What Difference Does Jesus Make in our Stewardship?

Some day God will ask every one of us, "What did you do with what I gave you?" And what will be our response?

The Hollywood phrase for that is: "Prepare to meet your Maker," but I wonder if we really believe we will do that some day, and I wonder if we are really prepared.

Jesus tells several related stories at the end of Matthew, one right on top of the other, all with similar themes: a master goes away and is delayed in returning, and how prepared and faithful are the servants when the master of the house suddenly returns?

Jesus tells these stories to make a lasting impact. And to make sure that happens with ours this morning, I will be asking for ten volunteers at the end of the sermon to come forward and take on a special kingdom assignment (thought I’d warn you…).

It’s been almost 2,000 years of waiting for Jesus to show up and perhaps we just don’t take it seriously anymore. But Jesus wants his disciples to expect their Master to return any moment and to be awake and vigilant and ready, so he tells these stories.

A wealthy master decides to go on a long journey and he entrusts everything he has to his servants. He gives to each one what fits their capabilities – "each according to their unique abilities." When he comes back he calls them in one by one to settle accounts with them.

He is thrilled with the work of the five-talent servant and the two-talent servant because they made a 100% return on what they were given.

"Well done you good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things, so I am going to put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!"

"You wicked and lazy servant! Throw this useless servant out into the outermost darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

When Will Willimon preached on this story he said, "I don’t know about you, but when I hear this parable of the talents, the thing that sticks out in mind is its rather nasty ending… why did the master get so angry?" ¹

It does seem pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Willimon thinks that maybe it’s because we can relate more to the one-talent guy than to the other two. Most of us don’t think of ourselves as the big wheeler-dealer types who can go out and get spectacular returns on our investments. Most of us don’t think of ourselves as two or three-talent people. Most of us are not even sure we have one.

"When you’ve only got one talent, you can’t afford to go out and take risks." Willimon, a Methodist pastor, said:

I remember the first time I met with an investment counselor to start planning how I would save for retirement. He talked to me about various levels of investment, namely investments which incur a great deal of risk as opposed to investments which, while they are slow growing, have very little risks. Then, when I told him how much I wanted to invest, he immediately said, "Well, we won’t be looking for any investments with a great deal of risk. With that small amount of money, what you want is safety and security, not risk.

That’s what the one-talent guy wanted: he wanted safety and security, not risk. He took the safest course conceivable. The Jewish law of the day said: "Whoever immediately buries property entrusted to him is no longer liable because he has taken the safest course conceivable." ³

He probably expected his master to be pleased when he handed him back his one talent safe and sound and said, "Here’s what is yours." But his master is furious. He calls him evil and lazy and useless, and then he takes his one talent away and gives it to the five-talent guy who already has ten. Why did he do that?

If you asked the one-talent guy he would say it’s because the master was harsh and mean and demanding and unfair and therefore to be feared. The one-talent guy blames the master completely for his overly cautious behavior, and we might be inclined to agree with him.

But before we jump to our own conclusions, we need to back up and hear this story the way Jesus’ listeners would have heard it. Unlike us, Jesus’ listeners knew a lot about slaves and masters. They knew about lazy slaves and cruel masters. And they could tell from everything that was described in this story that this was not a cruel master. Let me explain why.

First of all, this master turned over everything he had to his servants. He entrusted all of his property to them. "Can you imagine it?" Willimon asks. "The master calls in these slaves and gives them everything he’s got. The key to his Cadillac, the key to his wine cellar, his personal identification number to his bank account and his stock portfolio – everything… This is some kind of master. Some kind of slavery!" ⁴ This master was not miserly or exacting; he was unusually trusting.

Secondly, a ‘talent’ is a large sum of money. It was the largest unit of accounting they had in Greek money. It was like being given ten to fifteen years’ wages. That is one talent. So, the five-talent servant was basically given more money than most people saw in a lifetime. In Charles Bartow’s words, this master "turns over to his slaves enough of his own wealth to scare half to death even the most confident Wall Street money manager." ⁵

That is a rare master, to entrust his slaves with such vast sums of money, with all his wealth, for a long period of time. He was trusting and generous.

