In May of 2000, John Piper preached at the Passion National Conference in Memphis, Tennessee to a crowd of over 40,000 teens and young adults. And the theme of his message was, don't waste your life. It was a call to give your life for the glory of God, following in the spirit of Luke 9, 23 and 24, where Jesus says, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And then at a pivotal point in the message, Piper addressed the young people in the audience and he said this, Again talking to 40,000 teens and young adults. He says, but I know that not everyone in this crowd wants their life to make a difference. There are hundreds of you. You don't care whether you make a lasting difference for something great. You just want people to like you. If people would just like you, you'd be satisfied. Or if you could just have a good job with a good wife and a couple of good kids and a nice car and long weekends and a few good friends, a fun retirement and a quick and easy death and no hell, if you could have that, you'd be satisfied even without God. And then he says, but that is a tragedy in the making. And then he moves on to say he pulls out an article from Reader's Digest, and he reads this title line from this article. And it was about a case study of a person or a couple who had done this American dream life, and he reads this. Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells. And he illustrates that a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, nice retirement, collecting shells in the last chapter of your life, that's the best of the American dream. And then Piper says, don't buy it. Don't buy it. And he says, don't waste your life for something that doesn't ultimately matter. But John Piper was not the first one to preach a message like this. In fact, Jesus had been proclaiming this kind of message for three years up to the cross when he went. Even back in Matthew 16, 26, he pleaded with his hearers for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? And that is the sobering warning from Jesus. Don't buy what the world is selling. But even in the days leading up to his crucifixion, Jesus intensifies that warning in light of his imminent return. So turn to Matthew chapter 25 in your copy of scripture, Matthew 25. And we've been here for quite some time. We're working through an exposition of Matthew 24 and 25, looking at really section by section of this gospel. And we're working through what's known as the Olivet Discourse. And it provides Jesus' most extensive teaching on his second coming at the end of the age. And he doesn't give us this information for no purpose. He doesn't just talk about the end of days just for the purpose of getting us to have theological and eschatological fights and debates. That is not the purpose of eschatology. That's never the purpose of studying the end times. It's always for a greater purpose. He gives us information so that we will be well-informed, watchful, and ready for His return. That's always the condition, well-informed. He says, I don't want you to be misled. Well-informed, watchful, careful, paying attention, and ready. Built up, bold enough, steel in your spine, ready to go when the Lord returns. And one of the ways he punctuates this exhortation is through the use of many parables. Now just to recall in your mind here, a parable is a simple story or a simple illustration that is designed to illustrate a larger truth or a deeper truth. And in the course of the Olivet Discourse here, in Matthew 24 and 25, he offers four parables. We've looked at three of them so far, but just to recap, the parable of the householder in chapter 24, verses 42 to 44. And then Jesus gives the parable of the faithful and wise servant at the end of chapter 24. And then two weeks ago, we looked at the parable of the 10 virgins from chapter 25, verses 1 through 13. And lastly, which we'll look at today, is the parable of the talents. Now these four parables illustrate really the same themes over and over again, yet they increase in intensity. They also increase in length, with the parable of the talents being the longest of all of these so far. And it's also, I believe, perhaps the most shocking out of all of them. But let's look at this together. So Matthew chapter 25, starting in verse 14, these are the words of Jesus. For it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents. In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who had received one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents. His master said to him, 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. Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. You are faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. The one also had received the one talent. came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you do not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. But the master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank. And on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Now, as we do with many of the parables, I find it helpful to sort of work through the actual parable itself first and understand what's going on, and then I tend to go back and do the application and the implications of the parable. It seems to be a pattern that I've used as I preach the parables. And it seems to work. I haven't heard any complaints yet, so I guess we're on the right track. And so I want to determine not just the meaning, but also the significance. But let's look at the parable again together very briefly. Jesus begins by telling this story of a man who goes on a journey. Very simple story. Before he goes on this journey, however, he