Sermon: Stewarding our Talents

All right, let's take a moment and we'll pray before we open God's word together this morning.

Father, we do pray this morning that as we come to your word, that it would go out and it would not return void. We believe it is living inactive and sharper than any twoedged sword. We pray even this morning that as we hear it red, as we hear it preach that it would divide between joint and marrow. We would find that our own hearts are laid bare this morning. We pray that it would not be in condemnation, but that it would be a healing touch to lead us

unto repentance or to encourage our faith or to exhort us into more godliness. We pray that it would not fall on deaf ears and that we would each be stirred as we have need this morning and that your grace would be apparent in our midst as your spirit attends to this word. And we pray all of us in the strong name of Christ, our Lord and our savior. Amen. This morning, Luke 19, verses 11 through 27. This is the holy and err sufficient word of God.

As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they suppose that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately, he said, therefore nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return calling 10 of his servants. He gave them 10 Meninas and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us.

When he returned having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him saying, Lord, your meina has made 10 meina more. And he said to him, well done. Good servant because you've been faithful and very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities. In the second came, Saint Lord, your meina has made five meina.

And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. Then another came, Saint Lord, here is your meina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief for I was afraid of you because you are a ser severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words. You wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.

Why then did you not put my money in the bank and at my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, take the meina from him and give it to the one who has the Tin Mina. And they said to him, Lord, he has 10 meninas. I tell you that everyone who has more will be given, but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me

to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me, though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of God is forever. Thanks. Speak to God. Amen.

We are in the middle of what we call our faith focus here at University Reform Church where we just take a break just for the month of January, take a break from doing consecutive expository sermons through a book of the Bible. And just in the month of January, what our elders do is they choose some subject, some topic that they feel like we would like to see more in the DNA of the church, maybe because it's lacking, maybe

because it's absent. Um, and this year what they chose was they asked me to preach on stewardship. So we have been preaching on stewardship in the morning. I've been doing that in the morning services. And then the rest of the pastoral staff has been preaching on it more particularly in the evening services. And you'll remember that we started in the morning services two weeks ago, those of you that have been here that we are

to be stewards of our time. And then last week we looked at the idea that we are to be stewards of our treasures. And then this morning what we want to look at is being stewards of our talents. So our passage this morning begins, Luke says, and he gives us the context for why Jesus tells this parable. And he says verse 11, it's because he was near Jerusalem Jesus and because they suppose that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

Jesus is the king, he's the promised Messiah. They are realizing this and he is about to enter into the royal city, the king city, the city of Jerusalem. And the expectation for many, if not most at this time among the Jews was that as the Messiah would enter into this, this kingly city that as he entered in the kingdom would be established, all of their foes would be vanquished and in would be ushered this time of tranquility

and peace and thriving. And so Luke tells us that Jesus told this parable because he wants them to know that it's not going to happen as they think it's going to happen. And he tells the parable of a noble man who went away to a far country to receive his kingdom. The do nobleman is clearly the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's going away to a far country. He is going away to heaven. Jesus has warned his disciples of this multiple times

through the gospels. As we walk through the gospels, you will see him telling them time and again that he is going away. And so here again, he tells them that he's going away. In John 14, he told them in my father's house or many rooms, if it were not, so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also.

He's going, he's telling his disciples, he's going, he's told them before he is going. He's telling them again he's going. But not just that he's going but that he's also returning. He's coming back.

When I leave for a trip, uh, my children, since they were young, when I would get ready to go on a trip, they would almost always ask Daddy, when, when are you going to be home? When are you returning? You're going, when are you returning? And there was anticipation less today than there was years ago. But anticipation, he's, he's coming back.

Jesus is returning, this is what we call the perusia in theology, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will return, he will come upon the clouds. We're told in Revelation one seven and in Revelation one seven, the apostle John tells us that when he returns upon the clouds that every eye will see him. How does that work on a sphere? I don't know completely, but he's the Lord of glory and he's, he's coming in his father's glory.

He tells us, and he will be surrounded by angels and archangels, the host of heaven. And every eye will see him.

He says in Matthew 16, for the son of man, meaning himself for the son of man is going to come with his angels and the glory of his father. And then he will repay each person according to what he has done. He's returning.

But why has it been so long? It's 2000 years and he, he has yet to return.

