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Are WE Really Able |
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Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25: 14-30 |
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Main Points:
I. What Mistakes Did The Third Servant Make
II. What Lessons Does This Parable Teach Us About Life?
A. Life is an adventure in responsibility.
B. Life is a treasure of diversity.
C. Life is a giver of opportunity.
Big Idea:
You can make a difference with your life if you will make the most of the
opportunities God gives you.
Introduction:
This morning I will be beginning a series of messages called, “You Can
Make A Difference”. I want to show you that whoever you are, whatever
you have, and whatever abilities you may have, you can make a difference
with your life.
I love the parable in Matthew 25 where Jesus is teaching his disciples
about opportunities. Jesus tells them a story about a master who went on a
journey, and entrusting his possessions to three servants. The first
servant was given 5 talents, the second 2 talents, and the third only 1
talent. Understand, a “talent” was an ancient word that stood for an
amount of money that was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000.
The story says that each person was given money based on their ability to
make the most of it. As the story goes, the servant with 5 talents began
to invest and work his master’s money and when it was all said and done,
he doubled the money and when the master settled accounts with him, the
servant returned 10 talents to him. The servant who had been given two
talents did the same, doubling the master’s money and returned 4 talents
to the master. However, if you remember the story, the third servant who
had only one talent didn’t use it or invest it. He dug a hole in the
ground a buried it. When the master came to the third servant, he was
shocked and angered to discover that this servant only gave back the 1
talent. It hadn’t been invested or used in any way. The master said, “You
could have at least put it in the bank so it could have gained interest.
The master was so angry that he called the servant, “wicked and lazy”
and cast him out of his home.
And what I want to do this morning is to look at what we can learn about
life and how to make the most of our opportunities in a way that will
allow you and I to make a real difference with our life.
I. Where did the third servant go wrong?
A. He was full of excuses. (He focused on every reason why he was unable
to make a difference.)
B. He had a bad attitude toward the master. (He thought of the master as a
’hard man’.)
C. He was self-sufficient. (He didn’t need to talk to or deal with
anyone to bury his talent.)
D. He was fearful of losing. (He didn’t play to win, he played to ‘not
lose’.)
These all remind me of something I learned about the geography in the
Middle East. The Sea of Galilee is one of the liveliest bodies of water in
the region. It’s full of life and activity. If you recall, when some of
the disciples fished in the Sea of Galilee, their nets were so full of
fish they were on the verge of bursting. The Jordan River flows into the
North and out of the South shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Jordan River
continues south until it flows into another sea, however this sea has no
outlet. It only receives from the Jordan and that’s where it ends.
Anybody know what that sea is called? It’s called the Dead Sea. It is
the most lifeless body of water on the planet. No plant or animal can live
in the Dead Sea. The reason: It has no outlet. It receives but never
gives. That is a good illustration of what happened to that third servant.
He did nothing with what he was given, and it cost him.
II. What does this parable teach us about life?
A. Life is an adventure in responsibility.
1. Those men did not own what they had. They were simply managing what
their master had given them. In this parable, the master represents God
and the servants represent us. In verse 25:14 it says, “"For it is
just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and
entrusted his possessions to them.” What Jesus is teaching here is that
whatever it is that we have has been entrusted to us by God for the
purpose of managing it until He returns.
2. There was a wealthy man who was shopping with this 16 year-old son. His
son saw a new computer system and showed his dad. The wealthy man said,
“Why son, that costs $2,000?” The son said, “Yeah dad, but we’ve
got the money.” To which the dad says, “We? Who said anything about we
having anything? I know that I’ve got the money, I know that you don’t.”
You see, the son misunderstood the nature of the relationship with his
father. He thought that He could choose whatever the father spent his
money on, while the father wasn’t so careless. God owns it all and we
must be careful about how we treat his possessions.
3. What are some of the things that we are managing for God?
a. Money
b. Possessions
c. Time
d. Health
4. Life is an adventure of responsibility, and if we want to allow God to
use us to make a difference in this world, we must be willing to be
responsible with what God has entrusted to us.
