave as Christians is the Holy
Spirit, is fellowship, isconnection and intimacy with God
(23:30):
, in close relationship with him.
It's not the work or the thingsthat we get as a result of the
work right, because works inthemselves don't bring about
light.
Works are results of a strongrelationship with the Messiah.
You see, we've got to changeour paradigm and this is a great
parable to help us do that.
All right, you are listening tothe Equipped for Life podcast.
(23:53):
I'm your host, bc Vine.
We are in discussion on Matthew25, verses 14 through 30,
otherwise known as the parableof talents.
We've just looked at theobservations of the master's
response.
We are going to continue inthis.
We are almost wrapping up thestudy.
Stay with us to the end.
You don't want to miss the lastpart of this lesson.
(24:14):
All right, what are some keyobservations we can take away
from the master's response?
We talked about that a littlebit here.
Well done, good and faithfulservant.
To both of them the reward wasthe same and the reward is the
relationship.
It is the fellowship and theopportunity to spend time with
the master and in his joy, inhis happiness.
Okay, now let's continue andsee what else we have here
(24:38):
Matthew 24 through 25.
We get back to our friend man,our guy, with the one.
He's having a hard time and ifyou thought that his behavior
was egregious at the beginning,it's about to get really, really
bad here in Matthew 24 through20.
We'll read through yes 25 here.
(24:59):
Then the man who had receivedthe one talent came.
Master, he said I knew that youwere a hard man.
We'll read through yes 25 here.
Wow, the question that we haveto ask is what do you notice
(25:23):
about the final servant'sperspective when he approached
the master?
What was his disposition, hisattitude, his feelings about
what was given to him?
I think the one thing that youcan look at is that, first of
all, he's extremely accusatory.
I mean, look at the accusationsthat he's levying against this
master.
I knew that you are a hard man,harvesting where you have not
(25:46):
sown and gathering where youhave not scattered seed.
The audacity here that he'saccusing the master of pretty
much not earning the abundancefrom the work, right?
The other aspect of this isthat he's not being honest
(26:08):
either.
He said that he was afraid.
Well, if he was afraid, thenyou think that his behavior
would have been a littledifferent.
He wouldn't have come at him inthis way.
A man that's afraid of someonedoesn't have this kind of tone
of disrespect, accusatory tone.
You know, if you're afraid ofsomebody, you're going to be
timid, you're going to be slow,to be critical or be harsh in
(26:32):
the way that you speak.
But he was very, very boldabout levying accusations to the
master.
Here you can also see that hewas a jealous man.
You get the sense that hedidn't think that what he got
was enough to do anything with.
He wasn't the one with the fireof the two.
(26:54):
You know, and I think about howoften in our lives we make these
kinds of statements.
Well, you know, if I just onlyhad what this guy has over here,
you know, if I lived in thisneighborhood, if I grew up over
here, then I'd be able to do X,y, z.
You know, if I only had thisopportunity, you know, if
somebody would invest in mybusiness, then I could fill in
the blank.
If I had her looks right, ifyou're a female listening to
(27:17):
this if I had her looks, or if Ihad his height, if I had his
stature, then I could do X, y, z.
But since I don't, then youknow, there's not much that I
can accomplish.
There's not much that I can do.
You see, we're envious ofothers and what they have,
instead of focusing on what wehave.
So whether you have five or twoor one, it's not relevant,
(27:44):
because the reward would havebeen the same.
Imagine a scenario in which theguy with the one goes and does
the same thing.
He takes one and makes one more.
It would have been the sameresponse.
Well done, good and faithfulservant, come share in your
master's happiness.
The same response you have beenfaithful with a few things,
(28:05):
with one thing.
I will give you one more thing.
He would have responded theexact same, but instead he takes
the one, he does nothing withit, he sits around and wastes
his time and then, when it'stime for him to explain what he
did, he makes accusations.
He says harsh things that arereally not true at all.
(28:29):
About the master Now, in caseyou didn't pick it up the master
in this story, of course, isGod.
