The Soda Debate…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee ☕

Proverbs 10:4-5

“He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.  He who gathers in summer is a wise son;

he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.”

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Is it the summertime of our lives?  Or more appropriately—has Jesus placed us in a time of harvest?  Is it time to be diligent in His Work?  Or is it time to go to sleep?

It occurred to me this morning that I haven’t looked at the definition of diligent lately.

Diligent (Adjective):

• Characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort: painstaking.

The hand of the diligent is described as steady.  The hand of the diligent is described as earnest, as energetically involved in effort.  It is diligence that makes one rich.  The proverb doesn’t say that one must already be rich to gain riches— it says that diligence is what leads to increase.

So are we gathering what we can, or are we sleeping through the harvest?

Harvest time is when the fruit is ripe for picking.  The wheat is ready to be threshed.  It is a time of action.  The slack hand takes no action.  The one who sleeps through harvest not only misses the opportunity, but also brings shame to his father.

Here’s where I want to start today.

Do we have our to-do lists ready?

Because today, we’re taking a look at the parable of the talents.

Matthew 25:14-29.

It’s a longer parable, so we’re going to go through it piece by piece.

Let me start with a little context.  This parable comes after the disciples ask Jesus what will be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, and His discourse follows a pattern. He begins with a warning about the tribulation to come.  He warns about the importance of testing the truth of what others claim about Him.  He teaches that no one knows the day or the hour He will return.  Then, Jesus teaches what good servants do while their master is away.

So without further ado…

The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-19

“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, to another 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.”

Jesus has stepped away from the world for now.  But before He left, He called His servants and gave them their talents.  Now, I know that in this passage, talents refer to money—a form of currency.  But it’s important to note that a talent was a significant amount of wealth.  The traveling man entrusts his servants with great resources before he leaves.

The text doesn’t specify if the servants were given direct instructions—

but it is implied that they were expected to steward the money wisely.  Each servant is given a different amount, but here’s the detail that stood out to me.  The talents were given according to each servant’s ability.

That means the traveling man carefully considered each servant.  He evaluated their abilities.  He gave them exactly what they could handle.  One was given five talents because the traveling man knew he could handle five talents.

And what happened?

The first two servants acted wisely—they used their abilities.  Grew their resources.  Doubled what they had been given.  But the servant with one talent—the one with the least ability— He buried what he had.

Matthew 25:20-23

“So he who 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.’  His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who 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.’”

The hand of the diligent makes rich.  The faithful servants took their gifts and resources and multiplied them for their master.  And because of their faithfulness, they were given even more.

Which brings us to the last servant

Matthew 25:24-28

“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, and went and 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 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 ten talents.’”

The traveling man saw that there was something within the servant’s power to do— but he chose not to do it.  The servant knew his master’s expectations but still acted unwisely.  The other two servants acted based on who the master had revealed himself to be.

This final servant did not.

Matthew 25:29-30

“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.”

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  We are to pray to Jesus that He would send workers into His harvest.  Earthly resources are one thing to manage— but it is the weightier matters of the Kingdom we must not neglect.

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

You can not serve God and mammon and by mammon I mean money.  Have we considered where our heart is so that coupon crunching doesn’t turn into wasteful spending?  With every penny saved, there is more abundance to be had.  With more abundance to be had there are more options to spend on.  There are positive abilities that each one of us have and there are negative ones, or at least abilities that could be thought of as negative.  What I am getting at is, we should know our weaknesses.

It occurs to me that when you are given five talents worth of resources, you have much more to work with which leads to much more temptation involved to do something that is counter productive to what we desire, but more importantly, what Jesus desires.  Now I’m not saying Jesus commands we cut coupons all the time, but He does show us in our text that if we use the resources that He gives us to grow His Kingdom for His glory, He then will reward us with more.  I can save $2.00 with a coupon on one thing and then I have a choice.  Save those $2.00 or use it to buy a soda.

Which one do we think will get us a ‘Well done, good and faithful servant?’