RESPONSIBILITIES AND REWARDS
THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS: RESPONSIBILITIES
DR. JIM DIXON
JUNE 2, 2013
MATTHEW 25:14-30
Ovid was the name of a Roman poet who was born in 43 BC and who died in 17 AD who was writing poetry when Jesus Christ was growing up in the village of Nazareth. Ovid was condemned and exiled by Caesar Augustus in the year eight AD and died while he was still in exile. But he wrote many, many works through the course of his 60 years in this world. He often said that his favorite work was his work called Metamorphosis. So Ovid’s Metamorphosis is a classic and it’s a famous writing. And of course, George Bernard Shaw crafted his play Pygmalion and based it loosely on Metamorphosis. That play was made into a movie by Hollywood, My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. And it’s also loosely based on the concepts of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Ovid’s Metamorphosis was all about transformation. And of course, transformation is what Pygmalion and My Fair Lady are about.
In My Fair Lady, you have an impoverished London bag lady who has a heavy cockney accent and she is transformed by a professor of phonetics and passed off as British aristocracy. And the message of the movie is there’s potential in everyone and there’s no way you could possibly imagine the wonderful person you could be if you just took what you begin with and grew it. And if you did the most with everything you had, you can become great, you can be transformed, you can be morphed.
Of course, there are some people who think that’s what the parable the talents is all about. I’ve heard sermons where the message is that’s what this parable is all about. God has entrusted you with talent. Now you must go out and grow it so that you can be all that you can be so that you can be be transformed so that you can be everything you could possibly be. And they say that’s what the parable the talents is about. And perhaps to a small extent it’s about that.
But that’s not really what the parable of the talents is about. You see, the parable of the talents is about the kingdom of God. When you look at this parable contextually, you know it’s all about the kingdom of God. And it’s in Matthew 25, which is part of the Olivet Discourse. There are three parables in Matthew 25, the parable of the 10 virgins, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the sheep and the goats. And they all are kingdom parables. They all focus on the kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ. And in truth, when you look at any of the parables of Jesus Christ, when you look at all of the parables of Christ recorded in the four gospels, the overwhelming majority have to do with the subject of the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God was the focus of the ministry of Christ. It is the focus of holy scripture. The Bible centers on the kingdom of God. The gospel is an invitation to enter the kingdom of God. And of course, the whole of the scriptures have to do with how those who have entered the kingdom of God are to live. And nothing is more important than the kingdom of God.
Now, the Bible tells us that there has been a rebellion in the kingdom of God. The Bible makes that clear. And of course, to understand this, first you have to understand God is King—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit God is King. The whole of the creation is part of His kingdom. So God is King of everything. So when you look at spiritual life, the angelic realm, that’s part of the kingdom of God. When you look at physical life, the realm of humans and animals and plants, it’s all part of the kingdom of God. When you look at the microcosm or the macrocosm, it’s all part of the kingdom of God, from the smallest subatomic particle to the galactic systems and the universe itself. Even the multiverse, if indeed there is a multiverse, is all part of the kingdom of God. It’s all under the King.
But there was been this rebellion within the kingdom of God and the spiritual realm long ago. And it was a powerful angelic being who rebelled against God. This being in the Bible is called the Devil. He is called Satan. His actual name in the beginning is not known—although when you look at Isaiah 14 and when you look at Ezekiel 28, perhaps there is at least a veiled reference to the beginnings of Satan, and perhaps his name in the beginning was Lucifer. But he was a high-ranking angel who corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor and was cast down. And he took a third of the angelic host with him in a rebellion in the Kingdom of God.
He came to our realm. He came to this world and he proclaimed himself king here. Now understand the Bible makes it clear (and this is incredible) that this world has embraced his kingship. This fallen angelic being who has come to our world and proclaimed himself king, this world has embraced his reign. Knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly, this world has embraced the reign of the devil. And that is why the devil, who is the author of sin, has led humanity into sin and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Nothing is as it was meant to be. Judgment is upon us, and the creation itself has been tweaked. Our genetic structure, everything within this universe, has been tainted and effected by this angelic fall.
