Let Us Use Our Gifts Faithfully!

Matthew 25:14-30 The Bible has a great deal to say about the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in glory to judge the living and the dead.  In fact, much of what we long for as Christian people will be accomplished on that day as the fruit of his death and resurrection. 

Evil will be destroyed and the devil and his angels will be cast into the lake of fire never to trouble us again.  This broken world will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth will be created where there is no sorrow or suffering.  Our bodies will be raised from the dead.  And Jesus will judge the world and honor those who have served him.

When Peter was considering all that would happen on that day, he asked an important question:  What kind of people ought we to be?  As we wait for the end of evil—as we wait for a new world—as we wait for the judgment –what kind of people ought we to be?

Jesus has much to say about this as well.  He says that we need to be people who are aware of the signs of his coming—signs in nature and the family and the church and the nations.  He said that we ought to be people who are spiritually awake—that we ought to fight off the spiritual laziness that afflicts us all at times.  Last week we heard Jesus tell us that we need to be prepared spiritually by hearing his word and receiving his gifts.

In the lesson this week, Jesus tells us that as we await his return we need to keep busy and work hard, using the gifts he has given us for his glory and the good of others and the advance of his kingdom--that our life right now, as we wait for his coming, is like this:

It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.

            Every one of us has been gifted by Jesus so that we might serve him and do good to others and extend his kingdom.  In fact, there is nothing that we possess that has not been given to us as a gift of his grace—down to and including our next breath and heartbeat.

Our jobs and financial resources and material goods.  Our intellect and our bodies and our emotions.  Our relationships.  Our particular place in life.  Our faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit in us and our life with God.  All of it properly belongs to the Lord who gives it into our hands for us to use as his stewards for a time until he comes again.  Jesus says that:

To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

            All of us are gifted by God.  Jesus has entrusted to all of us material and spiritual blessings.  But that doesn’t mean that we are all blessed and gifted with the same gifts and abilities or the same degree of blessing. 

The Lord in his wisdom and love for us has seen fit to give us some gifts and withhold others.  He has seen fit to give us more and less than others have been given.  But in the way, and to the degree, that we have been gifted-- God expects each of us to be faithful in the use of his gifts whether they be great or small.  Jesus said that: 

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.

            Jesus wants us to recognize two things here.  First of all, that having been entrusted with material and spiritual gifts, God expects us to put them to work caring for others and extending his kingdom just like the first two men in the story.  God wants us to be active in our faith.

It is true that our salvation is, from beginning to end, God’s work for us and it is given to us as a gift.  But his saving work has a purpose in our lives—that we would bear the fruit of good works.  The Bible says that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.  God expects us to put his gifts to work in our lives and the lives of others.

Second of all, Jesus wants us to understand that whether we have been gifted with much or little, he expects us to be faithful with what we have.  Jesus does not expect me to sing a solo like Heather—but he does expect me to sing his praises in Church.  He does not expect me to run a successful business like Sylvia but he does expect me to manage my money prudently.  He does not expect me to preach like Billy Graham but he does expect me to preach his Word.

God expects us to faithfully use the gifts he has entrusted to us.  The first two men in the story did exactly that—the third one did not.  He buried his gift in the ground.

In a few moments we’re going to hear what Jesus thought of that (and I bet you can guess) but here it is sufficient to say that what the third man did was a tragedy for him.  Never mind (for now) that he did not serve the master—he did not even serve himself.  He missed out on all the opportunities to live a richer, more fulfilling life than what the master intended for him because he was too lazy to put his gifts to work.

All of us can use this reminder.  We have gifts and abilities and strengths and resources beyond what we can imagine because we have never really stretched ourselves or taken a risk for the Lord.  That’s a faith problem and it speaks to a lack of confidence and trust in the Lord. 

The Lord wants us to have a meaningful life filled with divine promise.  He has gifted us for that.  But we have to step out in faith and put our gifts to work as we wait for the Lord’s return.  Jesus said that:  Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

            It has been a long time since our Lord’s ascension.  It is easy to lose our focus on what really matters.  It’s easy for us to go our own way.  It’s easy for us to live for ourselves.

