I invite you to turn to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 25. We'll be reading verses 14 through 30 of Matthew 25. Familiar parable of the talents. We won't be expositing that whole parable, but we will be looking at a part of it. We're going to be keeping some verses and ecclesiastes in mind as we also look at some illustrative materials from other places in the Bible. But this parable of the talents shows us something of our own call to kingdom service today and what we're doing in that regard. So starting at verse 14, Jesus speaking, for it will be like A man going on a journey, and I would remind you this is a kingdom parable, that is the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven is like. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one. to each according to his ability, and then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more, but he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them, and he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, and saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also, and he also who had the two talents came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents here, I have made two talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also, who had received the one talent, came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents, for to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Thus our reading from God's holy word. We earlier read from Ecclesiastes life under the sun. That's what Ecclesiastes is. Life on our horizon. What does it add up to? What can you calculate, figure out? How does life work on the terms of what you see here under the sun, viewed from, if you will, our perspective? What you see here, measure, evaluate, project life according to our puny, limited humanness. Well, the preacher shows us that. He elicits a conclusion. Vanity, all is vanity, or meaningless, or futility, or have you heard me say in this pulpit before, you might as well go chase bubbles in the backyard. What do you do for a living? I chase bubbles. What? Are you getting anywhere with that? No, I find it very frustrating. What are you going to do tomorrow? Chase bubbles. That sounds like, that seems silly, meaningless, vain. It is. That's the conclusion. Go chase wind. I've seen dogs chase balls and they bring them back, but a man who chases wind? I don't think you're going to catch up or get anything. Vanity. Life under the sun, a big, it sums up to a big fat zero. So Ecclesiastes gives us a sober perspective on life, and it's not a perspective absent faith, but it's not a perspective that sees Christ's kingdom come. It's life under the sun, not from the fullness of what he reveals through our Savior. If you read Ecclesiastes, you sense a kind of futility, a kind of ache of soul. It wants to bring you there. All the people who would make idols of the stuff of life, idols of achievements, idols of their toil, idols of their giftedness, idols of their wealth, and it ends in chasing after when futility, such as life under the sun. Now add to this spiritual disappointment. Add to what Ecclesiastes tells us and factor in some doubting God, questioning his wisdom, grieving over his providence, frustration over his will being done. on earth as it is in heaven. Frustration with that. I know we're supposed to submit to it, we're supposed to be, not my will, thy will be done. His will's being done, and I don't like it very much. Add that in there, and you find someone growing cynical, negative, sour, Their faith is faltering, wobbly. And there you'll find someone, you'll witness someone, it could be happening to you, sliding into the deadly sin of sloth. And we want to look at that tonight in light of this parable, in light of Ecclesiastes. And we remember by contrast, and it's important to remember this because we're believers, we live under benediction. The blessing of kingdom people. Blessed are those who long for Christ's kingdom come. Or another way of saying it, who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For these are the ones who shall be filled and not empty. Now, why is it that sloth seems to, and I deliberately use the phrase slide into sloth. Some sins are out in front of us, and we know they're sins, and we're weak and fleshly and we God forgive me tomorrow. Sometimes we sin awfully boldly that way. But sloth is something that seems to, it's like a frog in a pot. Before we know it, we're boiled. We seem to have a zeal, a passion, a thriving, an energy for God, His cause. Our prayer life is fervent and our zeal to labor in the church is strong. And then over time, it ebbs and slows and cools and becomes indifferent, cold. Sloth, that we might understand it well as a deadly sin, isn't laziness, though laziness, we act lazy when we're slothful. So, oh look, he's lazy. But really it's something behind that. It's a spiritual jadedness. Whatever. It's a weariness, a kind of malaise of the soul. It's in gratitude to God for good things. It has a way of just looking at church and church folks and your own walk and maybe your family or how God has led you along and you just kind of aren't that grateful anymore. You look at everything in sort of a soured sideways. You just don't care very much. It's pretty ugly and awful. It also has a kind of spiritual melancholy to it. A