Risk Everything in Faith

Matthew 25:14-30

Immanuel – 5/11/25

As we return to the Olivet Discourse, we come to another of Jesus’ parables. I’ve said in weeks past, each one of these parables has to do with a separation: wicked and righteous, wise and foolish, faithful and faithless. In 24:45-51, it was alertness that separated people. In 24:1-13, it was preparedness. In today’s parable, it is productivity.

Read vs 14

Our parable begins with the words, it will be like. This follows from 25:1, “it” is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 14 means, For the kingdom of heaven will be like a man…”

And the man leaves on a journey. Here is another theme from last week: an indeterminately long period of time. Similar to the unexpected delay in the parable of the 10 virgins, in this parable a wealthy landowner goes on a journey. Verse 19 says he was gone for a long time. It’s very unlike the preceding portions of the Olivet Discourse; marked by language of nearness, immediacy, within one generation.

Thus, in the two parables Jesus uses to describe the kingdom of heaven – or the church age, the age in which we live now – it is marked by an indeterminately long period of time, after which the master returns.

But before he leaves, as we see in verse 14, the master entrusted his property to his servants. He is incredibly wealthy, because he gives his servants responsibility over significant treasures.

Read vs 15

          Before we go any further, let’s identify the elements in this parable. I think it’s best we do not wait until the end.

Servants=Disciples/Apparent Disciples     

Master=Jesus

          Master’s Long Absence=This Present Age/The Church Age

          Master’s Return=Jesus’ Bodily Return

Time of Settling Accounts=Judgment Day

Master’s Joy=Heaven

Outer Darkness=Hell

          But just like in the oil in last week’s parable, the talents are a little ambiguous. It is not straightforward. Let me tell you something the talents are not: talents – at least not in the English sense of the word, meaning skills and aptitudes.

          As we move through the Parable of the Talents, I want you to see if you can answer the question, what do the talents represent? There will not be a single answer, but there is definitely an answer. What do the talents represent?

In a literal sense, a talent was the largest measure of weight among the Jews. We don’t know exactly how much a talent weighed, but many scholars range it between 75 and 100 pounds. If Jesus is referring to a talent of gold (the text indicates high value), and a talent was 75 pounds, then as of yesterday’s market, a single talent is worth more than $4 million. That’s a lot of money for us. It’s astronomical among the peasant classes of 1^st century Palestine.

          Notice that the master distributes his talents according to ability. In the giving of his resources, the master is not concerned with equity – that every servant receives the same amount, equally. He is not attempting to be fair, as some count fairness.

          Neither is the master dispensing talents based on merit. When he gives the money, it is not a reward, the servants have not earned their amount. Nor are the talents given on the basis of how talented the servants are. The master does not give based on his servant’s greatness or insignificance.

          Rather, Jesus gives based on his disciples’ ability. Ability is more than skill level; it is also mental and emotional capacity. Ability includes drive, industriousness, responsibility, and more. A person’s ability is more about character than good genetics.

And does this not demand that the master knows his servants? Jesus knows what we can handle, what would overwhelm us, what empowers us, and to what degree we can manage responsibility. Jesus intimately knows his disciples, and he gives to us out of his personal knowledge, according to our ability.

          The servants need to trust the master’s decision and choose not to look with envy upon their co-laborers. It is up to each individual to make the most of what they have been given.

          Yet the master has given without instructions. There’s no formula, no manual, only the disciples’ own initiative and understanding of what Jesus desires. Again, this seems to indicate knowledge that comes from personal relationship.

I also think this indicates the master knows he will be gone for a long time and he doesn’t want to lock his servants into a rigid set of conditions, lacking the necessary flexibility to respond to a dynamic environment.

          Read vs 16-17

          After these first two servants received, they went at once. Hear the eagerness, the initiative, the diligence of these two workers. Neither did they wait nor hesitate. Understanding the will of the master, they set to work at once, wasting no time at all.

          They immediately began trading their master’s money. And they achieve spectacular success, 100% profit. They double what they had been given.

