IDEA: Talents represent the opportunities God gives us to use our abilities for Him and to bring Him the return that He desires.
TEXT: "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. 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.' He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides 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.' 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. Therefore 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' " (Matthew 25:14-30).
PURPOSE: To help listeners explore the application of this idea in their lives.
Do you think that religion is always good?
Do you think that religion that is orthodox is always good?
In some ways religion can be dangerous and damaging.
Instead of bringing us to God, it can keep us away from God.
Jesus told a story about that in Matthew 25:14-20. As you read it, think about the third servant and whom Jesus might have had in mind.
I. In the broad context, Jesus was talking about religious leaders who were given many opportunities to invest themselves for God, but they did not.
They who serve the cause can make the cause serve them. Instead of using their positions to benefit people and to encourage them and lighten their load, they did nothing. They buried their opportunities.
Jesus gives a catalog of these people and what they did and did not do in Matthew 23.
II. The parable referred to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who hoarded the truth they had been given.
They would not take the opportunity to share it with tax collectors and sinners in Israel or with the rest of the Gentile world.
God had called Abraham and his descendants to be a blessing to the whole earth, but from Ezra’s time (c. 440 BCE), the Jews had tried to preserve their religion from evil influences.
Under the Pharisees an extreme nationalism had developed that embittered other nations against Israel.
Their very zeal for the purity of their religion had sterilized it.
They wanted to keep God for themselves alone.
III. Is it possible that Christians, eager for the purity of their religion, can miss out on the opportunities God gives them to invest themselves in others for Him?