back to index2018-06-24 Kingdom Economics
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We are going to be looking a lot at 24 and 25, so it's better if you actually have your 00:00:13.040 |
It is going to be up here, and so I'll give you guys a little bit of time to find it. 00:00:21.960 |
And we're going to be reading from verses 13 to 30. 00:00:25.560 |
"Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour, for it will be like a man 00:00:30.800 |
going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 00:00:35.480 |
To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his 00:00:43.760 |
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he had five 00:00:49.020 |
So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 00:00:52.080 |
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's 00:00:58.120 |
And after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 00:01:01.800 |
And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing the five talents more, saying, 00:01:06.160 |
'Master, you delivered to me these five talents here, I have made five talents more.' 00:01:11.440 |
His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:01:14.120 |
You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. 00:01:19.860 |
And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two 00:01:28.440 |
His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:01:30.880 |
You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. 00:01:35.860 |
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be 00:01:39.280 |
a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 00:01:43.720 |
So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. 00:01:48.720 |
But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where 00:01:52.160 |
I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed. 00:01:55.400 |
Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have 00:02:00.680 |
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 00:02:03.760 |
For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. 00:02:07.480 |
But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 00:02:11.200 |
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, in that place where there will be 00:02:17.520 |
Father, we pray that you would help us to engage this morning in worship through your 00:02:24.960 |
I pray that you would help us to apply what you would seek for us to hear and to change. 00:02:30.640 |
And I pray that you would help us to leave this place loving Christ more, thanking Christ 00:02:37.320 |
more, and resembling a little bit more of Jesus. 00:02:40.640 |
So we thank you for just the freedom to come and worship you. 00:02:47.920 |
If you remember, in December of last year, a theologian named R.C. 00:02:55.880 |
And the next morning, my Facebook feeds were like, "Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:03:01.240 |
Well done, good and faithful servant," in regard to this man. 00:03:05.440 |
And a few months later, Billy Graham passed away in February. 00:03:10.400 |
And just on everyone, a lot of people's feeds, you also had this, "Well done, good and faithful 00:03:16.600 |
And you often see this when a really well-known or faithful man or woman of God passes away. 00:03:23.880 |
But is this commendation only for a Billy Graham or a R.C. 00:03:30.560 |
Is this something you and I will hear when we die? 00:03:35.240 |
How about that murderer who accepts Jesus on his deathbed? 00:03:44.920 |
A former womanizer who has now been redeemed by the blood of Christ, will he hear this? 00:03:51.120 |
Someone who struggles all her life with doubt and depression, will she hear this? 00:03:58.920 |
Death comes to every single one of us in this room. 00:04:06.400 |
But when you pass and when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, will you hear, 00:04:11.880 |
"Well done, my good and faithful servant," can or will this be said of you? 00:04:17.800 |
And this often quoted part of Scripture is something that I would like for us to kind 00:04:23.800 |
But in order to do this, we're going to have to actually look at all of Matthew 24 and 00:04:27.960 |
We're not going to read every single line, but there is a broader context. 00:04:33.100 |
And if you miss the broader context, you miss the point of this parable and you end up misapplying 00:04:38.520 |
So I would like to just point our attention to Matthew 24 and 25. 00:04:42.560 |
If you think of it as just one sermon with points, then it's easier to track along. 00:04:49.360 |
Matthew 21 to 28, those eight chapters take up about 30% of Matthew's account of the gospel. 00:04:56.280 |
And about that whole section takes place in one week of Jesus' week before his crucifixion. 00:05:08.420 |
And this one long parable, which reads like a sermon. 00:05:13.200 |
