Sunday Devotional
Parable of the Talents - Just 1?
Pastor Wes
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Hey church! Hope you’ve had a great week. Thanks for tuning in as we continue our chronological walk through the gospels. Recently we have been looking at Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question concerning when the temple would be torn down, and what sign would indicate His return and the end of the world… as we know it. Lately, we’ve definitely been experiencing world-wide tumultuous type events that seem to point towards the day of Jesus coming being sooner rather than later. His illustrations in Matthew 24 and 25 encourage us to be alert, faithful, ready at all times, persevering, and prepared for the long haul. In this context, Jesus presents another illustration, the parable of the talents. Now just recently we had compared this parable of the talents to the parable of the minas, noting that minas were a lesser monetary value than talents, and that those given the minas were given the same amounts, yet those given the talents were given differing amounts. If you missed that teaching on these parables, go to our website and under messages, do a search for “minas,” and you’ll pull up the audio recording and written transcript for that message.
Today I’d like for us to take a second glance at this parable of the talents, and we’re going to look at it from a different perspective than we had previously. Go ahead and pause, and read Matthew 25:14-30.
Now, this is not a real-life event that took place, it’s fictional story with real-life elements intended to teach us a spiritual truth. And it’s pretty clear that the moral of the story has something to do with stewardship of what God has given each of us as individuals. In the larger context of, answering the disciples’ question about Christ’s return and end times, it seems this parable is intending to convey the idea that at the time of Christ’s return, He will call all mankind into account and will judge each according to what they did with what each was given, whether great or small. There will be reward and punishment depending on our stewardship. Now the “talents” of the parable would seem to represent something that if you multiplied, you went to Heaven, and if you did nothing with them, then you’d go to Hell. If that’s the case, and we assume the talents represent money, all you have to do then is make more money and you get to go to Heaven, right? Ummm, no that’s not Jesus’ gospel message. Only through the forgiveness offered by Jesus’ death on the cross does one gain entrance into eternal life. The talents don’t directly represent money, nor do they directly represent skills and giftings, nor do they directly represent knowledge, but the proper stewardship of money, skills/giftings, knowledge- and other blessing from God- proper stewardship is a pretty good indicator (a sign) that one has received Jesus’ forgiveness, and is following Him, who is going to spend eternity in Heaven.
A talent can thus be recognized as anything and everything the Lord has given us as individuals while on this earth- anything and everything that we could possibly cultivate and grow, having positive influence and effect for the kingdom life that is coming. Now with that being said, I want us each to imagine ourselves as being one of these servants, and not just one of the three, but I want us each to imagine ourselves specifically being the servant who was given only 1 talent. Picture yourself in the story, watching as your fellow peer was given the incredible sum of 5 talents, and then another given 2 talents, and then your boss comes to you and gives you just 1 talent of capital to work with. How would you feel? Jealous? Upset? Unmotivated? Maybe after watching the other guys get 5 and 2, it would be easy to march off and bury the 1.
Perhaps that’s how many of us feel about where we are in life. Why wasn’t I just given 5 talents to work with, or at the very least 2? Maybe that’s how you feel about your job, your financial situation, your health, your family situation, maybe even your church. And it would be so easy for us each to just give up, be passive, complacent- to bury our “talent” because we weren’t given more to work with. But that’s not the appropriate response. That’s not what Jesus wants you to do. Part of the moral, part of the application of this parable of the talents, is that we are to make use of our 1 talent. We are expected to make use of it and multiply it, for the benefit of the Kingdom- even for our own personal benefit in the Kingdom.
This concept is huge guys, don’t miss it! All of us probably have different areas of our lives in which we feel like we’ve been given varying amounts of “talents.” Maybe in one area of your life, you feel like you’re a Rockstar - you’ve been given 5 talents and have been successful in investing those 5 talents. But I want you to consider any “1 talent” areas in your life. Areas you have given up on, because you didn’t feel like you had enough skill, money, influence, willpower, resources, etc. to work with. I want you to know that our God is a powerful God, who wants to redeem- for His glory- even small, insignificant areas of your life. I want you to think of a “1 talent” area of your life. I encourage you to pray about that area- to ask God to show you at least one little step you can make in that area, in order to use what He has given you.
Maybe talking to others about Jesus is really difficult- you feel like you’ve been given half a talent in that area and others have been given like 2 or 5 and it seems so easy and natural for them. Ask God to work on you in that area, to multiple what little is there. And figure out what little step you can take to grow in that area, and then commit to take that step. Maybe reading the Bible has always been a struggle- take it to the Lord, figure out a step to take, and then take that step. No matter what it is, don’t be content to leave that 1 talent buried, ask for God’s help and see to it that you are making steps towards growing in that area.
In the midst of our country’s racial tension, I’m sure it would be really easy for many of us to brush off the issue, and say “Well, I don’t have any problems with other races, or in my day to day I don’t really have any interaction with other races, or I’m not influential enough to really help the situation in any way.” Listen, as a representative of Jesus Christ, ask yourself if there’s any way, even a small way, that you could somehow help convey the non-discriminating, freely given, love of Christ to someone else. Romans 2:11 says “For there is no partiality with God.” The context of that verse is that Paul was addressing issues between two races, Jews and Gentiles, and he reminds us all that God is not partial to race- no, ALL will be judged with fairness, justice, and equality. During this trying time in our nation and in the world, we as believers need to be asking the Lord: What can we do- even what little things can we do- that will be beneficial to Him, His Kingdom, and His created people and promote that message of Romans 2:11? What can we do and say, that will help promote His truth, fairness, justice, and peace?
You do have a voice, no matter how small that voice is. You do have a dog in this fight, no matter how small your dog is.
No matter what your 1 talent area is in your life- don’t bury it! Don’t let age, race, friends or job, or lack of: finances, giftings, knowledge, intelligence etc., dictate what God can do with the little offered up to Him. Use it, and look forward to the day our Master will say to you ”Well done, good, and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21) Blessings to you church family!