Dr. Roger Parrott, Belhaven University Chapel Series

Parables of Jesus begin to show us the kingdom of God.

They almost always begin.

The kingdom of God is like.

And then begins to describe this kingdom of how God designed the world to be, how eternity will be, and how he wants us to live now.

And so that's our goal during this year, is to learn through these parables about the kingdom of God and pray that in that God will help us to see him more clearly, to love him more dearly, and to follow him more nearly.

Because the kingdom of God is so different from what the world that's been corrupted by sin is like.

It's a process to begin to learn that.

And my prayer is that day by day, day by day, we will grow in how to see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly.

So today we're going to begin with a terrific parable of the talents, called the parable of the Talents.

It's about being entrusted by God with the gifts that he gives us and being held accountable for them.

And the consequences are serious.

The story was read to us earlier.

It said a man begins, of course, the kingdom of God is like a man who's going on a trip.

And it's important that this man is going on a trip because he's leaving, okay?

He's leaving these servants behind.

He said there were three servants.

He gave different amounts to each of those servants.

To one he gave five bags of silver.

To one he gave two, and to one he gave one.

Just like God gives us different gifts and ability, we're all differently gifted.

And then he came back to see how they were doing and held them accountable for it.

And in the parable, we're going to see some surprising results of what each received and even some more.

More so surprising of the consequences of those who didn't use their gifts well.

So as we work through the parable, I'm going to give you 12 insights.

They're going to come pretty fast today.

12 Insights to better understand the kingdom of God.

And as you see these 12 insights and how they lay out in the parable, it begins to help us see God's kingdom more clearly.

And when we see him more clearly, we love him more dearly.

And when we love him more dearly, we follow him more nearly.

And that's my prayer for you.

So this could not be a better parable to begin an academic school year with cause.

It changes everything about how we use our gifts and our talents.

It changes today, it changes this semester.

It changes this year.

It changes your career.

It changes Your family, It changes your future, it changes your eternity when you understand the Kingdom of God.

So that's what we're gonna look at.

So let's get into these insights.

The first is that everything that that we have comes from God.

The scripture says he called together his servants and he gave them money.

He called together his servants and gave them money.

He gave it to them.

He didn't say, here's the money I owe you, here's the money you earned.

No, he just gave it to them.

Everything we have is a gift from God that is foundational to understanding the Kingdom of God.

Without that understanding, life is a struggle when we think we earned it, when we think we deserve it.

Life is a struggle.

When we understand it's all a gift from God and it's all connected to God.

It takes on a whole different dimension.

He did it, not us.

And everything we have comes from Him.

That's the beginning point of the Kingdom of God.

Second insight we have is that God trusts us more than we trust ourselves.

It says he gave them money to invest for him while he was gone.

He gave them money to invest while he was gone.

It's remarkable to understand the level of trust that God has given to us.

He trusts us more than we trust ourselves.

He gives us talents, he gives us abilities.

He gives us strength.

He gives us resources.

And he says, here they are.

Take them.

You can use them, you can abuse them, you can squander them by your ego.

You can chafe after what the sinful world values.

Or you can wear my name badge and invest for the kingdom and invest for fulfillment in life.

You know, it's kind of like this.

It's kind of like God takes the keys, the family car, and he just gives them to us.

And he says, you go where you want to go, it's yours.

I trust you to take it and go.

God trusts us more than we trust ourselves.

And when you understand that in the Kingdom of God, then it takes on a different perspective.

The third takeaway we see in this parable is that God gives us what we can handle.

Excuse me.

Scripture said he divided their gifts in proportion to their abilities.

We are not all gifted the same.

And that's God's choice.

That is God's choice.

God gives each of us different gifts.

Everybody in this room is gifted enough to be successful academically at Belhaven University.

We would not have let you in if you couldn't do the work.

So you have that gift.

But beyond that, some of you have the gift to go into the medical field.

Some of you have the gift to go into the arts.

Some of you can play football or soccer.

Some of you can can build a great business.

Some of you can be a social worker and go into areas of great need.

You have different gifts in different areas.

God has given you each different gifts.

There are no two people in this room right this moment who have the same gifts.

God gives it to them.

And he could see in them these three servants what they even couldn't see in themselves.

He knew who had the potential.

He knew who would use it well, and he knew who needed more and who couldn't handle more.

God gave them exactly what each of the three needed to be successful.

Each was best prepared for success in life.

God makes no apology, absolutely no apology that he hadn't given us all the same thing.

Now we can look at that and say, well, that's not fair.

Look at all they got.

Look at what they get.

Look at the background they come and the finances they have in their life.

It's not right.

Well, yeah, it's not right according to a sinful world that's built on jealousy and pride.

But in the kingdom of God, it's right.

Because God knows best what each of us needs and he gives us what we can handle.

Well, the fourth takeaway is God requires that we know him.

