Parable of the Talents

A couple of weeks ago, we covered a sermon that involved a parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 25. I titled it the parable of the sleepy virgins because even though five were foolish and five were wise, they all were sleeping. They all slumbered. Sometimes the monotony or the humdrum or this, the daily grind, can be something that we do struggle with. But as we mentioned at that time, that parable was following up on what Jesus spoke throughout Matthew 24. What he talked about in Matthew 24 was what's going to lead up until the time that Christ will return. And we read through that whole chapter, and it concludes with the coming of the Lord. It concludes with Christ's intervention in world affairs and with the establishment of the kingdom of God.

But then in chapter 25, he goes through this parable of the virgins. He then, secondly, goes through a parable of the talents. And finally, the latter part of that involves how it is that people need to serve and love one another.

How it is that they should do that toward one another as they are doing it toward him. And so I think it's important for us to focus on these directives that Jesus gave. And we would have to conclude, as we thought about the first of those parables, that the parable of the sleepy virgins was about being alert. Being alert, being prepared, being ready. Whenever Christ does return, we want to be prepared. And yet, this second parable, the parable of the talents, was a parable that Jesus spoke about what?

It's not about being alert. It's not about being prepared, even. What's the parable of the talents about? Well, it's about being productive. You actually see that Jesus uses this parable, the parable of the talents, and you also find he used another parable that I believe he would have given a little bit earlier because you see this recorded in Luke chapter 19. You see him, in that case, using a pretty similar parable, but it is different. And it's called the parable of the pounds.

And so you've got the parable of the talents, the parable of the towns, both of those, and I'm going to call those the parables that Jesus spoke on productivity. It's not only that he wants us to be alert and prepared, he wants us to be productive. He wants us to produce, and he wants us to grow.

And so I want us to take a look at these parables today, and certainly they can be applied to us as a whole, as a group, as a church, and they should be applied directly to each of us as individuals because we are, each of us, going to, you know, have to answer for how we have responded to the calling and blessing that God has given us. So, if we turn to Matthew 25, we will start in Matthew 25, and actually it begins in verse 14, and runs down through verse 30.

So this is actually a somewhat long parable. It says in verse 14, for it is, and talking about the kingdom of God because he had mentioned that in verse 1, is as a man going on a journey, summoned his servants and entrusted property to them. And in verse 15, you see the description of how it was he did this. This parable is talking about, you know, an activity that Jesus wanted his disciples and all of his disciples today to be aware of, understanding, and then involved in.

But what we see in verse 15 is, to one of his servants, he gave five talents. And to one of them, he gave two, and to one of them, he gave one. And it says in the latter part of verse 15, he did this, each of them according to their ability. Now, in some ways, I think even the word talent can be a little bit misunderstood because what this is talking about is talking about a pretty large sum of money.

It's talking about the talent as opposed to what we'll read later in Luke about the pounds. The pound was a smaller amount of money. The talent was a very large amount of money. And yet, as we can clearly see, one of those servants was given five, and one was given two, and one was given one. And so, you know, he gave those out. And it says in verse 18, the one who was given one, he hid the talent in the ground. He didn't do anything with it. He hid his money. And yet, after a long time, the master of the servants came to settle accounts with them.

And so, in verse 20, the one who had received the five came forward, bringing five more, and said, Master, look! Look! I was given five talents, and here we have ten. And so, you know, a hundred percent increase. He says, I've done a great job. I've really been busy doing the job you gave me to do. And, of course, master said to him, well done! In verse 21, good and trustworthy servant, you have been trustworthy in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your Lord. And so, obviously, whenever this productive servant came back and he showed him what he had done, the nobleman was, or the, is it the ruler, whichever one, the master in this case, you know, he was pleased.

He said, you are going to be given responsibility. And you see a similar account in verse 22 and 23 and 24, where he said the same thing about the one who had been given two talents. He came back and said, I've got four! You know, that's productive. That is, growing. Whatever, you know, he had been given, he had caused it to grow, to which it was much greater.

But in verse 24, the one who had received the one talent came forward and he said, master, I knew that you were a harsh man. I knew you were a harsh man, that you reap where you don't sow, that you gather where you didn't scatter. Now, what's wrong with that picture?

Well, what's really wrong with that picture was that, you know, this particular servant didn't correctly understand how his master really was. He was, in many ways, just completely off base.