This is a biblical worldview. And God who loves us has sent His Son, King of Kings, into the world. And he has acknowledged that Satan is the ruler of this world, the archon. Jesus tells us that Satan is the archon of this world. He is the king. He is the prince. He is the ruler of this world. But he is a usurper, and Jesus is the true King. And He has come into the world and He has come with the true kingdom. The gospel is to be taken by His command to the nations, and everyone has a decision to make. You must choose which kingdom you want to be part of. Do you want to be part of the kingdom of this world, which is the kingdom of Satan, or do you want to be part of His kingdom, which is the kingdom of heaven?
The gospel is that invitation. And when people respond to the gospel, they embrace Christ as Savior, for He died for the sin of the whole world. They embrace Him as Savior, and they also embrace him as Lord and King, and they enter His kingdom. And if you’ve entered His kingdom, the Bible says, now we are aliens on the earth, because we are no longer of this world. The world belongs to Satan. So if you accept the gospel, you are now aliens and exiles on the earth, strangers and sojourners. This world is not our home.
Now, one day the world will be part of our home because the master’s going to come back. But right now is the time of testing, and everyone has a decision to make. This is the time of testing. Everybody has a decision to make. What kingdom are you part of? Are you part of the kingdom of darkness? Are you part of the kingdom of light? Are you part of the kingdom of Satan or are you part of the kingdom of Christ? And if you’ve entered the kingdom of Christ, in order to live in such a way as to please the Master, there’s two concepts you must understand. And I want us to look at them briefly today.
The first is ownership. If you’ve left the realm of Satan, if you’ve left the kingdom of this world and you’ve come into the kingdom of heaven, then you understand that you are not an owner. I mean, Satan tells us people are all owners. Man, you can have stuff when you’re in Satan’s kingdom. He knows he owns people body and soul anyway. He also knows that it’s empty and barren when you live for stuff. But when you come into the kingdom of God, you acknowledge His ownership. He’s the owner of everything.
The problem isn’t that Satan doesn’t own things and that he is a usurper. The problem is we don’t own things and we are usurpers. And so you come to this understanding that God owns everything. I know you think you own things. I know you purchased a home and you have, perhaps, a deed of ownership. I know that we sell our homes, but there’s a sense in which when we sell our homes, we’re selling that which does not belong to us. I know that you build companies and you build corporations and you sometimes sell those companies and those corporations, but they do not really belong to us. I know we give our daughters away in marriage, but they don’t really belong to us. Everything belongs to God. God says, “All souls are mine. The soul of the Father, as well as the soul of the son, is mine. The soul of the mother, as well as the soul of the daughter, is mine.” “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness therein.” “The Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” Everything is the Lord’s. And we come into His kingdom with this understanding with regard to ownership.
Now, we live in a world where we have laws that govern ownership. Every society has its own laws and its own views and perspectives with regard to ownership. In our democratic society and our capitalistic system, we have laws which govern private property and ownership. Those who violate those laws receive their due penalty under the law. Throughout history, there have been examples of people who have crossed lines, who have used and abused the whole concept of ownership. There are some famous incidents you’ve probably all heard of.
Peter Minuit on May 6th, 1626, purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians, right? And most historians refer to that as the Great Manhattan Swindle, or at least most historians over time have referred to it as the Great Manhattan Swindle. Manhattan Island was purchased by Peter Minuit of the Dutch West Indies Company for 60 Gilders, which was then the equivalent of $24. $24 for Manhattan Island. $24 for New York City. Of course, New York City wasn’t there, and the truth is that 60 gilders or 24 bucks was quite a bit of money in 1626. And what historians now tell us is it’s not clear who swindled who anyway, because the Canarsee Indians from whom Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island didn’t even live on Manhattan Island. They were happy to take their money and they went home to what is now called Brooklyn.
