Our text for this morning's message is going to be found in Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 through 30. 14 through 30. It's the parable of the talents. And talent, in this case, doesn't mean skill. It means something else. And I'll explain what the word talent actually means. Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 through 30. Hear now the word of God. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents and to another he gave two and to another one 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 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 to five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I've 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 rule a ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also, who had received two talents, came and said, Look, you delivered to me two talents. 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. I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But as 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. Thus far, the reading of God's word. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we pray that this morning you would give us attentive hearts to the message given by our Savior and our Lord so many years ago. And yet, Father, as true now as it ever was. Help us, Father, to examine these words with great introspection that we might know, Father, what difference this all makes to us. Help us, Father, to have an expanded view of who you are as we examine these things, that you may be glorified and honored in our thoughts, our words, our deeds, and that, Father, we might walk in a manner consistent with the faith that you've granted us through Christ our Savior. Amen. I have to say, this is a very intense parable. Let me just kind of briefly put before kind of long story. What we have here is four men. One man, the owner of the goods. Is going to a far country and gives the other three who are slaves or servants a whole bunch of money. That that the talent. And in this particular, you know, the word talent, it's actually a measure of weight, 60 to 80 pounds. And in the day, it could have been 60 to 80 pounds of gold or silver or something else. We learn in this parable that later in the parable that it's actually silver, 60 to 80 pounds of silver. So the point here is that it's a lot. You got a lot of dough here in this particular parable. They're giving a lot of money that Jesus is trying to let the let the audience know that we're talking about a big deal here. Be about six thousand days wages, 16 years wages, it's enough money. To put it this way, to hire 160 workers to work for a year, just one town. OK, so we get the idea there. Now, the owner in this parable expects the laborers or the slaves to utilize this money wisely. Two out of the three men are industrious with the money entrusted to them. They doubled it, and then they receive a commendation from God. Well done, my good and faithful servant. But the third man does what? He buries it. He buries his one talent, and then he explains about how he was afraid Because the master is a hard or a severe man. I knew how hard you were. I know that you do. You go take plants. You know, you reap what you don't sow. You take what you haven't planted. You just go in there and you take whatever you want. As a result, the one talent that he had was taken from him and done. And what did they do with the one talent? They give it to the man who has ten talents. And not only that, the guy with the one talent, is thrown into the outer darkness, which we would understand to be what? Hell. I have to say, that's a pretty intense parable. What's going on here? I mean, is God, are we to think of God as some sort of cosmic Donald Trump? Right? Right? He's running for president right here. Is that right? I don't even know what to think of that. Just the hair alone. He's got kind of televangelist hair going there. But is that what's going on here? Is it? I've never watched a TV show, but I've seen the commercial. Right. You're fired. You know, you didn't you're fired out, God saying, you know what you didn't produce, you're fired. I certainly hope not. Let me tell you why. For personal reasons, one is the one actual, you know, capitalistic venture that I engaged on in real life, you know, money life back in the 80s was so unsuccessful that I almost caused a second depression. And secondly, you know, I hear about people, you know, who, you know, Dave, you've probably heard this too, you know, people, oh, this pastor, he went to that church, they had 109 people in three short years, they had 7000 people. You know, you know, the pastor, he took that church from three, you know, 37 people to 47,000. And I, on the other hand, in 21 short years have taken our church from 193 people to 274 people. So I know that my my personal failures or success is no way to interpret scripture. I just hope that that's not what's going on here. I hope he's not going to look at it. You need to double your money, otherwise you're out. I don't think that's what's going on here at all. I don't think God's saying, look, you need to be, you know, the Bill Gates of the religious community in order for you to get to heaven. Let's take a look for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And the one he gave five talents and do another two and to another one to each according to his own ability. By the way, keep that in mind, each according to his own ability. Because I'm going to say that the talents, I think, are gifts. And we're going to see later Paul utilizing that the idea of your own to your ability. God has given you gifts. The ability itself, by the way, is a gift from God. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he had received the five talents, went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he had received two, gained two more also. But he had received one, went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. Let me just say, God, Never goes on a journey. One of the things we know, one of the one of the attributes of God is that he is everywhere all the time. What do you call that? You know, the big word for that? Yeah, he's omnipresent. Psalm 139 makes that pretty clear, right? Lord, where would I go if I wanted to get away from you? You know, if I'm in the wings of the dawn, if I dwell on the most important remote part of the sea, behold, you are there. Behold, you are there. God is everywhere all the time. All of God, by the way, is everywhere all the time. So when Jesus talks about God going on a journey, because I think we could take the idea that the man here who owns the field is God going on a journey, he's accommodating our perception of things. Because doesn't it seem sometimes like God just isn't there? I'd have to say, speaking in pure human terms, it feels like that kind of all the time. It just feels like, where is God? David had the same feeling. We read it in Psalm 10, verse 1. Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble? I need some help. Where are you? That is a feeling not only that we have as people, but it's a feeling that we see in the scriptures by those who hear you, a man after God's own heart, recognizing that I feel like God is not involved here. And I would say that the idea of going on a far journey he's talking about, there are certain places in the Bible we call them things like the Bible calls it like the day of the Lord, where God comes and he visits his judgment or God comes and it's Pentecost or God comes and it's the resurrection. There are these unique events in history, but they are the exception. We should not expect Pentecost today. And I think it's a sad mistake that the Pentecostal churches do. And what they're viewing, quite frankly, and not to go off on this too far, what they're trying to kind of pass off as a Pentecost experience is not what you see in the Bible at Pentecost whatsoever. At the very least, you'd be seeing the flames of fire, right? So it's not it. The parable is addressing what takes place during that type of period. When God seems to be inactive, which, frankly, is the norm. Now, for those who have eyes to see and read the scriptures, we recognize God is anything but inactive. And if he were to let go of creation, we would just go into oblivion and we just God maintains everything. One point that should strike us early in this parable is who owns everything. It's the man. It's the master. Who we understand to be God, he owns the goods and he also owns the slaves. We are said to be the slaves of God or the slaves of what? Paul uses this illustration. We either are slaves of righteousness, slaves of God, or slaves of sin. But what we have to recognize here is the, and this parable won't make any sense unless we get this, that God is the rightful owner of everything. For the earth is the Lord's and what? The fullness thereof, or some other versions will say, and everything in it. Psalm 24. So these three men are not merely be thought of as God's creatures. But they are at least outwardly. To be thought of as God's what? Servants, God's slaves. They're the master's slaves. Why is that important? You know, as I reread all these parables, I begin to realize these parables apply to the church in America way more than I used to think. And let me tell you why. Because the people in question in this parable, the three people are not to be thought of as pagans or outsiders. But people within the covenant. People who are, I'll put it this way, church members. These are professing believers who ostensibly believe that they themselves have been purchased by the blood of Christ, as Paul writes, for you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's again, God owning everything. So what we're talking about here in this parable, keep in mind, Jesus is talking to Israelites. And he's talking about people who, by outward appearance, are all seeking, have all been given, who are all God's slaves, have been given something by God and are to utilize them for God. So we're not talking about your buddy down at the beach or at the park or at work because I don't believe in God. I wouldn't walk in the doorway of a church. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about I'm tempted to point to somebody in here. But I don't want just for impact. Who can I point at? Anybody, any volunteers? I'm talking about you, Anita. I'm just kidding. You understand, we're talking about people who, when we look at them, they're going, I stood before the church. I was baptized. I made this proclamation that I believe. That's who we're talking about here. So it brings us a little closer to home, quite frankly. What are these talents? And what did these three men actually do or not do with them? I think the talent, I think the talent here. You know, the 80 pounds of silver is a metaphor. For the gifts. Or the activity or the inactivity. And the proper utilization of those gifts that God has given to the church and to individual Christians, that's what I think he's talking about. The Apostle Paul kind of addresses it in a similar way in Romans 12, six through eight, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Let us use them properly or let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or ministry. Let us use it in our ministry. He who teaches in teaching. He who exhorts in exhortation. He who gives with liberality. He who leads with diligence. He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Now, by