entrusts three of his slaves with caring for his possessions. Now, as we're going to see, this isn't any old man. He's likely a very wealthy and prominent man with a staff of servants and slaves and stewards. As we have discussed before, slavery in the first century was different in Rome from what it is in our minds that we have today. Our perception of Slavery in our country was atrocious and certainly something to be destroyed, and I'm glad it's gone. But for much of the world's history, there has been the institution of slavery in different forms. They're not all the same. And in these days, about a third of the Roman Empire was comprised of slaves. And while some were treated very poorly, the large majority were regarded as a working class. And they were owned by slave masters and many of them were actually treated fairly and equitably. And some of them were faithful servants who were entrusted with great responsibility. Some of these slaves actually desired to be in the service to a good master. If you found a good master, you wanted to work for that master. in the same way that we want to work for a good boss or a good company. And so in this case, the master was not entrusting his goods to common slaves, but rather to three competent stewards. These were men that he had trusted likely for many years. And so verse 15, it says that, to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability, and then he went on his journey. And so now we start to get a better picture of what's going on. This man is entrusting his possessions to three of his servants. Now, some translations render this word possession as property, but that is the sense of it. It's the bulk of his net worth. This isn't just a couple of his trinkets from his sock drawer. These are valuable possessions. These are, again, his net worth. And why do I say it's his net worth? Well, because of what he gives them. The first slave receives five talents, the second slave two talents, and a third slave one talent. We have to understand what a talent is. It's not talent in the way that we think about an ability. That's how we kind of think about the word talent. But in this context here, a talent was actually a measure, a unit of measure, specifically of weight. So a talent was a measure of weight. And generally, this talent was weighed between 75 and 100 pounds, or in other words, the amount that a soldier could carry on his back. Some estimates were even as high as 125 pounds. Let's call it 100 pounds to split the difference here. And so this unit of measure generally referred to the weight of precious metals. This is how they would weigh their precious metals, their commodity. So gold and silver and bronze and copper, et cetera. So valuable, precious metals were oftentimes in large abundance measured in talents. And so to give an example here, one talent of gold, so one pound, we'd call one pound, that's 12 troy ounces. So a hundred pounds would be worth about three million dollars today. So that's one talent of gold is $3 million by today's currency. So two talents is then worth $6 million and five talents is worth $15 million. So these aren't just little trinkets again. This is a large amount of precious metal that's been entrusted to stewards to care for. And so this is a wealthy man, a millionaire who entrusts his fortune to three stewards and then he goes on a journey. Verse 16, it says, So this one went right to work. He got cracking and he wanted to double his master's money and he did. Verse 17, In the same manner, the one who received two talents gained two more. So he did the exact same thing. He went out and he was industrious and he tried to trade and earn and invest and get more of talents for his master. But it's the third one that gives us pause here. And I'm sure some of you were squirming in your seat when you saw what happened to this third Now, burying money is not as strange as it may seem. I know many of you probably don't have holes in the back of your yard where you put all your possessions and your money, but in the ancient world, they didn't have bank vaults the way that we do today. So many times to protect your valuables from marauders and thieves, You would go and find an indiscriminate place and you would dig a deep hole and you'd bury it and you'd put a map and there'd be, even to this day, I mean, you can go out into archaeological digs and sometimes they'll find buried treasure on random pieces of property because that was where they kept their valuables. So this is not an uncommon practice, but this is what He does, he goes and takes this three million dollars worth of gold, so to speak, one talent of gold, maybe it's gold, and he goes and digs a hole in the ground and he buries it and keeps it protected. However, after a long time, the master returns and wants to see how his servants fared. Verses 20 and 21. The one who received five talents came up and brought five more talents and said, the master, you have entrusted five talents to me. See, I've gained you five more talents. I've doubled your money, master. Verse 21, the master says, well done. It's rendered in the Greek, it's excellent, good job, very good, I'm excited about this, I'm proud of you. He calls him a good and faithful slave. He says, you were faithful with a few things, which is amazing, because that's $15 million worth of precious metal, maybe. But he says, you're faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. And he says, enter the joy of your master. So clearly he's pleased with the first slave. He gives him 100% yield on his money. That's pretty good. I remember when I was in financial services, I mean, 10%, 15% was a good year in the market. 