Where is he? Well, there are some that think because he has gone away and because he has not yet returned that it's kind of out of sight, out of mind, it's it's he's gone. And so we just kind of live as if he's, he's not returning because it seems slow to us or as we count slow and we forget about this king. But Jesus is making it very clear in this parable he's returning. And when he returns the perusia, he's very clear

that when he returns that each and every single one of us will give an account for what we have done with what we have been given. Every single one were stewards.

So I wonder as you sit here this morning,

does this shape your mind? Does it shape your heart when you get up in the morning, when you got up this morning, is there any thought that he's returning? Does it shape your day? Does it shape your week? Does it even shape your month?

You see the wise person, the truly wise person lives in light of the Lord's return knows and it dominates their mind and it it shapes their life. He's returning. Could be today. Are you waiting with anticipation for his return?

We looked at our lives, we looked at our money, stewards of time, stewards of treasures this morning focusing on our gifts, stewards of our talents. This parable is a parallel account to one that is in the gospel of Matthew and in Matthew 25 and in Matthew, Matthew uses the term talents. And it's a little confusing because you have talents and you have meina. And both of those are currency. They're they're forms of cash.

But we've grabbed that word talents from Matthew's gospel from that parable. And we use it in our English vernacular in this way where we're speaking of those natural abilities that you have or those spiritual abilities that you have those gifts that have been given to you by God. And I think it's absolutely proper because the point of both of these parables is that the Lord has given to you, he's given you abilities,

he's given you talents, he's given you gifts. And you are a steward of those things, our talents. And you are to use them for a reason, for the blessing of the church and for the glory of God. So let's walk our way through this. In the parable, the noble man, he goes to a far country and he goes to this far country to receive his kingdom. And before he leaves, he calls his servants together, 10 of them. And to each of them he gives one mena

and he tells them, verse 13, he gives them very clear instructions, engage in business until I come. That is they are to invest what they have been given. They are to to make it work. They are to produce by it, they are to multiply it. They are stewards, it's his, but he's given it to them with purpose. He's entrusted it to them so that when he returns, he expects something to have come of it more.

Some of the citizens reject his rule outright. They want nothing to do with him. They're like the little kid that walks around and says, no one's going to be the boss of me. And they go chasing after him and try and beat him to the one that is entrusting him with this kingdom. And they say in verse 14, we do not want this man to reign over us. It goes on to say that they actually hated him. And those Jesus closes the parable with those on

that last day that have hated him, that have not sought him as king and bowed the knee to him as king while they lived in this world, that they will be slaughtered. Why? Because he's king. All of his enemies are being made a footstool beneath his feet. He's reigning and will reign.

There's no way around this. And as the Lord when he returns, he calls these servants to account for what they did and what he gave them. The first invest the meina and makes 10 more. And he, he says to him in verse 17, well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful and very little. You shall have authority over 10 cities. Now we have to stop here

because you are meant to be shocked by this.

But what's happened is, is so many of us have read this before. We've heard it multiple times. And because we've heard it multiple times, this doesn't seem so shocking. He made 10 Minas $10. Here's 10 cities.

My son shovels the driveway and sidewalk for our next door neighbors, an older couple both in their mid nineties. And Ethan will go out out and it takes him all of 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes. And then I'll get a phone call a couple days later from the gentleman next door. He's got my phone number. So he'll call me and he'll say, Jason, send the boy. He calls him the boy, I love it. Send the boy over. I owe him some money. And Ethan will go over there

and for his 20 minutes, 30 minutes of work, he comes home with a $50 bill.

It's extravagant. When I shoveled snow, it was like with a spoon, not a shovel. And it was before the sun was out. And then I would do that and then I would have to walk uphill both ways to school after it. And I didn't get $50, he, it's $50. Imagine I send him over. We just send the boy over, send the boy over, and he comes back and he puts his hand in his pocket. And this time out of his right pocket, he pulls out, he says, dad, look what he gave me this time, not $50.

He gave me the deed to his house for shoveling his driveway. Yeah, he said, I did a good job.

And then he puts his hand in his left pocket. But that wasn't it. Dad, here's a deed to their summer cottage up north. It's extravagant, it's disproportionate. 10 mean us 10 cities. It's grace. It's a bounding grace.

But grace, we actually don't get what we deserve, but it's even better than that. We get what we don't deserve much more than we deserve. It's abundant grace.

The second steward comes forward, he also had one mena and made five menas. And so the Lord said verse 19, you are to be over five cities. The one who multiplied it to five also receives much more than he deserves grace.