So history’s kind of filled with ownership disputes and whether buying and selling conducted properly. And there are funny stories. I’m sure that some of you have heard of Arthur Ferguson. Arthur Ferguson is famous, and of course in 1924 he had a big year. Arthur Ferguson was a brilliant man who was immensely talented as a salesperson and could craft phony documents that looked authentic. And he could create a sales pitch that would make almost anyone ponder. It was in 1924 that Arthur Ferguson sold Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square in London. That’d be quite a purchase for somebody, right? Arthur Ferguson actually sold Nelson’s Column to somebody. And of course he didn’t own it, but he sold it. There truly is a sucker born every minute. Later that year, Arthur Ferguson actually sold to Trafalgar Square itself, quite a purchase. And then he sold Big Ben and he sold Buckingham Palace. And it is hard to believe that there are enough gullible people in the world to enable this guy to have done these things. He came over to the United States and he sold the White House and he sold the Statue of Liberty. So he was just taken in money from everybody and somehow able to convince everybody that they were buying these things.
Sometimes you think, wow, can there be that many gullible people and they all have the right to vote? It’s kind of scary. But we live in a world where there’s this history with regard to ownership. Arthur Ferguson wound up in prison, where he certainly belonged. But as Christians having come into the kingdom of Christ, we acknowledge we don’t own anything. We really don’t own anything. We accept Matthew 25, that the master has entrusted to us His property. It’s not ours. Matthew 25, verse 14, says He has entrusted to us His property and He’s gone away. He’s going to come again. We’re going to have to give an account. So it’s all His. It’s not ours. And we believe Psalm 24, that the earth is the Lord and everything in it, the world and all who dwell therein, the cosmos and whatever dwells therein. And we accept Psalm 50, that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He owns the animals of the earth.
And of course in the biblical world and in the time of Christ, you had the Roman Empire and you had the Hellenized world. And there was a great overlap because much of the Roman Empire was Hellenized. And so you had Greek in the Hellenized world, but you had Latin in the Roman world. And in both Greek and in Latin, there was this wide divide between those who owned and those who served. Servants could not own. So in the Greek world, those who owned were called lord. “Kyrios” is the Greek word. And the common people were called “diakonos,” “those who served,” or even “doulos,” “those who were slaves.” So you had doulos, diakonos, and kyrios, and a great divide between lords who were owners and servants and slaves.
Of course, Jesus is called in the Bible Lord of Lords because He is the true owner of everything. You look in the Roman language and you look at Latin and you have “magister,” which comes from the word major. And you have the word “minister” in Latin, which comes from the word minor. And so some people were considered minor and some people were considered major. Which would you want to be? Would you want to be a minor person or would you want to be a major person?
Well, everybody wanted to be a major person, magister. Nobody want to be a minister. And it was magisters who owned. Ministers were servants, they were not owners. And so the great divide began, and then you see this amazing thing happen when the gospel comes. Into the very Roman world we’re talking about, into the very Hellenized world we’re talking about, the gospel of Jesus Christ comes, the gospel of the kingdom. And it invites people to make this choice between the kingdom of this world—the kingdom of Satan—or the kingdom of heaven.
And all who choose Christ, all who choose heaven. They have this one thing in common. They love the word servant. So you go through the Bible and you see every single author of every single New Testament book identifying themselves as a servant. You see the word diakonos and the word doulos, servant and slave. Because we know He’s the master. He’s the owner, He’s the magister, He’s the kyrios, He’s the Lord. He owns. And we’re proud to be stewards. We are stewards of the king.
And this is a worldview that means you can’t live your life right—you can’t wake up a single day and live it right—unless you realize you don’t own anything. I realize that everything is a matter of stewardship. I don’t own my kids. I don’t own my house. The kids are entrusted for a while, the house is given for a while, but I don’t own any of it. I can’t live right if I think of myself as an owner.
You look at the subject of tithing, and I’ve been in the ministry for 40 years and I’ve heard so many arguments about tithing. “The tithe is the Lord’s.” Some people are constantly quoting that. “The tithe is the Lord’s. He demands His 10%.” Other people say no, the tithe is Old Testament. That’s the law. We’re now under grace. We don’t have to tithe anymore. You know, the question is out there, is the tithe still binding on the children of God? Did Jesus repeal the tithe?
