Your Investment Plan

Text: Matthew 25:14-30

Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah

November 17, 2024

This is the ninth parable of Jesus we have heard in this series on the parables of Jesus. Jesus told many more parables but we have hit just a few of them.

According to Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life, this is the last parable Jesus teaches before he will be handed over to the religious authorities and go to the cross.

Jesus’ parables are about the kingdom of God. No one parable fully encapsulates the kingdom, because there is no airtight way of illustrating the kingdom of God with the things of this earth. Each parable gives a piece of what the kingdom is like. Jesus sometimes says, “the kingdom of heaven is like…” He did this to say that the parable isn’t the totality, but it is a part of it. We are given something of what the kingdom is about. It’s a small part of the larger, grand reality.

The kingdom on this earth is wherever God’s way is honored. Whether that is in a place, in a family, in an action, or in the heart of a single person. God is reigning there.

In this parable, Jesus says the kingdom is something like a man who entrusts his wealth to his servants and then goes on a long journey. Each servant is given money. Some Bibles read gold. Some Bibles read talents because that is more in line with the culture of that time. A talent was literally a weight of gold or silver that would be 25, 50 or even as much as 75 pounds. It represented a huge amount of money. Five talents would be worth about fifteen years of wages. Take what you earn per year and multiply it by fifteen. That’s a lot of money.

So, this master is entrusting these servants with a superabundance of wealth. It is an overflowing amount. And he entrusts this to them for a long period of time because it says he went away for a long time.

When you give someone great wealth and ask them to take care of it for a long time you are laying great responsibility upon them. And you are showing great confidence and trust. Jesus has already said in other parables that the kingdom of God is like a treasure or pearl of great value that someone found. By using talents which are huge amounts of money, Jesus is saying that the kingdom of heaven is tremendously valuable and worth tons.

Many times this parable is interpreted as working as hard as we can for the Lord. I don’t think this parable is about working harder. The gospel is not “work harder for the Lord.”

I think this parable is about using the rich blessings that God has given to us. In Ephesians 1 Paul praises God saying that he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. These blessings include being chosen by him,

…being adopted in love to be his own (think of that. We don’t have to earn our relationship as sons and daughters of God.)

…grace lavished upon us,

…redemption,

…forgiveness,

…and the deep love of Christ.

This parable is about what do we do with being chosen by God, being loved by God, being part of his family. And if you belong to the Lord you know these things and that they are ours.

I think the talents represent God’s gracious blessings and gifts to every Christian. This is why I think this: 1) the talents are given freely, 2) they are of great value, 3) they are not to be taken for granted. That all matches up with grace.

Grace is what God does for us in Christ to make us right with him. God’s grace is his favor in our lives. It forgives and frees us from our sin. Grace says, “You are now in relationship with the God of the universe because he has cleared the way for this to happen. And it is not because of anything you have done.”

You are guiltless, under no judgment, nor is God angry with you. You don’t have to work for this or earn this. It is yours. Freely given. When we fail we can be forgiven at no cost to us. Mess up and God still loves us and will restore us.

God is merciful and gracious to us not because we deserve it or are worthy of it, but solely because he loves us. To be in relationship with God is absolutely overwhelming. It is a gift of immeasurable value. It is like God gives us a blank check in our relationship with himself. And he says, “Fill it out and spend it as you wish.”

Some people get really antsy about this. They worry that if we just give this out so freely people will just do as they please without a thought for God. And the “grace police” go into action to make sure God’s grace is not abused.

That possibility exists. That’s how grace works. Grace is absolutely and totally free and this parable is about what we do with it. We are held accountable for how we invest that grace because it isn’t just to be kept to ourselves. What is your investment plan? How are you multiplying what God has blessed you with?

Most people who attend worship week after week, serve the Lord in various ways, consciously try to live a Christian life Monday through Saturday are not doing it to earn God’s grace. They are doing it because they really know the gift of God’s love to them.

Often the people who are active for Christ are those who understand that their relationship with God doesn’t depend on their performance, but Jesus’ performance.

I think Jesus is teaching with this parable that God’s grace is not only given freely to us but is to be invested. To just sit back and do nothing isn’t to understand the grace or heart of God. Yes, God’s love is a blank check. So how will we spend it and what will we do with it?

It says the man with five talents – again, a humungous amount of money – went and worked with it and gained five more. Imagine having a million dollars, investing it, working with it and doubling it. Imagine taking God’s gracious love toward us and multiplying it in your life and in the world around you. How would you do it? Would you do it? Are you doing it?

The man with the two talents – again, not chump change – does the same. The third servant, well, not so much. He just buries what he was given.

Now we start to get uncomfortable, because isn’t God’s goodness, grace and mercy toward us totally free? And it’s clear from the way the third servant who doesn’t work with what he has received gets treated in a way that says our efforts mean something. Didn’t you say that I didn’t have to work for it?

Yes. But this is about what the men did after they received this gracious and extravagant gift. The talents were not earned but given. Then, and only then, were they worked with.

How we use and interact with grace determines something of our destiny. Think of the parable of the unforgiving servant. He had been shown tremendous mercy by having a debt he could not pay totally and completed excused. But then he wouldn’t extend that same mercy to another. He never worked with the mercy he had been shown.