100% in the market, I mean, that would be pretty amazing. That's unheard of in a year. But he doubles his money and he says, well done. He exclaims, well done. And he calls him a good and faithful slave. Not only is he good, the Greek word is agathos, he's doing what's honorable and what's right, he's also pistos, he's faithful or trustworthy. So that's what he calls them, agathos and pistos. He says, what is the reward for being good and faithful? First, the master entrusts him with more responsibility. When you do well, the reward for doing well is not that you get the year off. The reward for doing well is that you get more responsibility. I mean, that's how working goes, right? When you get a promotion at work, usually a promotion doesn't mean less work. It might mean less labor, but it's certainly more responsibility. But with more responsibility comes, hopefully, more money. So that's how promotion tends to work. We're built to work. That's how this goes. And so he rewards this faithful servant, this faithful slave, with more responsibility. And then secondly, he does something else. He invites him to share in his own joy. He says, enter the joy of your master. Perhaps this was a banquet of celebration. Essentially, he's saying, you know what? You did a good job. Why don't you come and feast with me? Come to my house and we're going to sit down and we'll celebrate together. I mean, that's a great thing. If you work for a company or you have a good boss and the boss treats you really, really well, I've heard of even bosses that will bring people over to their homes and they'll have a big, huge party or a banquet or a celebration, they'll give gifts and they treat their employees really, really well. And that's oftentimes a highlight of working for a good company is the office Christmas party at the boss's house where it's a good time. That's the sense here. Enter the joy of the master. Come and banquet with me, feast with me, and let's celebrate together. What about the second slave? Verse 22. Also, the one who received two talents came up and said, master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I've gained you two more talents. Again, he doubles the money, 100% return. And what does he say to that? Verse 23, the master says, 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. The exact same exchange, the exact same thing. Even though he was given less to work with, than the first slave, he still earned a 100% yield. He still was faithful. This is good stewardship. This is good stewardship. And as we saw in verse 15, the master knew what each slave was capable of and so therefore gave them accordingly. Notice that? He says in verse 15, he gives according to his own ability. So to the servant that he gave five talents to, he knew he could do something with five talents. To the one he gave two, he knew he could work with two. To the one he had one, he knew he could handle one. So that's how he administered these talents. And so even though the amounts and the results are different, the reward is the same. The reward is the same. He praises the servant for doing well, and then he invites him into responsibility and into celebration. But then we get to the third slave, verses 24 and 25. And the one also had received the one talent came up and said, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. I want you to notice a few things about this. He cites the reason why he buried the treasure in the ground. He says, I was afraid. I was afraid, I was fearful. But the reason for his inaction, it has to do with what he claims to know about the Master. It would have been one thing if he said, Master, I was afraid to mess up. I was afraid that I was going to do the wrong thing. But is that what he says here? No. He claims that the Master was a hard man. I knew you to be a hard man. Literally, the Greek, the word hard here is skleros. It means hard or rigid or even strict. You could even go further and say it's merciless or cruel. I knew you to be a cruel master. He makes a judgment on the master's character and then he accuses him of expecting results from the work of others. Reaping where you did not sow, gathering where you scattered no seed. And so the reason he was afraid to work is because he claims he was afraid of his master. So what does he do? He goes and he hides the treasure in the ground and then gives it back to him as is. It's almost as if you could read between the lines and when he gives the money back to him, it's like, well, here's your stuff. At least I kept that safe for you, right? I didn't lose anything. Here you go. But I want you to notice that the slave blames the master for his own lack of productivity. It's your fault that I didn't do anything. Well, how does the master respond? Verse 26, the master answered and said to him, you wicked, lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. The master doesn't buy the lying. He doesn't buy the argument. Rather, he sees right through the charade. The problem is not that he's a tyrant. He's already proven to the other two slaves that he's actually a pretty generous master. The problem is that the slave is wicked and lazy. Instead of being good and faithful, agathos and pistos, he's ponere and oknere. He's wicked and lazy. And it's because he's lazy that he doesn't want to work. That's a huge problem today, isn't it? Everywhere. People just don't want to work. There's lots of jobs everywhere, but nobody wants to do the hard work. We struggle with even just the idea of work ethic today. And I'm not going to go down a soapbox about work ethic and this generation and that