Don't Do Nothing: Life Lessons from the Parable of the Talents

 

The parable of the talents, found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, provides insight into how the Lord conducts his affairs and what he expects of those in his service.

In the parable, a nobleman who is about to go on a journey calls three of his servants and gives them each a certain number of “talents” with which to do business while he is away. The “talent” referenced here is the Roman Attic talent, a weight in that was equivalent to about 8,400 denarii. The denarius was a common working man’s daily wage at the time of Christ; so assuming a six-day work week here, a single talent would have taken the average wage earner 8,400 days (26 years) to acquire. To the first servant, the master entrusts five talents (42,000 denarii, 133 years’ worth of wages). To the second, he entrusts two denarii (16,800 denarii, 53 years’ worth of wages). To the third, he entrusts a single talent.

When the master returns, he calls his servants to account for the use they’ve made of his goods while he was away. The first servant, to whom the master gave five talents, has made five more talents, and is rewarded. The second servant, to whom the master gave two talents, has made two more talents, and is rewarded. The third servant does not fare as well in the judgment:

“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” – Matthew 25:24-29

Of course, the overall point of this parable is that the Lord expects those in his service to do profitable work for his kingdom, but when we break down the language used here we gain some additional insights.

 

“Master, I knew you to be a hard man…”

 

The word “hard” here is translated from the Greek word skieros, which Vines Expository Dictionary comments on as follows:

 

“(from skello, ‘to be dry’). It was applied to that which lacks moisture, and so is rough and disagreeable to the touch, and hence came to denote ‘harsh, stern, hard.’ Skieros is always [a form of reproach] and indicates a harsh, even inhuman, character.”

 

The gospel of Luke contains a similar parable where the unprofitable servant calls his master “an austere man” (Luke 19:21). ‘Austere’ is translated from the Greek word austeros, which Vines says is related to skieros in that it denotes a harsh character, but where skieros has to do with something that is harsh to the touch, austeros has to do with something that is too strong to the taste:

 

“Primarily denotes ‘stringent to the taste,’ like new wine not matured by age, unripe fruit, etc…Austeros is ‘rather the exaggeration of a virtue pushed too far, than an absolute vice.’”

Why does the servant view his master in this way?

 

“Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.”

In other words, the servant is accusing his master of ruthlessly reaping the benefits of the labor of others, claiming what they have worked for as his own while doing no work himself.

 

“And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.”

The word translated “afraid” here (Greek – phobeo) can simply mean to be fearful, but in earlier usage it actually meant ‘to put to flight’: to scare someone to the point where they run. This seems to be what is meant here, as the servant says he “went away.”

Putting these ideas together, we see that the servant is accusing his master of ruthlessly exploiting the labor of others, and claims that he was so afraid of working for such a man that he ran off and hid the talent he’d been given, ignoring his charge as if it didn’t exist. Effectively, he’s saying to the master: “I want nothing to do with you and your business.” We might then ask: Well, if the servant hasn’t been tending to his master’s affairs, what has he been doing all this time? Apparently, he’s been tending to his own business. His excuse that he was afraid of his master is really a cop-out. He’s just uninterested in anything but his own affairs.

The master then judges the servant, as Luke’s account reads, by his own words.

 

“You wicked, lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gathered where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.”

There’s some strong irony in this response. The servant’s problem with the master is that he profits without labor, and in judging him the master tells the servant how he might have profited without labor as well. He says that the servant should have put the master’s money in the bank, where it would have gained interest without any further effort on the servant’s part. Yet, the servant was unable to do even this much, and finds himself condemned. The talent is then taken from him and given to the one who showed the best results with his master’s money, while the worthless servant is cast from his master’s presence.

There are numerous lessons for us in all of this.

First, the Lord is careful with his treasures. Like any good manager, he knows which employees can be trusted to perform well, and distributes responsibilities accordingly. Parents do this as well. They usually know which of their children can handle responsibility and which can’t. If they leave the house for a time, they don’t put the least capable kid in charge. Accordingly, the Lord distributes ability and responsibility to those he knows can handle it. Some get more, and some less. This is his decision, not ours.

