Sermon Cloud

“Well done!” “Great job” “Way to go!”  “That was beautiful?  How often have you heard those words?  Not very often is my guess.  More often we hear these kinds of praises at sporting events.  That’s why I love the Peyton Manning commercial with Master Card.  You know the one where he asks a grocery clerk to sign his melon?  I love how the commercial ends: he’s standing outside a restaurant and about three workers come out, and he yells “great shift today guys, nice salad bar!” and then one of the workers tosses him an apron, and you gotta love Manning’ s response: ”Yes!”  He’s excited to get the apron.  He celebrates.  And I think why I like that commercial so much is that most of what we do in life is thankless work.  Rarely do we hear the words, “good job” “nice work” or “well done.”

What we’re more likely to hear is when we mess up or how we could do better, or who we could be more like.  We live in a performance graded culture that’s quick to points our weaknesses but rarely celebrates our strengths.  And I think a lot of us secretly wish we could hear “Well done” a little more often.  We wish someone would see what we do and appreciates us and even celebrate with us? Well it that’s you, we’re going to look at what makes God want to celebrate with us.  It’s the fourth of our Spiritual Pathways – the Pathway of Service.  If you’ve been with us the past month, we’ve looked at some of the spiritual pathways that help us to cultivate a more intimate walk with God.  Three weeks ago we looked at Praying the Jesus Way from the Lord’s prayer.  Two weeks ago we looking at loving the Jesus way and how obedience is so key to loving God, and last week we looked at living the Jesus way and what it really means to live as a follower of Christ and embrace His mission. Now today, we are going down the pathway of service and see what God’s Word has to say about producing the Jesus way. What is God looking for in us as we serve Him?  What brings out His smile?  What makes Him want to party with us?   If you’re ready to walk this pathway with me, if you have a Bible turn with me to Matthew 25:14-30.

What we have here is a parable about serving – the kind of service that pleases God.  But not all parables are easily understood.  So before we dig into this one, let me just say a word or two about understanding parables:
Understanding Parables:  Parables were used by Jesus to teach a central truth about the Kingdom of God by comparing common truths with kingdom realities.    Jesus “true disciples,” were the ones who “had ears to hear” and would get the point of His teaching and put his teaching into practice. Those who missed the kingdom comparisons he was making and would fail to respond and show themselves as false disciples. In this parable, Jesus is driving home the point of faithful service. So now, let’s just listen to the parable and begin to unpack some comparisons and see how this applies to us today:

The Parable of the Faithful Servants: 14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

 16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’  22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ 23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

 24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver.

29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (New Living Translation)

There are at least three key kingdom comparisons Jesus expects us to see in this parable…

1. The wealthy landowner = Christ the King of the Kingdom  One of the characteristics commonly understood in Jesus day, was that a king’s wealth was measured by his property.  The larger and richer in resources a kingdom is, the wealthier the king.  And the wealthier the king, the more he could take care of the citizens of the kingdom.  In this parable, the king.  We know that this landowner in this parable is extremely wealthy – far wealthier than anyone in Jesus’ day.  We’ll see that in a moment.  But the comparison is pretty clear – this landowner in this parable points to Jesus as king.

2. The owner’s servants = disciples of Jesus the King
A king has ultimate authority, and the servants in understand their place as submissive to His commands.  The disciples listening to this parable would understand immediately, that they are the servants – so they ought to pay close attention to the point Jesus is trying to make.

3. Talents of great wealth = the blessing of the Kingdom
Here’s a picture of the great wealth of the King. The landowner has liquid disposability of at least eight talents. A silver talent was about seventy-five pounds, valued at six thousand denari.  Since a denarius was the equivalent of a day’s wage for a common laborer, if we used today’s minimum wage of $7.75 per hour, a common laborer could make about $62 a day.  A talent, therefore, would be worth around $372,000.  So the value of the 8 talents he distributed to his servants was just a little shy of three million dollars.
The key to understanding this parable lies here.  The wealth of the king was not meant to be hoarded by the king, but to be used for the welfare of its citizens.  His great wealth was meant to be used to prosper or bless his citizens. This is what the disciples were to understand:  Jesus gives his disciples the responsibility of bringing the blessing of God to the world.  And if you were with us last Winter, as we looked into the theme of the Gospel of Matthew, we learned that this is the way God has chosen to work.  He chooses to use ordinary and flawed people to be his instruments to bring the blessing of the Kingdom to the World.  That blessing which was promised to Abraham in Genesis 12, that blessing that has now arrived in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has now been entrusted to His servants – us, His disciples.  This is the great treasure of the kingdom.  And He means for us to spread the wealth of God’s blessing to the world.

