Sermon for Pentecost 25, November 19, 2023
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Matthew 25:14-30 14“You see, the kingdom of
heaven is like a man going on a journey.
He called his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. 15To one he gave five talents, to
another two talents, and to still another one talent, each according to his own
ability. Then he went on his
journey. 16The servant who
had received the five talents immediately put them to work and gained five more
talents. 17In the same way,
the servant who had received the two talents gained two more. 18But the servant who had received
one talent went away, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s
money. 19“After a long time
the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20The servant who received the
five talents came and brought five more talents. He said, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents
to me. See, I have gained five more
talents.’ 21“His master said
to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!
You were faithful with a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things.
Enter into the joy of your master.’
22“The servant who received the two talents came and said,
‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents.
See, I have gained two more talents.’
23“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant! You were faithful with a few
things. I will put you in charge of many
things. Enter into the joy of your
master.’ 24“Then the servant
who received one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man,
reaping where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter seed. 25Since I was afraid, I went away
and hid your talent in the ground. See,
you have what is yours.’ 26“His master answered him, ‘You wicked and
lazy servant! You knew that I reap where
I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter seed? 27Well then, you should have
deposited my money with the bankers so that when I came I would get my money
back with interest. 28Take
the talent away from him and give it to the servant who has the ten
talents. 29Because everyone
who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he
has will be taken away from him. 30Throw
that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.’” (EHV)
Hear
the Lord say, “Well done good and faithful servant!”
Dear servants of the living God,
To bring
this parable into modern terms and local mindsets, imagine a very wealthy
landowner who calls three of his young employees into his office with the offer
to bankroll their start in farming. He
then provides the first with all the money he needs to purchase and farm ten
thousand acres including machinery, supplies, fuel, and labor. To the second employee he hands enough money
for two thousand acres, and to the third enough money for five hundred
acres. No interest will be charged, and
no annual payment expected, but the landowner does expect to reap a return on
his investment when he returns from whatever activity he plans to pursue in the
meantime.
Five years later, this landowner returns, and
you heard the delight in the first two employees’ success with the resources he
has provided. The third, on the other
hand, didn’t bother to do anything. He
took that large sum of money and buried it in the ground in some hidden
location, so that no one would benefit from the landowner’s generosity. The land that he could have farmed grew only
weeds for the five years. No machinery
or supplies were purchased so no neighbor received any benefit either. You can imagine the laughingstock such a
useless individual would be in any rural community. To waste such an opportunity and foul the
land with weeds would be a community embarrassment, no doubt.
Yet, how often doesn’t this exact example play
out in every church in our world? How
often aren’t the treasures of heaven wasted upon those who are not willing to
serve the true Lord?
Now, Jesus certainly wasn’t speaking about
farming in this parable. He was teaching
the people of His day about the foolishness of refusing to make good use of the
talents He gives us. The word “talents”
is interesting. In Jesus’ time, it first
referred to a measure of silver, gold, or other precious metal. Later, it was used for a coin of great value,
and in our times, it refers to all the variety of skills and abilities given to
people to exercise according to their Creator’s will.
God has blessed the world, including you and
me, with almost unlimited talents and gifts.
We don’t all get exactly the same talents, but no one dare say he was
left out. Among the various talents we
might list are the ability to think, speak, work, care for others, invent,
administer, lead, teach, preach, worship, and learn. God has given many of us incomes, land, physical
abilities, financial reserves, and opportunities to serve. Still, the primary gifts God has given His
servants are His Word, especially the Gospel of all Jesus has done to save
us. Along with all that, God poured out
upon the world His grace, forgiveness, providence, angelic care and protection,
and to those who believe in His Son, adoption into His family. So, what have we done with those God-given
blessings?
Perhaps most tragic, and most like the third
man in the parable are those who are baptized into the Christian faith, and
most likely even had confirmed that faith, but then they seldom, if ever, enter
the church again. The most precious gift
God gives is the faith that opens the gates of heaven. Trust in Jesus as Redeemer, Savior, and Lord
brings with it freedom from guilt, release from the bondage of sin, and certain
assurance of life everlasting in heaven.
