Zach (Host) (19:11)
Jesus paints us a picture of a master who gave three of his servants money to take care of while he was away. For a while, one servant was given five talents, another was given two, and then another was given one talent. A talent was worth a lot of money. Back then, this was more than a servant would probably make. In about 20 years of labor, a servant would work their entire adult life and still never make an entire talent. So it's a lot of cash. I want you to imagine your boss is going on some sort of trip. He comes up to you and says, I'm going away for a while. I don't know when I'm going to be back, but here's $20.5 million. Could you take care of it for me? Can you invest it? Buy some land, maybe flip some businesses or some houses? I'll be back. And give an account of how you handled my money. That would undoubtedly shake me to the core. That's a lot of pressure, especially since it's not my money to begin with. What am I going to do with that much money? Am I going to be responsible for it, or am I going to somehow waste it? All these servants were all given a different amount of money, no doubt because of their capabilities or their relationship to the master. But that is not actually as important as what they do with their money. I want you to notice that never once was it about the amount of money that they were given or the amount of money that they accumulated, but it was about their faithful stewardship over what was given to them. The first servant technically made more money than the second servant, yet their faithfulness was counted the same by the Master. This reveals something about the heart of God that he measures according to being a good and faithful servant, not a more talented and fruitful servant. I want to tell you a story about the worst sermon I ever heard in my entire life. And I'm not joking about this. It wasn't because the pastor fumbled on his words. It wasn't that he stammered or forgot what he was saying. It was the content of his message that really got me riled up. He painted a picture for the audience. He said, I want you to imagine you're in heaven. I want you to imagine that you're sitting at a dinner table or by a fire in heaven with Moses, with Elijah, with David. I want you to picture yourself listening to David as he tells stories about how he vanquished Goliath and led the armies of Israel into victory. I want you to imagine you talking to Moses and hearing him talk about how he got to walk through parted seas and see manna fall from heaven. I want you to imagine yourself listening to Elijah talking about how he summoned fire from heaven and how he got to watch the prophets of BAAL bow before the God of all creation. That pastor went on to say that you don't want to be hearing this story from David, hearing the faithfulness of Moses and looking at the exploits of Elijah, and feel insecure about what you did here on this earth. What story are you going to have to offer David? Are you going to have an impressive thing to show Moses? Are you going to be able to tell Elijah about all the wonderful feats of faith that you had in your life? You don't want to be caught with a bad story when you're in heaven, right? You see, that pastor had a profoundly inaccurate picture of what heaven is actually like. We're not going to be looking at the exploits of David and Moses and Elijah and then somehow feel insecure and ashamed that we didn't do nearly as much as them. In fact, we're going to be too enamored by Jesus to even care about that. I'm going to tell you something right now. I'm going to be too enamored by the holiness and the person of Jesus to care too much about David and his stories. That message also reveals a misunderstanding in what God considers as faithful stories. Look at the reward of these two servants. In verse 21 of this passage. It says, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much and turn to the joy of your master. Notice how even at the end, the reward for the faithful servant wasn't that he received more money or status, but that he entered into the joy of the Lord. God has given all of us different measures of gifts, talents and positions. But at the end, we are not going to compare exploits with one another. In fact, all of the talents are going to be given back to God anyways. The wonderful reality of heaven is that we get to be in the joy of our master. It's not that we get to brag about our exploits to David, Moses, Elijah, Peter. It's that we get to be in the presence of God. And in the presence of God there is fullness of joy. We need to realize two things here before we continue. One, we are going to give account of our lives and what we did with the gospel that was given to us. We are going to be held accountable to how we used our time and our talents and our treasures. But ultimately, we are going to give an account of what we did with the gospel, what we did with the story of God that was in our hands. Did we allow the gospel to affect our hearts and the way that we treat our friends and family, what we do with the Gospel matters. How we invest the treasure. That is the gospel matters. But the second thing here is that God is in the business of bringing us into his joy. This means that it isn't about begrudgingly obeying Jesus because you don't want to be uninvited to the wedding feast. We aren't jumping through miserable hoops so that we don't miss out on a party. No, this is an invitation to