sluggishness. Can't seem to get going. Your will is poisoned toward spiritual good. Doesn't mean you're loving the world. You don't love the world the way the world is. That's part of what gets you down. The world's always winning. We're always losing. sloth, a kind of despair, a blasé, worn out, oh, I try, spiritual joylessness. Some of us, you know, when the tooth toothpaste tube is getting empty, we work that baby over, we're gonna get out that last little bit of toothpaste, you know, no waste. And that's what slothful people feel like. My tube is empty, it's been squeezed out, there's nothing left there to give. I'm dried up. And then people grow cynical. And lonely. And sad. And they experience shame. And they don't think much of themselves, perhaps, or maybe too much of themselves. And then other deadly sins start creeping into our heart, and what a harvest. Nothing really matters. Aimless, inactive, bench-warming, And they're not even watching the game. Okay. Count me out. There's a lot of pastors who fall into the deadly sin of sloth. Born of a lot of disappointment. Tried so hard and it didn't end well. It didn't go well. Ecclesiastes then shows us, not the sin of sloth as such, but it shows us a very sober look at life, looked at from a very horizontal kind of way. You know, you'd like your unbelieving neighbor to be as sober as the preacher in Ecclesiastes. What do you think you're doing with all your idol chasing? Gets you nowhere, man. You might as well be a dog chasing his tail. Don't you see that? Don't you see that beasts come from the dust? You come from the dust. Beasts die. You die. You're no better than animals. You're like a dead dog dying. Don't you know that? You're chasing wind. Now again, that's not sloth, but then you add doubting God, questioning God, disappointment in God, disappointment in spiritual things, and the prayer, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, and now, that's sloth. You say, well that's ugly. Yeah, it is. You look at Ecclesiastes and the author, you know, he's been around the block. You know, before been there, done that was a popular phrase. He'd been there and done that. He says, oh, you know, we all have these aspirations. Hey, we're talking a king here. We're talking a person in chapter two who says, I said in my heart, come now, I'll test you with pleasure, enjoy yourself. Let's try on some hedonism. You know, I got the wealth, I got the power. Laughter, it's mad. Pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine. Let's have parties. Does that get me there? Let's have children. Does that get me there? Let's build stuff. I can have houses and plant vineyards and gardens and parks and fruit trees. Look at my estate. Look at all that I have accomplished. And what is it? Oh, keep going. I'm a king. I can have private parties with singers of men and women. I can invite Taylor Swift to give a private concert. And isn't everyone else impressed? And you got to be invited too. Does that get you there? So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I want her. I want them. I want that. I want to go do this. He did. Did that get him there? Nothing was gained under the sun. And so I said, I'll pursue wisdom. I'll be a scholar. I'll write books. Surely that will get me there. I won't be a hedonist. I'll be something else. Vanity for all is vanity, striving or chasing after wind. Toil is vain. Now, the point of Ecclesiastes is to sober us up and show us that we can't obtain kingdom come by these labors, and we're not going to find happiness by what we're able to accomplish under the sun. And it shows us if that's how life is on its own terms in this horizon, in the horizontal, Now spiritualize that in the sense of I have laboring for kingdom come, but now I don't like it on God's terms. His timing. This problem, this obstacle, this failure, this hurt, this criticism, this bad outcome, this lack of success, all kinds of things, whether it's a pastor, an elder, just any church member, this isn't going well. I've labored so hard, and you slide into sloth, a little jaded, a little cynical. You get a little sour-ballish, a little turned off. And boy, you become turned off. Sloth. And you feel like kingdom come is chasing after wind. Serving Jesus. Vanity of vanities. What an awful way to think. and live, especially as one who actually doesn't give up on Jesus as such, doesn't give up on church as such, just sort of pouts their way through it all, smiles when they're supposed to, but is sort of sad inside, sloth. Now, it's important we see how this happens. We often have a kind of blame game with God. And as we do so, especially as trying to live a Christian life, it's not like the slothful don't know it's sinful. They don't know how to get themselves out of it often. But this is how they feel. It's kind of vain. It's, why bother? Nothing matters. Nothing's going to turn out right. Is the glass half empty, half full? I was not interested. I've served so hard, let someone else do it. I'm tired, tired, I'm sick and tired. That's the law. spiritual jadedness, a dejectedness, a spiritlessness, a carelessness, I don't care, deflated, spent. I can't help but think of the prophet Elijah near the end of his life. You remember the great contest on Mount Carmel. Well, now the kingdom is hitting on all cylinders, man, we're doing it. God is