He assumed, and this is going to be borne out in what we'll read, he assumed that his master was a certain way. He assumed that his master was harsh and overbearing and would be, you know, not just in how he dealt with him. And let's go on because we see in verse 25 something very important. He said, I knew what you were like, or at least I thought I did.

And in verse 25 he says, so I was afraid. I went and hid your talent in the ground, and here it is. I'll give it back to you. Now, the master's response is worth noting.

He says, you wicked and lazy servant. He said, this approach, this response is completely wrong.

You knew, did you, that I reap where I don't sow and gather where I don't scatter?

Well, you ought to have invested my money with the bank, and on my return I would have received my own with interest. He said, you could have at least done that. You didn't do anything. Of course, if this particular parable was directly dealing with the banking system, or if it's directly dealing with prosperity and working hard and building, that could be applied, but I think there's far more to it than that. And so in verse 28, so take the talent from him, and give it to the one who had ten. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. And as for this worthless servant, throw him into outer darkness where they're weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, Jesus' parable, as I've mentioned to you, is about productivity, and there are many lessons that we should learn from reading this parable. You can say in some ways it's somewhat simple. It's pretty clear. Well, we need to produce. We need to be actively involved in the work that God has given us to do. And yet, I want us to also take a look at what we read in verse chapter 19 of Luke, because both of these parables are talking about productivity.

They're talking about how we go about producing or growing in our lives. And you find that this particular parable is pretty similar, but it's clearly not the same. And it actually has a couple of different points to it that should also give pause for us to think about what God has offered us, what He is going to do for us, how He is going to help us, and of course, how He wants us to be productive. So here in Matthew 19, verse 11, they were listening to this, and He went on to tell a parable because they were near Jerusalem, and they were thinking that the kingdom of God was about to appear. They didn't fully understand when the kingdom, and they knew Jesus had been talking about the kingdom for years. They had been following Him. He had been telling them about the kingdom. He had been explaining to them how the kingdom is going to be set up. But they didn't comprehend how quickly that would happen, what length of time might be involved, what it was even the purpose of delay. Why wait for 2,000 years if this was so wonderful? Well, that, of course, is according to the plan of God, according to the fact that He's wanting to work with some of us today. He's wanting us to learn from the teachings of Jesus and to become a true son or daughter of God. That's a part of what He is pointing out. But He said in talking about this parable of noblemen went to a distant country to get power for himself in return. And He summoned 10 of His servants, and He gave them 10 pounds or a pound each, and said to them, do business with these until I come back. And so, you know, there's clearly a difference. There were only three servants involved, one given five, one given two, one given one, and in the other parable. In this one, there's 10 servants, and each of them only have one. So there clearly is a difference. In verse 14, it actually throws another situation into the mix. It says, but the citizens of His country, the nobleman's country, hated Him and sent a delegation after Him saying, we don't want this man to rule over us. See, he actually just throws that in kind of on the side. He goes on with this parable. When the nobleman returned after having received royal power in verse 15, he ordered his servants to appear and the ones he had given the money to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. And the first came forward and said, Lord, your pound has made 10 more pounds. And so he was given one and now he's got 10. Now that's quite productive. That's, you know, a thousand percent. You know, he's increased it tremendously.

And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been trustworthy in very small things. You shall take charge of 10 cities. And so, you know, you find a similar thing with the second one. The second one came, Lord, your pound has gained five pounds. And so, again, quite productive, even more so than what we saw in the parable of the talents. And yet, you know, it's 500, I guess, 500 percent if you had one and then you've got five. Well, that's a considerable increase. And he said to him, and I'm going to have you rule over five cities.

And so, again, there is a difference in these parables, but they are very similar. And, of course, the other one came saying, Lord, here's your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth.

And so now this part is the same. This part is the same because the one who was given one in the other parable and the one for this one, who only got one in the pounds.

You know, it says, I hid it. And in verse 24 or excuse me, verse 21, I put it in a piece of cloth for I was afraid of you. I was afraid of you because you are a harsh man. Now, we've heard this before. You're a harsh man. You take what you don't deposit. You reap where you don't sow. And so the nobleman says to him, I will judge you by your own words. You wicked servant. You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man? Take him what I don't deposit. Rape him what I don't sow. Why didn't you just put my money into the bank? When I returned, you would have had that plus interest. So he gave him in essence the same answer to the one who didn't produce, the one who didn't grow, the one who was not productive. And so in verse 20 or verse 24, he said to the bystanders, take that pound from him and give it to the one who has 10 pounds.