joy. God is in the business of offering us joy, and our faithfulness to him comes from a place of desiring to enter into that joy. The pleasure for us in heaven doesn't come from getting to brag about what we did. It doesn't come from getting extra from our neighbor or the people that are beside us. It comes from being in the presence of Jesus. That is what the third servant was lacking. Ultimately, he was lacking this understanding that the Master was going to be kind and compassionate to him, whether he 10xed his investment or it remained the same. Let's dive into the passage that our story was inspired by. It says this in verse 24 he also who had received the one talent, came forward saying, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But the Master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. The solution for this servant was to take this spectacular talent that was given to him and just bury it. Notice here how he doesn't seem to be particularly unpleased with this either. He says, hey, at least I didn't gamble it away or lose your money. But the Master uses severe language with severe consequences attached to it. He says, you wicked and slothful servant. Having given his servant a wonderful opportunity to be faithful, he came back to see it was buried. Here's a harsh reality that we all have to wrestle with. To do nothing is something Hosea8.7 actually has a chilling verse that I'm always reminded by when I'm interacting with my kids or when I'm working for the kingdom of God. Hosea 8. 7 says, for you reap the wind, and you will sow the whirlwind. You see, many people think that if they invest nothing, they'll get nothing in return. If they put in no effort, they'll get nothing in return. And that's fine with them. But the reality is to do nothing is actually to reap chaos and destruction. To do nothing with the gospel is actually a degenerative act of the soul. You can't get away with doing nothing. To do nothing is to go backwards. So why is the Master so severe here in his punishment? Here's the thing. You may not be antagonistic towards Jesus. In fact, you may love coming to church and learning about Him. You love what religion can do for your family and your kids. You may have just gone to church your whole life and it's just a habit now, and you like it because it encourages you to be a good person. And maybe it's fear, maybe it's bitterness or laziness or selfishness. But some of you might be living your lives hearing the gospel, yet doing nothing in response. This servant's sin was similar to the bridesmaids who had no oil. They were given an opportunity to enter into the joy of their Master, yet they lived as though they didn't even care. Think about this for a second. God, the Creator of heaven and earth, holy, filled with awe inspiring power and majesty, directs the galaxy and causes the instincts of every animal in motion. The God who designed gravity and adorned the mountain range with meadows. He wants you and desires you so much that he would set His Son on a cross to suffer, bleed and die for you. That, my friends, is a treasure. And it is a treasure not to take for granted. To take that reality and bury it away is ultimately a rejection of the Master himself, who so desperately wants you to enter into the joy of of Him. And not entering into that joy is what we see towards the end of this episode where the servant is cast into outer darkness in a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Gospel is too glorious not to demand a response from you. The answer must be yes or no. It can't be maybe later. It can't be maybe when I have my life put together. And it can't be, ah, I'm not sure. The Gospel is too radical an invitation to too joyful an experience to just remain neutral. Jesus says in Revelation 3:15, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. I would rather that you would be cold or hot, because you are lukewarm though, and neither hot nor cold. I will spit you out of my mouth. In Matthew 12:30, Jesus says, Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me will scatter. You see, the Gospel is too radical and Christ's sacrifice too great for us not to respond. For those of you who have received the Gospel of Christ and said yes, this is your opportunity to step out. Take risks, invest in people, use your talents. Don't fall into the trap of the servant who, reeling in anxiety, didn't do what he was supposed to do with the gifts given to him. For those of you who have yet to respond to the invitation of Jesus, he is inviting you now. The door is open. My My exhortation to you as we conclude this episode is that entering into the joy of your Master would surpass anything else hindering you from Him. Thanks again for listening to the Jesus Podcast. If this podcast has encouraged you in any way, we would love it if you left a review. If this podcast has impacted you and offered value to your faith, would you please share it with a friend so that they could experience that same exact joy? And if you've been waiting for new episodes to come out but have trouble seeing it, it might be because you haven't followed or subscribed to the podcast yet. So make sure to hit that follow button click. Subscribe on the platform you like listening to most. That way you never have to miss an episode. Can't wait to see you next time as we figure out how to build a firm foundation that will outlast any storm. See you next time. This is an iHeart podcast.
