We turn in the Word together to Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and then Matthew chapter 25. Let's stand together and give our attention to God's Word. First from Ecclesiastes chapter 12. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright, words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is worrisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Concerning that judgment of every work by God, our Savior taught a parable in Matthew chapter 25. But the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, and 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 talents, 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 besides 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. 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. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of God endures forever. And let's pray together. To you, the God of wisdom, knowledge, light, and glory, who alone is able to make us wise to salvation, we pray for help tonight in our time of need. Today, in many ways, has already been long and full, full of your goodness. Lord, we often are tired. We pray that by your spirit you would give us the capacity to preach, to hear, to listen, to believe, and to live to your glory. We pray that you would use your word, that living and powerful word, and your word preached especially, to conform us to the image of Christ, to call us to repentance where we need to repent, and to encourage us on our way even as you do so sweetly encourage your people. And in all of this that you would lift up before us, Jesus Christ, crucified for us and risen again, the author of our salvation, who has called us from darkness to life, given us the gift of faith, and made us new creatures by his workmanship, created for good works for your glory. or we pray for grace to walk in them even as you teach us and we pray in Jesus name, amen. When God made the world, he made it to be fruitful, to reflect his glory. The Genesis account reminds us of this in a number of ways. We can think of a few of the things that God made that He made in order to shine forth His glory. Think of the sun, the greater light to rule the day, the moon, the lesser light to rule the night, or the stars of the heavens. God made them in order that the heavens would declare His glory, that they would shine, and in their shining every day, they are declaring the glory of God. And even our fitting pictures of that glory, we think of our Lord Jesus Christ who Malachi describes in Malachi chapter four as the son of righteousness. And that's S-U-N in Malachi. That the sun which shines in a sense is to be a picture of the shining glory of God. Think of how God made vegetation on the earth. He made the trees, for example, of the Garden of Eden to be fruitful. Even as He made them and blessed all that He had made, He designed into His world this grand principle that there would be an echo of His blessing and bounty and goodness back to Him for His glory and praise. Now, mankind is the crown of creation. Made on the sixth day, the pinnacle of the work of God, distinct from the creation, we're created in the image of God and specially designed by God to reflect His glory back to Himself. Made uniquely after His image and made to be fruitful. Psalmist in Psalm 1 reminds us of that, that there is a man who turns away from sin, who meditates on God's law day and night, and that man shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Solomon picks up this theme in Psalm 92, that great psalm for the Sabbath day. And as he picks up that theme of the people of God being like fruitful trees, he says that this is to be the character of the believing life all the way to the very end. It says, the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. Why? To declare, to reflect back to God his glory, to declare that the Lord is upright, that he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. You were created to reflect to God his glory. And everything that He has given you, all that you are and all that you have, is equipping to reflect His glory back to Him. Now, we're in Matthew chapter 25, the parable of the talents and the kingdom parables. Jesus is dealing in these parables with the mysteries of the kingdom. He's unfolding the facets of the kingdom of heaven. And here he is doing so in Matthew chapter 25 in a particular context. He's warning the covenant people of God. not to be unfruitful, and especially and narrowly so unfruitful in this, that having been given the spiritual privileges and the promises of the covenant of grace, as Paul says to the Romans in Romans 9 through 11, all the privileges, the adoption, the promises, the covenants, and having been lavished with spiritual blessings, especially spiritual blessings, that God had made them and fashioned them and called them and given these blessings that they might reflect His glory back to Him, but they weren't. Instead of seeing the generosity and goodness of God, especially in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who they're about to reject finally and ultimately by nailing Him to the cross, they despise the lavish goodness of God. And to use the language of the parable, they have thought God to be harsh, narrow, and they've refused to give him glory in the face of his son, Jesus Christ, who stood before them. This parable is a parable that instructs us in fruitfulness. What is the right and fruitful response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. What is the proper response of the believing heart in following after Christ? It comes at the end of this series of kingdom parables. We looked recently at chapter 25, the kingdom of heaven is like the 10 virgins who took their lamps. And that parable had as its focal point the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming of the bridegroom, and the judgment. And this parable, in a very real way, reaches all the way to the very last day and the