And so we're going to look at this, and then we're going to be actually looking into the 00:05:21.780 |
So the focus of all of chapters 24 and 25 is on the end times, the spread of the gospel 00:05:27.300 |
of the kingdom, and how the elect will respond to the preaching of this gospel. 00:05:33.340 |
All of chapters 24 and 25, the focus is on the preaching of the gospel in the end times 00:05:39.260 |
and how the elect will respond to this preaching. 00:05:43.620 |
So if you look at it as one long parable with different parts, it's easier to track along. 00:05:49.820 |
Now this entire section with the very well-known parables contained within are descriptive, 00:05:58.540 |
They are describing the things that will take place. 00:06:01.220 |
They are not prescribing what you and I need to do to hear well done. 00:06:08.060 |
It's a description of what's going to happen, of how kingdom citizens will be living in 00:06:12.660 |
light of the gospel, and not prescribing how to become a kingdom citizen. 00:06:19.500 |
Because the how to become a kingdom citizen has been done for the previous 20 chapters. 00:06:25.540 |
So this whole section is descriptive and not prescriptive. 00:06:31.060 |
And the only real application in both of these two chapters is this. 00:06:35.060 |
Be watchful, be awake, be prepared, keep on watching, be alert, be sober, watch, pay attention, 00:06:42.320 |
And that's the main application for this section. 00:06:47.000 |
So there is no do this and this and this, and you will hear well done. 00:06:51.880 |
So I want to kind of get that out of the way. 00:06:54.460 |
Chapter 25 is broken up into three points, or three parables, describing how people will 00:07:03.080 |
Verses 1 through 13 we know as a parable of the 10 virgins. 00:07:08.560 |
And the point of that really is kingdom people will lead prepared lives. 00:07:14.520 |
And then you get to the parable of the talents, but if you look at verse 13, it's actually 00:07:18.680 |
the last verse of the parable of the 10 virgins, and the first verse of the parable of the 00:07:24.400 |
So there is a connection there and they're all intertwined. 00:07:28.160 |
And the parable of the talents, the main point is this, prepared lives do not all look the 00:07:35.560 |
Okay, prepared lives do not all look the same. 00:07:38.840 |
And then verses 31 to 46, you have the parables of the goats and the sheep, the right and 00:07:43.200 |
the left, and the point of that is prepared people inherit eternal life, unprepared people 00:07:51.400 |
So again, the question that we want to reflect on this morning is, will you hear well done, 00:08:01.560 |
And we're going to spend the bulk of our time today thinking about this question. 00:08:05.920 |
And I want to take us into a little deeper look at the parable of talents, and I'm going 00:08:11.960 |
The first one is, who does a master represent? 00:08:15.720 |
In the parable of the talents, who does a master represent? 00:08:26.240 |
Okay, who do the masters represent, who do the servants represent, and what is a talent? 00:08:38.360 |
It's "Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the 00:08:46.400 |
So who does a master represent in this parable? 00:08:50.920 |
The true Christ who will return in power, the son of man who was promised in the Old 00:08:56.280 |
Testament, the coming Messiah who will fulfill all of God's promises, the bridegroom, the 00:09:03.320 |
master of the house, the glorious king, they're all one and the same. 00:09:07.780 |
So the son of man, the true Christ, the returning warrior king, he is the main character of 00:09:13.920 |
this whole section, and he is the main character in the parable of the talents. 00:09:19.600 |
So in the parable of the talents, this conquering king will be returning at an hour unknown 00:09:25.000 |
to us to settle debts and to gather what is rightfully his. 00:09:32.040 |
So it says, "Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour, for it will 00:09:35.800 |
be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property." 00:09:41.920 |
If you read the scriptures cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation, there are a few conclusions 00:09:49.880 |
And if you actually do your scripture homework, you cannot land on any other conclusions, 00:10:01.560 |
The second conclusion is God makes no mistakes. 00:10:08.600 |
Fourth, he is perfectly good and he is perfectly loving. 00:10:13.080 |
So those four conclusions, among many, you cannot miss. 00:10:17.680 |
First one, God's will is perfect, he makes no mistakes, he wastes nothing, and he is 00:10:24.960 |
And I'm going to point you to just a few sample scripture verses that help us to come to these 00:10:31.920 |
"Do not be conformed to this world in the will of God, which is good and acceptable 00:10:38.080 |