the way, spiritual gifts, we see in the Bible, don't provide an exhaustive list for us. How do I know that? You know what a spiritual gift is? I just read some of the spiritual gifts here, right? Exhortation, teaching, giving, diligence, and so on. Leadership. Because in different letters in the Bible, you see different lists. And so, you know, somebody counted up that I think at one time there's twenty six spiritual gifts. I don't think there's twenty six spiritual gifts. I think there's an unlimited number of spiritual gifts. And I think it includes everything, everything we have, everything we do, every aspect of who we are, by the way, including our finances. You know, I mean, he's using money as the metaphor, but the money is part of it as well. Everything about us belongs to God. and is to be used to the glory of God. Jesus tells us of the two men who traded. That is, they worked, they labored, and they doubled up on their efforts. But the third man went off and he dug a hole and buried his Lord Silver in the ground. You ever feel like you did that with God's gift? Bury in the ground? Kids, you know, the youth group, You got friends, you got friends in the world. It is a challenge to you. Do you ever feel like you have something to offer them in terms of the message of the redeeming grace of God? And you just don't do it. You just you got that's just you know what? That's just not my gift. You're friends, you love your friends, you care about your friends, you're willing to have a sacrificial disposition. You know, you recognize that God has called you to be loving and joyful and praying for each other. And you're just kind of going, you know what? Maybe at another stage in life, I'll do that. Let me just challenge you, you know, and you adults who think I'm just talking to the kids. And me, too, everything I have belongs to God and is to be used on his behalf, to his glory and to the nurturing and redemption and love for my fellow man. We have such a self-centered culture that we live in and it's all about me. We got to get out of that kind of thinking, get the gifts. OK, are not if I have a gift, the gift is not for me. You get that because God's going, oh, I've given everybody gifts and I'm like, oh, I want to open it. Oh, a gift for me is like, no, the gift I'm giving you is for what is for you to give somebody else. And we should have the same attitude our kids have, right? You take your kids to somebody's birthday. Our kids don't have any money. Well, they say they have money. I don't know where they get it. But you take them shopping to buy a gift for their friends, right? But of course, you ever go to a birthday party with little kids and there's gifts for the kid whose birthday it is? You know what the kids want, right? They want to open the gift. And I'm like, no, you don't understand. It's not your birthday. They don't get that. Well, they do get it, but they pretend they don't. God apparently is not really into our taking the gifts that he's given us and burying them in the ground so nobody can see them. Jesus put it this way in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 14 through 16. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. Is that going on? If God has opened our eyes and our hearts to his love and his grace, we have been given a great responsibility And I tell you, you know, I don't want to be ignored here. We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the grace of God. Every last one of us. You know, I used to be on staff at this campus ministry and There were a lot of wrong things with that ministry. I mean, I think it's very existence was probably not legitimate, but nonetheless, it was something they did that has stayed with me all my life. And maybe that's what attracted me to them in the first place. And it's this idea of, you know, aggressive evangelism or the divine encounter or this idea that you get, you shouldn't know, you shouldn't go through life, not considering the eternal soul of the person sitting next to you on the bus. Now, I realize they can go make you a little crazy and they kind of drove me a little crazy, too, because it was all a lot of pressure. And I don't want to put, you know, undue pressure, I want to get all Pharisee on you or anything. But there should be in all of our hearts a desire that God be glorified in every aspect of our lives and those people by which we are surrounded, that we run into, that we encounter. That we care about their souls. And that we're willing to utilize whatever gifts God has given to us for their benefit. And you know what? It's just not OK to not think that way. And, you know, I'm not trying to get all mean on you or anything, but it's just not OK to not care about the soul of another person. It's not OK. This parable is very strong. These are very strong words. Paul writing in first Corinthians four, one through two, just says, let us let a man consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. A steward is somebody who's taking care of somebody else's property. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. It is a requirement in stewards that one be found faithful. Two of these guys were faithful. The third was not. Here we go. Nineteen to twenty three. After a long time, the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with him. So he 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. I love the look part. It reminds me of my little my little kids when they were really little and they do something like, look, daddy, look, you know, look what I did. Look, you give me five. I got five more. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also 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. You know, the Bible talks about how the wicked view God's apparent absence. He's on the long journey, right? According to his parable. Goes on a long journey. And then he comes back to do what? Settle accounts. The settling of accounts. Psalm 10, 11 and 13 is a little passage That so applies to what's going on in our world today. And I realize sometimes when I say in our world today, it's easy to say, well, men have always been that way. But I in my lifetime, I think there's a heightened sense of what I'm going to say in these next few words. Someone 10, 11 to 13, he has said in his heart, God has forgotten, he hides his face, he will never see. Why did the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, you will not require an account. The wicked are saying, look, there's not going to be any judgment. God will never hold me accountable. Friends, never mistake God's patience. For God's absence. Ecclesiastes 811 is a really amazing verse, I think it's again, so applies to what's going on today, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Speedy sentence. I think it has got application in terms of the judgment of God. I think it's just the nature of man. We live in a culture where somebody walks into, you know, McDonald's or a subway or whatever, a mall, and they shoot five or six people. Everybody sees them. There is guilty of sin. Everybody's dead. And that guy's in jail for 25 years on death row. Let me tell you, that's not a speedy sentence. So I don't want to digress here. But the idea is, you know, the convictions are to be sure. I'm talking about eyewitnesses. The person is guilty. Everybody knows it. And they sit there alive. The Bible seems to indicate that there are certain sins that we call crimes. And when they're committed, the person is to be brought into the presence of a judge or of a judge that is beyond our judgment. They are to be brought not into the presence of the judgment of the judgment of men, but they are to be brought into the judgment of God. And we're not, by the way, I don't think we're doing him any favor. by allowing them to not do that. I think it is a genuine motivational factor that if you know that soon that you will be facing your maker, there's a genuine, genuine motivation based on fear. And I think fear is a legitimate motivational factor that things better get right between you and God. A lot of conversions on death row. Yeah, a lot of them fake, I guess. But I'll tell you what, it's the topic of conversation, isn't it? That's what they all want to talk about. What's going to happen? There comes a time to settle accounts. What we see in this passage are two happy encounters. He who had five talents and he who had two were both faithful in small things. By the way, you know, small things. Isn't that interesting? You are faithful in small things and I'm going to give you a chance. But you're looking at five talents. I don't have to do the math again. Remember, one talent was one hundred and sixty years wages. So the guy who had five talents, what is I don't know, a whole bunch of years. That seems like a big thing, but compared compared to the gifts that God has given to the church, all those years, all those tons of silver are counted by Jesus as small. That's a little small potatoes. But those who are faithful and small things were made ruler over many things. and then beckoned to enter into the joy of their Lord. And by the way, the words of commendation by God were the same for both for the guy who had five and the guy who had two. He wasn't more impressed with the guy who had five than he was with the guy who had two. Now, a little note of caution here. We should not read this parable in such a way as to think these faithful workers earned the joy of the Lord by virtue of their industrious labor. Mike talked about that when we were reading the law, right? It's our natural inclination to go. They earned heaven. That is so counter to all of Scripture. Nonetheless, we have to recognize this. That their faithful execution of the ministry indicated that they genuinely had the faith that Jesus was talking about. Those who have true faithfulness Have a faith that is always accompanied by a behavioral, some kind of behavior change. You're not saved by the behavior change. Those who believe true faithfulness, friends, is devoid of human behavior, I would argue, have a skewed understanding of what saving faith looks like. James 2, 18, but someone will say you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith. How? By my works. Now, this has become a little controversy with people, where all of a sudden the works becomes part of the means by which you think you're OK with God. That has to be distinct. Your works add nothing to what God utilizes to approve you. It is faith alone, right? Now, we can get into this Q&A a little bit. There seem to be passages in the Bible where the works are there. As a matter of fact, somebody asked a really good question last week in Q&A, and I'm thinking about doing a sermon on it just because I think it needs to be clarified where our works stand in terms of judgment. Nonetheless, saving faith will always produce a changed person. I understand Jesus. Keep in mind the context here. Jesus is talking to people who are in terribly religious. In some sense, they were viewed as part of the covenant community. And if you ask them, do you have faith? They would have said yes. But then he's going, well, look at it. You know what? You have faith because you wear your robes. You have faith because you're part of this clergy or you have, but you know what? You don't do anything in your life that is pleasing to God, which is not, which is a sign that you don't really have faith at all. You know, you have something