Also, in that culture slaves were expected to do their duty without receiving any praise whatsoever. But this master gives extravagant praise to the two-talent and five-talent slaves. "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

He increases their authority ("I will put you in charge of much") and it looks like they get to keep all their winnings. And it even sounds like he welcomes them into his home: "Enter into the joy of your master."

In his commentary on Matthew, Tom Long observes that: "Everything in this story leads us to see the master as an extraordinary man – trusting, welcoming, generous, and benevolent. That is the way the narrator of the parable presents him; that is the way the first two slaves view him – otherwise they would not have been so free to risk and act – and that is the way the master conducts himself. Clearly, the one-talent slave has badly misjudged the master." ⁶

On top of that we must remember that Jesus is telling this story toward the end of Matthew. What happens next in his life, just two chapters later? Where is Jesus going? Jesus knows exactly where he is going as he tells this story about a master who called in his servants and gave them everything he had. "Jesus is on his way to Calvary, to give away everything he’s got."

This story takes on a whole different meaning when we put it in context, doesn’t it? It is like the college student whose friend was flunking out and he overheard a telephone conversation he was having with his mom, giving her the grim news.

It was obvious his mother was really "giving him some grief." Parents are good at that at those moments.

But then a later conversation with him put his mother’s deep disappointment and anger in context for me. He told me that he was the first person in his family ever to go to college. His mother not only worked at a very difficult job during the day, but she had taken a cleaning job at night in order to pay for his college expenses…She was working twice as hard to put him through college as he was working in college. She had a right to be angry. ⁷

This mom had a right to be angry with her son. And the master had a right to be angry with his lazy and useless servant who did nothing with what he had been given.

The master’s absence was a test for these three servants. What would they do with his generosity and trust? This story asks the same kind of question of us.

God has given each one of us talents. A talent could be seen as our money, our work, our aptitude/education, the opportunities we have. Simply put (a la Dale Bruner), a talent is "what the Lord gives you now and will ask about later." What am I doing with what God has given to me? How are we using our talents to advance God’s kingdom?

God is not harsh with us but lovingly expectant, calling from us only what fits our abilities (e.g. spiritual gifts assessment at Men’s Advance). You have been given resources and skills and opportunities that fit you. What are you doing with them to serve the Lord?

By the way, there is a "use it or lose it" aspect to the talents, isn’t there? "Unused muscles atrophy," writes Dale Bruner, "unused talents damn; unfruitful trees are chopped down and thrown into fire." ⁸ There isn’t any place in Christian discipleship for passively playing it safe. That is not what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Following Jesus means risking and serving and giving everything for the God who has given everything for you.

Plus there is no need to play it safe. God has already given us everything (the kingdom) in Jesus Christ. The single greatest goal of a Christian disciple is not to avoid all danger but to hear the Lord say to us at the end of our lives: "Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your master."

One day we will each give an account for what we have done with all that we have been given in Jesus Christ, and what will we have to show? We want to figure that out now.

To help with this, I am asking 10 of you to volunteer for a kingdom assignment this morning. I’m serious. I’m searching for 10 volunteers (one per family who has not done this before) and once you come forward I will explain what the kingdom assignment is. I promise not to embarrass you or make you say anything. This is a not a joke; it is a serious assignment.

I am giving each one of you a $100 bill. Should you choose to take part in this kingdom assignment, it will be with these three conditions:

It is my confidence that God will stretch you and bless you in this kingdom assignment, and through you will bring home for all of us the lessons of this parable. (The rest of you might want to invest your resources with these 10 volunteers.)

Who knows what amazing things will come from praying and risking and eagerly investing what God has graciously entrusted to you?

Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, we do not want to play it safe. We want to follow you. You have given us talents, so many talents. You have generously entrusted to us the work of your kingdom. Lead us to be good and faithful servants of yours, to see everything we have as belonging to you, to pray and ask what you want us to do with it. Bless these 10 as they invest this $100. May this money spark the generosity of others and be used for your glory in their lives and in your world. Wake us all up to examine our lives today and spend them freely for you, as you have given yourself freely for us. Amen.