Proverbs 16, "For the Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day 00:10:43.400 |
"I know that you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted." 00:10:47.640 |
"And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good through 00:10:51.720 |
those who are called according to his purpose." 00:11:02.640 |
Now for you guys who have grown up in the church, you've heard these things before. 00:11:07.040 |
And as I read these truths, there is no theological tension in your minds. 00:11:13.640 |
There is no like, wait, I can't say amen to that, in your heads. 00:11:18.920 |
But when you hear these things, I believe that in every single one of us, there is a 00:11:23.040 |
little bit of an emotional response, a little bit of an emotional tension. 00:11:40.440 |
If God's will is perfect, he makes no mistakes, he wastes nothing, he's perfectly good. 00:11:43.820 |
If that is true, that means God has not made a single mistake in your life and has ordained 00:11:53.200 |
every detail of your life in his perfectly good and perfectly loving plan. 00:11:59.160 |
When I hear this, there is tension in my heart. 00:12:04.440 |
God has not made a single mistake in your life and has ordained every detail of your 00:12:08.720 |
life in his perfectly good and perfectly loving plan. 00:12:13.200 |
So you may not be custom to expressing these voices, expressing these tensions, so let 00:12:21.480 |
If God's will is so perfect, why is there so much imperfection, pain, and suffering? 00:12:29.160 |
If God has not made a single mistake in my life, then does that mean he deliberately 00:12:40.920 |
On purpose, does that mean he caused the death of my friend? 00:12:49.320 |
On purpose, did he allow for my beloved young child to get a disease? 00:12:58.560 |
There's something in us that cries out, "Either God, your will is not perfect, or you're not 00:13:05.200 |
Naturally, you and I can grasp the idea of an all-powerful God, okay? 00:13:11.600 |
And this all-powerful God actually is a scary, like we get scared. 00:13:15.880 |
Like if there's a being out there, he's all-powerful, it's a scary prospect, right? 00:13:20.840 |
So we don't have a problem necessarily understanding all power, but the things that we see day 00:13:33.520 |
And there's tension in our hearts, and that's okay. 00:13:35.680 |
So you can theologically agree with all of these conclusions and still have an emotional 00:13:39.560 |
objection to these truths, especially when things in our lives actually start to unravel. 00:13:47.360 |
And that tension actually is what causes so many people to reject the God of the Scripture. 00:13:53.320 |
So do not discount the realness of the tension that resides in our hearts. 00:14:01.840 |
God's Word teaches us that the master in this parable, his will is perfect, he makes no 00:14:06.000 |
mistakes, he wastes nothing, he is perfectly good and perfectly loving, okay? 00:14:11.160 |
And this God is the main character of all of Matthew 24 and 25. 00:14:21.600 |
The servants in this parable represent humanity in light of the preached gospel of the kingdom. 00:14:27.980 |
Humanity in light of the preached gospel of the kingdom. 00:14:30.440 |
Matthew 24, 14, I had that earlier up there for you. 00:14:34.160 |
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the 00:14:40.080 |
And I wanna introduce you to two individuals who have had the gospel of Christ preached 00:14:46.200 |
Two individuals like you and me who have been entrusted with a number of talents, okay? 00:14:55.080 |
And I met Milka June of 2015 in Mwanza, Tanzania. 00:15:03.880 |
And all over, and you guys know what albinism is, okay? 00:15:06.680 |
All over the world, one in every 21,000 people have albinism. 00:15:14.640 |
But strangely enough, in Tanzania, it's one in 1,400. 00:15:24.640 |
And this is a problem because Tanzanians are very superstitious. 00:15:28.900 |
So in Tanzania, if you carry an albino's gene, or an albino's bones with you, the superstition 00:15:35.440 |
goes, "You will have good luck, evil will be warded off, and you will be prosperous." 00:15:41.160 |
That's the superstition of someone who lives in Tanzania when you deal with someone with 00:15:51.280 |
Sadly, many children born with albinism in Tanzania are kidnapped. 00:15:57.000 |
Their hands and feet are cut off, and they're left to die. 00:16:05.240 |
Even more sadly, many of these kidnappings are permitted by mom and dad. 00:16:11.760 |
Mom and dad receive money, they turn a blind eye when their child is kidnapped, the child's 00:16:20.040 |
hands and feet are cut off, and the child and the parents are forever damaged. 00:16:31.520 |
If you look up Tanzania albino on the internet, you're going to see pictures that are much 00:16:35.400 |