and this and that. The problem is that laziness, it's a spiritual problem. The heart doesn't want to do what is needed. So this person, this slave is lazy, they don't want to work. And because he's wicked, he slanders his master. It's not my fault, you're a bad master. And part of why he knows that he's telling him that is because if he was really fearful, if he really was that worried about doing a bad job, the master says, he could have put the money in the bank. and receive some interest. And I read this week that even in the first century, there were money changers that would trade currency and they would use the money they would get to go invest. And the cap on a lot of that, the Romans put a cap on the interest that was about 12%. So half of that you would actually get in some cases up to 6% on your money just so the money changers could use it. That's kind of like a CD today or a low yield bond or something like that. A certificate of deposit, 6%. I mean, 6% on dead money is pretty good, actually. In other words, on $3 million, he could have netted $180,000. That's not too shabby. It's better than nothing, right? But he didn't even do the bare minimum. You couldn't even go and just put it in the bank and get something on this? Well, why didn't you do that? It's not because he didn't know. Remember, he was given according to his ability. This slave should have known. The problem is he's a wicked, lazy slave and just didn't want to do anything. So therefore, verse 28, therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. Master takes away the money and gives it to the faithful slave, at which point Jesus then, telling the story, inserts a general maxim. We find this same maxim over in Matthew 13, 12, but it's this, verse 29. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. The reward for faithfulness is more responsibility, while the consequences for squandering is the loss of all. And then in a similar vein with the other parables, Jesus describes the severe punishment at the end for this wicked slave. And when you read this account, verse 30 kind of shocks you a little bit. What's the punishment for not investing well? In verse 30 he says, throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness and that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He's talking about hell. He's talking about condemnation. And so we get the sense here that as Jesus is telling this story, this isn't really about the slave at all. This isn't about a guy who just couldn't invest money well. He's clearly making a spiritual application. The hearers are meant to hear something shocking, something startling, that there's something about this that I have to pay attention to. This is a sobering and terrifying conclusion to the parable. So what is the lesson of the parable of the talents? I think the first thing you have to do is go back to the beginning of verse 14, where Jesus gives the initial purpose of the parable. So go back to verse 14. He says, for it is like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. Well, the question then is, what is the it? When he says, for it is just like a man, what is he talking about? Well, we know that this parable doesn't stand alone. In fact, all four of these parables are lined right up in this discourse. So Jesus is telling these parables one after another. And if you look at the previous parable, at the beginning of Matthew 25, Jesus is given the parable of the 10 virgins, and he does so to illustrate the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven. And so we can very easily carry that over into this parable as well. This parable is illustrating the kingdom of heaven. But what about the kingdom of heaven are we talking about? Because there's many aspects of the kingdom of heaven, aren't there? Certainly, if we're basing this on chapter 25, it seems best to understand it as both the rule and the realm of salvation. In other words, when you become a Christian, when you're saved, when you're redeemed, the Lord brings you into his saving kingdom. We are in the kingdom of God in a saving way because we're no longer in the kingdom of darkness. But there's another component to this as well. Because again, the context is the end of the age. Jesus is talking about his return. And so when he returns, he's bringing with him the kingdom of heaven in a very real, literal sense. And so this has to do with the coming kingdom as well, who belongs in that future coming kingdom. And so this parable is illustrating, number one, who belongs to the Lord, who is actually a Christian, but number two, who will be present with him, who will be rewarded with him in the heavenly kingdom when Christ returns. And that brings us to the features of the parable. Okay, if we're talking about the kingdom, if we're talking about salvation and the future of Christ's return, what's going on inside of the parable? What are the lessons? What's the illustration? Well, certainly we know that this man who goes on a journey, that's clearly the Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking about himself. And later on, he's referred to as the master. That's what the disciples call Jesus too. They call him master, kurios in the Greek, Lord. So he is certainly clearly the master, the man who has the slaves here. And keep in mind here that all throughout the Olivet Discourse he's teaching about his departure and eventual return. And it's interesting to note in verse 19 here that he talks about the master going on a journey and he says he returns after a long time. It's almost as if he's sort of giving a wink and a nod to the fact this is going to be a while. The