The scripture says he, he left on a trip.

Jesus said he gave them these talents and then he left huge sum of money.

If you go back and you look at in context and all, it was a big sum of money he gave them.

He gave them no instructions, he gave them no direction.

He gave them no deadlines.

He gave them no benchmarks of success.

The only way they knew what to do with their talents was is because they knew the one they served.

Now, this is critical.

He didn't say, go do this, this, this, this, this, and I'll be real happy with what you do.

No, they had to know the heart and the spirit of the one they served.

And then they would know what to do with their talents.

By knowing him, they were ready for action.

The Lord doesn't tell us, go do this, go do this and do this and your life will be happy.

He says, know me, and once you know me, you will know what to do with these talents I've given you.

So the scripture reads like this.

It says, the servant who received the five bags of gold began to immediately vest the money and soon double it.

A servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money.

But the servant who received one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping.

So now the story shifts to start to look at the results.

That was a setup of how he gifted each of them according to their ability, with their talents, and then look at the results that come from it.

First, we can have great results even if we're given less than others.

See, the scripture says a servant with two bags of gold also went to right to work and doubled the money.

Now, one of the largest sums to invest didn't have the greatest rate of return.

The guy had five bags of gold and he doubled it.

But the one with two bags of gold who had less to begin with, was more successful for doubling that.

That's a law of economics.

When you've got less capital to begin with and you are successful in double getting the same rate of return as somebody with more capital, you're more successful than the one with big capital.

So doubling two bags is more impressive than doubling five bags.

And sometimes we feel shortchanged by God because we only have two bags.

When we look around and other people have five bags, two and a half times less doesn't mean we can't do as well with what we've been given.

In fact, we can do better.

The scripture shows us the one with two bags did better than the one with five bags, even though the rate of return was the same.

So God can do remarkable things with you and with me, even if we're given less than others around us.

The sixth idea that comes out of this is that being given less doesn't have to count us out.

Servant who received one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping.

Now, if you look at the economics of it again, the one with one bag didn't have all that much less than the one with two bags, right?

Compared to five, they still had resources.

But why didn't he do anything?

Why didn't he do anything?

Well, maybe because he felt inadequate.

So he didn't try.

He just felt like, I just don't know what to do.

I can't get this going.

I don't have the ability.

I don't have much talent.

So I'll just bury this.

So that would be option number one.

Number two, he felt like because he started focusing on what the other two had, they have so much more.

There's no way I'll be able to compete.

So why even try to compete with them if they're going to have so much more than I Am.

And so he didn't try.

The third is probably more likely because he didn't know the master.

He didn't know what to do.

Later in the story, it said when the master came back and he took the one bag away and said, throw him into where there's gnashing of teeth, the servant said to him, I knew you were a hard master.

Well, he didn't know the master.

And there's a lot of people who have a certain amount of talent and they don't have a right perspective of God.

And because they don't know God, they don't know what to do with that talent.

They see God as a hard master.

They see God as somebody who's just up there to pass judgment on you, wait for you to make a mistake, wait for you to mess up, and I'll flick you off into hell and you'll be done.

And that's the perspective of God.

When you know the Master, it changes totally how you use your talents.

So that's what the 1:1 bag did.

The others had a very different outcome.

And so really, we get to the accountability part of this story with rewards and consequences.

Scripture says after a long time, the Master return.

See, God doesn't operate on our schedule.

God has his own schedule.

God doesn't operate according to our time frame that we always find appropriate or we understand or how we wish it would be done.

There are things we wish would happen much sooner.

But God is never late.

He's always on time.

So when we tend to think God's ignoring you, when we think God's forgetting us, when we think God's not caring about our good actions, or when we think God's not caring about our bad actions, nothing happened.

It was okay.

Nothing could be farther than the truth.

He's just waiting.

He's just waiting for the right time to return.

God has his own schedule.

And then we see that God expects us to use well what we have been given.

The Master was full of praise.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Let's celebrate together.

Well done for his effort, not just his outcome.

You see, in the world that's been corrupted by sin, we're interested in performance objectives.

We're interested in, well, what's the mark in order to get the A, what's the course of objectives?

How can we agree on expectations up front?

And so if I know what you want, I'll hit that mark and then I'll be successful.

That's not how it works in the kingdom of God.

In the kingdom of God, God's effort is interested in our full effort and the process, not just the final results.

And if the final results could be easily done, we have failed in the kingdom of God.

If we get accomplished without full effort and it looks good, we failed in the kingdom of God.

If we can't do as much as someone else in accomplishing, but our effort is full, we succeed in the kingdom of God.

Did we use well?

What we've been given is the criteria of evaluation, not the final product.

And that is critical difference to the kingdom of God, to the world that's been corrupted by sin.

Well, next we see that God is always preparing us for more.

He said, you have been faithful in handling this small amount.

So now I will give you many more responsibilities.

