Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event, the parable of the talents. This is found in Matthew 25:14, 30. Follow along with us as we read.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
To one he gave five talents, to another, two to another, one to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, master, you delivered to me five talents, here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, I will set you overmuch, enter into the joy of your master.
And he also, who had the two talents came forward saying, master, you delivered to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
He also who has received one talent, came forward saying, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and I gather where I scatter no seed. And you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents for everyone who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This event continues, a series of these three parables that are a follow up to Matthew 24, talking about the Second coming. And so this event is taken in light of the second coming of Jesus.
The last parable we looked at talked about how we need to be ready daily. We need to build a Reserve of the Holy Spirit Here it goes into more than just receiving, it goes into actions. The Christians have an action. God is asking them to do something.
And if they don't, there will also be consequences. So it's not enough just to be ready, we have to be active as well.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: And the best way to be ready is to be engaged in the business of the Master.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
And so he entrusts them with these talents. One, he gives five, another two and another one. And it says each according to their ability. So they knew that he's not just giving them, here's spending money, go down to Taco Bell and get a burrito or something. This is his wealth, his business. And they were to oversee that business, correct?
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Yes. And the Master knew their ability on one side, didn't want to put them in a difficult situation when they cannot manage a large property.
On the other side, God gave them enough to be able to enjoy serving the Master. And I like how Jesus Christ says that the one who received five immediately, so that guy was eager to bring a prophet to the master and immediately did it. And the other one who received just one, it's the opposite, maybe thought for a while until he said, wow, now I know a bit more about him. This is what I'm going to do.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: But isn't God being unfair?
Our family likes to play this dice game called farkle, where you have, I don't remember how many dice, it's five or seven dice and you roll them and you have to get pairs and you pull out of the pairs and you get points for those.
If you have two dice left, they have to match. You have three tries to match them. And if you do, you get, get to go again with all the dice. So the problem with the game is the less dice you have, the higher the risk of you losing.
And so it's easy when you have a full hand of all the dice to roll the dice because there's a great chance of success.
But when you're getting down to the end, it takes a lot of risk. So is it fair that this, this servant only got one talent? I guess. How much is a talent? What are we talking about here?
[00:06:22] Speaker B: So first, God does not play dice.
And Jesus Christ is very clear in this parable. It was given based on his complete knowledge of their ability.
Because God wants us to feel successful. We live in a, you know, at least us here in the Western society, we are very goals oriented and we want to achieve. You want to be successful. So if I give my son a huge amount of money. And he's a tiny little toddler. He doesn't know what to do with it.
It takes time to learn how to manage resources and talents and gifts and property on the other side.
This is quite a huge amount of money in today dollars.
And as of October 2024, one talent of gold in the time of Jesus Christ is about US$3 million.
So this is kind of a huge amount of money.
It's a big property. It's not just a board game.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd be very happy with $3 million.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Would you be happy as a steward?
Because that money are not yours. You are entrusted to them to make profit for their master. And when he comes back, he has to return that $3 million plus the would you be happy with that?
[00:07:57] Speaker A: And I think most of our listeners know that you and I are both pastors.
And more serious than money, I think, are the people God places in our lives entrusted to us when someone comes and as shepherds, you care for them.
We're supposed to spiritually nurture and mature and train and help people grow.
And it comes down to what am I going to answer to God? And that's what terrifies me about being a pastor, is I have to answer to God for what I do or what I didn't do.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: So based on this parable, you are accountable not for how much you received, but for how faithful you were.
This is quite fair because it doesn't matter how many talents. I'm not the greatest musician or the best businessman or a guy who conquered the space. And I am cold. I am entrusted to some souls, sometimes more, sometimes less.
But in the day of judgment, I will be accountable for how faithful I was in my sphere of influence, inside the boundaries of my responsibilities.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah. And this works for everyone. That God gives every Christian a talent. The Bible says the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the church, some to be apostles, some to be teachers, some to be prophets. And we have lists of gifts in the New Testament. And he gives hospitality. And so when God gives us a gift to edify, lift up the church to be part of the body of Christ, what are we doing?
[00:09:53] Speaker B: The gift is not for yourself, as you said, it is for the benefit of others. It is to grow the body of Christ that is the church.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: And I believe in my life that God had given me the gift of art.
I went to a very prestigious art school where you had to audition to get in. And I was really good at art. But the problem is I did not use it to glorify God. I used it to glorify Satan.
And I've lost that talent.
I can't draw. I can't do art like I used to. My brain knows theory, I know everything. It's all up there, how to do art.
And I'm very coordinated with my hands, like playing sports and doing things. When I nail, nail in, I can hit the head of the nail. I'm not hitting everywhere. But when it comes to art, I cannot put on paper what my brain is trying to tell my hand to do.
And I wonder if God took that talent away because I used it not to glorify God, but to honor Satan in my early life.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: So this is the story. In this parable, the guy who didn't use the talent or in other situations, the talent was not used appropriately for God's glory. Right. For the profit of the master, that talent will be taken away. Yeah.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Now, you know, I had a conversion. I came back to God and he's given me other talents.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: That's bitter.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: And I don't squander those. I use them to honor God and to glorify God. But he's never given me back that talent of art. And I think, you know, my kids, my kids are very talented and try to get them. How are you using that talent? How are you honoring God?
[00:11:53] Speaker B: I like to connect this parable with the previous one. Yeah, in the previous one, the waiting was passive, and this is why they fell asleep. In this parable of the talents, the waiting, waiting is active. So this is the best way to keep the believers awake and engaged and growing. But I want to go deeper. And in the previous parable, the explanation was, you know, the main difference between the wise and the foolish virgins is the lack of reserve. But the question is, how do you build that reserve? Of course, you mentioned very well the spiritual disciplines, daily disciplines. But why some people embrace those disciplines and others do not?
And the answer is given in this parable of the talents. It is how you see the master, the character of the master.
And when the master got to the guy who had only one talent, and the man said, master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seeds. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here's what is yours. And the problem with this guy is that he had the wrong perception of the master's character. And this is one of the root causes of everything that we do wrong in life.
It is the enemies portraying God as being unfair, unjust unloving, just doing business with us.
So Satan will portray God in such a way that we are not excited to run towards him, to, to trust him with our lives and with our decisions in life and with our talents. And so, and this is how the cosmic conflict started in heaven. According to the book of Revelation, it is when the enemy portrayed in a negative way the character of God and his purposes and his intentions.
And that is the purpose of Jesus Christ coming, to reveal God as a loving father, someone who is interested in our well being.
And this should be our goal in our spiritual journey. This is how we should grow into knowing God, understanding his character, to be able to love and trust him more.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: And just before we pray, I want to finish on one positive note because it can be scary. Oh, I've got these talents.
You can use your talents for God and have fun. You know, I had a mountain bike ministry, I've got a disc golf ministry right now, running ministry, you can have ministries. The things that you're good at, you can enjoy doing for God. Pray before you go out and start them and say God, use me today in playing disc golf to bring someone closer to you. Let's pray. Father God, you are an awesome, amazing, loving God.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: And I truly believe that in my heart that as I've grown closer to you, you have poured out your blessings. And Father, if we don't have that daily experience, sometimes we can get to a place where you become scary. And so I pray that whoever is listening today, wherever they're at in their life, that as they apply this spiritual foundations in their life to connect with you daily to through prayer and study the Bible, to get out and use their talents for you, that you will fill their life with joy and that they will love the experience.
So please go with us now in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Amen.