judgment of God on humanity. It has the same urgency. From the present, it looks to the very end of all things, and that day, when the Lord either says, well done, good and faithful servant, or he casts the unprofitable servants into outer darkness. It has a very somber tone and sober theme, can't be avoided. The parable of the virgins, however, focused on this reality, to be vigilant, to be watchful, to be careful, to be thinking about, to be ready for Christ and His final judgment. The parable of the talents, on the other hand, as is its focus, diligence. What it means to be diligent, what it means to, in this life, between here and the final judgment of God, what it means to live to Christ and live to God's glory. J.C. Rao put it this way, the parable of the 10 virgins calls us to watch, but the parable of the talents calls you to work for God's glory. To use the time and gifts and talents that God has given you, in addition to the spiritual blessings, or even to put it more sharply, to take the covenant blessings that God has given you, to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered in the gospel, and then to live to His glory in everything, all the time He's given you, the gifts, the talents, the money, that you would offer yourself freely to Him in everything. This parable teaches us to carefully and diligently use everything, every scrap of everything that God has given us for His glory. We're gonna look at a number of things in the parable. First of all, the entrustment of gifts. God's generous distribution of gifts. And we're gonna look at that at the beginning of the parable. The opening picture is that of the distribution of gifts. The second thing we're gonna look at is then the use of those gifts. And then finally, very simply, God's final accounting for the gifts that he has given you. God's generous distribution of gifts, everything you have comes from Him. Then the question of how do I use what God has given me for His glory? And then finally, the final question will be, am I thinking about that final day when God will call me to account for what He's given me? So those three things very simply before us in the parable. Well, we begin with the opening, which is a familiar phrase, a familiar sounding phrase. The kingdom of heaven shall be, rather the kingdom of heaven is like. This time it's like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. The picture here is of a master of an estate or the king of a country, someone who owns a significant amount. He's rich. He is able to distribute very lavish gifts. We'll see in a moment. And what he is doing is he is leaving for a time and he's calling his own servants to deliver his goods to them. Now, I said in the broadest context here that this parable applies to Jesus' moment here as he's dealing with his recalcitrant and unbelieving covenant people, but it also has a second and important referent. Jesus is speaking, if you look back at chapter 24, on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be? Narrowly, he's giving instruction here, especially to his own disciples, the closest band around him. And he's teaching them especially how to be ready for what he's about to do. Now, the man, there is a man. Traveling to a far country, he then calls his own servants, and he delivers his goods to them, and to one he gave five talents, another two to another one, and then this very important phrase, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. Five talents, two talents, one talent. A talent is a measure of weight. If it was a talent of silver, It would be about 6,000 days labor. If it was a town of gold, it'd be 180,000 days of labor. Whatever the measure here, whatever the precious metal was, the picture of the parable is the entrustment of significant wealth to all three of the servants. The distribution is according to the master's wisdom, each according to his ability, and then he leaves immediately. He disappears. Now, what's the purpose of this opening picture? Well, one of the things you have to remember is the critical detail of varying degrees, five, two, and one, and then the phrase, each according to his ability. But let's unpack this a little bit more and see the characters. Who are the characters? Well, surely the man leaving to a far country, again, here as the king, And the landowner, again and again in the parables, the central figure is the Lord Himself. God who distributes. Here, the man traveling to a far country, King, Lord, Master, and perhaps there's an allusion here also to the specificity of the coming reality of Christ's own departure from his disciples who are the direct recipients of this. That he, as he said in John 16, a little while you will not see me, and again, a little while you will see me because I go to the Father. And there's instruction here on the entrustment of these grand, kingdom privileges and responsibilities to his own in his own absence. The servants of the master here then, and the most general description would be those who would consider themselves to be Christians, followers of Jesus Christ. And the action described here Though there is a particular narrow emphasis in all of the parables on God's dispensation of covenant blessing, of spiritual blessings, giving the word and the preaching of the gospel and the gift of his spirit and all those things that are needed for spiritual life, interpreters have understood that this parable is broader than just spiritual blessings. It encompasses everything that God has given you. More than that, it encompasses who you are and how he made you. Every facet of your existence is comprehended here. Now, when you think about talents, a lot of people, when they see the parable of the talents, do something unhelpful. They think of a talent show or some particular gift that you have, and they think, well, these are the talents God gave me. Well, that would be, the talent here is, if it said pounds or kilograms, you wouldn't think