          Just think about business for a moment. There is no possible way to double your profits without incurring risk. If you put your resources into something significant, it is very possible you could face significant loss. The more you invest, the greater the potential for loss. And these two servants were working with serious sums of money. For them to double their money, they must have incurred tremendous risk somewhere along the way.

          And since we are talking about a long period of time, it is sensible to think that their earning did not follow a linear growth path. They probably experienced losses; ventures may have failed. But they did not give up. They continued, pressing through the failures, advancing the interests of the master. They were faithful, undaunted, productive.

But the final servant was not so.

          Read vs 18

          The third servant took the path of no resistance. Bury it in the ground: no risk. Bury it in the ground: no work is required. Bury it in the ground: live like there is no responsibility, that treasures have not been entrusted to you.

          The first two servants immediately launched into productivity. The third servant took what he was given and quickly hid it.

          Read vs 19-23

          The long period of time is over. The master returns. In his absence he expected the servants to use their time wisely. Immediately upon his return, he settles accounts. On Judgment Day the works of the servants will be revealed.

          The servant with the five, and the other with the two, have doubled their amounts. The master is well pleased. How rewarding the masters commendation! “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Could a disciple of Jesus Christ receive any better words?!

          Imagine for a moment what it would be like to hear these words from Jesus. You’ve spent your life in service to him, through the trials, enduring sufferings, and come finally to the moment where you first see his face – him whom you have bet your life upon and entrusted your heart unto. And though your entire life is laid bare before him, with every fault and failure, still he speaks, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

          I long for the day! Oh, what are these increased talents that will so please him?

          The master is well pleased by both servants, even if the amount of their increase differed. He is pleased that the servants were faithful, undaunted, productive. He is pleased they chose a path of doing his will. He is pleased in their obedience! And his reward is great!

          Hear how wealthy the Jesus is! Perhaps five talents are worth about $20 million. The servant doubled it. ($40 million?) And, in verse 21 the master calls it “little” – a little amount. It seems the master has wealth at his disposal which far eclipses even 10 talents. Indeed, to him belong all the world’s riches!

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.           -Psalm 24:1

The treasures of heaven, and every spiritual blessing, belong also to our Christ. Who knows how much more wealth and responsibility he might mean when he sets his faithful disciples over much.

          But then there was the single talent servant.

          Read vs 24-25

          This servant identifies himself with a single attribute: fear. He was afraid. He says it’s why he hid the talent. He was afraid of the master, calling him a hard man. He was afraid of risk, not wanting to lose what was given to him. He was afraid of having everything taken, claiming the master reaps where he does not sow (meaning the master would take for himself the servant’s earnings). Does such a claim really reflect the heart of Jesus? Rather than submitting to the will of his master, he has submitted to his fear, and it has twisted him into a fool. He returns the same talent, garnished with excuses that are, in the end, pathetic.

          Whether or not the master is a hard man, he certainly delivers hard words.

          Read vs 26-28

          In his fear, the servant has chosen a safety-first policy – absolutely unacceptable to the master. The master calls him wicked and slothful (or lazy). Wicked because he chose to ignore the will of his master. Lazy because in seeking comfort and safety, the servant has done nothing.

          The master says he should have put the talent in the banks, trying to earn something with it. See, the master does not need the talents to be doubled. Even a little interest would have been enough. The master desired that something, anything, be done with his resources. But to do nothing is to be wicked and slothful.

          In verse 26, the master said, “You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed.” The master is not affirming what the servant has said, he is destroying the servant’s excuse. If that is what the servant really thought, if he truly believed it, then he would have tried to invest the talent. But the servant did nothing.

Think about it, wasn’t the wicked disciple acting as if Jesus would never return; that profits would never be required of him? It seems he hid the talent as a fire insurance policy, out of fear, just in case. But once the talent is hidden, it is as if it is forgotten. The disciple does not act like Jesus will return, bringing a reaping with him.

Actions betray the words of the disciple, and Jesus exposes them. The servant’s excuse is taken away, just as his talent is taken away.

          And look, the wicked servant’s talent is given to the faithful servant with ten talents. The wicked servant was wrong. The master is not a hard man; he does not arbitrarily reap. The master has not taken back the ten talents. The servant of the five talents is in possession of ten. He has kept the “little” he has earned, has been given the extra from the wicked servant, and then there is the much he is still to oversee.