Second, notice that the Lord commends both profitable servants. He doesn’t chide the servant to whom he gave only two talents for not gaining five, like the most profitable servant did. He gave the servant two talents, and commends him for gaining two more. The servant met the master’s expectations, and was rewarded for it. The Lord simply expects that his servants will use what they’re given, and in the proper proportion.

Third, the Lord gives even less-capable servants a chance to better themselves. Employers and parents do the same thing: they try to encourage their employees and children who aren’t doing as well to do better, and this is how we ought to consider the things we’re given to do. The master undoubtedly knew that the lazy servant wasn’t capable of much, so he didn’t give him much to do; but he gave him something, and there was honor as well as expectation in that charge. Yet, the servant chose to see his master’s charge as nothing more than an unwanted burden.

Fourth, note that the master doesn’t chide the lazy servant for not gaining another full talent. He doesn’t even expect that much. He would have been satisfied with merely gaining some interest on the talent. The servant chided the master for being a hard man, but the master shows here that he’s actually flexible. When he gives something, he expects some sort of increase on it—even if only something minimal. He set the lowest possible standard, and the servant was unable to meet even that expectation.

Fifth, although the lazy servant must have been busying himself with his own affairs while his master was gone, the master doesn’t condemn him for even this. He condemns him for completely neglecting his master’s business. The Lord knows that people have interests, need to make a living, etc., and he doesn’t condemn that. He simply asks that something be done for his sake.

Maybe you have no idea what it is that the Lord expects of you. Maybe you don’t feel that you have much to offer in the first place. The lesson of this parable is simply that the Lord expects you to do something in his service. He expects some return on his investment—even a minimal effort. You don’t have to preach to millions like a Billy Graham, give up everything and become a missionary, or have the ability to sing like an angel, or raise the funds to build vast ministries in order to please God. Just do what you can with what you have. It’s always good to learn more, to stretch and grow; but don’t let a lack of confidence or a perceived lack of ability freeze you into doing nothing at all.

As the psalmist writes in Psalm 103:14, God “knows our frame; he is mindful that we are but dust.” God’s standards of judgment are probably not as harsh as we sometimes envision. He knows our limitations and makes accommodation for them. More often than not, our judgment comes from our own standards. This is one of the fundamental teachings Christ gave to his disciples: “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). In its context, Christ meant this specifically with respect to how we treat others, but we still see the same principle at work in the parable of the talents. The master judged his servant by his own words and standards. For this reason, it would benefit us to think of the excuses we would offer up to God in giving account for ourselves, and think of how he might use our own words and standards to judge us. In this way, we judge ourselves and have the opportunity to adjust our course in life before we meet the Lord (I Corinthians 11:31).

 

* All scriptures cited here are taken from the NASB.

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Understanding the End Times, Part One: The Kingdom of God

 

Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is none other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, “My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” – Isaiah 46:9-10

There is significantly more to the end times issue than the popular focus on matters of when and how end-time events will take place. The question of “Why?” is also extremely important. We have to understand why this period of history is coming, what it is designed to achieve. Nor can we restrict our study of scripture to what is specifically said concerning the end. No, if we want to fully understand the end, it’s essential that we go back to the beginning, for all of human history has been steadily leading up to this time.

God created human beings to be his imagers—that is, to reflect and represent him—and he gave us the task of caring for this planet. In other words, mankind was to act as God’s regent or viceroy on the earth, ruling over the world on his behalf. Ultimately, Adam and Eve—the father and mother of the Adamic race—chose to rebel, seeking the knowledge to live without the guidance of God. They chose their own will over God’s will, and this unfortunate choice soon became the defining characteristic of the human race: the gratification and exaltation of self. As a result of their rebellion, Adam and Eve were cast out of the place of privilege and blessing that God had prepared for them, doomed to labor for their sustenance and, eventually, to die. Yet, even in the midst of judgment, God showed them mercy and promised a redeemer.

In the centuries that followed, God worked through various individuals who were willing to be led by him. One of the most prominent of these was a man named Abraham, with whom God entered into a covenant, which is a solemn agreement based upon promises (marriage is a type of covenant). In his covenant with Abraham, God promised several things, including:

1. He would have descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
2. He and his descendants would possess a great land inheritance encompassing the territory between the Nile and Euphrates rivers.
3. He would become a blessing to all nations.

