Good morning,
Praise to the Lord the Almighty, the King of Creation. This hymn was sung by our choir yesterday during our morning worship. It was beautiful and powerful. The Lord blessed us with a fantastic weekend of fellowship, worship, and witness. Better is one day in His house than ten thousand elsewhere.
One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Mathew 25:14 ff. The servants in this parable were each given talents according to their abilities. Each servant had potential. In fact, God has given us each of these talents with His hope that we will succeed and be fruitful and bring glory to Him. The servants in this parable were all responsible for the talents that they had been given, even as God has entrusted us with the talents that He has invested in us. We have an obligation to be all we can be and do all that we can do in developing these talents.
A pastor tells of standing by his father’s tombstone and reading the words, "Born 1884 - Died 1970." It suddenly occurred to him how much the little dash between those two dates symbolized". (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1988, page 124). It is what we do with the talents that God has entrusted to us that determines how much or how little is represented between the dashes. That is the part of the responsibility that is up to each one of us. We are responsible for what we do with the dashes between the dates of our births and deaths that will appear on our tombstones.
The talents that are spoken of in this parable are symbolic of more than just money. The talents also seem to be a metaphor for gifts and abilities. The master who was issuing the talents to his servants was giving to each one according to his ability. He expected his servants to invest, increase, multiply what they had been entrusted with. The only way that they could succeed was to apply what they had been given. Just as a seed cannot grow unless it is planted, so a talent cannot increase unless it has been invested. Investing the talent meant that work was required.
There is always a risk when we strive to invest something. The master did not give these talents to his servants to be stored in a place for safekeeping until he had gotten back. The master could have stored the talents (money) himself had that been his intention. For the servants to invest the talents that they had been given meant that they had to take a risk. There is an old adage that says "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". There is also another adage that applies, "If you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again". We all know that success is not always automatic, because it takes time and effort for an investment to begin to get profitable.
The master came back to settle the accounts with his servants. He was pleased with the success of the first two, who doubled the talents that they were given. They had proven themselves worthy of handling more and were rewarded with more as a result (Matthew 25:21,23). The master also complemented them highly, "Well done thy good and faithful servant". (Matthew 25:21,23 KJV) Then he came to the third servant who hid what he had been entrusted with because he was afraid. The master called him "wicked and lazy" (Matthew 25:26 NRSV) because he never made an effort to invest what had been entrusted to him. It was because of his laziness that what he had was taken away from him because he never made an investment with the talent that he was given.
Regardless of the amount or the type of talent that God has given us, God wants us to be faithful in our service. "For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (Matthew 25:29 RSV). There is a known understanding regarding Matthew 25:29-----"use it or lose it". We either use what God gave us or we lose the opportunity because our "fear" and lack of faith. As Christian disciples, we have been entrusted with both our God-given talents (abilities) and the good news of the gospel so that we might be faithful and fruitful in investing what the Lord of the Harvest, has entrusted to us. If we want to be fruitful,, then we must invest what God has entrusted us with.
The talents that are spoken of in this parable are symbolic of more than just money. The talents also seem to be a metaphor for gifts and abilities. The master who was issuing the talents to his servants was giving to each one according to his ability. He expected his servants to invest, increase, multiply what they had been entrusted with. The only way that they could succeed was to apply what they had been given. Just as a seed cannot grow unless it is planted, so a talent cannot increase unless it has been invested. Investing the talent meant that work was required.
There is always a risk when we strive to invest something. The master did not give these talents to his servants to be stored in a place for safekeeping until he had gotten back. The master could have stored the talents (money) himself had that been his intention. For the servants to invest the talents that they had been given meant that they had to take a risk. There is an old adage that says "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". There is also another adage that applies, "If you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again". We all know that success is not always automatic, because it takes time and effort for an investment to begin to get profitable.
The master came back to settle the accounts with his servants. He was pleased with the success of the first two, who doubled the talents that they were given. They had proven themselves worthy of handling more and were rewarded with more as a result (Matthew 25:21,23). The master also complemented them highly, "Well done thy good and faithful servant". (Matthew 25:21,23 KJV) Then he came to the third servant who hid what he had been entrusted with because he was afraid. The master called him "wicked and lazy" (Matthew 25:26 NRSV) because he never made an effort to invest what had been entrusted to him. It was because of his laziness that what he had was taken away from him because he never made an investment with the talent that he was given.
Regardless of the amount or the type of talent that God has given us, God wants us to be faithful in our service. "For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (Matthew 25:29 RSV). There is a known understanding regarding Matthew 25:29-----"use it or lose it". We either use what God gave us or we lose the opportunity because our "fear" and lack of faith. As Christian disciples, we have been entrusted with both our God-given talents (abilities) and the good news of the gospel so that we might be faithful and fruitful in investing what the Lord of the Harvest, has entrusted to us. If we want to be fruitful,, then we must invest what God has entrusted us with.
In Christ,
Brown
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