Sunday LinkUp – 19November2023

CALL TO WORSHIP

 

 

OPENING SONGS

 

SERMONETTE

SPECIAL MUSIC

 

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SERMON 

What Are You Doing With Yours?      

A.  You have been given something … a talent … an ability … a gift … whatever.

B.  You have been given a combination of talents/abilities/experiences … that nobody else has been given.

C.  You have a skillset that is unique to you.

D.  What have you done with yours?  What are you doing with yours?

E.  Our sermon for today is entitled WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOURS? … and it’s based on a parable that should give you some food for thought.

Matthew 25:14-30    

 

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE PASSAGE?  What can/should we take away?

Let’s take a closer look … and try to find out …

• • What, for you, is noteworthy about this section?
  • What do you think is the post-text application?  How would you apply its message to our time today?

 

WHAT SHOULD WE TAKE AWAY?

• The commendations were the same … implying that it’s not what we have … but what we do with what we have
• God wants us to invest (v.27)
• God wants interest (v.27)
• What you don’t use, you will lose. (v.28)

 

SONG OF RESPONSE

 

CLOSING PRAYER    

Let’s remember what Pastor Greg said in the sermonette …

He will never force us to love him or use the gifts and talents he gives us, but when we do, he multiplies them beyond our wildest dreams. 

 

BENEDICTION

 

SHARING TIME

• Prayer Updates 
• Prayer Requests  
• Announcements    

1.  Sunday Church re-launch … Sunday, December 24, 2023 (Christmas Eve)  

• • • What can you do? 
      • … Invite others
      • … Come prepared to help and serve   

2.  Online Prayer service … Sunday night, December 31, 2023 (New Year’s Eve)  

3.  Plans for 2024  

 

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Small Group Discussion Questions

 

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According to Deffinbaugh …

It has taken a while for the thrust of this parable to come into focus for me. This parable is not primarily about faith, nor is it about being willing to take a risk (this was merely the wicked slave’s excuse). As we conclude, we should focus on what this parable is really about. Let us then consider the primary message in this text. I believe that this parable focuses on four major themes: resources, work, time and profit. If we were to make an equation of this parable, it would probably go like this:

Resources (talents) + Labor (work) + Time = Profit

Let’s begin with the end result – profit. God expects to see a profit. He is not harsh, nor does He require that we do the impossible (make a profit where He has not provided the means). He does not require us to “make bricks” without providing both the clay and the straw.

Just as a businessman expects to make a profit, and rejoices when his employees increase his wealth, so God expects a profit and rejoices in it. He has granted the time and the resources for men to make a profit for the kingdom of heaven, until He returns. The question for us to consider is this: Just how do we measure “spiritual profit”? This is probably a sermon in itself – perhaps even a book. I think we could all agree that the salvation of lost souls is a profit for the kingdom. Thus, evangelism is one form of spiritual profit. We know that God expects us to grow over time, and that He is displeased when we fail to grow:

11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature (Ephesians 4:11-13).

12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. 13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

Thus, we can safely conclude that edification or spiritual growth is also profitable for the kingdom of heaven.

Most importantly, bringing glory to God is profitable.  Let’s call this aspect of profit exaltation.

27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:27-28).

For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body (1 Corinthians 6:20).

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die (Philippians 1:20).

What if the church were to be scrutinized as a business? The first question one would ask is, “How much profit did it make?” We are so used to thinking in “non-profit” terms that we are almost shocked to hear such a question raised. Yet is this not what our Lord is teaching us in this parable? God expects a profit, and He holds us accountable for what we have done with what He has entrusted to us.

Pressing this matter just a little further, if the church were to be considered a business and every member were to be viewed as an employee, how many of us should reasonably expect to “keep our jobs”? Each one of us needs to ask the question, “Just what is it that I am doing that is kingdom work?” “Just what is it that I am doing for Christ and His kingdom that is “profitable”? This is a sobering question.

This whole matter of “profit” expands the teaching of our Lord in Matthew 6:

19 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

I was talking about this text with a friend, and he said, “God expects the principle, plus interest.” I think that’s right. Too often we think of our Lord’s words in Matthew 6 in terms of the offering plate. We take a little money and put it in the plate, and by doing so we are “laying up treasure in heaven.” I don’t deny that this is true, in part, but it is not the whole of it. Our Lord’s teaching in the parable of the talents is that God expects profit that is the product of our labors. He provides the money and the ability, but we are expected to work hard with what He has given us, for the profit of the kingdom. In our parable, money is given to us to use, to work with, not just to give back. I wonder how many of us are simply giving back money that we have not put to use.

We need to pursue the element of work a bit further. First of all, let us be clear that we are not talking about salvation by works. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved unto good works:

8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” 8 This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people (Titus 3:4-8).

Works are the result of faith, not a substitute for faith. Works are “fruits” that are evidence of true faith (see James 2). Works that produce a profit for the kingdom²⁸² are the basis for our rewards.

 

The Relationship of Work to Retirement:
Is Retirement Burying Your Talent?

In one of my early trips to India, I went to the zoo. I saw something there that both amazed and troubled me. A poor man (a sort of enterprising beggar, perhaps) was busy entertaining the visitors to the zoo. It was his hope that in doing something spectacular he might receive a gift or donation. His entertainment was to torment one of the tigers. He made his way up to the bars, and then proceeded to harass this awesome beast. As his grand finale, the man reached in and pulled the tiger’s whiskers. In my opinion, that’s living dangerously.

I realize that I am going to pull some whiskers by what I am about to say, but I think that I am being true to our text, and to the Bible as a whole. I fear that for all too many Christians (not all!) retirement has become a socially acceptable form of burying one’s talent. Let me see if I can defend my allegation.

