In the Light of the Season, Christmas and Gifts
I took advangtage of the season to share with our church this message. Be Blessed today!
Don't Bury Your Talent/Use Your GiftsTheme: Using our God-given gifts –
Scripture: For everyone who has will be given more and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Matthew 25:29 (NIV)
This morning, our Bible story is a familiar story that Jesus told. It is called the Parable of the Talents. In the Parable of the Talents, a very wealthy man was going to go on a trip. He called his three servants together and told them that he would be gone for a long time and that he was leaving them in charge of all of his wealth. He divided up his wealth and gave it to the three servants.
To the first servant, he gave five talents. Now, that might not sound like much to you, but in Jesus' day, that was a lot of money. To the second servant, he gave two talents. Not as much as the first servant received, but still a large sum of money. To the third servant, he gave one talent. Even one talent was worth quite a lot!
The first servant took the five talents his master had given him and put it to work and earned five more talents. The second also invested his two talents wisely and earned two more talents. The third servant took his one talent and buried it in the ground for safe keeping.
When the master returned, he was very pleased when the first two servants told him that they had doubled his money. "Well done," he said. "Because you had been faithful with what I have given you, I will give you much more."
"How about you?" he asked the third servant. "What did you do with the money that I left with you?"
The third servant said to the master, "I knew that you were a hard man and I was afraid, so I went out and hid your treasure in the ground so that it would be safe. See, here it is."
The master was angry. "You are a wicked and lazy servant. You could have at least put my money in the bank where it would earn more." He then took the one talent from the lazy servant and gave it to the one who had ten talents.
In this Parable of the Talents, God is the Master and you and I are his servants.
The talents that the master gave to his servants in this story was a form of money.
But God has given us talents too, hasn't he?
God created each of us with special gifts and he expects us to use those gifts for the purpose for which he gave them to us.
1. Everyone has been given something to use
First, we’re all given a different starting position. Some of us are born into abundance (five talents). Others are born into scarcity (one talent). But what matters isn’t what we’re given — it’s what we do with what we have is that matters. So Jesus acknowledges the unfairness of life, but he also suggests that our starting conditions are irrelevant.
Don’t compare yourself with anyone else; compare yourself with your potential. God will not ask you why weren’t you so and so, but will ask you why weren’t you the best ___________.
2. God expects us to use his Gifts/talents-Responsibility
In other words, if you do nothing with your talents… if you hide them in the ground and hoard them, you are choosing to be wicked, lazy, and worthless. You are supposed to invest what you’ve been given. Don’t be lazy.
Note: God gives the talent, but it is up to us what we do with it
Example: Sometimes in churches folk complain about the programs or activities of the church not fulfilling their needs. – But – instead of picking – why not offer to help? Why not put your talent to work?
A complaining member, talking to a preacher, was asked, “Can you read?” “Yes.” “Can you talk?” The member replied, “Of course.”
The preacher responds, “If you can talk you can pray. If you can read, you can study the Bible. Yes, the church should offer some spiritual growth activities, but it’s your responsibility to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.” Many churches think that the pastor takes on all the responsibility, but really we all need individually, to be challenged to fulfil the responsibilities that the Lord Jesus calls us to fulfil.
3. We will have to give an account for what he gives us
Look at this third servant who buried his talent, listen to what the Message says,
24-25"The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'
26-27"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
28-30"'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'
Some might ask, what if I don’t get results for stepping out in faith, what if I am not successful?
Let’s see how the first two servants are praised. The master praises them for being “faithful.” Very interesting, it would have been different if the master praised them for being shrewd or effective or profitable. But the praise is given for their faith, not for their results.
Use it or lose it- Use it or lose it
What we don’t use, we lose.
There was a man in New York some years ago who was afraid that, as he grew older, he would lose his eyesight. He kept one eye covered with a patch all the time and never used it. And, sure enough, he was right. Eventually he did lose the sight in one of his eyes - the one he kept covered and never used!
The reason some have never been powerful is because they never have used what power that they have been given. You will never see cancer healed if you don’t first pray for headaches.
God gives acorns not oak trees, if you want the oak tree (mature gift) you need to do something with the acorns (immature gift).
4. If we use what we have he will give us more
For everyone who has, will be given more and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Matthew 25:29 (NIV)
Mark 4:24-25
Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
Sometimes you and I may look at the talents that God has given to others and think that God hasn't given us very much talent. We might even be tempted to hide our talent.
5. Bloom Where You Are Planted
Bloom-
There are people with physical problems, people with emotional problems.
The Readers’ Digest tells about a psychiatrist who said: "Almost every emotional problem can be summed up in one particular bit of behavior: It is a person walking around screaming: ‘Love me, love me, love me.’ He goes through a million different manipulations to get somebody to love him. On the other hand, healthy people are those who walk around looking for someone to love. And if you see changes in the people who are screaming, ‘Love me, love me,’ it is when they realize that if they give up this screaming and go to the other business of loving another human, they can get the love they’ve been screaming for all their lives.
It’s hard to learn but it is good when you learn it."
There are many ways of blooming. Loving others, helping those in need, Hospitality, Homeless Outreach, Teaching a Sunday School Class, Working with the Youth, being a part of prayer team, we need Volunteers.
"God’s requirements are met with God’s enablement’s."
Stay where you are planted/supposed to be- There’s a story about a man who took his son to a parcel of land he owned and told him to chop down the weeds at the corner of the lot. While the little boy was chopping weeds, he noticed some businessmen who were scouting land nearby for possible development. They became confused about how to get back to the city. They yelled across the field to the little boy, “Hey, kid! Which road leads back to the city?” The boy pointed and yelled back, “The city is that way.” Then, suddenly unsure about the direction to the city, he yelled, “Hey, stop! I’m sorry. The city is the other way.” One of the businessmen said to the others, “Forget that kid. He’s lost himself.” The boy shot back, “No, I’m not lost. I’m where I’m supposed to be. My father told me to work this part of the field.” “But,” the businessman said, “You don’t know how to get to the city.” The little boy said, “That’s because I’m not going to the city. But I’m not lost. I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
We often miss opportunities right in front of us because we believe the myth that the grass is greener on the other side.
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