But then came the third servant, the third steward, the one who simply wrapped up as meaning in a handkerchief. And he let it lie and sit. He did nothing with it. And fact he even dares to lay the responsibility for this upon his king and Lord, he did nothing with it. He says, and let me give you the reason why quote for I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. Not only was he slothful, but he is trying to blame his lack of effort.

His slothfulness upon the very character of his king, you're severe.

He says verse 21, you take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. That is Lord, you are a man who takes a high portion of the prophets and some of the fruit of what others have planted. You are severe, but it's already been made clear. He's not severe.

He's incredibly gracious and incredibly kind. He's already demonstrated that both with a man that returned 10 and the man that returned five, this man who is thoughtful, he's trying to lay the guilt of his own burden at the foot of the king, but it's not the kings, it's his.

He's without excuse.

The servant has to own it. And so the king and the parable, he now turns the tables. Okay, that's what you believe about me. And he says in verse 22, we'll con, I'll condemn you with my own words, with your own words. If you thought this about me that you actually thought that I was a severe king and yet you did nothing with what I gave you, does that make sense? You think I'm severe? And so you do nothing.

You should have at least put it in the bank if you thought I was severe, earn some interest. It doesn't seem like a winning strategy on your part. And so the king condemns him with his own words. He takes his meina, he gives it to the man with 10 meena and he labels this slothful servant verse 22 as quote the wicked servant. And then he makes a promise to everyone who has more will be given, but from the one who has not even what he has

will be taken away.

So our first application this morning live in light of the king's return, live in light of the king's return again the wise, the truly wise know that the king who is set off, whose kingdom has come into this world, that he is returning and his kingdom shall be consummated. The truly wise always live with the perusia, the return of Christ in the forefront of their minds,

allowed to shape their daily lives.

Why has it been so long? Well, Peter answered that. He said, do not forget, do not forget this one thing he says, dear friends, for with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years. Like one day, as we said a couple of weeks ago, this king, this Lord is God and he exists outside of time. He created time itself. And so we may seem, we may think it is slow to us, but it's not it. It feels like a delay to us, but it isn't.

Why are we still 2000 years after Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father? Why after 2000 years are we still waiting for his return? Well, Peter answers that as well. Two Peter three, nine, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but at all should reach repentance. He hasn't returned yet because he's being patient. And why is he being patient so

that more might be grabbed from darkness and come into the light so that more might be saved. If he had come in 1994, I would be on my way to hell

'cause I came to save him face somewhere in 1995 and 96. He's patient. So the church can be about its mission and its business and get out there proclaiming Christ that others might hear of this great king who has come the savior of men and women and children and give their lives to him while there's still opportunity.

This Christ and king is returning and we're to live in light of that. Listen, if Christ isn't returning then it doesn't really matter how you live.

If you don't believe Christ is returning, then why try? You should just eat and drink and be merry. What's it matter?

Just fulfill your passions. Do what makes you happy in the moment. Do whatever most gratifies your flesh at any given second or minimizes the least amount of pain. You should be choosing that over and over and over. If you don't believe Christ is returning. But if he's returning, if you believe he's returning, it shapes everything.

There's more to come. There's something more to live for than what satisfies our passions today or what relieves our pain tomorrow.

My wife, Leah will sometimes go on a trip without me, not as often as I do. But when we're waiting for her return and we know that she's returning, there's preparation and you husbands and fathers know it like it becomes like whirlwind in the house. We gotta clean everything now. We don't clean it like she does, but we clean it before she steps in the door. Why? 'cause we want to honor her because we want to please her.

'cause we care for her ultimately because we love her.

In a very real sense, today is not all important

and yet it's important.

Why? Because when that forever tomorrow comes when the king returns rewarded for what we did today and that reward that we receive and the forever tomorrow is for.

So now all of a sudden today matters.

He's returning you live in light of Christ's return, the king's return second, therefore do not be idle as you wait.

His return should spur us on to great effort and striving I have today. So let me put to use what he has given me today because he is returning you. You say but but, but listen, you, you made it very clear in the baptisms. You made it very clear in the way that the service is structured. You've made it very clear earlier in the sermon that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone. So while all this conversation about doing

why that it's the right question. I like to say I'm a Calvinist, but a Calvinist to sweats. Look, believe salvation is all of God and yet I'm to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Calvin commenting upon this, said this. He said, I wish the reader to understand that as often as we mention faith alone, we are not thinking of a dead faith. It is therefore faith alone which justifies and yet the faith which justifies is not alone

just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth and yet the sun in the sun. It is not alone because it is constantly conjoined with light or faith is a living faith. Where there is life, there is light. Our faith is not dead. It produces fruit. It works itself out in our living, in our doing. It changes us.