more gruesome, and that'll pain your heart, and you can read about it if there's an interest. 00:16:41.040 |
How many talents did my friend Milka receive from the Lord? 00:16:45.400 |
I'm going to introduce you to another friend of mine. 00:16:51.920 |
That's not the friend, that's just the director of the church. 00:16:54.720 |
So last year in August, about 10 months ago, I was in Sri Lanka. 00:17:02.000 |
It's a part of Sri Lanka that's called Batikaloa, and I took a 10-hour car ride, all local, 00:17:08.520 |
through nothing but nothing, and I ended up on the other side of the country. 00:17:14.880 |
The center that we went to, they showed me a building, and it used to be a kitchen. 00:17:19.480 |
And I was like, what happened to this kitchen? 00:17:21.120 |
She said, oh, an elephant just backed into it and knocked the whole building down. 00:17:25.660 |
I was like, just imagining in my head, because I'm having to take care of some paperwork 00:17:28.780 |
for this, I was like, this elephant with a big booty just went, bop, and then the thing 00:17:59.360 |
And in your head, you're doing some math right now, right? 00:18:07.980 |
Because when they were children, war broke out. 00:18:11.260 |
They were both taken from their families and forced into becoming child soldiers. 00:18:19.380 |
Mom and dad have both killed with their hands. 00:18:23.300 |
Mom and dad have both seen loved ones murdered. 00:18:33.680 |
At the end of these home visits, I pray with the families. 00:18:37.240 |
And this family's prayer request, their first, I mean, it's going through an interpreter. 00:18:46.000 |
And he said, snakes and scorpions come in here all the time. 00:18:52.820 |
Safety for children, for them, meant keeping these scorpions and snakes out of the house. 00:19:02.400 |
How many talents do you think Sajanthan was entrusted with? 00:19:05.720 |
How many talents were his mom and dad entrusted with? 00:19:14.360 |
Now in this parable, the number is not significant. 00:19:18.360 |
But here in this parable, we have a servant who has received five talents and a servant 00:19:24.260 |
And they both receive the exact same reward or commendation. 00:19:30.300 |
How about you guys on this side read verse 21, you guys on this side read verse 23. 00:19:55.120 |
And I believe with all my heart that if the one talent guy had faithfully invested a single 00:19:58.600 |
talent, he too would have received the same commendation. 00:20:08.240 |
And normally in a parable, you're not supposed to scrutinize every detail because there's 00:20:14.880 |
But this one talent guy is so significant that I actually thought a lot about him. 00:20:19.840 |
We do not know why he buried his talent, but we know that he did. 00:20:26.320 |
But when these kinds of questions come into our heads, we can let scripture inform scripture 00:20:35.300 |
And as I thought through what could this guy possibly be thinking to bury his one talent, 00:20:44.520 |
It's not solid gold, word of God, but just follow with me. 00:20:48.760 |
The first reason, perhaps, he thought he had a lot of time and he was caught unaware. 00:20:55.120 |
This is a running theme of both chapters 24 and 25. 00:20:58.760 |
He may have thought the master's return is still a long ways away. 00:21:06.400 |
When it's more convenient for me, I will invest my talent. 00:21:09.760 |
And so when he's caught unaware when the master returns, he just says, "Hey, I know you're 00:21:20.920 |
Second reason, maybe he was jealous of the other two. 00:21:31.700 |
So he's probably thinking, "I'm not very happy with the talent cards that I've just been 00:21:37.800 |
And in spite, in bitterness, maybe he buried his talent because he was unhappy with the 00:21:49.840 |
Third possible reason, he had a distorted misconception of the master that was not really 00:21:58.340 |
He says in verse 24, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow 00:22:05.360 |
So he says his master is scleros, hard, like a unyielding, like un... 00:22:18.280 |
So he basically says, "Master, it's because you are a very hard man to please. 00:22:27.720 |
You are unfair, you are unreasonable, your demands are too great, you are too selfish, 00:22:35.280 |
So he may have had a distorted understanding of the master. 00:22:38.680 |
But regardless of the reason, he buries his talent. 00:22:43.000 |
And remember, Matthew 24 through 25 is descriptive, not prescriptive. 00:22:49.760 |
The application is not, "Therefore, do not bury your talent." 00:22:53.440 |
The application is not, "Hey, invest all your talent, let's pray to the kingdom of God." 00:22:59.120 |
The application is, "Your master's coming to collect. 00:23:04.840 |
So the whole point of this is good stewardship versus bad stewardship. 00:23:13.920 |
So if the difference between hearing, "Well done," and "Cast this wicked servant into 00:23:20.080 |