And they said to him, Lord, he already has 10. See, to the people standing by, this didn't look right.

But of course, to the nobleman, if he's the one in charge and he's the one passing out the pounds and the one passing out the talents, well, if it's referring to Jesus and God and their desire to have us be productive, well, then they can decide how they would like to do that. And in verse 26, I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given. But from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. So as for those, it kind of concludes there in verse 26.

And then he mentions verse 27 as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them. See, he referenced back what we read in verse 14. There were some in his kingdom. You know, it doesn't even, they weren't the ones he was given the talents to or the pounds. He wasn't giving them the money to work with. These are people who hated him. These are people that didn't want to yield to the nobleman, the one who didn't want any help. He says to those enemies of mine who don't want me to be king over them, bring them here and slaughter them in my presence. You know, clearly, you know, they are going to be cast aside if they're not going to, you know, be in subjection to the nobleman. So I go through both of these. I read, when I read this second parable, I was thinking that, well, let's see, there were 10 servants, there were 10 pounds, you know, one each, and one got 10 and one, or one increased to 10, one increased to five, one didn't do anything, and what happened to the other seven? Doesn't say. Doesn't even say, and so I'm sure, you know, that Jesus probably had a tie-in with the other parable, because you see some great similarities there. But whenever we read these parables, it's very easy to conclude that Jesus was wanting his disciples to be productive, and he's wanting all of us to be productive and to consider what are the gifts, what are the abilities, what are the capacities that we have, or what are the capacities that we may even learn, or that we might cultivate that could be used in the service of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

I think that's sometimes that's what, and I as I was talking this over with Pat, I think sometimes we get confused because the title of this first parable in Matthew is Parable of the Talents, and because a talent is a monetary amount, a large monetary amount in this case, often whenever you use the word talent you think about, well, what kind of talent do I have?

Well, I can sing, or I can dance, or I can draw, or you know, what are all the different talents and capacities, qualities that God has given us? And yet, I don't know that that's exactly what he wants us to focus on. I think what it really is implying is, well, what are the gifts?

What are the abilities that God makes available to us, and probably in the spiritual dimension, in the spiritual realm, spiritual talents that we have been given? And the Bible talks about us being given talents, and clearly all of us, you know, we grow up with different gifts, different aptitudes, different abilities. We have, we've got a group of 40 or so here, we have a lot of different education levels, we have different means, we have many different, we have different opportunities, different things that, you know, might affect how we could use the gift that God gives us. Certainly we all have a gift of life, and we have talents and abilities, you know, that we ourselves may know more about than anyone else. But what he tells us is that he wants us to be productive and to use those abilities, to use those talents in a productive life of service to the one who has called us, to the one who has saved us and brought us to a relationship with our Father and the one who enables us to be forgiven of our sins. I think sometimes we might confuse the idea of talent or ability, and certainly God does give us talents, He gives us natural abilities that might be, you could describe them as either artistic or musical or an athletic writing abilities, speaking, teaching, organizational skills, different types of things that we could all use in whatever job we might be involved in, whatever type of career, whatever work. And of course we've got different people with different backgrounds, different types of jobs, different capacities, and, you know, we utilize what our abilities are in those jobs.

And yet, you could also think about abilities that God has given us that we can also grow in and learn about how we can use those abilities to serve God and to serve others. See, all of us, you know, can learn, you know, the different things that would be needed to help others and to be able to care and nurture others. And whether we think we have five talents or one talent or two talents or one talent, as in the case, or one pound, that's really immaterial. What's really important is what we do with what we have, what we've been given. And so we need to be actively involved in that. We can all learn, you know, some of the simple things that we mention here at church almost every week about serving one another, about caring for one another, about being concerned, maybe visiting, you know, those who are either physically or financially in need. You know, we talk about praying for people. We can also visit those. You know, we obviously, here in our own building, we have to set up our services beforehand. We have to take back down. And, of course, all of us could participate, or many of us, not I shouldn't say that. There are some of us who shouldn't be doing that because it could be hurtful. But we want to be involved if we're able.