disciples had no idea that Jesus was going to be gone for, at this point, at least 2,000 years. Even in the early church, I mean, they thought within a couple of decades he might come back. But we're still waiting, 2,000 years later, we're still waiting. And so Jesus, I believe, he's saying, when the master returns after a long time, what do you mean, Lord? Well, it's gonna be a long time. That's in the parable. And so we're talking about the return of Jesus Christ at the end of the age. But who were the slaves? Well, just like with the parable of the 10 virgins, these are professing believers. Professing believers. Why do I say professing believers? Because like with the virgins in the previous parable, they're all treated as genuine. They're all treated as genuine until you see the fruit of their actions. Until their faith is revealed or their lack of faith is revealed. In fact, in the very next section in Matthew's Gospel here, verses 31-33, Jesus talks about a day when he's going to come and separate the sheep from the goats. He's talking about separating true believers from false believers. But for now, they all exist together. even in our common experience. I don't know the faith and belief of every single person in this room. Some of you I know really well, and I'm pretty sure I know what your faith is all about. Some of you I don't know as well. I don't know what you believe. And even for those that maybe we do know each other really well, there is a possibility that your faith could be false and you're deceiving people. That's certainly possible. But for now, we all exist and worship and grow together. And we bring people into the gathered assembly based on their profession of faith and evidenced by the testimony of their life. But only God knows for sure. And there's gonna come a day when he will judge everything, look at the content of your faith, and determine whether or not you belong with him in the kingdom or whether you belong in outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. So that's coming. And so again, these slaves, these are all those who profess to belong to Jesus. And then there's the meaning of the talents. This becomes very interesting. Bible scholars have been trying to figure out for a long time what these talents refer to, and they've given us a lot of answers. However, there's generally a universal agreement that the talents here represent gifts of grace that we've received from the Lord. They're gifts that God gives us. They're given to us to use to live out our faith. Just to give you an example here, 1 Peter, So even Peter, writing decades later, maybe he was thinking about this parable, I don't know. But even he talked about the fact that all of us are given gifts from God. We're given talents, so to speak. We're given a manifold grace of God in individual portions to use as good stewards for the benefit for the edification of all other people. What are these kinds of gifts? We get an idea of this in Romans chapter 12. In Romans 12, after a very long doctrinal explanation, those of you or several of you are studying the book of Romans right now. One of our men's groups, one of our women's groups is studying Romans right now. So Romans 1 through 11 is a very long doctrinal section. And then by chapter 12, you get to the application portion of that doctrine. It's always truth and then action. That's how all of this works. Doctrine has to come before the action. And so chapters 12 through 16 are the application of the gospel in the life of the believer. And so Paul exhorts the Christian in Romans 12, one, to present your bodies, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, which is acceptable to God. And he says, that is your spiritual service of worship. Well, what informs and transforms this offering? Verse two, it comes through the renewal of our mind by the spirit through God's word. And so what takes place in our mind and in our heart begins to transform and change how we live our lives. What you think and believe will eventually come out in what you do. Jesus said the exact same thing. It's out of the heart that the mouth speaks and the hands do. So what you do, you do based on what you believe. The Holy Spirit regenerates the heart and the mind through faith, and he trains us in the word of God. He trains us in the scriptures. That's why the Bible is so important because this loads up our minds and our hearts and our consciences with God's truth so that it will germinate and manifest itself through our words and deeds. And then through all this study, through knowing and learning God's word, he unleashes us into the world to work hard for the master. But he doesn't send us out ill-equipped. He gives us spiritual gifts. So Romans 12, 6 says, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly. Then he starts a list here. This is not meant to be exhaustive, by the way. I believe that this list that's given in Romans 12 is just an indicator of the kinds of gifts that we receive. Verse six, if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness, then he says, let love be without hypocrisy. abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Again, just a little bit of a picture of what this might look like. Notice that God does not give us all the exact same gifts. Ever notice that? When we talk about spiritual gifts, we all have different gifts. Every single one of us have different gifts that have been given to us, and not just a differentiation of gifts, but also the measure of those gifts. We all have different levels and measures and intensity in our gifts. God does not give exactly the same to all of us. It's very diverse. Some he might give five talents, others he might give two, others one. But again, it's according to our ability. That's what he says here. Verse 6, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, God will pour out grace differently with different people. He will bless us with different kinds of gifts. And the expectation is that we're going to be faithful in stewarding what God has given to us. Again, the goal is to be faithful. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4 that stewards are required to be found trustworthy. to be trustworthy, good and faithful slaves, not wicked, lazy slaves. It's interesting, there's actually a linguistic, a word connection here. The same word that's used in Matthew 25 for lazy is also the same word used in Romans 12, 11 here that's rendered not lagging behind in diligence. Same word. We are to work hard. We are to be diligent. Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul actually employs this precious metal analogy to describe faithfulness. You don't have to go there. Let me just read these verses to you. 1 Corinthians 3.10, according to the grace of God which is given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one that is laid, which is Christ. Then he says this, now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, and then Paul says wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident. For the day, the day of the Lord, the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. That's what we just saw in the parable, right? If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but then Paul adds this, but he himself will be saved as yet through fire. So let's be very clear about something. Because I think this is important because we don't want to get this twisted around about works and doing things and earning rewards and things like that. The Bible is not teaching that our salvation is based on our ability to work for the Lord. That's false religion. Always has been, always will be. That's a works-based religion. See, all false religion is transactional. Okay, I'll say that again. All false religion is transactional. God grants salvation in exchange for obedience. That's false religion. Christianity is reactional, if that's even a word. It's not, I looked it up, it's not a word, but it works. Transactional versus reactional. Okay, what does that mean? Well, it means that God saves by his grace through faith in Christ alone, and we respond to God through his, or to his amazing grace in praise and thanksgiving, which results in obedience. You see the difference? The first one is I'm earning my salvation and relationship with God. If I do the right things, I'll go to heaven and be with him. That's not Christianity. And all the time people think, well, I hope I'm good enough for this, I hope I make it to the end, I hope that God's happy with me, we'll see. That's not Christianity, that's not the gospel. False religion says do, the gospel says done, right? That's the difference. And so we respond, we don't serve God to be saved, we serve God because we're saved. And so in our saving relationship with God, through faith in him, he entrusts us with his possessions. He gives us spiritual gifts. He gives us blessings. He gives us the ability to serve. He even entrusts us with the gospel of our salvation, which he expects to be planted and sown everywhere. So that when he comes, he may reap and gather at the harvest time. So what are you doing with the spiritual treasure that God has entrusted to you? What are you doing with it? Now, at this point, you might be tempted, and maybe you are, maybe you're not, to look left and right and say, well, I don't have what so-and-so has. I don't know if I could do what they're doing. And people will say things like that to me all the time. I don't know if I could ever get up and stand here in front of people and preach. I couldn't do that. Well, maybe you're not called to that. If you're not called to that, then don't worry about it. But I'll tell you what, I look at missionaries to go overseas and plant churches in the African bush and don't speak the language and live in huts. I look at that and I go, boy, I could never do that. Well, maybe I'm not called to that. Maybe I'm called to this. So wherever God calls you, bloom where you're planted. Be faithful where you are. We're all given different gifts, different stewardships, different talents. There's nothing to be ashamed about. If God calls you to something, he's gonna give you the gifts and the ability to do so. You just have to be walking in faithfulness. And if you do that, and you have those gifts, then use them for God's glory. All of you, if you're in Christ, all of you have been given gifts by God and all of you can serve Him and be faithful. All of you have been given the ability to hear at the end of your life, well done, good and faithful servant. God is a generous, wonderful God. He's a wonderful, loving master. And so take heart, beloved. God only requires of you that which He's equipped you to do. And you might scratch your head and say, well, I just don't know. Guess what? He knows your abilities because he built you. And he knows your gifts because he gave them to you. And so if God has built you and given you gifts accordingly, then trust him in that. And walk in obedience. He's not looking at the results. Well, how do we know? Because those belong to him. What does that look like? Well, say you're evangelizing, you're sharing the gospel. I know many of you who have a lot of unsaved family and friends, and maybe you've been sharing the gospel for years, there's just no fruit. And it's frustrating, isn't