doing something. Fire from the sky! The prophets of Baal had slashed and cut themselves in a frenzy, and no answer, but God answers, and the sacrifice is burned up, and the prophets of Baal are put to the sword, and Ahab is humiliated, and he comes to his wife Jezebel, and he's telling her the story wide-eyed. His God is God! Wow, we're really winning now! But then a miracle of miracles meets the hard spine of unbelief in that woman who said, oh yeah, well I'll see that prophet Elijah dead by this time tomorrow. Wanted dead or alive and we'll have him dead. A death sentence put upon him and he runs for his life. He runs and he runs and he runs till he can run no more. And God has to come to him and there comes the prayer. Take my life, Lord. I've had it. I'm done. I put in my resignation. I've tried my best. Even when we win, we lose. And God, through the angel, strengthens him. And in a 40-day, 40-night journey, he finally makes it to Horeb, where he has fled, taken himself out of promised land, taken himself out of the battle for kingdom come, taken himself out of the place where prophet can bring word of God to a lonely, isolated place, to the place where The commissioning had taken place not here, but through a desert into promised land, I will establish my good cause unto Jesus Christ finally. Elijah is on the brink of one, if he hasn't fallen too outright, sloth. He finally makes it to Horeb, you'll remember. This is all in 1 Kings 19. And you remember, he gets there, and he has some well-read, what are you doing here, Elijah? Because, you know, the battle's that way. And you remember his speech, I've been very zealous for the Lord. You remember? Very zealous for the Lord. The God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your province with the sword, and I, even I, only am left, and I seek my life to take it away. And so God, you remember, takes Elijah, has him stand at the mouth of the cave, and the Lord passed by. You remember how that went? There was a great strong wind, tore the mountains, broke the rocks to pieces, But the Lord wasn't in the wind. Then comes this mighty earthquake that shakes everything, frightens you to death. But we're told the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then came this devouring fire that raged. But the Lord was not in the fire. And then came this whisper, this sound of silence, this... And when Elijah heard that, he wrapped his head, his cloak, with his cloak and went out and stood. And God asked him again, what are you doing here, Elijah? Same story. I've been zealous, but look where it's got me. Look how it's landed. Look where we're at. The prophets are dead and I'm the only one left and they want my life too. It's a big flunk, a big failure, a big zero. Take my life! How many pastors have not I don't want to be a minister anymore. You need to help pastors, pray for pastors. The devil goes after pastors. He really does. Goes after them. Wound the shepherd, wound the flock. Pastors aren't Jesus. They're not the Lord. They can't do, the pastor can't do what only the Lord can do, so bring your prayers to the Lord. Elijah seems so spent here. And God recommissions him. You don't get to quit. You don't get to die. You don't get to put in your resignation and live happily ever after here in the desert. I send you back and I send you to read commission and ordain another to be your successor, but you're not done. You might wonder, what about all that stuff? God was there in the small silence, the whisper, be still and know I'm God. We easily sin the sin of sloth when we get to thinking that thy kingdom come depends on us and then depending on us doesn't. And now we're discouraged, dejected. What's the use? Whatever. Sloth. A person can live for the stuff of life, you know, like in Ecclesiastes, chase those idols, and it's a chasing after when vanity, stupidity, it's meaningless. And people can pursue life under God's favor and grace for the hallowing of His name and the coming of His kingdom, but they can also pursue that in the idolatrous thought that they actually commandeer and make it so. When it's only the Holy Spirit through His Word that does that. Without the perspective of a life lived for God, without understanding that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever in Jesus Christ, without a knowledge that your only comfort in life and in death is that you belong body and soul, in life and in death, to your faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who's done all and accomplished all for you, without an understanding of all that, Even a Christian life is chasing after wind. And that feels pretty slumped. Sloth. Here in Matthew 25, we read the familiar parable of the talents. Large, very large sum of money. Master entrusts his property as he goes away. Somewhat analogous that Jesus is entrusted the labor of the gospel to the church, and the church is called to be faithful, and he's called all of us to service for his good kingdom cause. He's called all of us, whether we are very gifted and have great talents and are used in very conspicuous ways, or smaller gifts, smaller talents, not so conspicuous, but the point is What are you doing with what God has entrusted you? Some people are gonna be the superstars, but they won't be first in the kingdom of heaven. Do we get to be your right hand and