And certainly, you know, that's something that could be done. You know, sometimes we could host Bible studies in our home. Clearly, you know, we often are sending cards. Looks like we have several cards over here on our table. We're doing that as a congregation, but many of you do that individually. I know my wife does that almost as consistently as she can to try to keep up with, and, of course, as you know, the many cards and many requests that we have of praying for people.

But those are cards not only just to contact people, but to try to be encouraging, to try to be uplifting. And, of course, you know, just being an example of unity, a light to one another, a light to creating the harmony. See, most of that, you know, all of those type of abilities in service to one another, those can all be cultivated. Those can all develop. You know, we can, we might say, well, I'm not as personable as so-and-so. Well, that, again, doesn't make any difference. You know, we can still, you know, get in contact with them. We can still learn about them. We can learn to love them. And that, of course, is what God is expecting of all of us. If we're going to be using the gifts that God has given us, I want us to go back over these two parables, and I want to point out just a few things here that perhaps can be most helpful. It's obvious that these parables are about being productive. But let's take a look in Matthew 25. Go back to the earlier one.

Matthew chapter 25. And one of the things that is obvious throughout the entire parable is that Jesus is mentioning not only the fact to be productive, but the fact that there is an expectation for increase. There's an expectation to grow, expectation to have some type of a measurable increase in our lives. And, of course, that would involve the fact that we have to do something. You know, we certainly want to have faith in God. We want to grow in our connection with the Father and with the Son. We want to do, as far as obey, what God tells us to obey.

But see, we also have to do. We have to involve ourself in service. And God expects growth, but He offers to help make that growth happen. All we allow Him, or as we allow Him to mold or shape us into something that's useful for His glory and for His kingdom. See, that's what He wants us to do. He wants us to be growing spiritually. And that's why I say, I think that this parable of the talents or the gifts that God has given us, we have to recognize that we need to make the best of what we've been given. Make the best of whatever we've been given. And if we're going to make progress, we'll have to evaluate, maybe from year to year, maybe from holy day to holy day, maybe from month to month, maybe from week to week. Just how am I making progress? And what if we're just struggling? We don't know that we're making any progress. Well, even if we are struggling with overcoming or with the way that God expects us to be looking to Him for help, we can still make progress. And the Holy Spirit allows us to change our lives and become like God in 10s. See, that's what we see here in Matthew 25. After you read through the whole parable, in verse 28, He said, Take the talent from the one who only had one and who didn't do anything and give it to the one who had 10. See, you need to do, and each one of us need to do, we need to think about what talents or what gifts we have, what abilities we have that could be used in service to others, and then we need to see how that could be used. The second thing we can back up to verse 15 here. Verse 15 says that in this parable of the talents, the Master gave to one five talents and to another two and to another one, to each according to His ability. See, who knows us better than our Creator? Who knows us better than the one who made us, the one who fashioned us? He knows what our maybe inherent abilities are. He knows what our blessings have been. He knows what our challenges have been. And of course, I point this out that God gives us abilities according, or He gives us gifts according to different abilities that He sees in us. He does that in order that we will learn not to compare ourselves among ourselves, because that's not wise.

See, it's not wise for us to think, well, because someone does something that I have to do something.

That's not the case. Not according to this parable and not according to other parables.

You know, we all may have a certain ability or talent that we could use in service. It doesn't have to solely be the only thing that someone else has done. If we take a look at Romans 12, Romans 12 is clearly talking about the transformed life that God wants us to live. And He says in verse 3, He's talking about what it is to live a new life in Christ.

He says in verse 3, By grace given to me I say to everyone not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, even according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. And so in verse 5, we who are many are all a part of one body. We're all responsive to the head. We're all responsive to Jesus Christ. And individually we're members one of another. In verse 6, He says, We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.

And then He mentioned some of those gifts, prophecy in proportion to faith, ministry, administering, teacher and teaching, the exhorter in exhortation, the giver in generosity, the leader in diligence, the compassionate in cheerfulness. To each one of these gifts, whether it's prophecy or ministry or teaching or exhorting or giving, leading or being compassionate, being merciful, being loving and caring and concerned about the conditions of others. You know, those are all different gifts that we may think about and evaluate in our own lives and ask ourselves, well, just how? How are we producing in our production with the gift that God has given to us? And actually, I think, you know, you can certainly clearly say that the gifts that we have, the abilities that we have to perform those, they change. They don't always stay the same.