Abraham’s descendants multiplied greatly and eventually became the nation of Israel, which was named for Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, whose name God changed. In time, God established a covenant with Israelites in order to establish them as a holy people, meaning a people set apart to himself, so that he could bless them for Abraham’s sake and bring them into the land he had promised. This covenant became known as the Mosaic Covenant or the Law of Moses in that it was given to Israel through Moses after the Israelites were freed from a period of bondage in Egypt. In this covenant, God promised Israel many blessings, but he also sternly warned them that these blessings (including the privilege of living in the land they inhabited) were conditional on their loyalty to him. If they departed from him and served other gods like the nations around them, God promised to visit many different types of judgments upon them and to evict them from the land.

Israel started off well under Moses and his successor, Joshua. They established the civil and ceremonial law that God had commanded, and they took the land of Canaan from the various tribes living in it and became prosperous. In time, however, many of them left off serving God in favor of worshiping pagan gods and adopting the religious practices of the nations around them, such as child sacrifice. Time after time, God warned and judged his people for their idolatry, often by sending foreign conquerors to rule over them; and, time after time, the Israelites repented and turned back to God, who then delivered them through a host of judges and prophets.

This cycle continued until the people finally demanded a king to rule over them, just as the nations around them had kings. God warned them of how a king would tax and otherwise oppress them, but the people were insistent, so God set a man over them named Saul. Saul was effectively the nation of Israel in a microcosm. He started off well, just as Israel had in the day s of Moses and Joshua, but he became proud and stubborn and disobeyed God repeatedly. God then revoked the kingship from Saul and chose another man, a young man named David. David was by no means perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart. He remained loyal to God throughout his life, and while he was king over Israel the people worshiped and served God as the Law of Moses prescribed. God entered into a covenant with David as well, promising that his family would retain the throne forever.

After David and his son Solomon passed off the scene, ten of Israel’s twelve tribes rebelled against David’s grandson Rehoboam and broke away, becoming known as Israel or “the Northern Kingdom.” The remaining two tribes became known as “Judah” or “the Southern Kingdom.” The Northern Kingdom became steeped in idolatry and paganism early on, and had no really good kings at all apart from a man named Jehu, and even he tolerated idolatry in the land to a degree. Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was destroyed and its people were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. For its part, the Southern Kingdom remained loyal to the house of David and produced some good kings, but it also had some kings who gave themselves wholeheartedly to the service of pagan gods. As a result, the Southern Kingdom outlasted the Northern Kingdom but eventually fell to the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar and its people were carried off into exile for seventy years.

As he had in the days of the judges, God sent one prophet after another to Israel and Judah, warning of impending judgment and calling on them to repent and return wholeheartedly to their God. Even as they prophesied of overthrow and captivity, however, a number of these men also foretold a time when God would restore the fortunes of his people, defeat their enemies, and re-gather them in their own land, establishing an everlasting kingdom. In this kingdom, justice and righteousness would reign supreme, and God himself would dwell among men as he had not since the beginning. The kingdom would be centered on Jerusalem, which the prophets commonly referred to as Mount Zion, and the land of Israel would become a place of peace and particular blessing, just as the Garden had once been. God also promised to inaugurate a new covenant with both Judah and Israel, and to write his laws in their hearts so that they would never stray from him again.

This covenant and kingdom would be established and ruled over by a descendant of David known as the Messiah. Messiah is a title taken from the Hebrew word Mashiach, meaning “anointed one,” after the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil. In the Greek language, it is Christos: Christ or “the Christ”. Thus, Messiah was to be both deliverer and king, and it was prophesied that even the gentile nations would come to revere him.

Yet, the prophets also warned that the coming of the kingdom would involve a time of great calamity for Israel. The nation’s enemies would rise up against it, intent on destroying it. God would eventually intervene and stop this, but it would be a terrible time for humanity as a whole. Judgment would fall on those who hated Israel as well as those who hated God and refused to acknowledge him and honor Christ as king.