your left hand, Lord? The disciples argued. Stop it already. More importantly, are you faithful in the small things you've been entrusted? Are you zealous and passionate and filled with zeal to serve God with all your might, with all your soul, with all your strength, because you love Him that way? You see, when you're struggling with sloth, your love is kind of wounded, struggling, doubting. You know how it ends, the five-talent guy. Labors, trades, five more. Two talent guys, same thing. They both double. But the one talent guy, you know, God, you know, you can't trust this guy. He said go, said the David, go, the Lord be with you. that God is, too, building His church and kingdom, is, too, blessing lives, is, too, healing us, is, too, saving us and forgiving us and sanctifying us and walking with us and not giving up on us. He is, too. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Lift yourself up. Look back where you need to look. It never depended on you. Why did you labor like it did? Those who would build the house labor in vain if God doesn't build the house. He's a hard man. He tries to reap where he hasn't sown. What kind of guy is this? And now if I may play with the Elijah passage a little bit. You know, God, you need to crack some heads. You need to build and bring forth your church with tornadic winds that impress and destroy and show evildoers that they're evildoers. God wasn't in the rock-breaking wind. God, you need to come along and shake the earth and shake up souls and let them know that you are God. And your kingdom is coming and they're wrong. But God wasn't in the earthquake. God, you need to bring fire on the earth and devour and show what's for. Everyone's so arrogant in their unbelief. I'm so frustrated. I'm done. I'm just so tired of we lose all the time and the world goes on its merry way. Send some fire, man. But God wasn't in the fire. It was in that silent whisper. God showed Elijah, yeah, I'm God. Any old time I can send hurricanes, tornadic winds, I can break lives, ruin cities, swallow them up with earthquakes, devour them with fire, any old time. But I come with the wind of the Spirit that's silent, working in hearts, one at a time. I come in gentleness to heal your life, to forgive your sins, to change your mind, to change your hardness of heart to something soft and tender that follows me. The slothful are all bitter and hurting and wounded, and they have forgotten that God loves them. Some of you have never been there. But labor for kingdom come and the devil sees you as a servant. That one needs to go down. Bring him down. Wound him. Hurt him. Get him out of the game. Lord, you're a hard man. No one can please you. I try. Bury your talent in the ground and quit. You see, the opposite of sloth is passion, zeal, desire. The opposite of love is indifference. I don't care. I can't think of a worse thing and a more loveless way to treat people. I don't care. Believers who battle sloth, and I said believers, They're running on empty because they've forgotten that only Jesus and the gospel and his grace and his forgiveness and his love, even as they struggle with sloth, is what will fill them up. Let not your hearts be troubled. And those suffering the sin of sloth are so troubled. I've been there. I know what this is from the inside. I've had my pity parties. But God comes back and picks us up and he loves us. And he says, come to me. You've labored, you're burdened, you're heavy laden with guilt, with disappointment, with so many things. Come to me and you'll find rest for your souls. The slothful need rest for their souls. and then they can hunger and thirst again. You see, we live as kingdom people in Jesus under the reign of Christ. We live under these benedictions, these beatitudes, that we're blessed. As kingdom people of Jesus, I want His kingdom come. I want His will done. I hunger and thirst for righteousness. It's a hunger in my heart, a thirst I'm parched, I want it to be quenched, and he says, you'll be filled. Don't you hunger and thirst? Doesn't your heart hurt? Do you like life the way it is? Don't slump into discouragement and what's the use. Look up in faith at a risen Savior who's ascended, who reigns on high, who's enthroned, and who's coming again to judge the living and the dead. Look up. Don't look to yourself, look to Him. Don't look at the church, look to Him. Don't look at your past and don't listen to the devil, look to Him. Believe again. Trust again. Receive forgiveness again. And then you'll hear the whisper of the good news of Jesus Christ that does that silent work in your heart. And you'll know, yeah, he's the victor, my victor, again. And now, onward, Christian soldier, march. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for that. Amen. Lord, thank you for loving us even when we're slothful, patiently bearing with us, reminding us of your word why we shouldn't fall into such slumps and self-pity and disappointment, where we lack zeal and passion. O Lord, you were altogether ever passionate for us, even suffering the shameful death of the cross. You never leave us or forsake us. and you don't love us because we're so lovable, but only because you're so good. So Lord, may we walk with you, keep your commandments, trust in Jesus Christ, our Savior, and know victory in him. We ask this all in Jesus' name, amen.