And I think all of you could analyze that in your own life. I certainly can look back over 40, 50 years. You know, there was a time when my, at least physical health allowed me to do a lot more than what I'm going to consider doing right now. And certainly that's the case for all of us as we age.

And yet, that doesn't mean, you know, that I, you know, should neglect using whatever gift or whatever talent God has given me. I know, like I said, I'm not going to be trying to run up and down the basketball court anymore. Paul still does that a little, as I understand. But I'm not going to try it, because I'll fall down, or I will, you know, that, that I used to do that with the kids all the time. And that was something that was, it was incredibly, it was so much fun. It was such a wonderful delight to be able to do that. And yet, you know, that's just not the case anymore.

That's not an area to be able to help out. It'd be hard for me to keep up with these young, young girls. I'm glad Dorothy and Eric are quite a bit younger. You know, they're the ones who have to keep up with them, and they're the ones who have to help them and encourage them. But see, you know, over time, the gifts that we have and what we may do with them might change.

You know, I, I have mentioned to you, talking to Mrs. Ish, and I know that since she's more limited than she would like to be right now, you know, one of the things that she thinks that she can do is to pray for other people. Now, it doesn't take going anywhere. It doesn't take, you know, any, any ability to actually be out and about.

But she does know, and I have to say, this was interesting to my wife and me the other day.

We had a contact from a lady who was a person who, a member of the church long ago, 40 years ago, in Tennessee. And at that time, you know, this lady was, you know, much younger than she is now.

But interestingly, Mrs. Allen is 101 years old right now. She's still alive.

Sometimes she wonders, you know, I don't know why, but she's still alive and she is not able to see.

She's blind, and she really can't get up and around. She can't, she's pretty immobilized as far as having to be in bed. And yet, amazingly, she is able to continue to think about the church and think about, you know, the sermons that she can still hear. She can hear. So if you can't see, she at least can hear. And she has a lady who is from the Nashville area, and she contacts her regularly every day to see how she's doing. She's either able to call her or go see her. And she's just helping her, assisting her, reading cards, reading maybe even an article out of one of our magazines, or maybe playing, listening to a sermon with her, because she knows she likes to do that. But she, Suzanne said about Mrs. Allen, she said she knows that she's pretty limited right now, but she surely wants to pray for other people, and she wants to pray for you. You know, she has had a soft spot in her heart for us for a long, long time. But of course, I don't know that I realize that fully, except here in the last couple of years, where, you know, we've been more in touch with her. And yet, her ability has decreased and changed. You know, as I recall her in her 60s, she was very active, she was very involved in coming to church. Her husband was with her, he was not a member of the church right at that time. And unfortunately, and one of the memories we have of going out to their house after it had burned down, because they had a house fire and a whole thing burned down. Even though it was out in the country, and surely you probably couldn't get to it very easy. But I remember her over the next months and years, you know, actively involved in redoing everything, having to go through that process. Now that surely wasn't something she wanted to do, but she was actively involved in doing it. And so clearly, you know, her capacity to be able to do had changed. But she still wants to be a contributor. She still wants to help, and if that help can be through praying for others, through being encouraging even from that way, because it's encouraging to me to hear that, you know, that she's actually even aware of us or aware of our, you know, even some of the health issues that we've dealt with over the last year or two. See, each of us, according to our ability, and like I say, that ability might change. That ability certainly wouldn't be different as we age, but we still want to go about using the gifts that we've been given. The third thing I'll mention is what you see here in Matthew 25 in this parable of the talents. Matthew 25, this is regarding the the servant who received one talent and yet who hit it. Now, clearly, you know, he was told that's unacceptable. That's not what the master was expecting. But in describing why he did that, he says in verse 25, I was afraid. And I went and I hid the talent in the ground, and here you are. I'll give it back to you. Now, whenever it says I was afraid, you know, what was he really saying?