it, sometimes? Nobody's getting saved because of me, what am I doing wrong? Well, you're probably not doing anything wrong, in the grand scheme here. If you're being faithful to bear witness to Christ, and nobody's coming to faith in Him, that's on the Lord, that's not on you, if you're being faithful. So it's not about the results. God is desiring faithfulness. Are you making the most of every opportunity? Or even as Ephesians 5 says, are you making the best use of the time because the days are evil? Are you using your time for the Lord? I'll tell you one thing I've been saying lately, because I believe this now, is I want to go to heaven tired. I'm tired all the time. Part of that's being a parent, I think, but part of that's being a pastor, I don't even know. It doesn't really matter. I can't sit still. People ask, what do you do for a hobby? I don't have any hobbies. I really don't. I've tried to invent hobbies, it just never goes well for me. My wife, she knows, right? I go home and I just want to find something to do. I just can't sit still. I'm addicted to activity. Not because I'm a workaholic, but I just, I want to be productive for the Lord. I want to engage with my family. I want to spend time with them. I'm not always looking to get away. My best hours are with my family. My best use of time is with you all. Now, I'm nothing, I'm nobody, but I'm standing here and I'm telling you, just hopefully as an example, get busy serving the Lord. Time off is important. You need a Sabbath, brothers and sisters. Take a day off. You need a Sabbath, that's important. God gives you that Sabbath for a reason. Take a day where you're not working hard. But if you have opportunity to work hard for the Lord, go to heaven tired. Because you'll have a Sabbath rest forever with him. So serve him, do well. What does that look like for you? Well, certainly, that's evangelism, isn't it? Now, some of you are given the gift of evangelism, which means that you can walk around and talk to anybody. It doesn't bother you. You can find a way into any conversation. I have known people who have had the gift of evangelism, and every time they go out and they talk to anybody, within five minutes, they're sharing Christ. I don't know how to get into those conversations as good as they do. I evangelize, but I don't have that kind of a gift that some people do. I praise God for that gift. But maybe that's not your specific gift, even though we're called to bear witness to Christ. But think about discipleship. Discipleship, spending your time with other people, helping them to grow in the Lord. I talked to a man recently who's in his mid-70s, and you know what his ministry is? I love this. He's 75 or so years old. His ministry, he told me, is building relationships with his grandkids. He schedules discipleship time with each of his grandkids every month. He has it on the calendar, and his whole world is just spending time. He goes to their games, he spends time with them, he has conversations, he does puzzles with them. But then in addition to that, he goes through book studies and does discipleship and Bible study training and he prays with them and he just invests himself in their lives and reinforces what their parents are doing because he trained them too. So his whole world before he goes to meet the Lord is to invest in his grandkids. That's discipleship. You don't have to set the world on fire, you don't have to reach people all around the world if that's not what you're called to do, but you do have people in front of you. Friends that you know, people sitting right next to each other. If every single person just picked another person to spend time with in the course of the week or the month, and just talk through scripture and disciple, and it doesn't have to be some formal carved out thing, but just spend time talking about God and his word, and helping each other. How can I pray for you today? What are you struggling with? How can I encourage you in the faith? Spend your time with that. Fellowship in unity. Call each other on the phone. Have meals together. Pray for each other. Serve. Are there opportunities to serve? There's places to serve all the time. Or maybe even in giving. Some people are blessed with abundance. They have a lot of possessions or money. Are you using your earthly treasure to benefit the kingdom of God? I'll tell you, wealth is a huge responsibility. When you're poor, nothing to worry about. I got nothing, nothing to give, nothing to have. But when you're entrusted with a lot, that's a heavy responsibility. Are you stewarding that well? Are you doing with God's treasure something that is faithful that he's entrusted you with? Are you investing your treasure wisely? Are you seeking spiritual benefit with what God has given you in your life? Or have you taken what he's given you and buried it in the ground? And I fear that, that so many believers have what they've given from the Lord, they take their treasure and they dig a hole and they just bury it. and they do the bare minimum. They neglect their spiritual growth. They don't engage in Bible study or prayer. Maybe they ignore evangelistic opportunities. They don't want to talk to people. Maybe they shun discipleship. They shun accountability. That's part of discipleship is accountability. When someone says, how are you doing? Be honest. You know, I'm not doing very well right now. Pray for me. That's an honest thing to say to somebody. Maybe you sit on your hands and reject the opportunity to serve. Maybe you fail to be generous with what God's given you. Don't dig a hole in the ground and bury your treasure, beloved. Don't do it. Because