the outer darkness," is in how we steward our talents, I'm going to ask a very important 00:23:31.040 |
And this is a question I've mulled on and mulled over the last 15 years. 00:23:39.880 |
If there is a correlation between our talent investing and our eternal destination, this 00:23:44.200 |
is a very, very important question that you and I have to actually think through and come 00:23:52.920 |
First of all, the Greek word, "talanta," it just means a large sum of money. 00:23:58.780 |
And when you and I hear the word "talent," we often think of it as a positive thing. 00:24:06.400 |
You're not thinking that he has a lot of vices. 00:24:07.920 |
You're thinking he has a lot of things that he can use, right? 00:24:11.480 |
But the word "talent" is actually a very neutral word. 00:24:41.120 |
What if that one on the left you found in a sewer? 00:24:55.240 |
So if I were to offer you a $100 bill that smells like armpit and said, "You can either 00:25:00.480 |
have this one or this freshly minted $1 bill that smells like glory," which would you choose? 00:25:08.640 |
Unless you're weird, every single person here would choose the one on the left, the $100 00:25:17.040 |
bill, because the outer thing does not have a value in and of itself. 00:25:41.280 |
Obviously, our abilities, skills, and natural talents are included. 00:25:45.240 |
Our money, our resources, our time, they're all included. 00:25:51.520 |
Our privileges and our opportunities are also talents. 00:25:56.480 |
Did you guys know that only 6% of all the world has a college degree? 00:26:03.100 |
You are probably sitting next to somebody who has a college degree. 00:26:07.680 |
So say to that person, "You are the best of the best. 00:26:24.160 |
If you eat more than that, you have a privilege. 00:26:28.140 |
If you can make $45,000 per year per person in your home, you are top 1% of the world. 00:26:38.800 |
Because most of the world dreams to get on a plane once. 00:26:43.760 |
There are so many things that we've been allotted, and so opportunities and privileges are also 00:26:51.080 |
Your unique characteristics that make you you. 00:27:04.360 |
It doesn't mean I'm bad and she's good or I'm good and she's bad. 00:27:08.400 |
What makes a personality tainted and damaged is the sin that's there behind it. 00:27:13.400 |
A personality trait of being shy or outgoing or introverted or extroverted, those things 00:27:18.920 |
But God has uniquely created every single person in this room, every detail of his or 00:27:33.020 |
Every single relationship that God has ordained in your life is also a talent. 00:27:40.040 |
Because a lot of times we are either shaped and encouraged and built up by relationships 00:27:45.800 |
or we have been traumatized and scarred and permanently damaged by our relationship. 00:27:56.060 |
All of our mistakes, regrets, and failures, weaknesses, talents. 00:28:12.860 |
Every single detail of your life that has been ordained by God for you to invest for 00:28:16.980 |
his glory and to the building up of his kingdom in the light of the return of Christ, that's 00:28:21.760 |
I'll say it again and less fast so you guys can... 00:28:28.080 |
A talent is every single detail of your life that has been ordained by God for you to invest 00:28:35.000 |
for his glory and to the building up of his kingdom in light of the return of the king. 00:28:52.700 |
I've sung at 25 weddings and a bunch of Berean ones. 00:29:08.900 |
I have been on an average of 55 flights a year the last six years. 00:29:13.180 |
I've seen more hidden places in the corners of this world than most all of you. 00:29:19.280 |
I've seen more of North Korea than South Korea. 00:29:26.540 |
I'm a father to twins, which is becoming less and less unique, but I have twins. 00:29:31.100 |
I am 40 years old and I still have a baby tooth. 00:29:34.340 |
That has nothing to do with anything helpful to the kingdom of God, but that's unique. 00:29:39.780 |
So the dentist actually said, "If you get into a fight, get punched in your left side 00:29:42.260 |
of your face, because if you get punched in the right side of your face, that's like a 00:29:45.260 |
$3,000 surgery," because the tooth is growing sideways, the adult tooth, so it never pushed 00:29:49.340 |
So if you and I ever get into a fight, hit me here, please. 00:30:00.780 |
My father divorced three times, twice before I was five. 00:30:05.220 |
I went to 12 elementary schools and I've seen my father handcuffed and taken away to jail 00:30:11.780 |
I've been badly beaten and abused, and I used to pray out of bitterness, "God, if you are 00:30:19.300 |
real, I will never call you father because you've given me such a horrible, earthly one." 00:30:25.900 |
And when we used to sing, "God is so good," in the back with the kids, I used to sing, 00:30:29.420 |
