Loading... THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS - Matthew 25:30
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Matthew 25:30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus had just told the parable of the traveling man who gave talents to his servants. This man gave one servant five talents, another two talents and the third one talent. When this man returned, the first servant had turned the five talents into ten, the second servant had turned two talents into four, and the last servant hid the talent and returned it to his master. The master was upset with this unprofitable servant and took the talent from him and gave it to the servant who had earned him five talents.
The unprofitable servant had told his master that “I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth”. When Jesus started this parable, HE likened this parable to the kingdom of heaven. This means that there are those who are here on this earth who proclaim to fear the Lord but then they do nothing. Because this servant was unprofitable, according to this parable, he did not enjoy the rewards of heaven. This servant was cast into hell.
The first lesson you must understand from this parable is that this man was a servant. He was not a slave. This man voluntarily made a choice to follow his master. This is similar to your willingness to call yourself a Christian and being called a servant of God. This unprofitable servant accepted the benefits of being a servant of this master and he received talents from his master. So too, God gives you many good things as a result of your choice to follow HIM. God gives you direction, protection, and provision. God also gives you special talents that you are to use for the furtherance of HIS kingdom.
In this parable, we see the unprofitable servant received a gift from his master and he went and hid that gift. He did not use that gift to further his master’s purpose as the other servants had done. This servant allowed his fear of his master to freeze him into inaction. So likewise, you must take Jesus’ words as a warning for your own life. You cannot afford to allow the fear of God to freeze you into inaction. You have chosen to be called a servant of God and you have received from God the tools and talents necessary to fulfill HIS purpose for your life. You cannot squander HIS talents. You must allow God to work through you so that when HE comes to render an account, you will be as the profitable servants who rendered to their master a good report.
God has not allowed you to be called HIS servant for the sole purpose of enabling you to hide. God allows certain things to occur in your life so that you can use them to expand the kingdom of heaven. God will one day come and render an account for all your actions and inactions. Are you ready for Judgment Day?
This unprofitable servant needed to add virtue into his life. This servant may have feared his master but he did not allow this fear to produce any results. When you add virtue to your life, you put on the mind of Christ. You fill your mind with the things of God and like the profitable servants, you take the things God gives you and use them to expand God’s kingdom. You must think about the things of God and understand how God intends to use you for the furtherance of HIS kingdom. Do not be lured into inaction.