So don't be slothful as you wait. Third, recognize you've been given talents for the sake of the body of Christ and the glory of the king. We're busy. We're busy with what he has given to us.

The New Testament. We'll spend a lot of time on this. You can go to one Corinthians 12, you can go to Romans 12, you can go to Galatians four. You can go to one Peter four, let alone other passages that speak about the fact that each member of the church, biblical language, one Corinthians 12, each member of the church has received gifts. When you come to faith in Christ, when you are united to Christ, you are filled with the spirit.

And that spirit gives you gifts. It says in one Corinthians 12, to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. What's the manifestation of the spirit? The manifestation of the spirit Are these spiritual gifts and what are those spiritual gifts given for the common good for the body, for the body of Christ, the church, I'm reading a a book right now on the history of the British Navy and there is a section I was in just the other day

where James Cook is getting ready to go out and to explore the South Pacific. And one of the great detriments to Long sea travel at the time was, is that sailors would often get sick of what was called scurvy. And it could literally wipe out hundreds on a ship. It could literally make a ship start sailing across the ocean and everybody on it die and it could dash an entire enterprise. And James Cook was noticing that the Dutch

were able to go out longer than other people and they had changed something in the diet they had put on board and were feeding the sailors something the Germans had just invented as a new food sauerkraut. And so James Cook ordered 85 pounds of sauerkraut for every sailor on his ship. And the English sailors hated it. They hated the smell of it, they hated the taste of it. Some of them refused to eat it. And so we had 'em flogged whipped

until they were willing to eat it. You thought your mom was tough.

Now why did he do that? Seems a little extreme, I'll give you that. But why did he do that? 'cause one sailor of faltering or failing, let alone dying, impacted the whole ship. It was truly a matter of life or death. You eat your sauerkraut for our good, we're together in this crew. This isn't just about you. When there's one member of the church, one member of the body that has withdrawn, that is not exercising what the spirit has given to them

for the good of the crew, the entire crew suffers. That's the picture in the New Testament. You have talents. Each of you have been given gifts by the king to steward for the good of the whole unto his glory so forth. Employ what you have been given. Employ what you have been given.

Well, I don't like what I've been given. Doesn't matter. Well, I wish I had what they had. Doesn't matter. I don't think what I have. Is that significant? It doesn't matter.

We simply employ what we have been given some of us to go to Matthew's parable of this. Some of us are one talent, men and women. Some of us are three talent men and women. Some of us are five talent men and women. Some of us are 10 talent men and women. It really doesn't matter. You employ what you've been given and if you've been given one talent, you have enough to be responsible for.

We so often play the comparison game. My life doesn't quite look like their life. Look at what wonderful talents they possess. You notice what that does. It does the same thing that this one steward has done. He's laid the blame at the foot of the king. Do you think the king has given you what he wanted to give to you?

Do you think that he gave to you what he thought the body needed? But when you and I begin to grouse and complain that man, I wish I had what he had or have what she had, we're laying blame at the foot of the king. Now we're to be faithful with what we have been given. It's especially clear in Matthew's account. Paul says this in Galatians six. Let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself

alone and not his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. The church needs you serving, need you.

If you're not employing your talents for the sake of the body, you're robbing the church. And just as importantly, you're not being a faithful servant. Your gifts, whether natural and especially spiritual, your abilities, they have been yielded unto you to be a true servant with them, to to be a true steward of them. They're not given to you for you. They're given to you for us

when to eat each other so forth, serve in some way somewhere, serve in some way somewhere.

The church is not for consumers.

This is not a movie theater. This is not a a talent show. Uh, this is not a rec league, this is not a social

We're bound together. Our lives intertwined with one another. We are united with one another, united with our head, and we are a body and the body needs all of its parts working. So find somewhere and something to serve in.

You say, well, I'm not sure what my talents are. That's okay. Serve somewhere.