I think the answer to that is clear. Jesus did not repeal the tithe. On the other hand, He didn’t have much to say about the tithe. Now, the curious thing is Jesus did repeal some stuff. Did you know that Jesus did repeal some things? He told us that the moral law is binding forever. Not one jot or tittle will pass away from the moral law. But He repealed the Levitical dietary laws. “It is not what goes into a man’s body that defiles him.” Jesus repealed the Levitical dietary laws and He partially repealed, at least He tweaked, the Jewish ceremonial law and even changed the civil law, the “lex talonis.” So it’s a significant thing that He didn’t repeal the tithe.
But He only clearly speaks of the tithe in one case, and you see that case in Matthew 23. You also see it in Luke 11, but it’s the same event in Matthew 23 and Luke 11. And is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, and He says to them, “You tithe spices, you tithe mint, dill and cumin.” He says they actually take their spices and you take 10% to God because a tithe is 10%. You must take 10% of your mint, dill, and cumin, and you come and you set it apart for God and you give it to God (or its value to God). You tithe minutia and “you ignore the weightier matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faith.” That’s Matthew 23 and Luke 11. It’s justice and love. You ignore the weightier matters of the law and you tithe minutia.
This would’ve been a perfect opportunity for Jesus to just repeal the tithe. He doesn’t do it. What does He say? He said, “These you should have done without neglecting the others.” That’s what He says. I mean, it sounds like He’s saying you should even tithe minutiae. It’s not as important as justice and love, but He didn’t reject any of it. But here’s the deal. The deal is a tithe is simply a minimal standard of giving anyway. It’s just a minimal standard of giving anyway. And in a sense, it’s misleading because God owns everything. God doesn’t just own 10%. God doesn’t just care that He gets His 10%. God cares about everything we do with everything we have, because He is the owner. So God cares about everything we do with everything we have, the whole hundred percent. God cares about what we do with it. And the big question is, are we serving His kingdom? Are we serving the Master? When the Master comes back, have we served King and kingdom? Is that what we’re doing with our money? Is that what we’re doing with our time? Is that what we’re doing with our abilities? Is our passion each day to serve king and kingdom?
He’s going to return, and that’s what He’s going to look at. And of course, the truth is, the church of Jesus Christ in the Western world is impotent and inept. I mean, in the United States, of those who are self-professing Christians, those who take the name of Christ and say, “I’m a Christian,” only 17% of them even claim to tithe. And studies over the last five years have demonstrated that only 3% of them really do. Only 3% of those who claim to be Christians in the United States were actually tithe. So many people are lying. And what studies have also shown is most people don’t even know what a tithe is. They think it’s another word for giving. “Do you tithe though?” “Yeah, I give.” They don’t even know that the tithe means 10% of everything you have.
Almost nobody’s tithing. So few people are seeking King and kingdom. That’s why the church of Jesus Christ in the Western world’s bankrupt. And we’re approaching crisis as the culture changes and there’s not passion. The passion has diminished. But we must understand that we don’t own anything. It all belongs to Him.
At the end of the day, the issue’s going to be, how do we use what we have? Did we use it for Him? Which, really, is the issue of stewardship. The first issue is ownership. The final issue is stewardship. Are we stewards?
I don’t know what you know about the whole concept of stewardship. You probably don’t have much interest in etymology. Every word has an etymology. I’m a weird guy, so I like etymology. I look at the word steward and I think, “What? Where’d that come from?” And it came from the old English. It came from an original word, “stigwearden.” The word “stig” enclosure in the old English. Possessions were kept within it. Animals were kept within it. Eventually the word stig morphed and became stye, like a pigsty, which is an enclosure that kept pigs. But the word stig didn’t just refer to enclosures that kept pigs. It referred to enclosures that kept anything, but the word stig morphed and became stye, and then stye became “stew.” And the word “wearden” and became warden, and the word warden became ward.
So, “steward.” And of course, it means, “one who guards the enclosure.” If you guard or if you ward the enclosure, you’re a steward. So there’s an enclosure that you have and you’re supposed to guard. Now, as the word originated, the steward was never the owner. The owner of all that was in the enclosure was somebody else. But the owner would entrust a steward to enhance what’s in the closure, to protect it, to provide for it, and, if possible, to increase it for the sake of the owner.