remember, Christ is coming again. Whether we see him in the clouds or we die and see him face to face that way, either way we're all gonna see him. one way or another, but when he returns, what will he find? Will he find you offering your life as a spiritual service of worship? Now, none of us are perfect, certainly. There's gonna be lots in our life that's wood, hay, and stubble that's just gonna burn up, but will there be anything? that will remain standing, gold and silver and precious stones that you can offer and say, Master, I've done everything I can to serve you. Here's what I've done with what you've entrusted to me. Will you be found faithful? Will he say to you, well done, good and faithful servant? Or will you make excuses for your laziness? Will you blame him? for not doing anything? Will you call him a hard man who, oh, you reap where you didn't sow, oh Lord, you expected too much of me. Will you presume on his grace? Will you hide your lamp under a basket? Will he say to you on that last day, you wicked, lazy slave, will he cast you into outer darkness? My friends, hear my entreaty. Don't bury your treasure. Don't do it. Don't waste your life. Invest what God has given you for his glory. Now, maybe you're wondering, well, how do I know if I am saved? How do I know if I'm entering the kingdom of heaven? Well, we do that through the message of the gospel, don't we? Now, some people, that's a tired old message. Really? It is the most exciting, dynamic, important message you could ever share with anybody. that Jesus Christ came into the world perfect, God in human flesh, and lived his life and did everything. There was no waste in Jesus's life. He buried nothing. He put everything out in the open. He served his heavenly Father with perfect zeal and abundance. He gave everything. And even at the start of his ministry, what did the Father say to the Son? This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Jesus lived the life that we're supposed to live. And then he gave that life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Then he rose the third day to bring brand new life and give us eternal life. And what is the requirement? To repent of our sins and to believe in him, to trust in him. Lord, you are my master. I trust you and I will serve you. Not because it gets me anything, but because you've given me everything and my life is yours. That's the gospel that Jesus has paid for our sins and given us eternal life. It's a tremendous gift. I want to close just by pondering just for a minute here. The final testimony of the life of the Apostle Paul He was a man who was addicted to activity. Now he had times when he would go away and he would spend his winters in nice places and he would have his Sabbath rest, but that man, he went everywhere and did everything and was beaten to an inch of his life and he just kept on going. He's like the Energizer bunny, kept on going. That's the Apostle Paul. And what did he say at the end of his life, right before he died in Rome, decapitated by the Roman soldiers, what did he say? He says in 2 Timothy 4, 6, for I am already poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. Then he says this, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. And then he says, in the future, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And then he says this, and not only to me, but to all, to all who have loved his appearing. The coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ, is not just for theology. It is the focal point of our hope and our joy. He is the goal. When we run day after day and get knocked down and get back up again, it's not for this life. It's not to build an empire here that's gonna perish. No, it's the goal is Christ. I wanna love His appearing. I wanna long for Him. I wanna see His face. I wanna hear His voice in my redeemed ears saying, welcome home, well done, good and faithful servant. Will you hear that? By faith in Christ, beloved, you will. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You Thank you for these wonderful parables that illustrate such deep and dense and divine truth to us. And Lord, we're torn. We are torn, people, because there's so much here that we want to do. There's so many things to chase after. There's so many goals to set. That retirement looks so tempting to us off in the distance. The allure of ease, the allure of doing nothing, The allure of coasting to the end. And oh Lord, we desire that because our bodies and our souls are tired. We work hard, oh Lord, and we're tired. We're weary pilgrims here. But Lord, I pray that you would sow into us an earnest desire to work for you, not to beat ourselves down with workaholism and stress and strain where we just work ourselves to death for no purpose, but rather that we would be bolstered with a holy zeal, the desires to work hard for you, that we would spend our life on you and on others. that, Lord, we would long for your appearing and work unto that end, O Lord. By ourselves, we have nothing. We've taken nothing into this world. We're born with zip. And yet you, the righteous and gracious giver, have bestowed on us tremendous blessings and gifts and talents. You've given us your Son. And so, Lord, help us to run hard after you. Help us to do well here in this life, not because we get anything eternally, but because you are worth everything infinitely. Oh Lord God, let you be our joy and our treasure forever. Let us not bury our joy, our treasure in the ground, but let us invest it wisely with heavenly things, oh Lord. Thank you for your mercy, thank you for Christ. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.