With this understanding, let’s now draw out the kingdom principles that emerge from this parable.  First,

1. The King expects His servants to embrace His priorities:
In verse 14 we read,  He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone.  
The owner literally surrenders the task of expanding his wealth to his servants.  In verse 20, we see by the response of the servants that they knew what was expected of them.  They were to invest this money so that it would increase in value, resulting in greater well-being for all who relied upon the master: The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’  Applying the kingdom comparison principle to this teaching, Jesus disciples would understand that like the servants, they too would embrace their master’s mission so that others could benefit from the blessing of God’s kingdom.  Jesus kingdom building priority would become their priority.

2.  The King expects His servants to embrace His priorities according to their potential:  In verse 15 we read: He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities.  The owner knew the abilities of his servants.  He knew that each one had the potential to increase his wealth.  To the one with the greatest potential he gave five talents.  To the one with good potential he gave two talents.  And to the one with the least potential he gave one talent.  But the thing we must not miss here is that each person had potential to increase the master’s wealth.

Jesus disciples would get this as well.  With Jesus it’s not who’s the best and brightest, it’s who does the best with what He gives.  For us, we must be careful to not miss the point.  If we think that expanding the blessing of the kingdom of God is only for the best and brightest among us we will continue to sit on the sidelines and do nothing.  But if I read this right, even the least of us has potential to make a huge difference in the kingdom of God.  We are not accountable for how much of a difference we make, we are only accountable to make the most of what is given to us.  And that leads me to the next observation and that is this:

3. Good servants make the most of what is given
Look at verses 16-17, “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more.” These two servants made the most of what they were given. They didn’t just get buy.  They took ownership of the master’s mission.  They looked for ways to maximize their potential.  Since they were dealing with the master’s money, I would venture to say that they took time to investigate the best investment opportunities, and in the end we see that they managed what was given them very well.  The word that Jesus uses for their investing of the talents is actually the word for work or energy.  They gave of their best to the master and made the most of their opportunity.  And because of their industriousness and ingenuity – because they lived up to their potential, they were rewarded for all their efforts.   And that’s what happens when we are faithful with what God gives us:

4. Good servants are rewarded for their faithfulness:
“The master was full of praise.  He couldn’t be happier.  Out of his fullness he says the words we all long to hear: ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
He calls him a good and faithful servant.  You can’t receive a higher praise than that.  He showed His quality.  He was a stellar servant!  “I couldn’t ask for a better servant. Way to go.  Not only that, but you are faithful.  I trusted you with my wealth and you were responsible with it.  Well done!”  Now the owner rewards him by trusting him with even more responsibility.  

There’s nothing like it when someone is proud of you.  It’s one thing to give praise, but it’s quite another to show how proud you are by giving you more responsibilities. I think every parent understands this.  We are proud of our children when they do well with the opportunities we give them.  Just this morning, I was sitting here thinking of how proud I am of my daughter seeing her use her talent on the worship team.  For years we’ve invested in her and she has a gift in the area of music, and now she is sharing that gift.  She’s been given more responsibility.  And she is glad to have it. This is the attitude that ought to mark every Christ follower.  We ought to want God to lay more responsibility in advancing His kingdom on us.  It’s one of the signs of God’s delight in us.  But rarely do we see this attitude today. The sad truth today is that most people are looking for less to do for the kingdom, not more…  But not these servants.  They don’t just get words of praise; they get the reward of being trusted with more responsibility.  I believe this passage teaches us something about a true disciple’s heart – one of our greatest joys is to know that God is using us.  That’s what’s behind servant-hood – a true servant wants the opportunity to please his or her master.   And God rewards this attitude.  He praises us, He gives more responsibilities, and He celebrates with us.  This last one is where I believe we get to experience the joy of God in our relationship with Him.  He invites us to share in His joy.

