Opportunity Lost

 

 

"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. "Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

"Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

"And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

"But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

"For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

Matthew 25:14-30

 

Good Morning my beloved,
 
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us today. We are so grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website and social media platforms with all of your family and friends, God is really making an impact in the lives of others. Your faithfulness to God has brought an astonishing six hundred percent increase in people responding to God's Word. All praise and glory to God.

Every person who hears the Gospel has the opportunity to escape the coming day of judgement. Hell is filled with people in agony, who have been called to salvation by our Lord but the opportunity fell upon dead ears. God can not use a person who has been given many chances and refuses to take them. How often has God wanted to bless us with an opportunity and we hindered it. The natural man, whose bent is sin, set on perfectly executing his own plans only to find the end result is self-destruction.

Robert C. Chapman, a pastor, teacher and evangelist, whose heart went out to all who are Christ's, known as the "apostle of Love," diligent in his preaching, filled with sorrow for those whose spirit and words were so contrary to Christ wrote "No cup of poison so deadly as that mingled cup of law and grace, of works and faith, which is presented to men by false teachers, instead of the Gospel of the grace of God."

Let us pray

 Heavenly Father,

Father, thank You for Your Word, for this reminder as we wait to be filled with anticipation, resisting the temptation to become complacent, indifferent to Christ's return. Lord, many have come and go and gone, even those within our own families, fellow believers, who have waited long. May we be ready, living every moment as if it could be our last. Lord, we pray for those who are without Christ, we ask that today would be that glorious day when they would not pass up this opportunity to accept Christ's sacrifice and seek forgiveness, and receive Him as Lord and Savior. Hear our humble prayers O' Lord to soften their hardened hearts and save their souls. We ask and pray this all for Your glory and for Christ's sake. It is in His name we pray. 

Amen 

Today's Message: Opportunity Lost

From the beginning of Scripture to the end, man is called upon to take advantage of the spiritual opportunity that God has given him to get right with Him. As Christians, we are called to tell people that this same Jesus Who died, He rose again the third day, to offer the forgiveness sin, will one day return to judge helpless, hopeless sinner, and the cursed world. The call of the Gospel is the message to repent of your sin and believe, putting your trust in Jesus Christ alone, to be saved. That's why I believe we must preach the full Gospel, in it's entirety. We cannot afford to falsely prop people up with messages of self-esteem in order to minimize the effect of sin and guilt.To minimize the guilt of sin to people who are one day going to stand before a Holy God, is the absolute worst possible thing we can do. There is reconciliation available, there is forgiveness of sin, but before people can see the importance of provision of deliverance that God has made, we must confront sin. Apart from God's grace through Christ, justice demands every sinner hell for his wages and portion.

 

Jesus Himself has already taught us that He's coming back. However, He did not indicate what generation or era it will come, because He wants all men to live in anticipation, in constant readiness of His Second Coming. It could happen in our generation, so He has called for all men, in every generation to be ready. And He does it by using parables warning us to be prepared and ready. The first parable, the parable of ten virgins, we looked at last time in verses 1through 12. All ten of them were waiting but only five of them were ready when the bridegroom came unexpectedly. Most Christians today do not live in anticipation of the Second Coming, making most of our opportunity and stewardship that God has given us to serve Him. They’re spending all of their time working, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying houses and cars, planning their next vacation, running around like the world, instead of watching and waiting. 

 

The closer we get to His return, the worse it's going to get. If you're not ready to fight that battle, then you best not join the army, because it's becoming more difficult all the time. There are more and more false teachers creating more confusion within the church, giving greater tolerance for things that displease God than I've ever seen in my lifetime. There’s just no way to fight all the battles that are taking place in the church today, you really have to pick and choose your battles. Because there is ever increasing wickedness and sin, it’s literally warfare on every front. Now, more than ever, we must guard the Truth, upholding the Word of God at all cost. I didn't choose to fight this battle, God just kind of dropped it in my lap and said "Go do it!" A careless teacher of the Gospel never made anyone walk closer with God or prepared them for trials.

Open your Bibles to the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 25:14-30. Now, we come to the parables of the talents in verses 14 through 30. In order to carefully study this profound message, we'll need to break it down into two parts, verses 14-19 then 19-30 to help us understand. I invite you to follow along with me as I read these verses to you. Let's open our hearts and our minds to see what the Spirit of God has to say us today. Matthew 25:14-30.