There's a genius I think in Christ's gifting

these spiritual gifts to the church. Of course there's a genius in it, but this is what goes through my mind is you know that when you are exercising your gifts and your abilities for the church, do you realize what that does that causes you to look outside of yourself to others and to the Lord? Notice that's what it does.

I wanna say this gingerly, uh, but 20 plus years as a pastor serving different churches. I can say the vast, vast majority of those who end up leaking out of the church and leaving the church, the vast majority will say it has something to do with leadership. They have some problem with leadership or they have some problem that some meet need wasn't met that they thought needed to be met and leadership failed in doing that, et cetera.

But you know what's really interesting? The vast, vast majority aren't serving. They didn't serve or they stopped serving. When you're serving, it gets you outside of yourself looking to others' interests, looking to the Lord. It helps you to fall more in love with the church instead of less. It helps you not to be so easily offended, but to take the long game and say, you know what? This is about the kingdom to come.

My knee is not being met right now, but you know what? I am laboring for this kingdom to come and my Christ is returning. And I have a purpose here because I've been put in relationship with these people in this place. It changes your outlook.

Say, well, the service that I could offer is so small maybe, but small things become big problems when no one is doing them. You're so small service here or there in the church, helps the entire church to function more seamlessly, more fruitfully, more joyfully to the glory of the king. It's needed, you say, but I I don't know where. Well go talk to Pastor Nate. He'll have some ideas for you and go talk to Pastor Dave.

Talk to me. There's so many ways we have a desperate need for projectionists right now.

You could be a person that shows up at church each week and says, you know what? The reason I'm gonna be here, I, I have a gift of kindness. I'm gonna walk up and down the holes and just look for people to be kind to that are standing by themselves and show them the love of Christ. You know what? I have the gift of encouragement. I'm gonna write cards each week at home and mail them out to different people in the congregation

just to encourage their faith. I had the gift of teaching there. There should be such a long line that Dave has of people that have said, you know what? I have the gift of teaching. Put me to use somewhere in the children's ministry to teach kids. He shouldn't have to shake bushes ever and on. We could go,

some of you do this, most of you do this so well. We, we need to find somewhere to serve. Now we're all in different seasons of life and there are different seasons where it is a lot. You are tired, you have life feels incredibly busy. Well, let me tell you, someone who's been through a number of seasons of life now, not as many of some of you, but this is the reality. Life is always busy. It doesn't become unbusy.

So you find somewhere to serve, but you may not have the capacity of that person. You may not be able to serve like they serve. That's fine. You do with what you've been given for the glory of the Lord. You can't do everything they do. They have more capacity or maybe they have more gifts. That's fine. You find somewhere and something to serve in for the sake of the body.

Finally, you rejoice in the privilege. You rejoice in the privilege.

Now overall, what this does is it simply makes you more like Christ our Savior said he came into the world not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And you see that not only in his death, but the very life that he lived on earth. He attended to the crowds. He washed the disciple's feet. He lays down his life for the sake of the sheep. When you and I bring what we are and what we have to bear upon the lives of others

for the sake of others, we look more like our savior. And you want to look more like your savior.

When I was growing up, Wendy's I think had one of the best catch lines and commercials going. Uh, there was an old woman that would sit at the table and she would grab fast food bag from a different fast food chain than Wendy's. And she would open the bag and she would pull out a hamburger and then she would unwrap it and she would take the the top bun off and then she would say, where's the beef You? You expect beef with a hamburger.

You take the roof off the church. What you expect to see inside is service love. Where's the love? Jesus said, they will know you by your love for one another. Where's the service? So many of you are so good at this as a church that does it very well and we can always do it better.

He gifts you for service and what a privilege to participate in this work. You think He didn't have to give us talents. He didn't have to give us abilities. He sure as heck didn't need to use us in this great mission of his on earth, but he gives us the gifts. He gives us the abilities. Then as we employ them, he pours out his grace and he does the work through them, and he's the one that bears the fruit. And then when the fruit is born

and he returns, we are the ones that are rewarded for it.

It's amazing. But that's the economy of God.

Just a gracious king. And you get the opportunity to serve this gracious king and his people. What a privilege. Let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful that your sun reigns and is reigning, that his kingdom has come and it is coming. We look forward to his return. I say, help us to be busy about today, to be good stewards of that which you have entrusted to us for the building up of the body and we labor hard for your glory and for the good of one another or truly, we are known by our love for one another to your praise. Encourage us, we pray towards that end,

and to the glory of your son. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.