The Parable of The Talents, Part Two of Two

                                           The Parable of The Talents, Part two                                               Pg.1
                      We resume this study with the closing page of last weeks study 

Last week we stopped at “How to Express responsibility. So far we have covered only two verses of the parable of the talents. Tonight we will cover the remaining verses . We were told that each of the servants were given a certain amount to invest. We understand that the parable is about doing the prudent thing with our talents, and that is called “making do with what one has been given”. Taking those resources that we have been given and putting them to good use for our Master.

Opening Prayer: God our Father, we ask Your blessing on our study tonight, and ask that we take from it that which You have purposed for our use in growing Your Kingdom. We pray that you will judge us not on the results, of our efforts, but on our willingness to use those talents which  you have given to us for that purpose. Be with those of our group who cannot be here tonight. We ask that you share our blessing with them. And we pray that You will make a blessing for those of us and our friends and loved ones who need your healing touch.  We pray that You will Join with us now as we study Your Word. In Jesus Name we pray, AMEN.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                How to express responsibility
16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. 17 So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Just as children are given certain tasks to perform, and when doing a good job of it they are made to feel capable. As we grow older we learn that making the best of what we have is a pleasant experience. But we also learn that some of us that are not as adept at certain of life’s tasks as are others.  We all have been equipped fundamentally the same, but we are physically, mentally, and spiritually, different. None of us are gifted exactly the same.
We are Disciples with a charge to keep. but servants too, who must give an account This verse is telling us that God has given each of us in differing amounts, the ability, time, and resources to do the work that he is expecting us to do. Last week we studied about our gifts, this week we will discover what God expects that we can do with them.
The type and number of talents varies with our ability to manage them. The Master is not unreasonable, and never places more on us than we are able to do. It is by use that the power to use grows. By carefully employing our opportunities, our sphere of service may be greatly widened, so that, at the end of life, we shall be able to do more than at the outset. The time, talent, ability, and resources we were blessed enough to receive are gifts from God and are not for our own edification nor for the use by us for self promotion, but to use in service to God and the growing of His Kingdom.

Q.1 Why did the Master entrust five talents to the first servant?
Q.2 And likewise the servant who had been given only two talents?
Q.3 And the third servant, wouldn’t you have felt slighted by this lack of equal treatment?
Q.4 We have listed 20 talents (Gifts of the Spirit) there are many more, what are yours?
Q.5 What do you think, Does God give us talents that some of us do not recognize?
                                                                                                                                     
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                         The accounting

19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, `Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I  have made five talents more.' 21 His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the  joy of your master.' 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, `Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' 23 His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the  joy of your master.'
Just as sure as we who are born as sinners with no hope of salvation except for Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is a certainty that his return is near to all. Not just to those who profess to be His followers. Know this, a lifetime is but a moment when compared to eternity, so we must always be prepared for His return, for it is the truth that Jesus will return, and His judgment will befall all of mankind.
Our servants in this parable are well aware of this fact, and they immediately make certain plans to care for their gifts. We must understand one fact about these gifts, that applies to each servant equally. Their gifts are temporary, The Master will return, and claim that which was his at the beginning. Everyone is given a gift or gifts as The Master sees fit considering the ability of each one. The Master has made that judgment long before the moment of your first breath.
Our servants in this parable know their Master and they know what will be expected of them. Just as we as children learned to know our parents and what they expected of us. The gifts (talents) we have are God given gifts of the Holy Spirit, and thus are for our use in promoting his Kingdom, and as well, they are for our well being. His Gifts to us are investments that he has given to us to manage. We absolutely do know what to do with them. And just as absolutely we will choose to work with them or not to work with them, that is our free will choice. God has left no directive, and Just as Adam and Eve did in the garden, we make the choice as to what we do with our gift in God’s garden.

Q.1 Having been away for a long time, what does the master expect from his servants?
Q.3 How would one make an evaluation of each servants performance?
Q.4 Read II Corinthians 5:10, On what basis will everyone be judged?
Q.5 Read Luke 12, vs.48 Can we make a comparison in vs. 48 with the verses of our study?
Q.6 Jesus is telling this parable to his Disciples, But what are we to garner from this study?
Q.7 Assess the matter of your own gift(s) Have you managed them well? Could you have done better? Do you have questions?

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                           Complacency will destroy 

24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, `Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and  gathering where you did not winnow; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'
This servant, who had received only one talent, charges his Lord with reaping where he had not sown, and gathering where he had not scattered seed, thus throwing the blame off himself by endeavoring to prove that his own failure is not of any fault of his own, but is a result of unreasonable expectation by the Master. How is that thought justified?

The words, "Here you have what is yours", teach us that the most unfaithful servants are willing to make a compromise with God, even though they have nothing to present to Him but the truths of their own negligence. Thus the unfaithful servant here speaks to his Master as if he were fulfilling an act of justice by returning to his Lord what he had received from him; This failure to develop and use his talent for gain must have been a disappointment for his Master. If this were your employee how would you feel?

Tragically, Christ will return and take away even the little that this person has in talents and abilities. This servant buried his talent and didn’t use that which the master had gifted him.  He hid it which means that a God given talent was abused by having been hidden and allowed to fail. Are there instances where we see this in today's world?