 

"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. "Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

"Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

"And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

"But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

"For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Today, we're going to look at another aspect of what it means to be ready. And it's not just just having faith, or being faithful, it's also to be fruitful. That's the difference between this parable and the parable of the ten virgins, to not just be ready in waiting, but readiness in the sense of serving. In other words, actively doing the Lord's work, while we wait. James says in chapter 2, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." Whenever we read of the word "talent," we often think about having a particular skill or a natural ability. The word "talents" in the ancient times, actually refers to a measurement of currency. It is said the worth of one talent would be worth about 20 years of salary for an average worker. Based upon a salary of $20,000 per year, one talent today would be worth $400,000 dollars. I don't know about you, but in my life, that's a lot of money. 

 

Before we begin, we must understand that everything we have belongs to God, He is the One Who gives us our "talents." Next, we must understand that some of us are given more ability, more resources than others of us, but all are expected to use to the best of his ability, what God has given him. James in chapter 1 verse 17 says, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

 

We are His slaves, given with the responsibility to mange what He has given us until He returns. I Corinthians 6, Paul says "you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price." True believers manifest grace by a life of faithful service.

 

Let's look at verse 14, "For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them."

 

Since God knows everything about us, He knows which gifts He should entrust to us. The word "it," refers to the kingdom of heaven, the invisible, everlasting spiritual realm or sphere, is God’s dominion in Christ where He rules and reigns. So Jesus is saying the kingdom is likened to two of these parables, the ten virgins and the talents. Being the second parable, He doesn't repeat the phrase "the kingdom of heaven," He simply says "it." By the way, sometimes in Scripture it is referred to as the kingdom of God, the kingdom is central theme of Jesus' teaching throughout the New Testament. 

 

Nobody gets into the kingdom of heaven unless they’re genuinely converted. In these two parables, both true and false Christians are represented, outwardly they look the same, inwardly they they are different. We can’t see the hearts of men. Sometimes the kingdom of heaven refers to the visible kingdom, those who identify themselves with Christ, like in the parables of the wheat and tares, and the ten virgins, where some are good and some are bad.

 

The message is clear, only the truly saved can inherit the kingdom where God is sovereign and Jesus Christ rules forever. Because we cannot see it, does not mean "it's not real" or "not connected to this world," we can't see the wind or gravity, and we know they both are real! Here, He’s talking about two kinds of servants, the ones who use their opportunity and the ones who waste it. The visible church today is filled with the true who are on the narrow road and the false, on a broad path who thinking they were going to heaven but their not, both identify themselves as servants of the Lord. The word slave, is the word "doúlos," a bond-slave, someone who belongs to another without any ownership rights of their own. The man in the parable, represents God, who has a lot of servants, people who attach themselves to him. They know him, there’s a level of acquaintance. That’s the picture as we approach this parable.

Let's move on to verse 15, "To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey."

In the church today, there are many appointed pastors and teachers, all are under the authority of the Christ, it's important to understand that not all of them have hearts are that are right. They have never reached the point of knowing and embracing that God owns it all. They fail to realize they are only servants, occupants of His House, managers of what He owns, to make sure that everything is well cared for, while Christ is away. The servants here in this parables are what we call today employees called to manage the assets and resources for the profit of a master. I hope you are beginning to see the comparison between the servants and pastors today. 

 

God entrusts each one, with certain gifts and resources according to his own ability, with opportunity to produce a return. We must pray for all those who stand in the pulpits, who claim to represent Christ, that they would teach God’s Word, in Truth, with authority and conviction. This parable tells us as Christians the responsibility we all have. The number of talents in this verse are unimportant, it's only illustrate that each of us have been entrusted with different abilities, resources and opportunities to invest in the kingdom while He is away. It's important to recognize that everybody was created differently, some have a greater spiritual capacity to handle a larger amount of spiritual responsibility, exposed to different opportunities than others. He expects to see the outcome of that which He entrusted to us and we will be held accountable. God has a right to do whatever He wants with the possessions He has given me, I have is the responsibility to handle what we've been given faithfully. God apportions as He wants which will produce differing results.

 

Some of people are like Dennis The Menace. As he’s leaving church with his parents, he shakes hands with the preacher and asks "Preacher, what are you going to do with that dollar my dad gave you?"Every financial decision is a spiritual decision, not only what we give to the Lord, but what we do with the rest of our money. What we do with what we have reflects our goals, priorities, convictions, relationship with God. In other words, you can’t fake what your checkbook reveals. It isn't any wonder why some Christians are so secretive about their finances, they’ve got a problem. Let’s face it, it's easy for us to sing "I Surrender All" while we actually surrender very little. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Don't be fooled, He’s following the money trail. And some people are surprised when they experience financial set backs. Let's be honest, some Christians are only Christian's while they're in church.