And so if you look at ourselvesin the end times again, where
we are making the parallelbecause of what Jesus taught us
about how this particularpassage is placed right in his
dialogue to the disciples aboutthe end of days and the end of
(28:51):
the age, the master, of course,is God, the servant is his
disciple, and this is how thedisciples responding when it's
time to give account for how hespent his life.
Again, how do we interpret themaster's response here?
(29:12):
I'm going to read this nextpart of it.
I think it's interesting.
He says you should have put mymoney on deposit with the
bankers so that when I returned,I would have received it back
with interest.
You should have put my money.
So he's now responding to thisaccusation.
He said wait a minute.
Here you claim that I'm a hardman right, that's what you say
(29:34):
and that I reap where I do notsow and I gather where I have
not scattered seed.
That's your accusation, and youare afraid.
Well, if that's the case, thenyou should have taken the money
and put it on investment withthe bankers.
At least it could have gainedinterest.
That would have been the bareminimum, but you didn't even do
(29:56):
that.
You didn't even do that.
You did far worse than that,actually.
You buried it in the ground andyou sat around for the entire
duration of my journey and didnothing and just grew bitter and
spiteful.
You're disrespectful, you areextremely disrespectful.
(30:18):
And listen to what he says tohim.
Throw this wicked and lazyservant out.
Throw him out.
Take the one from him and giveit to the one who has ten, you
know?
Think about this.
How long do we wait for God?
How long do or should I say,how long does God wait on us,
(30:42):
for us to respond to his call?
You know, you have people thathave gifts and talents that have
been laying dormant for years.
10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years go byand they do nothing with it.
They're just sitting on it.
Excuses abound, all of thesereasons why they can't.
(31:03):
Bitterness grows, spite grows,envy for what others have, and
then, at the end of it, comesregret.
After a life that was wasted,you find yourself saying I wish
that I would have.
If only I would have startedthis have, if only I would have
started this sooner, if only Iwould have.
(31:25):
And that's not what we want tohave in our lives.
We want to be able to feelconfident, to be able to stand
tall, to know that we are doingwhat God has called us to do,
that we are being good stewardsof what God has gifted us with,
that we're using our gifts andtalents for a real reason and a
(31:46):
real purpose.
Okay, so the master here is notbuying the I'm afraid thing.
He's not buying the.
You know, I knew you were ahard man.
Here's your money back.
I didn't want any problems.
You know, think about this too,as well.
How often do we just tell God Idon't want to be bothered with
you, just take back whatevercalling you have in my life.
(32:07):
I don't want to be botheredwith that, just here.
Here's what belongs to you.
Take it and leave me alone.
But if that's going to be ourposture in this position, we
can't expect to haverelationship with God, right.
We can't expect to share in hishappiness, in his position.
We can't expect to haverelationship with God, right.
We can't expect to share in hishappiness, in his joy, if we
(32:28):
don't want to steward the thingsthat he's given us.
So you are listening to theQuiff of Life podcast.
I am your host, bc Vaughn.
We are getting to the end hereof the study and I want to read
this last part of it, of thepassage.
And he says to him, after youknow, he calls him the wicked
and lazy servant, and he takesthe one from him and gives it to
(32:50):
the guy that had the 10.
He says and throw thatworthless servant outside into
the darkness where there'll beweeping and gnashing of teeth.
That's a very, that's a verystrong thing to say.
So the question you have to askyourself is what is the meaning
of weeping and gnashing ofteeth?
Well, whenever you hear thatphrase being mentioned, that has
(33:11):
to do with this internalseparation from God, eternal
suffering, a place where God'sspirit is not present.
Because here's the thing.
A lot of times people will lookat hell, this concept of hell.
It's very uncomfortable becausepeople don't like to talk about
this idea of eternal suffering,but really, if you think about
(33:34):
it, it makes perfect sense.
If you don't want to spend timewith God on earth for the very
finite amount of time you have,why would you want to spend
eternity with him?