God has not created us to live one chapter life.

You know, the book of our life is not just a single chapter.

It's a story.

It's a long story.

And what God is doing with you right now and what God is doing with me right now is preparing us for more and more and more.

God is equipping you, giving you experiences, giving you challenges with your talents that are preparing you that if you pass those moments, then he will give you more later on of responsibility.

So when you get later into this semester and it's really hard and it's overwhelming and it's tough, don't complain.

Say, thank you, Lord, for preparing me for something even bigger.

Thank you for pushing me for something even bigger.

If you can see the hardships of life as a preparation for what God's going to give you, that's how the kingdom of God operates.

Now.

The responsibilities in the story were about money, but it's really not the money that counted, it was the increase.

So that when we're faithful in using a small amount and we increase that, God will give us more responsibility.

He doesn't say, I'll give you more money.

He says, I'll give you more responsibility.

And if we don't want that, if we don't want to increase, if we don't want to give full effort, he won't.

He won't give us more responsibility because if he gives us more, we're just going to fail.

He's not going to give us what we can't do well.

So the story goes on like this.

Said take the money from the servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold.

It's from the one who had one.

To those who use well what they're giving, even more will be given and they will have an abundance.

But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.

Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In God's kingdom, there is accountability and there are consequences, even much more so than in the world that we understand.

God decides who gets the abundance.

First of all, God decides who gets the abundance.

That is not our responsibility.

It says, take the money from this servant and give it to the one who had 10 bags of gold.

Now to me, the one who had two bags and turned it into four was a better investor than the one who had five and turned it into 10.

Just the economics of it.

He must have been really proud.

Look, I took two bags and doubled it.

And that guy had more to start with and he doubled it.

But I did a lot better.

He must have felt really proud.

God doesn't necessarily give it to the one who's the most successful in the result.

God gives it to the one who he's preparing and who he's using and who he chooses.

He was thankful for him.

The one that doubled from two bags, he praised him.

He said, let's celebrate together.

But the abundance, the extra still went to the other guy.

And that's God's choice.

In the kingdom of God, you know, if we are faithful, we will receive an abundance.

We just may not receive it now when we think we deserve it again, that sinful nature taking over.

It says to those who use well what they're giving, even more will be given and they will have an abundance.

Even if we don't receive the abundance when somebody else does or when we expect it, in God's timing, we will be given the abundance.

He promises it if we use our gifts well.

And the only way to use your gifts well is.

Is to know Him.

So rejoice when somebody else receives the abundance and you don't.

Because whether the abundance comes now or whether we're passed over now, God knows the very best of what we need.

God thinks and plans in eternal dimensions, not just today.

Now, all this about the kingdom of God is not just for heaven.

And heaven's for real.

And this is how the heaven will operate is on the foundations of the kingdom of God.

But Jesus said the kingdom of God is now in us.

And when we begin to live and understand the way God designed the world and the way that honors Christ, the kingdom of God even now comes.

So the abundance may come now, it may come later in life, it may come in eternity.

It's in God's timing.

The scripture promises that in this life or in eternity, those who use well what they're giving will receive the abundance.

Because in the kingdom of God there is no difference between this life and eternity.

It's one continual life in Christ, as we sang about earlier today.

Well, the last idea is this.

God will take as well as give.

God will take from those who are unfaithful.

Even what little they have will be taken away.

God doesn't hesitate to take away as well as give when you look at your talents and your strengths and your opportunities.

But if you forget where they came from, if you think you earned them, if you think you deserved them, you are subject to having all that taken away.

What the kingdom of God demands from us is faithfulness in using whatever we have for the moment.

Use it well and trust God for what comes after that.

Entrusted and accountable both.

God gives us so much, he entrusts us incredibly, but we are held accountable for it.

This is what the kingdom of God is like.

The scripture says as Jesus told the story you could imagine sitting with his disciples and he just says the kingdom of God is like and begins to tell the story about the parable of the talents.

Now you can fight against it and do it your own way.

And you can try to get the abundance of life as fast as possible because that's what the world says you ought to do.

And, and so if you do, you're probably tracing off to trinkets like money and fame and power that don't last.

Sinful way, you know, works for a short period of time.

It really does.

It works for a short period of time maybe, but it always crashes eventually.

So you can fight against what the kingdom of God is, but the kingdom of God is for eternity.

So you can accept instead to be blessed by how God has entrusted us each with talents to use well what we've been given and to trust God for the abundance in his time and his way.

That's the parable of the talents.

I hope as you look at that, and I hope maybe you'll take time and read the story on your own some you can see God more clearly, you can love him more dearly and you can follow him more nearly as you begin to see how the kingdom of God is so different from the world we know and understand.

Let's pray our benediction together.

No eye is seen, no ear is heard, no mind is conceived.

What God has prepared for those who love him.

God bless.

Have a good day.