This is stewardship. Does that make sense? And so the biblical message is, “God owns everything, but He’s given each of us enclosures.” We all have fences that have been entrusted to us, and God’s put stuff within each of those fences within your enclosure. Even your body has been put within your enclosure. It doesn’t belong to you. Your body belongs to God. But you’re supposed to guard it. You’re supposed to provide for it, care for it, and prosper it for the sake of the owner.
Everything you have—your children, your home, your bank account, your assets—is all within the enclosure. Your gifts and your abilities, yes, all belong to God. And so, are you being faithful in your stewardship? And are you using everything in there to prosper the King and kingdom? That’s the way God views it. This is a biblical worldview.
So we live in this world where very few people who claim to live for Christ actually live for Christ. Very few people honor the King or the kingdom, because the message of Christ is so radical. I feel like on judgment day it’s going to be kind of scary. Now, I understand the King has offered so many rewards. I mean, salvation by grace is not a reward. That’s grace. But the King does offer rewards if we’re responsible and if we’re faithful in our stewardship. He offers rewards in this life and in the next life. Next week, we’re going to look at those rewards. And this is a subject of some controversy too. But how does God reward us in this life? What does that look like? What does He offer? What are the kinds of things that He promises? And what is God offering in the next life? What’s that really look like?
But see, in the message of the parable of the talents you have the clear idea of judgment. Judgment is coming. And I think that’s kind of scary. So you look at the guy that was in trouble, you look at the guy that was condemned, and you don’t want to be him. Jesus uses three words to describe him. And the first word is worthless. Worthless. “Achrestos” is the Greek word. It literally means, “without use.” And contextually it means without use for the King and the kingdom, without use for the master. It’s like, “Cast the worthless service servant into the outer darkness.” He is without use. He just buried his talent. And so you must ask yourself (and I must ask myself), am I of any use? Am I just grateful to be of saved by grace? Am I of any use? Do I wake up each day, or any day, and ask myself, how can I serve King and kingdom? How can I serve Christ and His cause?
You look at Campus Crusade for Christ. I’m grateful that we gave a million dollars as a church to Campus Crusade for Christ over a 30 year period. That’s kind of cool. I don’t know how generous we are. I mean, I know very few of us tithe. I know some are generous and some are not. And some are sometimes generous. I mean, I just know God’s trying to change our hearts. And He wants us to understand ultimately what counts and what’s important and how different what counts to Him is from what counts to the world and how He wants us to live our lives when compared to those who live in the world.
So the second word that Jesus uses to describe this guy who’s condemned is the word slothful. Except the word doesn’t really mean slothful. The word is “okneros,” but it doesn’t really mean slothful. If Jesus had meant to say slothful, “nothros” is the Greek word that more properly means slothful. The root word of this word okneros means “fearful and timid.” And it can produce sloth, if your fear and your timidity keeps you from action. Yes, it can produce sloth, but its primary meaning is fear and timidity. And Jesus saying, “You timid, fearful servant. You’re too afraid to even try better, to try and fail. At least I would recognize the fact you tried, but you didn’t even try because your fear paralyzed you and you were too afraid to try.”
We can look at life in this world and we see lots of examples of people too afraid to try, too afraid to risk. I mean, love is a risk. And in the financial world, any venture involves some risk. Have you ever been to the Broadmoor? That’s kind of like a financial venture right there. Barbara and I have been there a few times. It’s a cool place. And if you look in the lobby, they have all this history on the walls. Spencer Penrose is prominent because he and his partner became massively wealthy, and the Broadmoor was Spencer Penrose’s vision. And it included a chapel, actually, in its original vision. And the Broadmoor was beautifully crafted.