else. We ought also to keep in mind that their success in ministry, though demonstrated in the parable by increase, is not always viewed as outwardly measurable. You understand what I'm saying there? I mean, I opened up the sermon by talking about how I'm hoping that's not the case. All right, because you're going, well, how much do I got to produce before God is happy with me? Well, we recognize it's really keep in mind this. It's not the parable doesn't say that the third guy worked. And just didn't come up with the increase, right? He didn't trade, he didn't labor. What did he do? He just buried it in the ground. It wasn't as if he could say to the master, look, I worked really hard. I did everything they did. But, you know, Fannie Mae or whatever, you know, Fergie Mack, what are they called? Denny May? Ferdy Mack? I don't know. Whatever. That's not the point. The point isn't that he worked. The point is he didn't work at all. The point is there was nothing there. The promise in Isaiah 55, 11, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void. But it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. And by the way. God says it will accomplish that when we witness to people, when I share my faith and I invite people to church, I pray that they will hear and that they will believe. Right. And I know this is going to be a tough pill for you to swallow, but sometimes the purpose of God's word is to do just the opposite. It's to harden. The Apostle Paul, and I'm just going to paraphrase this, but he says in his letter to the church at Corinth, he goes, you know what? To some people, we are, you know, the aroma of life and other people, we are what? The stench of death, we're the aroma of death. But then he says, but to God, we smell pretty good. My paraphrase. I was doing a men's retreat one time and I was talking about this, you know, that I was kind of, you know, letting my Calvinistic, you know, inclination slide into the door. And some guy said, well, so what you're saying is that the gospel isn't always good news. He picked up on it, didn't he? And I go, no, sometimes to some people it's the aroma of death. I love it when I can answer a question with a verse right out of the Bible. But what we have to recognize is that it's our responsibility to be faithful stewards. We're not the ones who control the person's response. And let me tell you, when you try to start being the one controlling the person's response, the temptation is to change the message a little bit to make it just a little more palatable. We're just not given the liberty to do that. We don't get to change the message. We don't. There is a there is a. church that I drive by, and they have a marquee, and they say things on it that just make me cringe. I Facebooked one time, you know, they had a, I can't remember what my Facebook was. But they've taken to doing this, and I can't tell you how scary I think this is. They'll put a quote up. You know, I've been thinking about you and it's all good. Signed, God. Maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but you know what? You don't give God quotes. That he didn't say. That is dangerous business, friends. We do church here. You know what I say? I'll go here now, the word of God sounds pretty formal, right? And then I'll read the Bible and then I'll say thus far, the reading of God's word. You know why? Because the reading of God word is ended. Now it's just my opinion. And you know what? My opinion needs to be evaluated. What I'm saying right now is just what I think it is. I think I'm right. I might be wrong. But, you know, start giving quotes and say, God said that. That's what makes God very upset, by the way, in scripture. Finishing up. Then he who had received the one talent. Now, OK, let me just before I read this last thing, we're almost done here. When I read the parable for the first time, I thought, man, this guy really gets hammered. for just not producing and kind of going, here's the one, here's it back. And it's like, take it away, give it to the other guy and you're going straight to hell. That seems a little harsh. By the time I was done, I was like going, wow, I could totally see where this makes all the sense in the world and hopefully you'll get it, too. Then he 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 and I went and I 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 seeds, 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 ten talents for to everyone who has more will be given and he will have an 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. This is the portion of the parable that I call the lame excuse. It was because of God's character flaw. God is austere. God is hard and goes into people's fields and just takes whatever he wants. I know what you're like, God. You take things that don't belong to you. Casting aspersions toward God is something people have grown very comfortable with in our current culture. You guys who are younger maybe don't get this, but Anthony, you and I do, because you're almost as old as I am, even though you look like 20 years younger than me. But there was a time when just out of respect, people wouldn't say negative things about God. You know, I mean, they were just kind of they kind of recognized, you know, there's something sacred there. I got I'm not into it, but I'm not going to certainly say anything negative about it. That's not the case anymore. A contemporary bestselling atheistic author has this to say about God, quote, The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. I know, really. Jealous and proud of it. By the way, that's why Oprah could go into church. You ever read her testimony? I don't read a lot of Oprah, you know, but she is the