Well, he had, as we already mentioned, he had a misperception about the master. He had a misperception about how much did the master want him to be productive. You know, he made a couple of accusations about him that weren't even true, and he said, oh, you thought I was that way, huh? Well, no, I'm not. I not only want to give you a talent, I want to give you ability or a gift, but I'll even help you use it. I'll even help you grow if you bring that to me. See, what I see in that, and of course you see the same thing in Luke about the servant who had won and who didn't produce anything, just hid it, says I was afraid of you. I was afraid. And whenever you think about being afraid, I think ultimately fear because it is an enemy of faith. It's an enemy of putting our trust in God. And in a sense, it is a self-reliance. If that servant who had the one talent or the one pound, if he was only thinking of himself and only depending on himself and not thinking, well, how much can I be helped if I just ask for help and if the master is able to help me, he's able to empower me, he's able to uplift me, he's able to change me. See, fear is in many ways very destructive. There are numerous enemies of faith. Fear clearly is one of them, but in this case, it seems to me, in just reading about how this particular servant responded, he was unwarranted in his apprehension about the master because he didn't understand him.

But he was simply relying on himself instead of realizing that, well, the master is able to help me. He's able. I don't have to be afraid of him. He's able to help me. You know, whatever you and most of you could quote. Perhaps all of us could quote Psalm 23. Psalm 23 is a marvelous psalm. It's one that most people, many people at least, if they're biblically oriented at all, are aware of what Psalm 23 says. But in the middle part of it, it says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, which sounds, you know, very scary, very gruesome, and it's not always just talking about dying because it's talking about going through a difficult time, but yea, though I walk through the valley, and so I walk through, I get through it, the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to fear, why?

Because you are with me, talking about the Good Shepherd. You are with me, and your rod and your staff, they provide me everything I need. They comfort me. They give me, and as the rod and staff are described, the rod is a tool that's used to give direction, give protection, give correction even, and the staff is used to nurture and to comfort and to uplift.

See, that's what our Good Shepherd is concerned about. He doesn't want us to be afraid. He doesn't want us to be apprehensive about not producing. He wants us to come to him and ask him, please help me. I realize that I may think I'm limited, but I don't want to simply rely on myself.

I want to rely on you. I want to trust you. I want to ask for you to empower me, and I think you would have found a different outcome for this particular person or servant because they wouldn't have been afraid. They wouldn't have had the apprehension that clearly they did have. Now, it's not to say that we don't feel apprehensive, and anxiety at times, because clearly we do, and all of us do. And yet, that particular issue in these parables seems to be very similar.

It says we perceived you wrong, and we were trusting ourselves, and we didn't do anything.

And so, we want to learn to trust. I know I've thought about recently a good amount about what God desires, what God wants of me, and I realize that God does want me to be a thankful person. He wants me to not only think about Thanksgiving during November, He wants me to think about thankfulness every day, every, all the time. And yet, as I'm trying to think about the different things that I have been thankful for or am thankful for, even some of the things that I'm allowed to do or that I like to do and that I enjoy, I thought about the other day.

Instead of just trying to enumerate everything, thank you for this, thank you for that, probably I should just pray that you would give me, Father, give me a thankful heart.

Help me to have a thankful heart so that, no matter what, no matter what happens, that I can think of some way to be thankful for that. And certainly, even, you know, in the descriptions that we find of what the Apostle Paul wrote to numerous different churches, he wrote that, yes, we have blessings from God, we have encouragement, we stand firm in the grace of God that He has given us, but we also stand firm even in the suffering that we go through, because we know He's with us.

We know that He is able to help us and that He is able. This is the first few verses of Romans chapter 5. We know that He is able to allow the love of God to be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that He gives us. See, that little section in Romans 5 is about having stability and having faith and having encouragement. And so, you know, this third point is just simply about why was that servant afraid? Well, I think he was relying too much on himself, and he wasn't relying on the one who could help him and the one who would allow him to be truly productive. Let's go to a couple here in Luke chapter 19. Like we said, this other parable is very similar, but there's two things that I want to point out here in this parable.

One of them is that in this parable of the pounds, you see that the one who had produced 10 or the one who had produced five, they both were given a similar commendation.

It says in verse 17, well done, good servant, because you have been trustworthy in very small things, I want you to take charge over 10 cities. See, now, from that, it would appear, and it doesn't directly say that, well, that means you're going to have responsibility for 10 cities in the kingdom of God. It doesn't directly say that, but it does tell us, you know, that as we are faithful in the small things that we can do and that we are required to do in this age, in this life, that he wants to give us a reward. He wants to give us the ability to judge, because that's what it really says in Revelation 20. It says, as Christ returns, as he sets up his kingdom, he's going to grant the saints the privilege of judging and being able to reign with Christ, so to rule, and whether we're over 10 cities or five cities, at that point, you know, it's not going to matter, you know, how many different gifts or talents do we think we had. It's really only going to be matter, or what's only going to matter is how faithful we were in using the talents we were given. And so we have to ask ourselves, you know, as we see there is a reward connected in this particular parable, anyway, we look forward to that role in the kingdom of God. We look forward to the opportunities that God would make available to his trusted and faithful servants, and we clearly ought to be excited about that because it is a wonderful blessing to be able to even to fit into that part of God's plan. But it does point out that he wants to reward us by giving us responsibility of serving and ruling others. And again, you know, exactly whenever we go to the feast, we are thinking about a kingdom that is completely out of this world.