That doesn't really make anysense now, does it?
But I think that people havethis position all the time, is
that they want nothing to dowith God unless God is giving
(33:57):
them something.
And if you look at theirpriorities and the hierarchy of
where they place their things ofimportance, god is three, four,
five or six on the list.
They've got a bunch of otherthings that are above God, right
, and God gets pushed to theside.
I'll do that for God later.
I got to get to this first.
I'll do that later.
Yeah, yeah, I know what theBible says.
(34:17):
But, yeah, yeah, yeah, I knowwhat the Bible says.
But my politics, yeah, yeah,yeah, I know what the Bible says
, but but my traditions, yeah,yeah, yeah, I know what the
Bible says, but I'm just wiredthis way.
Yeah, yeah, I can hear Godcalling me.
You know, out of this addiction,but you know I like it too much
or I'm too far gone into it.
Right, we have all of theseexcuses and the reasons why, but
(34:44):
yet it's ironic because in thesame breath, you'll say that,
well, going to hell or havingeternal separation from God is
too harsh, but yet you don'twant to spend God time with God
anyway.
You're pushing him away out ofyour life on a regular basis.
It doesn't make sense thatyou'd want to be with him in
eternity, you know.
So I think that you've got toreally try to check your heart.
(35:05):
We all do right.
If we don't want to spend timewith God in this life, then it
doesn't make sense for him towant to spend time with us in
eternity.
I mean, just think about thisfor a second.
What if you had somebody in yourlife, a friend or family and
many of you may have had thisexperience before that the only
time they call you is when theyneed something.
(35:26):
They need money, they need aride, they need some food, they
need this, they need that, theyneed this.
And they call you all the timeand they need something from you
.
Okay, and you get to a pointwhere you say you know what.
(35:55):
I just don't see any benefit orvalue here in this relationship
.
It's very one way.
The only time you really callme is when you need something
from me.
I think that I'll cut thisrelationship off and I don't
want to be with you.
You're not going to beconvinced, are you?
You're going to say no, youjust want the things that I have
.
Actually, you like what I cando for you.
You actually really don't wantto be around me.
You don't even know me.
I can't remember the last timeyou invited me to lunch or you
(36:18):
invited me for coffee.
I can't remember the last timeyou just came over and talked to
me.
I can't remember the last timeyou asked about my day.
I can't remember the last timeyou gave me a hug.
I can't remember the last timeyou were there for me when I
needed somebody to confide in orI needed someone to talk to or
I wanted to share life.
In fact, the only time I hearfrom you is when you want
(36:40):
something.
So I am not convinced that youlove me.
I am not convinced that youwant to spend time with me, I am
not convinced that you want arelationship.
So therefore, no, thank you.
This is the same way with God.
We can't expect to get to theend of our days, the end of our
life.
We've been spending our entirelife 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80
(37:05):
years, 90 years avoiding God,pushing him away, not wanting
his presence, not wanting arelationship with him, and then,
at the very end, saying I wantto spend eternity with you.
That's just a nonsensical idea.
It's not rooted in logic orreason and really, if you're
honest with yourself, what youwant is to avoid hellfire.
(37:26):
That's it.
That's where the fire insuranceChristian comes from.
You don't want relationship.
You want a safety net to makesure that you're not going to
feel any hurt or pain orpunishment or suffering.
You don't really want to getclose to God.
You want God to leave you aloneand you want to ask him for
(37:46):
things when you need something.
And then you hope that at theend of this life you'll get to
escape hellfire.
And those of us that are theelect and the chosen, we want to
spend time with God everywhere,all the time, in all ways, in
all manner, and we are takingour skills and our gifts and our
(38:10):
talents and we are going atonce to put them to use for our
Messiah, for our King, becausewe love him and we want to share
in his happiness.
You are listening to theEquipped for Life podcast.
I'm your host, bc Vine.
This has been a discussion onthe parable of talents.
We hope that you have enjoyedthis lesson.
(38:30):
Be strong on your journey.
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