most influential woman in America, along with Jon Stewart. So, well, he's not a woman, but. But. I guess I'm asking for it. OK. But what she said in her book, you know, was that she was going to church and shared about how God was a jealous God. And since jealousy is wrong, she certainly doesn't want to serve that God. And so she went off on her own thing. There you have when you have an improper understanding of what the Bible actually means. Jealousy, by the way, isn't always bad. We read it in the Ten Commandments today, right? For I'm a jealous God. Here, let me explain it real quickly. I don't have a lot of time, but if you want to pursue it in Q&A, you can. When I have my kids somewhere. And I love my kids. And I care more about my kids, my wife and I do, than anybody else. But I see them tempted to hang around with or follow somebody that's maybe not in their best interest. I get jealous. And it's a righteous jealousy. Why? Because they belong to me. Not in some weird, possessive, envy kind of way. It's because I love them. And I care more about them. And so I don't want them flirting around with that other stuff. Let me tell you something else. Wives, husbands, you know, if I see, you know, a spouse flirting with somebody, I expect the other spouse to be jealous. And if they're not jealous, I kind of feel like there's something wrong. I'm not talking about mean or hateful or vindictive or envy. I'm not talking about any of that. What I'm talking about is, you know, so you be careful with my wife right over there. If there's flirting going on, you know what I think of myself? She belongs to me. She's my wife. She's not your wife. And so I should feel that way. And when it's not there, I feel like, what's wrong with you? Right? Man up a little bit. The man in this parable buried his talent in the ground rather than utilize it to honor his master, redeem his fellow man and render unto God what is rightfully his. Then get this. He sought to justify his wicked lethargy on the basis of God's austere personality. You get what's going on here. On the day of reckoning, he tells God here. You can have what is yours, implying that there are some things that don't belong to God here. You can have what is yours. It's like my kids, you know, telling me, you know, when they start going, well, that's mine. And I realize, you know, we entrust them with possessions. This is mine. This is mine. Every once in a while when they get a little too much with that, you know what I tell them? You know, it's all mine. Everything in this house belongs to me. You know, I have to kind of do it like a reassessment of the property. You know, mommy and I own everything. You own nothing. It's all ours. So let's kind of take another perspective on you like to answer the question again. This isn't merely from someone who lacks spiritual industriousness, as the parable might first look, you know, up here. This is someone who has no regard for the things of God, buries them in the ground and then prepares to blame God for the failure. Blaming God is in vogue, but let me tell you something, God does not buy it. God's answer to this particular person is the way he answers is the way Jesus does it so often where he appeals to his own words. You know, Jesus will say, as you have said, you have your own words become a testimony against you. God answers by appealing to the fictional God, this wicked and lazy servant created to justify his faithlessness. When God says this, you knew, you know, in the past, he goes, you knew I was hard. You knew I did. I reaped what I did not sow. You knew I gather where I did not scatter. So you knew that about me. I don't think God permitted to saying, yeah, I take stuff that doesn't belong to me. I don't think that's what he's saying. Matter of fact, Luke's account of the parable makes it even clearer. Luke 19, 22. And he said to him, OK, this is the same parable, but it's a little bit longer. Out of your own mouth, I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew I was an austere man collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Oh, you knew that about me? You think that's the kind of God I am? Well, then you should have done even better. In other words, if that's the God you want, if that's the standard you've created, you get it. Here's the big tip. Here's the big tip of the morning is we have 50 seconds over. There is no God you can create. Who's as good, loving, gracious and true as the holy God of the holy scriptures. The man in this parable was not merely a man who couldn't produce. He was a man who had no regard for the grace of God, the means by which God brings forth his grace and had created his own false God, who he thought he could serve through inactivity. In light of this, his condemnation, which was very severe, was also just. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we do pray that we would take the heart, the words of our savior, Recognizing the great value, Father, of the gifts that you've given the church, that we might walk in faith and that, Father, we might utilize everything you've given to us, recognizing, Father, you as the primary owner of the earth and everything in it. Help us, Father, to recognize also that no matter how industrious we are or how much outwardly we seem to succeed or fail, that ultimately that our peace with you lies in the righteousness of another who is Christ. Help us, Father, never to make that mistake of thinking that our industriousness somehow proves us before the searching eye of a holy and righteous God. Nonetheless, Father, help us to walk in a manner consistent with the calling that you've given to us as children of the Most High. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.