But what about the person who doesn’t do much with what God gives, what about the person who just wants to get by?  What does Jesus say about this one?  Well, here’s where things don’t go to well.

This is not a pretty picture.  The Kingdom principle here is this:

5. Wicked servants lose everything Let’s look at Verses 24-28 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver.

A couple of observations here:
1.    He insults the master calling him a harsh man who got his wealth in unconventional ways.  He is not only a wicked servant, but also when it comes to understanding kingdom principles, this person responded to the master with unbelief.  He resents the King. He shows disdain to the king.
2.    He was afraid of the master.  He didn’t believe the master was a good master.  He feared punishment from the master.  Again a picture of unbelief.  Here, the Master entrusted him with the equivalent of $372,000 in today’s terms and he missed the point.  To be entrusted with so much, you would think that would be a great honor.  He took it as a great burden.  So he buried it, he didn’t even invest it with a local moneychanger.  He did nothing.  He made not even the slightest use of his potential in serving.  Hence, he is called wicked, lazy and in verse 30, he is called useless.
3.    What he was entrusted with is taken from him and given to one who would be responsible with it.  He lost out on his chance to serve, and ultimately he lost out on fellowship with the King.  He was condemned.  

So what’s the King’s point in this entire parable?

God smiles on us when we make the most of what He has given us to multiply the blessing of His Kingdom!  If you want to hear him say “well done,” if you want your life to be used by God, if you want to experience His joy… Then you’ll make the most of what He has given you, you’ll look for ways to maximize your kingdom building potential, and you’ll make yourself available to be used by the master with whatever you have.

So What Has God Given You to Make the Most of?  
1. My Time:  We each have twenty-four hours to invest in kingdom work.  How much of this time are we spending on ourselves, building our own kingdom?  How much time do you spend in front of the TV or in the mall or playing the latest video game or just wasting your time? How much of your time are you investing to help bring the blessing of God to your world?
2. My Talents:  Some of you are creative - you can use your creativity in something like children’s ministry, or the arts.  Some of you are good at hospitality; you could be a great small group host.  Someone has said that one of the greatest crimes in Christianity today is that many of us are doing nothing for the kingdom with the very talents we were born with.
3. My Treasures:  Most people think of their finances when this word is used.  That’s probably a good place to start.  One of the best things we could take away from here today is that God owns everything and entrusts all wealth to us.  How are you investing your income for his kingdom?  Are you investing it just for yourself, or for expanding the blessing of God to the world?  But it’s not just money God entrusts to us.  He also entrusts to us our homes.  Are you using your home for God?  But maybe you don’t think you have all that much of a place for God to use.  Ask yourself: what’s my greatest treasure?  And the answer any of us have is this – “I’ve got the gospel.  I know the Savior.  I have an eternal treasure.  I have forgiveness. I have a Father who loves me, forever!” I can share the good news of the kingdom with others!

We have time, talents and treasures:  How will you put yours to work to bring His blessing to the world?  Will God say well done to you?  Is how you are working for God’s kingdom something He would be proud of?  Do you believe God can’t wait to celebrate with you for your work of service?
What are you going to do with the potential God has given you?

“Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  That is something we all want to hear.  Being a good and faithful servant is something we all want to be.  And we can be if we choose to make the most of our lives for Him.

So today, I want to acknowledge a few everyday ordinary people who are making the most of what God has given them by serving in our church.  I’d like to invite them to join me here on the stage and simply say, “Well done.”

Paula Slover – She has served the last six years as our Nursery Director loving on children and making sure many of you can enjoy this worship service. Thank you for the love your share.

Dean & Mike Edwards have faithfully cared for our grounds the last few years.  Every Thursday they faithfully come and mow the grass, edge the lawn, kill weeds and keep our outdoors looking sharp.  Thank you for your faithful service.

Priscilla Buchin – She quietly and faithfully serves behind the scenes visiting shut-ins of our church.  Giving them the gift of her presence and listening and loving those who are disconnected from the church family.  Thank you for the love you give.

We say to you for making the most of what God has given you: “Well Done!”