This parable is a warning for us Christians as well. The one who professes to be a Christian, yet disables the talents given to them by God is harming the Church universal with their selfish act, and giving away even that which they have, and endangering their own salvation. Read (Matt 10:32-33)

Which are you; a faithful servant or one that hides their talent and their profession of faith in Christ?  Have you buried your talents or are you using them?  Are you a servant of Christ or a self-seeking servant that is only interested in meeting your own needs?  Only you and the Lord know. Read (Matt 10:37-42).

Q.1 How did this servant try to justify his poor performance?
Q.2 What are your feelings about this mans poor performance?    
Q.3 What prompted his actions. Selfishness, fear, bad judgment, sloth, or all of these?
Q.4 Poor judgment; How is his poor judgment expressed?
Q.5 Fear; How is his fear expressed?
Q.6 Selfishness; How is his selfishness expressed?
Q.7 Sloth; How is his slothfulness expressed?
Q.8 How is it that he also seems to be blaming his master?
Q.9 Do we too, sometimes want to place the blame for our poor performance on something or someone else?

                                                                                                                                                        Pg.4             The Consequence of Inaction

26 But his master answered him, `You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not  winnowed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken  away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.'

These verses are a vivid description of how the master values this servants ability, and results. Although there are others in this parable who have benefited from the Masters gifts, There would not be any increase nor any use made of the talents had not there been an instinctive effort to make good use of them by the ones so gifted. And the Master is well aware of who those servants are and what they are capable of .
The master has given this man one talent because he knows his capability is limited. But he trusted that he would at least have put his talent to some good use. Instead he buried the talent, which rendered it useless. It would have been better should he have at least tried to make use of the talent. Even if it lost value he would have at least made an honest effort. Now the master deems him completely useless and orders him thrown into the outer darkness.
Jesus our Lord and Savior gives to each of us the ability and the desire to serve him. We are given certain Gifts (talents) in differing amounts, and if we reap anything from this study it is that we must make use of what God has given us in order to help to grow his kingdom. If we choose not to serve Him (as do some like the slothful servant) then we give our master just cause to exact His judgment on us.

Q.1 The world offers distractions from our Masters plan. Why are some tempted to fail? Read Genesis 3: 2-6
Q.2 Considering this scripture, what are your distractions?
Q.2 What were this servants distractions?
Q.3 The slothful servant was cast into the outer darkness. What vision comes to mind?
Q.4 The faithful servants joined the joy of their master. What is that vision like?
Q.5 What in your opinion are the take away points to remember about this study?


Closing Prayer "Lord, be the ruler of our hearts and thoughts, be the King of our abode and our relationships, and be the master of our work and service.  Lead us in the way that You would have us go, and lead us away from the worlds temptations. Help us to make good use of the gifts, talents, time, and resources You give us for Your glory and your kingdom." Be with our sick and disabled and offer them your healing touch, ___________ restore their strength and give them hope and healing, We ask this in the name of Your Son our Lord Jesus, AMEN



                                                                                                                                               Pg.5

                                                                                                                                                 
Meditation: What can economics and productivity teach us about the kingdom of heaven?  Jesus' story about a businessman who leaves town and entrusts his money with his workers made perfect sense to his audience.  Wealthy merchants and businessmen often had to travel abroad and leave the business to others to handle while they were gone.  Why did Jesus tell this story?   Most importantly it tells us something about how God deals with us, his servants.  The parable speaks first of the Master's trust in his servants.  While he goes away he leaves them with his money to use as they think best.  While there were no strings attached, this was obviously a test to see if the Master's workers would be industrious and reliable in their use of the money entrusted to them.  Third, the master rewards those who are industrious and faithful and he punishes those who sit by idly and do nothing with his gifts.  The essence of the parable seems to lie in the servants' conception of responsibility. Each servant entrusted with the master's money was faithful up to a certain point.  The servant who buried the master's money was irresponsible.  One can bury seeds in the ground and expect them to  become productive because they are responding to God’s plan for them, natural laws. Coins, however, do not obey natural laws.  They obey economic laws and become productive in circulation.  The master expected his servants to be productive in the use of his money.  What do coins and the law of economics have to do with the kingdom of God?   The Lord entrusts the subjects of his kingdom with gifts and graces and he gives his subjects the freedom to use them as they think best. With each gift and talent, God gives the ability, the means (grace and wisdom) for using them in a fitting way. As the parable of the talents shows, God abhors indifference and an attitude that says it's not worth trying. God honors those who use their talents and gifts for doing good. Those who are faithful with even a little are entrusted with more! But those who neglect or squander what God has entrusted to them will lose what they have. There is an important lesson here for us. No one can stand still for long in the Christian life. We either get more or we lose what we have. We either advance towards God or we slip back. Do you earnestly seek to serve God with the gifts, talents, and graces he has given to you?

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Scripture readings

2Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Luke 12:48  But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Matthew 10:32-33  "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 10:37- 42  "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. 40  "Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41  Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. 42  And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward."

Genesis 3:2-6  The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3  but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” 4 "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.