Yet, how often is that gift of faith neglected, treated like old news,
and even forgotten in the daily grind of life.
How often don’t our earthly concerns take precedence over the
opportunity to hear the Good News that strengthens our faith? How often doesn’t even the gift of Jesus’
precious body and blood in the Lord’s Supper seem to us like a waste of time,
instead of the life-giving and preserving medicine Jesus intends it to be? How often don’t we react to the opportunity
to serve our congregation, or our neighbors in other ways, with a shrug of our
shoulders and a resolve to let someone else do it?
Now, there are many of you, here, who have
served diligently with the talents you have been given, and it might be easy
for us to assume that we are much more like the first two servants than the
third, and there is truth to that. But
then, it might be easy for us to point fingers at those who have seemingly
abandoned their faith to pursue the pleasures of the flesh, while instead, we
should be doing everything in our power to share the forgiveness of our Savior
with those who are weak. You see, none
of us has been perfect in our efforts.
Most likely, we have had our complaints about how unfair life is, how
hard our work is, how lazy some around us are, and how tired we are
becoming. In this, we are more like the
third servant who claimed to be afraid of his master, but in reality, hated to make
any effort that might please or enrich the master he despised.
On the other hand, the Church exists to share
the Good News of One who, for you and me, never complained, never quit, but
worked unceasingly every moment of His earthly life to produce the greatest
return on investment anyone could ever hope to achieve.
This parable teaches that we should be using
every talent God gives us to serve God and our neighbor, and to make use of all
our abilities to spread the Gospel both at home and around the world. We don’t all have the same gifts, but God
blesses each of us with whatever He knows is best to serve in our little corner
of His Kingdom. At the same time, most
of us likely feel some guilt for missed opportunities to serve, for friends who
have wandered, children who have strayed, and times we should have spoken up,
but we couldn’t summon the courage.
Certainly, each of us has been guilty of placing less value on God’s
plans than our own.
Yet, dear friends, that’s why Jesus came. Jesus entered the world blessed with the
nature of being true God as well as true Man.
For you and me, Jesus lived the perfect, productive life of service to
those around Him, healing their illnesses and torments, feeding masses of
people when they were in need, and teaching all He met about the love of God
and the salvation He came to bring. Jesus
obeyed God’s laws out of love and respect for His Father, and for His Father’s
will, Jesus laid down His life as the sacrificial Lamb who took the punishment
for the sins of the world. The Son of
God, who not only owns all things but also gives us the talents to produce much
fruit in His kingdom, also gave His life in exchange for ours, and then sent
the Holy Spirit to work faith in our hearts by the Gospel, so that when Jesus
returns to settle accounts, He will assuredly say to those who truly believe in
Him, “Well done good and faithful servant!”
The Good News is that we are saved by grace
apart from works of the law. This
parable teaches us to use the gifts God gives us with all due diligence out of
love for the Lord who saves us, but it also reminds us of how much we need our
Savior. Therefore, because our God also
recognizes our weakness as sinners in a broken world, “God sent his Son to
be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem
those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)
Having been purchased by the blood of the Lamb,
and having been adopted into God’s family through Baptism, we are given the
greatest treasures this world has ever encountered. Far greater than all the gold and silver ever
mined, or all the stocks of all the stock markets in the world, is the
forgiveness and peace with God won for us by Jesus. Forgiveness of all sin makes us ready to
stand holy before our Lord in confidence and peace when He returns to settle
accounts with every person who has ever lived on this earth.
When Judgment Day comes, the Lord will say to
every person who has walked with Him by faith, “Come, you who are blessed by
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world.” (Matthew 25:34) Jesus can
rightly say this because He lived for us, died for us, and rose again so that
we might live and never die. He can say
these blessed words, because “It is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that
no one can boast. For we are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in
advance so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Therefore, let us be guided by Jesus’ parable
to be more diligent in our use of the gifts He gives us, but then let us also
walk with Him by faith, trusting that His life and sacrifice has made us worthy
to stand before Him and Hear the Lord say, “Well done good and faithful
servant!”
Amen.
Now to the King eternal, to the immortal,
invisible, only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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