Matthew
25:14-30 (NIV):
The
Parable of the Bags of Gold
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After
a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with
them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the
other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I
have gained five more.’
21 “His
master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful
with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your
master’s happiness!’
22 “The
man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with
two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His
master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful
with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your
master’s happiness!’
24 “Then
the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that
you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you
have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid
your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His
master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I
have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then,
you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I
returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So
take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For
whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does
not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw
that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.’
When you start
to use your gifts they multiply. And this is demonstrated through the teaching
in this passage. Notice the parable here of the man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to
them. So firstly, you need to accept
the calling the LORD has given you to start to walk in your gifting. He has
called each and every one of us-but have
you responded? This is the first step if your initial question is “how do I
know my talent?” I have a bigger and better question-have you answered the call of the LORD on your life?
The man called his servants. This also indicates
that you must be submitted to the will of
God for your life and trust He has a great purpose for your life:
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV):
11 For
I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
And this is also
clear from the passage because the man
entrusted wealth to these servants. Hence the LORD wants to bless you. And
He will give you gifts according to your abilities:
Hebrews 13:20-21(NIV):
Benediction and Final Greetings
20 Now
may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought
back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip
you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is
pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
And this is why
each man was given different quantities-because we have different qualities and
we each have specific assignments to carry out in the Kingdom and for the
Kingdom. And don’t qualify this as being exclusively preaching-because that is
not the truth-it could be teaching, medicine, law, graphics, design-only the
LORD knows and only He can tell you because it
comes from Him.
The Word even
says in Matthew 25:15 He gave to each
according to His ability. And then he went on his journey.
What did he give
them? Bags of gold-wealth. And wealth means an abundance of valuable
possessions or money-this means once more that the LORD has plans to prosper you as Jeremiah 29:11 says.
This also means you have treasure within you that only the LORD can show you
because He gave it to you.
And each man had
a personal encounter because each received according to his ability-hence don’t
rely on your friend’s talents or your friend’s unique relationship with God or
even that of your family’s-you need to
experience Him by yourself.
Notice something,
the man who received the five bags of gold went
at once, meaning he did not waste time, because he already knew the
quantity he had received, and he put his money to work, and what did he gain? Five
bags more!
This is so
important. Listen carefully-faith without
deeds is dead (James 2:17). You
may have received the bags of gold and you are still waiting-then how do you
expect your faith to produce fruit? You need to partner your faith with your
feet and move!
This man did-and
he gained five more. This is because
his faith produced fruit. Notice the quantity gained (5) was exactly equal to
the quantity received (5). This is to show you that there is balance in the
Kingdom-in other words, your talents will bear fruits in the same area, that
will expand to other areas-it will be directly correlated and related to the
original talent you received, and when you invest it in works, it will produce a
harvest in that quantity-a harvest of faith! And this also happened for the man
with two bags of gold. He put his faith and his feet to work and produced two
more-because each produced according to
his ability.
You may ask, why
didn’t the master just give them the ten bags and four bags respectively?
Because the latter half needed to be produced in the place of faithfulness-they
came out of the seed of faith invested:
Luke 16:10 (NIV):
10 “Whoever
can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is
dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
So when you
start putting your talent to work, the talent the LORD has given you and shown
you through His call on your life, it will produce fruit:
John 15:5 (NIV):
5 “I
am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
But then there
is always that believer that lacks faith-are you one of them? Are you a
believer overcome with fear? Notice this man received only one bag, which is
interesting-because it shows once more-each receives according to his
ability-and his seed is a reflection of his personality-he received one-and
what did he do with it? He dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Do you know it is a sin to hide your talent? How you may ask? Well what
happened to him? He was thrown out of the Kingdom:
Matthew 25:30 (NIV):
30 And
throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
It is no mistake
this parable is called the parable of the Talents. There is a talent the LORD
has deposited in you to be sowed in faith to produce fruit.
This man did not
do so-he hid it. Out of fear. Because
fear will always make you hide. This is not a sign of faith, the Spirit gives
faith, the devil gives fear:
2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV):
7 For
the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and
self-discipline.
So if you are
being told to hide your talents-and that you cannot do what the LORD has placed
on your heart, that is the voice of the devil not the LORD. And the devil is a
liar so don’t listen to him:
John 8:44 (NIV):
44 You
belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s
desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for
there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he
is a liar and the father of lies.
That gift you
have received is not your own, it comes from the LORD, so come to Him so He can
awaken you into your calling, and you can begin to speak in the gifting He has
placed in you-don’t be like the man who received the bag and hid it.
The master returned and settled accounts. In other
words, the LORD will ask you, what have you done with the gifts He has given
you? Do you want to be like the first two, who produced more fruit or the one
man who was too afraid to sow in faith?
When you sow in fear, you will not reap
in faith. Let’s take it
a step further, the ground is akin to the flesh because man was made from
dust-so when you sow in the ground, you
sow in the flesh not in faith. Hence this man sowed in the ground because
he was afraid. When you are afraid,
despite your intentions, no matter how good, when you move in fear, it will
always take you the wrong way!
The men who
showed their faith in deeds were rewarded with plenty. (Matthew 25:21-23). Once
more I emphasize, it is a sin not to use the gifts the LORD has given you
because they were entrusted into your
care to be used.
It’s interesting
how the man who received one bag of gold had a skewed understanding of the
LORD-this is because he did not know Him.
Yes, he had answered the call and was a servant, but he applied his gifts
wrongly. He even admitted his fear (Matthew
25:25). So he came back to his master the same way he left. Also this man hid the talents in the wrong place-money is
kept in the bank not in the ground. If he had been listening to the LORD, he
would know to put it in the bank-because faith will always lead you to fruit! (Matthew
25:27).
When it is kept
in the bank, it yields interest because it
is meant to be kept in the bank. But it cannot do so in the ground. The
same way, when you use your talents in the right
place, they yield interest, so are you hiding your talents in the ground? In
other words, are you using them wrongly by employing them in the wrong manner? In
the flesh? The flesh does not produce fruit-it is not in its nature. This is
why the talent could not yield fruit in the ground because it was a product of
faith and could not multiply when
partnered with fear.
This is what
this servant did. The nature of your talents are to multiply. Whenever you use
your talents in the right manner, and in the right space, they grow. This
servant was chastised because he used his talent in the wrong manner by using
it the wrong way, and hiding it in the wrong space.
And how was he
described? As wicked and lazy. Does this
sound like characteristics of the LORD or the devil? I am trying to make you
understand the link between how you choose to employ your talents, and what
they say about your faith. The servants who employed their talents properly
were described as good and faithful because they moved in faith!
Which adjectives
do you want to describe you? Good and faithful or lazy and wicked?
The lazy servant
was told he should have invested his money so he could have received
interest-in other words, he should have used the money he received in a proper
manner.
The talents the
LORD has given you are made to multiply.
So stop blocking
your blessing and get to work! Sow in faith not in fear. The fruit is dependent
on the seed.
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