What we do with the gift of grace in our lives shows what we think and really believe about the Lord. It shows whether he is really our Lord.

Grace doesn’t excuse us from effort for the Lord. Grace is opposed to earning but not effort.

Think of other things Jesus’ taught:

…that good trees bear good fruit,

… that people should see our good works and give glory to our Father,

… that workers are to be sent into the harvest,

… a father asks his two sons to go and work in the vineyard,

… that unless you are wearing the correct wedding garment – a life that has something to show of Christ – you don’t belong at the wedding banquet

The Christian life is supposed to have visibility. We are to have love and good and mercy and compassion and kindness, and it should show. What do I have to show for my faith in Christ? How have I used, and am I using, the grace and mercy Christ has shown to me?

I think of what Paul says when he writes to the Philippians to “work out your salvation.” We don’t save ourselves, but how we work with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ has everything to do with our salvation.

And so the first two men worked with what the master had given to them. Perhaps they realize what a tremendous, generous, blessed gift they have been given. They want to honor their master.

We have all been given gifts and blessings. I know it is so easy to think we have it really tough. There are certainly seasons in our lives when that can be true. But most often the gifts of God abound for us. We have been given health and strength. We are given time, leisure, knowledge in certain areas, abilities, social peace (we aren’t refugees scrounging for our lives), resources, finances, security, and energy. We have tremendous freedom. We have been given opportunities, second chances, third chances, and high privileges. It’s all grace.

How do we work with the grace we have been given?

Talents were made of metal. A person could not physically lift five talents, or even two talents. I hope we feel the weight of God’s gracious love in our lives, and I mean that in a positive way.

When the master comes back after a long time – and Jesus emphasizes in several of his final parables the delay of the second coming – he settles accounts with the men he entrusted his wealth to.

The five-talent guy says, “Master, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.” He seems to have a sense of what he was given and what was entrusted to him. There is no sense of presumption or entitlement. It’s the same with the two-talent guy.

And then we hear the Master say that line that we say we want to hear at the finish line of our lives: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” That’s where those often quoted words come from. Isn’t that what we want to hear when we stand before Jesus?

But there is that third man. He received one talent, but that is still a lot. He has nothing to show. He never invested the grace that was given to him. He begins to rationalize why he has nothing to show for his life, saying that he knew the master was a hard man, a tough guy, and domineering. He admits that he was afraid.

The master is not supposed to be a picture of God, nor is this a comment about the nature of God. God is not a tyrant, nor does he steal where he does not sow. This isn’t a portrait of God anymore than the parable about the unjust judge who has to be pounded before he will listen to the widow is about the character of God. Jesus often distorts in parables as he tries to tell a story with a point.

This third man knows all about the master and what he is like, yet he does nothing in response to that. Absolutely nothing. He doesn’t even put the talent with bankers to earn some interest which took just about no effort.

How many people say they believe in God but their beliefs have no impact on their lives?

The one-talent man hides the talent. He plays it safe. He avoids doing anything. The master calls him wicked and lazy. I’m not a workaholic, but there is something about that word “lazy” that I don’t like. Lazy is generally not a complement.

Our lives are to produce for the Lord. John the Baptist and Jesus both said that every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. The word also has the meaning of being worthless or useless. No one wants to be called lazy.

Many people think that it is the wrong and sinful things we do that is a problem with God. Well, this worthless servant teaches us that not doing good and not doing anything with the grace that has been shown to us is also a problem. Maybe a larger issue.

One of the prayers of confession that churches sometimes share in asks God to forgive us of the things we have done that were wrong, but also for those things we have left undone. We prayed that this morning. Maybe leaving things undone are the people and opportunities God puts in our way to show his love. And we just bury it.

Right after this parable Jesus gives us teaching about the sheep and the goats. The sheep are those who did something for the King. They fed the hungry, invited the stranger, clothed the naked, helped the sick and visited those in prison. And the King blesses them. But the King curses those who did nothing and just took care of themselves.

The blessings of love, grace and goodness that God gives us are more than just something for us to enjoy and keep to ourselves. I need to respond with a Jesus life.

Then there’s this part of the parable: the one-talent guy has his taken away, and the guy who already has five gets even more. Where’s the sense of equality here?

That one-talent guy, though he was given the least gifting you might say, had his whole life focused on his own security. He didn’t want to spend any energy (“hey, I don’t want to burn myself out.” “I’ve been really busy” “I’m just so tired.”). He seemed to withdraw and just keep to himself.

God doesn’t give us his grace and he doesn’t give us his gifts just for ourselves. We can try to save our life, but we will end up losing it. Another time Jesus said to those to whom much has been given will much be required.

The kingdom of heaven is like taking all the blessings the Lord has given to us and finding ways to multiply it. When God calls me I want to be able to show how the overwhelming grace he has given me has been multiplied. And I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

I’ll tell you this, I cannot know that Christ has died for me, forgives me, loves me, protects, guides and blesses my life in countless ways, and then live only for myself.

Why? Because that love – the gifts he has given to us - cost him everything.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you pour out blessings upon us. Help us to take stock of those blessings and know how to put them to work for your honor. So that when that day comes when you return, or when we are called home, we can hear your “Well done.”

We thank you for those who heard and passed on the parables of Jesus. Your kingdom come and your will be done. Amen.