 

Each of these three different men did something with the talents that were given, with an outcome tied directly to what they did. Let's take a look at what the servants did with what they were given. Verse 16, "Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents."

 

This man is a true servant, he responded immediately to the privilege of serving his Lord. The money and possessions God gives each one of us are a very effective tool to see if He can trust with more. Jesus doesn't tell us specifically what he did with the five talents, only that he traded with them and doubled his investment. The word traded Jesus uses is the word "ergazomai," it means to work or labor. He went out and engaged in doing business. Whatever this man did, he made the most of his spiritual opportunity, demonstrating maximum commitment to doubling his masters investment. Far too many people live for this world, investing in that which is temporal instead of God's kingdom which is eternal. God is just as concerned about the attitude of the believer making $10,000 a year as he is the attitude of the believer making $1,000,000 a year.

 

Verse 17, "In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more."

 

Notice the second man also doubled what his master gave him, both equal in faithfulness, it’s not an equal result. That's true of each of us, some will have greater results than others. God sovereignly created each of us uniquely, to fit in to His plans at all different levels. Whatever ability and opportunity God has given us, He expects the maximum return. In these first two cases, both men gave the Lord a maximum return on the privilege God gave them. The amount is not what's important. He doesn’t care about the amount. He does care about the faithfulness to use what He's given us. What are you doing with the responsibility which God has given you? Are you maximizing your opportunity and privilege?  I hear people all the time who say, "God doesn’t expect me to tithe, He knows I don't have enough money to just give away!" They don’t understand, it may not be clear to some of you; it's not about the amount, it's about the faithfulness. You’re responsible to be faithful with whatever God has given you and I'm responsible to faithful with whatever God has given me. That’s the point.

Verse 18, "But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money."

 

The man given one talent buries the money, he did absolutely nothing with the privilege to serve his master. Don't be fooled, one talent was quite a lot of money. This man wasted his opportunity, he knew what he was supposed to do and he chose to do nothing! Just as we know what we are supposed to do but we choose to disobey or delay. Even the one that has a little, very limited opportunity, is equally responsible according to his portion. 

You know, that's the way it's going to be when the Lord returns with those who has heard a limited amount of the Gospel, every person is expected to respond to the Truth. I've often been asked, "What about those who never heard the gospel? How can they be expected to know anything about God?" Listen, people dislike the idea of spiritual accountability, but God has graciously revealed Himself, generously through creation, which can be clearly seen by everyone. The greatness of God can be seen in the smallest insect to the vastness of the sky with the glory of the sunrise and sunset, and the moon and stars fixed in their orbits, brightly shinning in the expanse of the night, the intricacy of each unique snowflake. Just think of the amount of energy generated by the sun, which is nearly 93 million miles from the earth. It produces enough to supply the earth with 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us who now use electricity on the planet! The point is, the lack of response leads to reckoning.

 

That brings us to verse 19, I'll just read it to you and we’ll look at it more closely next time. "Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them."

 

The word settled is the Greek verb "sunairó," it is an aorist infinitive. It means to take a look at the books and compare accounts, it's a commercial term. When the Lord comes back after being away for a long time, He's going to take a look at what men have done and evaluate their faithfulness in service. It is a time for judgment, that's the idea. There will be a sense of fulfillment in a job well done, when the Lord recognizes the integrity of his heart. And for the one who has done little or nothing, there will be a terrible sense of shame.

 

Luke 12 says, "But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers."

 

In Closing..

 

It was not so long ago, I remember people talking about the Second Coming of Christ with great anticipation, it was if it was going happen at any minute. Today, there's a preoccupation with this world, on being famous, on being wealthy. The American Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’" That will the saddest words for the one who had the greatest privilege one can have, to serve the Lord, and because he wasted it, his opportunity is lost.

 

These aren’t comforting words, in fact, they're convicting, instead of leaving here today, singing and rejoicing, praising the Lord, feeling spiritual superstars, you may feel like crawling away, badly beaten, wounded and hurt. The good news is, there's hope. You can still give thanks and praise Him the tremendous truths of the Word today, and for helping you see what He's already known, the issue is obedience and trust. Praise Him for giving you another chance to put Him first and become a faithful steward He created you to be, a channel from which His blessings flow.

Remember when Paul was talking in Corinthians concerning the churches at Macedonia and he said some interesting things about them. He said things like, “They gave according to their ability.” And then he thought about it for a moment, he said, “No. They really gave more than they were able to give.” And then when he talked about the fact that they gave more than they were able to give?

May it be so..
 
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 
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