that, and that's the way you should think of the word talent here. It's not that. It's not to be thought just of extraordinary giftedness. It's more in view than natural aptitudes. It's more in view than just spiritual gifts. Rather, it is all that God has given you in his fatherly generosity. Money, position, intellect, children, spouse, reason, senses, stamina, your emotional makeup, your memory, your voice, your academic capabilities, your knowledge of the scriptures, Perhaps you were brought up in a covenant home and you have a Christian heritage. Perhaps you have carefully studied the scriptures and you know a lot of its content. You're a member of Christ's church and he's given you friends and fellowship in the body and opportunity to serve, but he also blesses you through that. He's given you a certain measure of health. He's given you life. The money in your bank account comes from him. The house you live in comes from him. The car that you drove here comes from him. Every detail of your existence comes from a good and generous God who opens his hand, all from the benevolent hand of God. It is rich and full. The man who leaves to the far country is not giving with a tight fist, he's giving with an open hand and he's entrusting to the stewardship of his servant these gifts. And in the language of five talents and two talents and one talent, even the one talent man, he's being given a lavish abundance of goodness. And here there is something to be learned about God. And it is something to be repented of. Later on in the parable, the one who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man. It's really fundamental evidence of his unbelief and his hardness of heart. God was not a hard man. He gave him lavish gifts. Satan wants you to believe that God is tight-fisted and he holds back He doesn't give you what you need, and He's just leaving you scrambling, hanging on by your fingernails in the hardships of life. God never does this. He never has, and He never will. Instead, He gives lavishly, and the parable should cause us to pause and Stop to count the Lord's blessings. To live with a present awareness that everything you have, your gifts, your abilities, your family, your money, is in your present possession and under your stewardship because God with an open hand, he not only gives, but he delights to give good gifts to his children. He's pleased to entrust to our stewardship his good gifts. Paul marvels that this in Romans 8, it's a little phrase that you probably hear my preaching again and again, but especially as a Christian, we know this to be true. He did not spare his own son, he delivered him up for us all. And then with him, he freely gives us all things. There has not been one day of your life that you have been lacking what you need. God never, ever holds back from his own what they need. Question for you, do you live with a present awareness of that? That everything you have is in your present possession because God has opened his hand and he's given you life and everything else, in trust. There are many people who live in this world amassing remarkable fortunes and surrounded by the goodness and lavishness of God's generosity. Even he makes the rain to fall in the just and the unjust, and it's just ingratitude, complaining, endless complaining. He's given me but not enough. If He knew what I needed, God forbid we ever say such things. Instead, we ought to have humble gratitude. We should count His blessings every day, never grumble, never think that He has given us too little, but always recognize that anything that He has given us is far beyond what we deserve and that He's good. Second thing about His gifts is that it's wise and measured. Again, the little phrase here, to each according to his own ability. God's designs are perfect. He gives you what you need. He gives you also what you can handle. And then He promises to carry you through the responsibilities He gives you with what He gives you. He's crafted you with your particular stamina, your emotions, your constitution, everything. He knows it all about you. He knows you better than you know yourself. And He distributes exactly to each according to His ability. He distributes here wisely. Something else about this that You should think about, as you think about God's distribution, it should also make you thankful. Richard Baxter has this great line in his section on contentment in his Christian directory, which is that when God gives someone else more than he gives you, what should you do? Do you know how many people live their entire life bitter that God has distributed lavish gifts to other people? It's really a sign of a hard heart. You need to repent of it if that's what you're doing. When God gives gifts to other people, like the five-talent man or the two-talent man, more than you, perhaps, you should give thanks. It's a sign that he's generous. And you don't have to worry about what other people have. The Lord of the universe, the one who fashioned and made you, he makes no mistakes. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. He has you where you need to be with what you need for what he calls you to do. And maybe this should be a comfort to you. If you're overwhelmed by responsibilities here and you're praying, Lord, this is just too much, trust that what he gives you, he has designed for you and he will carry you through what he calls you to do. He never leaves his own. He crafts each life in each situation with boundless wisdom. And that's what the master here has done before he leaves on his journey. The gifts are designed for you. They're given in trust. After the gift, what happens in the parable? The master immediately leaves on a journey. And if we think about our savior, he has ascended and now he has left us with his lavish goodness and good gifts. Now, what do we do? How do we use them? Second part of the picture, verses 16 through 18, is the following. Then he who had received the five towns went and traded with them and made another five. 