"God is a peep," under my breath, because I hated this God who gave me such a bad life. 00:30:42.300 |
I still live alongside of Pastor Peter, Mark, and Nathan. 00:30:55.220 |
I am passionate about the Word of God, because that alone has healed me and transformed me. 00:31:00.580 |
I am passionate about kids who grow up in broken homes. 00:31:10.620 |
Those details that God has ordained in my life were all on purpose. 00:31:20.020 |
And I want to talk about, briefly, scars and traumas, passions and interests, because they 00:31:25.580 |
You know what is interesting is brokenness, healing, and scars. 00:31:29.900 |
You know, even if you're fully healed, that wound, if you got a wound, it remains sensitive. 00:31:35.180 |
So when someone pushes it, it hurts, even if it is healed. 00:31:42.220 |
But the funny thing is, when God redeems and heals a scar, He turns it into a weapon. 00:31:49.780 |
So as many of you guys know, we were China's, Berean's missionaries to China for three years, 00:31:54.020 |
and honestly, to this day, I still don't like China all that much. 00:31:57.140 |
We're there, we're supposed to be there the rest of our lives. 00:32:04.900 |
I was in North Korea, and the second time I was in there, in Pyongyang, I was like, 00:32:09.940 |
Is there a special plan for the North Koreans that you have for me to do, to minister to 00:32:20.820 |
I have a vested interest in them, but it's not my passion. 00:32:24.380 |
Some people, you say, "North," and then they cry. 00:32:28.780 |
But when I have traveled in the world and I've seen a broken child, orphans, when I 00:32:38.700 |
go visit a home and I hear that that kid has been abused, child is, dad's in jail, there 00:32:56.620 |
And there's a point of, it's not just like, "Oh, I feel so bad for you." 00:33:00.660 |
There's a point of holy compassion that I have with that kid because of those talents 00:33:09.060 |
And when I speak into that kid's life, there is glimmers of joy. 00:33:15.480 |
Because when God heals, He redeems, He turns all of those things into weapons. 00:33:20.580 |
And you know what is interesting is as I'm getting older, this is my 18th year of ministry, 00:33:24.660 |
I'm realizing my failures and my weaknesses are doing more for kingdom building than my 00:33:35.500 |
None of you were edified at all when I said, "I think good." 00:33:54.220 |
When I say that this is what God has given me to bless the church, you are often not 00:34:01.280 |
But what you are often blessed by is the vulnerability, the weakness, the humility, the failures in 00:34:09.240 |
And that's something that I've, it's just such an interesting thing. 00:34:12.040 |
Not my sin, I'm not saying sin, but the weaknesses that I'm fighting to protect every day, that 00:34:19.560 |
struggle, that process serves as an encouragement more than my victories I've discovered. 00:34:30.120 |
God is more magnified in my failures than in my victories. 00:34:34.280 |
And every single one of you here has a talent or many. 00:34:38.240 |
But some of you like the one talent guy because, "Oh, the Lord is not hastening in his return. 00:34:50.640 |
Some who are like, "Okay, that person got dealt these hands, this hand of cards, that 00:35:02.960 |
Some people because, not because they read the word of God, but because they've seen 00:35:05.780 |
so many hypocrites of church are scarred and damaged by the church that they have a misconception 00:35:13.100 |
And a lot of times they respond by burying their talent. 00:35:21.160 |
And you know one thing about the past, if you can't move on from the past, that might 00:35:25.640 |
be an indicator that maybe there has not been real change in your heart. 00:35:31.300 |
Because when God comes and transforms your life, he smashes the areas of your heart where 00:35:46.180 |
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 00:36:10.740 |
Are you grieving because of what God has put in front of you right now? 00:36:27.500 |
Proclaim like Paul, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that the 00:36:37.100 |
And know that you are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 00:36:42.400 |
For neither death nor life nor angels or rulers or present or things to come nor powers can 00:36:49.300 |
I remember, as you remember, I shared with you that Matthew 24 and 25 is just one sermon. 00:36:57.820 |
You have to read it all together to correctly understand the context. 00:37:02.860 |
The parable of the talents, the charge is not to talent investing. 00:37:10.380 |
Here are the main exhortations of Matthew 24, 25. 00:37:35.940 |
Those who are ready and alert will be those who day in and day out just seek to give glory 00:37:50.180 |
Those who are ready and alert will be those who day in and day out are seeking to give 00:38:00.940 |