B. Life is a treasure of diversity.
1. The first thing we learn about life in this passage is that life is an
adventure of responsibility, and the second thing we learn is that life is
a treasure of diversity. One man was given 5 talents, another 2 talents,
and to the third, 1 talent. They all didn’t receive the same amount.
Each were given to based on their God-given ability.
2. I’m glad we’re not all the same. Who needs a world full of clones?
I’m glad we’re all different. Life truly is a treasure of diversity.
This is why I believe that is the truth. I believe that each of us is a
unique combination of temperaments and gifts that can only do what we can
do. Each person is unique that they can do something that only they can
do.
3. I like what Zig Ziglar said, “You are the only person on earth who
can use your ability.”
4. Maybe a person can’t teach, but maybe they can pray? Maybe a person
can’t sing, but they can help out with taking care of the buildings. We
can’t all do everything well, but we can each do something. We can all
make a difference.
5. Here’s the thing to remember: you have what you have because God
decided to allow you to manage it. He only expects you to manage within
the boundaries of ability that He has programmed into you.
6. He doesn’t hand us a go-cart and say, “Fly to the moon!” He only
expects us to use what he has given us.
7. I believe that the mistake of the third servant was that he had started
feeling sorry for himself because he didn’t get as much as the other two
guys did. They had 5 or 2 and he only had one. He thought that God was
expecting out of him that he was expecting out of the other two men. He
wasn’t. He was only expecting out of the third servant what he could do.
8. Life is a treasure of diversity and I thank God that we are not all the
same. I’m glad that nobody is like me. I’m sure that everyone else is
glad about that too. And I’m glad that nobody else is like you either.
We’re all different. God knows what He is doing.
C. Life is a giver of opportunity.
1. Life is an adventure in responsibility, a treasure of diversity and
thirdly, a giver of opportunity. We all have an opportunity to do
something.
2. The big mistake the third servant made is that he thought that he
couldn’t make a difference with what he had. He looked at the other two
servants and said to himself, “I can’t do what they can do. I only
have one talent.” The master explained to him that he could have made a
difference, he just needed to do something different – something he
could do. He couldn’t go out trading, but he could have taken the one
talent to the bank and the money would have at least earned some interest.
3. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t confess to you that I am guilty of
this from time to time. I remember when I was in college and I tried play
racket-ball against my friend named Tim. I emphasize the words “tried to
play”. He whipped me into the next week. Finally I gave up racquetball
altogether because Tim was so much better than I was. I did the same thing
when I met some people who were better artists. I thought I was pretty
good until about halfway through high-school and I saw some people whose
work put mine to shame and I put away my sketchpad and pencils and quit
drawing.
4. Now, I know I’m not alone in this. How many of us quit things because
we don’t think we can stack up to the competition? Instead of focusing
on what we can do, it’s so easy for us to start focusing on what we can’t
do.
5. I love this little poem: Isn’t it strange that princes and kings And
clowns that caper in sawdust rings And common people like you and me Are
builders for eternity? Each is given a bag of tools, A shapeless mass, a
book of rules; And each must make ‘ere life is flown, A stumbling block
or a stepping-stone. What are we doing with the tools God has given us?
6. You and I can’t do everything, but we can do something. President
Theodore Roosevelt, who said, “Do what you can, with what you have,
where you are.”
7. Remember the boy with the five loaves and the two fish. Jesus took his
gift and fed 5,000 people with it. God doesn’t just do this with money,
He does this with whatever we are willing to be faithful with. Life is a
giver of opportunity, you have them and I have them. You can truly make a
difference with your life if you will be willing to make the most of the
opportunities that God gives you in your life, as small as they may seem.
APPLICATION:
How do we make the most of our opportunities? (ACTION POINTS)
1. Understand that God has determined what you will be responsible for.
2. Believe that what God has given you is what is best for you.
3. Use what God has given you for His purposes.
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"but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15b,
NASB).