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. First and second servants, what do they do? They're industrious, they are diligent, and they are interested in taking what God has given to them, what the master has given to them, And in honor and thankfulness and gratitude for His lavish goodness to return to Him, to reflect to Him that goodness back. They are entrusted and they are faithful. They, the first two, double what they've been given. They're fruitful. They're like that tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season. You know, when God gives you gifts, you have to understand that some people say, God's gonna give me gifts, he's gonna judge me what I've done with these gifts. You have to remember that part of the gift is the ability enabled by the Holy Spirit to take that gift and offer it back to him. In other words, he doesn't leave anything. All that you are in Christ is by grace and he fuels your life by his grace. He gives you his spirit in order to be fruitful. And it's a joy to say, Lord, what you've given me, help me to use it for your glory. Lord, I can't do it, but I know that you promised to give me the gifts to do it. This is not a harsh taskmaster, this is a generous master who multiplies in his servants the things he have given them. But the third servant is a contrast. We find him to be fearful and lazy. And fear and laziness take over, he digs a hole in the ground and he hides the Lord's money. The purpose, very simply, is that we are called to make good use of the Lord's gifts. We are to reflect His glory. We are to be kingdom investors and laborers. We are to have a passion for the glory of God, thanksgiving for His mercy, zeal for His kingdom, love for Christ, and we are to be using what God gives us for Him. Now, really what we learn from the parable is where our passions lie. in what the nature of our love for Jesus Christ is and what he's done for us. At the end of the day, that's what the parable's getting to. But think of all the things he's given you. Do a little compare and contrast. I can tell you a number of things God's given you. At least it seems he may give you a little bit more. He's given you time. Right now that time is ticking. You don't know how much he's going to give you. I don't know how much he's going to give you. But from this moment onward, you should be conscious that it's a gift, that it comes from the hand of the Lord. He's entrusted it to you. Some will have more. Some will have less. Each according to his ability. God is the distributor. Don't have to worry about that. The question is, how are you going to use it? If you have a passion for God's glory and His kingdom and love for Christ, you're going to think of what? Time is precious. It's finite. I'm given a certain amount every minute for Him. What if you have unexpected time? Where's your mind going to go first? Me or Him? His kingdom, His glory, His name. You're going to pray. You're going to read. You're going to serve. You're going to seek to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in the ordinary work that he gives you. If you're under a boss or if you're a mother at home, you're going to use that time. The moments of the days to teach your children and use your gifts and talents for His glory. You're going to take, you're going to redeem the time because the days are evil. You're going to take every thought captive. You are going to be devoted to using the finite resource that Christ has given you to reflect His glory. And if you have no passion for God's glory and kingdom, you're going to waste it and your days will pass in futility. You will achieve nothing. You will waste your days surfing the web, sleeping, dreaming, and being generally unfruitful. Worse than that, if it's not just, well, laziness is a sin, but you will use it to pursue ungodliness and unrighteousness. And you'll burn up the life God gives you. And then when he says it's over, it'll be over. And he'll ask you, what did you do at the time? Money, passion for God is glory in his kingdom, love for Christ. You'll use it. You'll work with your hands so that you might provide for your family. You'll have more to give to those who are in need and for the use of God's, for the good of Christ's kingdom. You'll curb your desires for your own pleasures and you will focus yourself on Christ. You will expect that as you give that the Lord will open the windows of heaven and rain down greater blessing on you than you could imagine. You will be focused on using the resource the Savior has distributed for him and for his glory, and you'll trust him for all your tomorrows. No passion for Christ. You will be ungrateful, and one of the marks will be you'll be afraid of losing it all. You'll be terrified. You'll dig a hole in the ground and hide it, and you'll spend it on yourself. How about a family? Children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his reward. He's opened his hand. If he's given you covenant children, what are you doing with them? Fathers and mothers, do you ever pray with and for your children? Do you ever open the scriptures? Do you ever point them to Christ? Do you ever take time to hold them in your arms and sit with them? Do you ever help them develop their time, use their time and develop their gifts and their talents? Do you ever help them fight spiritual warfare? Do you ever entrust them to the Lord in prayer? Do you ever teach them the scriptures and the fear of the Lord? Or are you angry and annoyed? If you have children, you know that children burn up a lot of your time. They take a lot of time. Now, burn up is the wrong phrase. But you're going to be devoted so much of your life to the service of others. You're going to be praying. You're going to be on your knees. You're going to be wondering. And a lot of people I meet one day, they just become resentful. It's astonishing, actually. They resent it. They