Spencer Penrose came to Colorado to make his fortune, and he said to his brother, Boyce Penrose, “I’m going to Colorado and I’m going to make money. I want you to invest in what I’m doing. I’d like you to give $1,500 to me. You’ll never be sorry. You’ll get a great return on your investment.” And Boyce Penrose laughed. He said, “Spencer, don’t do it. I’m not going to invest, and I don’t want you to go.” Spencer went anyway. He came to Colorado and got involved in the mining industry in the whole area of Colorado Springs. And of course, he got a letter from his brother Boyce. When he opened it up, his brother Boyce put $150 in there. And he wrote a letter saying, “This is not an investment, this is because I love you. Come home. Take the $150. This’ll pay for your transportation and wonderful meals along the way and you can even go and have some fun. I’m just saying to you, come home.”
Well, Spencer refuses to come home. He takes the $150 and invests it. One year later, Penrose sends his brother Boyce Gold coins—$75,000—and a note saying, “This is the return on your $150 investment. If you had given what I had asked for $1,500, I’d be giving you gold coins worth $750,000 today.” Now we’ve all heard stories like that. They’re out there. And of course, sometimes people take stupid risks, and as Christians we acknowledge we need to be led by the Holy Spirit in His discernment. But you can’t be so fearful and so paralyzed that you do nothing. You must wake up and say, am I trying to do anything? Am I even trying to do anything?
Yesterday Barb and I went out to the airport at DIA because our daughter, Heather, was returning from Ethiopia Most of you kind of know that story because Heather and her husband Chris just adopted an Ethiopian boy for their fourth child, an Ethiopian boy named Elijah Aubush. And here we are at the airport greeting Elijah, and there’s Heather and her husband, Chris, and Barb and I and Chris’s mom and then the kids—Abigail, Nina, Dixon, and Elijah Aubush. And Heather has Elijah and there he is. He’s got a one-year Afro. Isn’t that just beautiful? Isn’t that totally beautiful? But see, it all began a year ago, right here. We had a guest speaker. Most of the people who impact my kids are guest speakers. He just challenged us. “If you really belong to the kingdom of God, if Christ is King in your life, you must care about what He cares about.” And he told us that we need to go and love and serve and minister to orphans. And he said, “There are orphans all over the world, and what are you doing about it?” And Heather and Chris went home and they were convicted by the Holy Spirit. And they said, “We’re going to adopt. We got three of our own. Let’s adopt a fourth. Let’s have four kids.
So that began the process that’s led to Elijah Aubush. And it’s been a long process. So we were there at the airport yesterday to welcome Elijah to America and to our home. And I know that Heather and Chris understand that Elijah does not belong to them. They understand that Abigail, Nina, and Dixon do not belong to them. They understand that all souls are His. They understand that. And so for a period of time, they’re stewards as Barb and I were stewards of Heather and of Drew in years past.
They’re stewards and they know that it’s all about the king and the kingdom. It’s all about the King and the kingdom. So they’re going to do everything they can do and we’re going to join them in seeking to raise these kids, including Elijah, for the King and the kingdom with the vision. I mean, this is a risk. I mean, there are cross-cultural issues, cross-racial issues, all kinds of risks. You know, his mother was HIV-positive. There are all kinds of risks. But you see, we’re going to do everything we can to see that the King and the kingdom are served and He falls in love with Jesus and then all of His days seeks to serve Jesus.
So everything we have is to be used for King and kingdom. And that’s so true, even of our money. Because After all, the parable of the talents on a very literal level is about money—it represents more than money, but on a very literal level it is about money. And so what we do with our money, what we do with our treasure, how we use our time, and how we use our abilities is all about King and kingdom. The master’s Going to come back. He’s the owner of everything. We’re stewards. What do you have in your enclosure? And how are you using it? Just take a fresh look at that and see what God might be saying to you today.
You know that as a church, we’re in a hard time. Yes, we’re in transition and that’s not easy. And it’s not easy for any of us. And there are a lot of things we don’t know, except we know this is: this church belongs to Jesus Christ. I’m just a servant. So it belongs to Jesus Christ. I promise you, I tell you, His hand is upon it and He’s got a plan. And it’s exciting. But you must have faith. You must have faith, and you must hang in there with us. You must serve King and kingdom, because we’re just falling behind on stuff and it’s kind of scary. So let’s be more faithful, if we can. Pray about that. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.