          For the faithful, Jesus abounds in generosity. For the wicked, he is a hard man indeed.

          Read vs 29

          These certainly sound like hard words. If I have little, even that will be taken away from me? To understand what Jesus is getting at, let’s revisit a time when he said the same thing. A few years before, as Jesus was delivering another parable, the disciples asked him why he taught in parables. This was his answer.

“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

                                                                   -Matthew 13:11-12

Now it is time to revisit our question: were you able to come up with an answer? What do the talents in this parable represent?

The talents represent the sum total of gifts Christ has given his disciples. Yes, he has given you your talents. He has also given you grace and forgiveness. With the cross he removed your condemnation in order to lavish you with the favor of God. He has written his word upon your heart. He has given you spiritual gifts to use in service of his church. He has given you a message to proclaim to the ends of the earth. He has given you the ministry of reconciliation. And through it all, he has given you unshakable hope in everlasting life. As Jesus said in Matthew 13, he has given to you, disciples, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.  

How valuable these gifts! Can any of earth’s riches compare with the treasures of Christ? Oh what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

If you follow Jesus, it means you came to a moment when Jesus called you by name and said, “Follow me.” With a word, Jesus empties heaven of it treasures, and pours them into sinner’s hearts. Redeemed! Beloved! Alive! Sons and daughters of the Most High God!

What, then, shall we do with these truths? Bury them in the ground? Pretend like we are not their possessors? Go on living like slaves without treasure?

Never! We saturate ourselves in the oil of a burning heart, and blaze like torches in the night. We freely lay down our lives in service of the church and in search of the lost. And whether from deep within the valley of the shadow of death, or from the mountaintops of rejoicing, at the top of our lungs, we proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of the darkness and into his marvelous light.

And these things we do with a supernatural heart of courage!

We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

                                                                   -2 Corinthians 4:7-9

God has created us each with different abilities, but with whatever ability we possess, let us waste no time. Let us show this world that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us! Come affliction or perplexities or persecution. Christ is with us, we shall not be forsaken! We will never be destroyed! So let us be fearless, undaunted, and passionately fruitful with the time we have!

And on that day we shall hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” What little we have in this life will abound forevermore, in the presence of Christ, with an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison! To those faithful disciples who have, more will be given.

But to the wicked and lazy, even what they have will be taken away.

Read vs 30

The disciple who gave his life in service of his fear, who chose comfort over hard work, security over risk, who wickedly concealed heaven’s treasures, he is worthless and deserving only of hell.

A point of clarity: no parable can capture all the intricacies of reality. The wicked disciple was only an apparent disciple. He’s the kind of person that shows up to church, hears the word of Christ proclaimed, and does nothing with it – buries it in the ground. He makes no disciples. He does not serve the church. He cares little what Christ thinks of his life.

On Sunday he looks like a disciple, but his actions expose his unbelieving heart. He does not know Jesus, but thinks God is a hard man, feeling arbitrarily judged by him. He does not really believe Jesus is returning. He has no motivation to obey Christ. Externally he can fake being a disciple, but internally his wickedness licks like flames.

His eternity will be filled with the sounds of his own weeping, and the agony of teeth that will never gnash away. Even what he has will be taken from him. Or her.

          But if you are here, then it means your days are not yet spent! There is time still to make use of your days. Jesus is King! Submit your life to him and get to work. We do not work to earn God’s approval. We work precisely because we have God’s approval, a priceless gift given by Jesus and received in faith.

If, as I speak these things, your heart beats a little faster, and you feel a new love rising for this King, I implore you: Find a faithful disciple and let them teach you what it means to live in obedience to Jesus – King of kings and Lord of lords.

For you, my brothers and sister already in the service of the King, fear not!  Risk it all in faith. Lay it all on the line for Christ the King. Your life is but a breath. Use each moment for the glory of Christ! This is what it looks like to live within the kingdom of heaven today.

Though the Master is away, he is returning! Shall we bury his treasures in the dirt?