My thinking on retirement in this lesson started with the observation that heaven is not the end of work, but the multiplication and continuation of work:

20 “The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master’” (Matthew 25:20-21).

We would probably do well to compare this text with a couple of passages in the Gospel of Luke:

16 “So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities’” (Luke 19:16-17).

10 “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches? 12 And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own?” (Luke 16:10-12)

“Heaven is not to be thought of as me laying beside the pool, sipping a tall, cool one,” as one of my fellow elders commented this past week. Heaven is described in terms of work, not play, of activity, not passivity. The one who has been faithful on earth with a little thing like money will be given greater work to do in heaven. Heaven is not a hammock; it is not a glorified vacation. Heaven involves work, but it is profitable work. Christians will spend all eternity at work, and this work will include ruling with our Lord and praising Him.

Heaven’s work will be joyful labor. “Entering into the joy of our Master” is, in the context of our text, entering into profitable labor for all eternity. The degree to which our earthly labor has been faithful and profitable will determine the degree to which we enter into joyful labor in heaven.

At this point we would probably do well to look at work from a broader perspective; we should consider work from the beginning of time to eternity future. When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, He gave them work to do. This was paradise, my friend, and thus their work was not drudgery; it was a delight:

8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) … 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for and maintain it (Genesis 2:8-9, 15).

It was not until after the fall of man that man’s labor became toil:

17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return”²⁸³ (Genesis 3:17-19).

From that point on work was different; there was a certain “futility” to work:

18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. 19 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now (Romans 8:18-22).

If Adam’s sin brought about painful labor for mankind, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ (the “last Adam” – 1 Corinthians 15:45) brought rest:

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

This “rest” is not the end of all labor, however:

Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience (Hebrews 4:11).

In the Book of Revelation, heaven is described as a return to paradise lost:

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life—water as clear as crystal—pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. 3 And there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him, 4 and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads (Revelation 22:1-4).

When our Lord talks about the kingdom of heaven in our text and elsewhere, He speaks of it in terms of work, not of relaxation or of play. Heaven can hardly be described in terms of retirement. Faithful saints are given even greater responsibilities, and even more work. But this work is joyful. Such labor is, to a large degree, entering into the joy of our Master. It is the end of the curse, and thus the end of futile labor. It is the continuation of fruitful, profitable labor.

I wonder how many have given serious thought to what might be called “the theology of retirement.” I would like to challenge every Christian to rethink the subject of retirement. For example, if work is toil, a part of the curse, then is retirement just an excuse to try and escape from the consequences of sin God has decreed? Is retirement a denial, in effect, of the curse?

It is clear that our Lord Jesus intended for us to be found “at work” when He returns:

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. 47 I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions” (Matthew 24:45-47).

If this is the case, and we are to be at work until He comes, then why do we think that reaching a certain age entitles us to cease our labors for Him?

I am not arguing against retirement in the economic sense. I’m not saying that one should never cease their employment nor end their career. I am saying that our labors for the kingdom have no point of termination except for our Lord’s return, and even then fruitful labor will continue in heaven. I am suggesting that we have come to view retirement as that time in life when we can greatly reduce or terminate our giving, and when we can cease our service. Retirement is thought of more in terms of the golf course than “finishing our course” in the Pauline sense (2 Timothy 4:7).

The Christian should think about retirement in the same way he or she thinks of being single (if, indeed, you are):

32 And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your benefit, not to place a limitation on you, but so that without distraction you may give notable and constant service to the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:32-35).

Retirement is that period in life when one no longer has the distraction of having to work for a livelihood. It is a time when one should have the wisdom of age, financial freedom, and flexibility. Retirement is like the second stage of a rocket booster. Speed and thrust increase. Our labors for the Master should increase, not diminish, if we are kingdom minded.

The lazy, wicked slave in our parable is that person who refuses to go to work with the resources God has provided, to produce profit for the kingdom of heaven. I am suggesting that the way some Christians look forward to, or practice, retirement is a form of burying your talent. There is no end to our labors for our God. If we loved our Master, we would view our labors for Him as joy. Working hard for the profit of the kingdom and the King is entering into the joy of our Master. And if our labors are joyful, we will delight in the thought of further labor. If we seek to shun the work our Lord has given us, it betrays a wrong attitude and relationship with our Master.

And so I will conclude by asking you this, my friend: Do you know and love the Master, Jesus Christ? By faith, have you entered into His labor, His saving work on your behalf on the cross of Calvary? Have you come to see that so far as your salvation is concerned, all of your works are like filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:9-20)? Have you trusted in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and in His death at Calvary for your sins, rather than in your works (Romans 3:21-26)? If so, then what is the fruitful labor God has given to you? What is your ministry, your unique contribution to the kingdom of God? What is it that you want Him to find you doing when He returns? Don’t bury what God has entrusted to you; go to work with it, for the glory of God, and for your eternal rewards.

It may be that you are not like the first two slaves, but like the third. Don’t blame it on God. He has richly provided all that you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:1-4). Trust in Jesus, for it is His work that will save you.

I will end with these words from our Lord to the church at Sardis. Please consider their relationship to our text, and to money, time, labor, and profit:

1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a reputation that you are alive, but in reality you are dead. 2 Wake up then, and strengthen what remains that was about to die, because I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3 Therefore, remember what you received and heard, and obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come against you. 4 But you have a few individuals in Sardis who have not stained their clothes, and they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be dressed like them in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches’” (Revelation 3:1-6, emphasis mine).