But Jesus will return and that day will be a day of reckoning when how we have lived our lives and what we have valued and believed and what we have done with the gifts we have been given will be measured and judged and a divine accounting given. 

Because of that, we want to live our lives and use our gifts in such a way that we will be glad to meet Jesus when he comes again—glad to show him what we have accomplished with what he has given us.  Jesus said that:

He who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, 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 so it went in exactly the same way with the second servant.  Everything that we accomplish in life—everything that we lay our hand to and say “mine”—all of it comes from the gifts that we have been given by God.  These men knew that. 

When their master returned, both of them began by acknowledging that what they had and what they had done began with the gifts given to them by the master.  They did not waste those gifts or the time given them to use those gifts—they used them to work for the master-- and Jesus acknowledged their faithfulness.  “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

            Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is where we want to be on the last day.  This is what we want to hear.  This is the goal of our lives as God’s people.

There is no accolade or award or accomplishment that you will ever receive—no success that you will ever enjoy—no goal that you will ever reach--that is more important or more meaningful than hearing these words when you stand before the Lord on judgment day:  “well done, good and faithful servant.”  They are our goal for the future and our guide in life.

And if that accolade from the master wasn’t enough—there was more:  each of the servants would have a reward much greater than even the gifts they were given—each of them would have a share in the master’s joy.  Their faithfulness was not forgotten—but neither was the faithlessness of the third man.  Jesus said that:

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.’

            Let’s be clear:  our Lord does reap where he has not sown and he does gather where he has scattered no seed.  Jesus never traveled outside of Palestine except for his trip to Egypt as a baby.  He never walked the streets of Kingsville.  He did not conduct his ministry in South Texas.  And yet he still expects to gather and reap and harvest here.  He expects his kingdom would be extended here and that the poor and needy would be served here and that God would be glorified here. 

But does that make Jesus a hard man or does that make him a good man?  The way we answer that really depends upon whether we have faith or not--whether we really have any inkling of what our relationship with God means.  The third man did not.  He saw the gifts he was given by the master as an imposition.  He didn’t understand the incredible honor of being trusted by the master.  He didn’t count it a privilege to serve his master.

So it is with many in the church today.  They don’t understand that the purpose of their lives is to serve the Lord.  They don’t recognize that the gifts they have been given were entrusted to them for no other reason but to extend Christ’s kingdom and glorify God.  They see opportunities for service as impositions.  And they think that forgiveness means freedom to live life as they see fit and get heaven thrown in at the end.  But life with God doesn’t work that way.  Jesus said that:

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.

            Here’s the thing folks:  it took more effort for the man to dig a hole and bury the master’s gift than it would have taken for him to put it in the bank and render the master just a bit of service!  He was so blind that he couldn’t see that serving the master was easier than disobedience.  That is what so many people do not realize about a life with God. 

            Jesus did not come to burden us but to bless us.  The gifts he gives us and the work he sets before us is not an imposition but a benediction.  To live as a servant of Jesus is what we were made for and redeemed for and sanctified for and in his service is perfect freedom.  His gifts and mission ennobles and blesses our lives and lifts them up above what we could ever achieve by doing our own thing and going our own way.

We have nothing to fear and everything to gain by living our lives in the service of our master for he has come to give us life and that abundantly.  Jesus said:

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 an 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.’

            As we wait for the coming of our Lord’s return, Jesus tells us this story because he wants us to consider the lives of these men and apply the lessons of their lives to our own lives.  The first two men began as servants but the master set them over much more than they were given in the beginning.  They were blessed at his return with far more than they were given in the beginning.  But the third man did not even get to keep his status as servant but was cast into hell. 

            Jesus’ point is this:  To be entrusted with our master’s gifts and to do our master’s work will not diminish or impoverish our lives.  Just the opposite!  Jesus’ obedience even unto death leads to life for all people.  So it is with us.  To lose our lives in service to the Lord is the only way to an abundant life here on earth and an eternal life that death cannot end.

As we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ let us use our gifts faithfully:  serving those around us, extending Christ’s kingdom, and bringing glory to God.  Amen.