It is a completely different setting than what we see today in this world where there's so much destruction and so much bickering and so much fighting and so much distress. You know, there's going to be a law that will go forth from Zion, and everyone will come to learn, you know, that same law. So the last thing I want to mention is again here in Luke 19, because as I pointed out when we read through this, in verse 14, it mentions the citizens of the country that hated the nobleman and sent a delegation after him and says, we're not going to have you rule over us. We don't want this man to rule over us. And of course what Jesus said in the end of the parable in verse 27, as for those enemies of mine, those who refuse to yield to the rulership and leadership of Jesus Christ, to those enemies of mine who do not want me to be king over them will bring them and slaughter them here in my presence. He says they're going to be cut off. And yet what that points out to us is just simply, you know, they didn't want his rule in their lives. Now you could say, well, that could be similar to the way that the Jews were. You know, they certainly didn't embrace Jesus. They didn't like Jesus. They were, they felt threatened by Jesus. They discarded him. They pushed him aside. They stumbled. That's what the Bible says. They stumbled over him. And yet what he was really wanting them to do was to recognize who he was, to see who he was. And yet in refusing to yield, well, then the outcome is very negative. And of course for all of us, you know, we want to see that example and know that, well, our yieldedness to Jesus Christ. You know, our allowing, John 15 talks about the branches and the vine. And it says the branch will be absolutely useless without the vine. And it says the branches can't do anything without being connected to the vine, without being connected to Jesus Christ. And he would go ahead to say, you know, you need to abide in me. You need to allow my words to abide in you. You need to allow my love to abide in you.

And see what this parable mentions here in verse 14 and then in verse 27 is that those who refuse to be converted and yielded to Jesus Christ, you know, cannot be a part of the kingdom of God.

And so, you know, these two parables, as Jesus spoke them, you know, these parables are given in order to help all of us know how to be prepared, how to be alert, but as we've gone over today, how to be productive, how we can determine the gifts and abilities we have and then utilize those in the service of our ruler and the one who is our master and our king. And so clearly, you know, we've got to desire and appreciate the kingdom of God. See, that's what, in this last point, you know, these people didn't want. They didn't even want it. They didn't understand the need of it. They didn't understand how wonderful it was. And so we have to ask, do we really want Christ to rule in our hearts and minds? Do we want that? And is that reflected in our attitude toward one another, in our service to one another, in our desire, you know, to live in a harmonious and peaceful way? Whenever we analyze that, and as we think about this parable of productivity, you know, we certainly all want to be faithful in our use of what we've been given from God.

And we want that, and we certainly want the words that are spoken about the servants who were productive. Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many. Enter into the joy of your Lord. That's the admonition that we read, you know, that we certainly want to hear from Jesus Christ whenever He returns, whenever He's allowing us to be a part of His divine family, to be His brother or sister in the family of God, being given responsibility over however many cities it is. We clearly just want to be productive and useful servants in His service. And if we are, if we truly are growing in that type of faithful use of our abilities, then I think we can. You say that we can receive that kind of commendation, that kind of reward, that kind of recognition, and yet it's a recognition that God extends to us, that He gives us clearly out of His mercy. It's amazing to see, or to me to see in 1 Peter 2, that the people of God are described. They're described by Peter as being a holy nation, they're described as being a royal priesthood. There are several different descriptions, and yet it later goes ahead and says, you know, before they were not the people of God, but now, since I have drawn them together, and since it is of my calling, you know, they are the people of God.

And the only other thing that's even mentioned there is that in the past they had not received mercy, and yet now they have received mercy. You know, every single one of us are a recipient of the divine mercy of God, and if we are motivated by that, well, then we can truly be the productive servants that Jesus wants each and every one of us to be.