Eventually, in what the Bible calls “the fullness of time,” God sent his Son, Jesus of Nazareth, into the world. When he began his public ministry, the Bible tells us that Jesus came preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17), which effectively means: “Turn from your rebellion against God, because the Kingdom of God is coming and judgment is coming with it.” The Jews of Jesus’ day knew very well what this reference meant: the time of Israel’s prophesied restoration was near, and they began to openly debate whether Jesus was the expected Messiah, the Christ. Yet, Jesus refused to openly proclaim himself as such, and he would not allow others to prematurely put him in that position. Instead, he taught the people, healed them, freed them from spiritual oppression, and even raised the dead back to life. In so doing, he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies concerning the work of the Messiah, and he exemplified the blessings of the coming Kingdom age, in which disease, the oppression of evil, and even death itself would be overcome. In other words, he showed himself—and those who followed him and did the same works as he did—to be the living Kingdom of God among them: the very personification of the Kingdom and the proof that it was in fact on its way, with both blessing and judgment.

 “I AM the bread of life…” – John 6:35

“I AM the light of the world…” – John 8:12

“I AM the gate for the sheep…” – John 10:7

“I AM the good shepherd…” – John 10:11

“I AM the resurrection and the life…” – John 11:35

“I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

“I AM the true vine…” – John 15:1

In a nutshell, the ministry of Jesus Christ was a ministry of reconciliation. Everything he did was geared toward restoring what humanity had lost when it lost access to God and the blessings of Eden: peace, health, and life in all of their various dimensions. He set right all that had been made wrong in human experience. In healing the sick and lame, he restored people’s bodies to their proper function. In raising the dead, he restored life that had been lost. In teaching, he restored truth where it had been clouded or distorted. He came to bring restoration, and he was the very embodiment of it.

Yet, not all accepted him or recognized him for who he was. From the very beginning, Jesus called out a select few to follow him and learn from him intimately. These people—both men and women—became his disciples. The closest of these were twelve men whom Jesus called “apostles.” It was specifically these that he trained to carry on his ministry, for he knew that he would not continue with them for long. Those who were jealous of him and hated him were conspiring to kill him. This, too, had been prophesied in the Old Testament, although the prophecies were not well understood. They told of one who would come and carry away the sicknesses and diseases of the people, who would bear the burden of sin to make atonement, and who would be put to a shameful death. Jesus warned his disciples that this was coming, but he also promised that it was not the end: after he had suffered and died, he would rise again; and as he lived, they would live also.

Jesus inaugurated the promised new covenant with his disciples the night before his death; and when he was raised from the dead, he commissioned them to go and preach what he called “the Gospel of the Kingdom” throughout the world. The word “gospel” is from a Greek word meaning “good news.” The Kingdom of God is indeed good news—even with its prophecies of judgment—if you view it the way God views it, for it represents the end of evil’s domination of this world. From that time forward, true justice and righteousness will reign supreme, and the old, corrupt regimes of this world will never come to power again.

In his ministry of reconciliation, the New Testament calls Christ “the last Adam.” Why? Because he is the embodiment of what man was meant to be under God. He is the first—not of a new race, but of a renewed race of man—in perfect fellowship with God. Where Adam failed, choosing to follow his own will and effectively be God to himself, Christ succeeded, remaining faithful to God and doing his will perfectly and consistently. He is the perfect image of God.

“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” – John 14:9

“For in him, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” – Colossians 2:9

All of this brings us back to the time of the end.

The purpose of the end times is to bring in the Kingdom of God with Christ at its head, to do away with everything that is contrary to the will and character of God, and to establish eternal righteousness and blessing with man restored in perfect, eternal fellowship with his creator. In the words of the angel Gabriel as recorded by the prophet Daniel:

“…to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” – Daniel 9:24

Just as the events of the creation in Genesis prepared the world to be handed over to the government of humanity, which was made in the image of God to represent him in the world but fell into rebellion, so the events of the end times are to prepare the world to be handed over to the government of Jesus Christ, who is the perfect, unfailing image of God and will reign in eternal righteousness. He has indeed declared the end from the beginning.

As they say, “That’s what it’s all about.”

“Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and he will reign forever and ever.’” – Revelation 11:15