become angry and annoyed, or they're lazy, or they're abusive. Their home is hard. One of the evidences of this is if your children want to leave, they don't want to be there. What are you doing with the family God has given you? What are you doing with your natural gifts? If you have a passion for God and for His glory, you're going to Humbly give thanks, you're not gonna boast. You're gonna be on your knees, you're gonna say, Lord, take my moments, my days, my time, my talents. Intellectual gifts you've given me, Lord, help me to hone them, sharpen them, and use the gifts for your glory. If you have no passion for him, doesn't matter the brilliance he gives you, you're gonna use it for yourself, your own inventions and discoveries, and not for him. You may be able to lead a company, make money and return on your own investments, but you can't lead others to Christ or disciple others. You give a man a place in a church, in the fellowship of the saints. What a gift that is. You know, we're not alone. We're not alone. We're here as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. If you have a passion for Him and for His glory, you're thankful that you belong to the church of Jesus Christ, and you give, you serve, you wash other sinners' feet, you take out the trash. You are willing to be the servant of servants. Spend and be spent for God's church. Your money, your time, your gifts, your talents. If you have no passion, you'll think you deserve a place here. You'll demand influence. You'll never pray, encourage, or serve. and you'll withdraw from other Christians and pride. How are you using what God has given you? Are you driven by a passion for his glory, a deep sense that he with wisdom and generosity has given you everything you have, and that he's interested in you using it to give thanks back to him and exalt his name? Finally, God will one day call you to account for the decisions you make. The picture in verse 19 is that the master returns to settle accounts with them. Clearly now, what he's done is a stewardship, which is given in trust. The report of the first two servants is remarkable. They've both doubled what has been given to them. They have been diligent and industrious, and they have been interested in reflecting and returning Christ's glory back to Him. They're commended. Interestingly, the commendation is the same for both. The five-talent man who is now the ten-talent man, the Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things. I will make you a ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. The same exact words are said to the man who has two talents, which is also indicative of the fact that when God distributes, if you have little gifts or much gifts, He's not concerned about that. He's asking you to faithfully follow Christ with what He gives you. He's not asking you to produce something out of thin air. He's simply saying, respond to what I've given you and use it for my glory. He knows who you are. The report of the third is sobering. When he had received the one talent, came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, which wasn't true, not a good start, 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, here you have. What is yours? This results in punishment. The Lord calls him a wicked and lazy servant. He says that the design of creation, in order that everything God, God made everything in order that it be fruitful, it's true. You know that I reap where I have not sown and I gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have dispositive my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have at least received my own back with interest. You could have done something which was better than the nothing that you did. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten. From everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." He's judged, punished, and the gift is transferred to another. What does this mean? A couple of things that we can learn from this parable, one is that God does reward his people. Now his rewards, his gifts are by grace, the increase is by grace, and he rewards according to grace, but he does give rewards. Here he delights to commend his people and the picture here of the end of the age when Christ returns and judges all men is that he loves to give more. 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 rest. In other words, God has purposed that these small gifts that he gives are the beginning of an unbelievably lavish entrustment and stewardship in the life to come. This should encourage us again about the character of God. He is not a hard man, a hard master, as the man in the parable is. Rather, our God is a generous God. And His gifts flow from an infinite store filled with infinite goodness. The second thing is He rewards according to grace and not to works. The first and second servant get exactly the same thing. I said that a moment ago. They have the identical reward. And again, this should help you curb any kind of jealousy you have about what God has given you and what God's given someone else. In the final distribution, At the end of the age, in the final judgment of God, their gifts are the same. The question that the parable raises for us is not how much have I been given, but rather from what God has lavishly given me, how do I respond to His grace? It's not to look around and measure myself against other people. He has better gifts than I do. Why do they have money and I'm poor? Why do their kids look like They're excelling in everything and mine are behind. I mean, all this list of endless complaints about comparing ourselves to other people will drive you into the ground of endless misery and ingratitude. What you do is you look to your heavenly father who gave you his only begotten son. You look at everything else he has given you. You're overwhelmed, unworthy, and unable, but you say, Lord, help me to return to you the glory that belongs to you. And you focus on