Our main application is to be alert and awake and to find ourselves on the correct side 00:38:09.140 |
The unprepared virgins, the one talent servant, the goats on the left who have failed in every 00:38:15.020 |
encounter with God, what do they have in common? 00:38:30.180 |
Then the righteous will answer him and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed 00:38:35.820 |
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? 00:38:39.140 |
And then when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? 00:38:44.260 |
But at the same time, the response of the wicked is this. 00:38:47.860 |
Then they also will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger 00:38:50.980 |
or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? 00:38:57.420 |
They don't know when it is that they're meeting Christ. 00:39:04.660 |
They're not aware that that little encounter appointed and ordained by the Lord was an 00:39:13.340 |
So the call for you and me is not so much to do, to build, to expand. 00:39:18.980 |
The call for you and me is just to be sober and alert to examining the realness of the 00:39:28.540 |
First Timothy 4.16, watch your life and your doctrine closely, persevere in them. 00:39:37.780 |
And in so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 00:39:42.220 |
So the call to the parable of the talents, which is descriptive, not prescriptive, is 00:39:50.460 |
Because there is going to be a response to the gospel. 00:39:55.520 |
So serving God is not something that we try harder at. 00:40:00.180 |
Serving God and building his kingdom is a powerful byproduct of a changed life that 00:40:13.940 |
Real talent investing can only be done through a changed heart. 00:40:20.740 |
And the changed heart only comes through the powerful transforming work of the gospel. 00:40:29.860 |
But what can change your heart is the word of God, which is living, inactive, and sharper 00:40:38.460 |
Now, our application should not be, "Okay, how am I going to invest my ability to sing 00:40:45.700 |
How am I going to invest the thousand dollars extra that I have to building the kingdom 00:40:52.240 |
The primary application is, "Am I responding to the truth of the gospel of Christ?" 00:41:00.980 |
Because whether you know it or not, over time, you will look back in your life and you will 00:41:09.460 |
The charge in the parable of the talents is not to invest your talents or to plan to invest 00:41:16.780 |
And sometimes when I hear this sermon, I get a little bit like, "Mm, eh," because then 00:41:25.300 |
Did you read chapter 25, verses 1 through 13, and then 31 to 46?" 00:41:36.380 |
So going back to my first question that I threw at everybody, "Will you hear," well 00:41:41.820 |
done, good and faithful servant, "If you are a child of God, yes. 00:41:52.900 |
If you, from the depths of your heart, have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, 00:42:05.460 |
you will hear, enter into the joy of your Master." 00:42:13.100 |
The means of this entrance is a simple acceptance of Christ. 00:42:19.220 |
And when you accept Christ as Savior, He takes His place in your life as Lord and He starts 00:42:29.340 |
And the gospel of Jesus Christ changes and redeems and charges every talent. 00:42:35.260 |
So it's like, I see a talent as like a power, like a fireball. 00:42:44.700 |
For you guys who have been saved through the blood of Christ, always do your best to remember 00:42:56.420 |
And He is perfectly good and loving because the tests and the trials will come. 00:43:02.120 |
And in those tests and trials, give glory to God. 00:43:08.220 |
Don't look forward to the next step of your life. 00:43:11.140 |
Give glory to God here and now because that will naturally lead you to give glory to God 00:43:19.420 |
Where you're at, it says in 1 Corinthians, prosper, give glory to God, bear fruit where 00:43:34.980 |
More tools, more opportunities, more talents to give Him glory. 00:43:40.380 |
My hope is that every single one of us works hard, not at building His kingdom, but works 00:43:47.300 |
hard at constantly trying to disentangle ourselves from this world to focus on the saving power 00:43:55.700 |
and the sweetness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because everything else will 00:44:00.100 |
fall into place if we remember how good He is. 00:44:08.260 |
Thank you, Father, for calling us to be your own. 00:44:17.420 |
Thank you for saving us, not because of our worthiness, but because we needed saving. 00:44:26.520 |
And as those who are saved, I pray that you would help us to be free, to be thankful, 00:44:32.840 |
to be joy-filled, and in our thankfulness and in our joy and in our peace, would you 00:44:45.060 |
For these things we ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.