IDEA: How we think about God is crucial to how we respond to Him.
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' " (Matthew 25:14-27).
PURPOSE: To have listeners examine their thinking about God.
When you think about the good teachers you had in grade school or high school, what characterized them?
Did you ever have a teacher that you liked very much, but other students in the class didn’t appreciate, or didn’t even like? Why?
Isn’t it strange that different people respond to the God of the Bible in different ways? We can be shocked to find that other people actually despise the God we love.
Jesus told a parable about that in Matthew 25:14-30. Notice what the third servant reveals about his attitude toward his master.
I. Do you think that this slave had good reason to think of his master this way?
Did the first two servants--who invested funds wisely--feel that way?
The servant accuses his master of wanting to "reap where he had not sown." Was that accurate in the light of how this slave got his money?
What does he accuse his master of being? A HARD, unreasonable, demanding man.
II. From what you know of the story, would that estimate be accurate?
God’s gifts precede His requirements.
He isn’t asking these servants to make bricks without straw.
He gave them money to invest.
It’s like a child who has been given money to purchase a birthday gift for her mother.
God is delighted with the way the first two servants invested. He is ungrudging in his praise.
The cross of Christ is the answer to the slander that God is a hard and ungiving God