that. And when you do, you bring him glory and he's pleased in a life consecrated to him. And at the end of the age, whether you've been given much or little, he will simply say, well done, good and faithful servant. I will give you much more. Now enter into the joy of your rest. Doesn't matter if you seem to be an insignificant saint you have a more public role, it matters not to God. He's distributed, and in this parable, Christ calls you to give all the back to Him. It's as simple as that. He's not calling you to exercise someone else's gifts, but to be faithful with what He's given to you. Beware of jealousy for another reason. To whom much is given, much will be required. Diligence here is rewarded by the gracious, lavish gifts of God, everlasting life, grace, and glory. This is an encouragement to you as a believer in Jesus Christ to continue on in his service. Another thing is that God does expect fruit. The principle of creation, trees made to bear fruit, animals created to multiply, man commanded to be fruitful and multiply. The principle of the new creation in all of Christ's parables again and again is a kingdom field where the sower sows seed, his word, and the word brings fruit, 30, 60, 100 fold. I made an allusion to Ephesians chapter 2 a moment ago, but I'll turn there for a moment. People often don't read. The whole of Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. God gave you faith. He opened your eyes by the power of the Spirit. And by the same Spirit, he brings forth fruitfulness. But he does bring forth fruitfulness. Keep reading. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Any view of the Christian life that is passive and not active, that doesn't involve striving after holiness and using your gifts and talents actively, consciously, in dependence on the Spirit, but really you pursuing Jesus Christ is a defective view of sanctification. and of the purposes for which God has redeemed his people. He enables us by his spirit to be fruitful. And when he invests, he looks for a return. Remember the parable of the fig tree. Now how is God investing in you? By his word and spirit, placing you into fellowship with Jesus Christ, the vine. You are the branches. If you're discouraged, By all of this, remember what Christ says next in John 15. He who abides in me bears much fruit. It comes from him. And so what the parable's really about is this, is it's about living in vital union with Jesus Christ and the fruits that it inevitably brings to the glory of God. He expects to see that fruit in our lives. And so that Christ gives the warning, look at verse 29. For to everyone who has, more will be given to he, and he will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And then these sober words, cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We just read this from Ecclesiastes. God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing at the end of the age. He will look for the evidences of grace that he works. He will look for the echo of love to him, obedience, trust, and the giving of yourself to the Savior who first gave him for you, gave himself for you. Why do people fail? Because we rebel. We're lazy. The marks of failure here ultimately point to a hard heart that's not interested in God's glory. A narrow view of God's goodness, this phrase, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man. It's not true. You think God is hard and tight-fisted and you're believing the lie that Satan first told to Adam and Eve, to Eve in the garden. He isn't. He's good. Reasons for success are the opposite, a heart gripped by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, a mind fixed on his kingdom, and a passion to bring him glory in everything that you do. This blessing follows the fear of God. So live for him. The parable does end on a sober note. Its ultimate purpose is to warn you. It's to warn you against a number of simple sins, jealousy concerning what God gives to others, The thought that God is tight-fisted and stingy and also against laziness in the Christian life. Christ is, right now, far away, on that far journey. He's in heaven. After a long time, he said, the Lord of those servants will come and settle accounts. He will ask you what you did with what he gave you. He will look into your life. He's generously entrusted you with everything you need to live for Him. And He's coming one day to settle accounts with you. It's not my parable, it's not my warning. It was Christ's parable for His disciples. It was given to those closest to Him, those whom He loved. It was given in order that they would be spurred on in their love and service to Him. It was given to help you think about what you might hear on that day. Will you hear, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your rest. Or, that you should be taken away, cast into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's the plain call of Christ in the parable. Listen to him. Let's pray. We're grateful for all the lavish goodness that he has given to us, and that it includes every ability that we need to offer ourselves back to you. We think first of the gift of Christ in the gospel, the gift of your spirit, and your enabling grace, spurring us on to gratitude, trust, and love to you in everything. Lord, we offer ourselves again to you. Our bodies as living sacrifices are only reasonable service of worship. Make us obedient, fruitful, diligent in everything while we wait for your return. We also repent of all of our failures, the time and money and gifts and talents you've given us that we've squandered. Or we can't go back. But we do praise you for Jesus Christ. the one who offered himself to you in perfect righteousness to the very end. We pray for all of our failings that for his sake you would forgive our sins, that you clothe us in his righteousness, and then fill us again with gratitude and determination to take up our cross and to follow him. So we pray in Jesus' name, amen.