September 17, 2023
The Basics of Investing
Matthew 25:14-30
Today we are starting a new sermon series called, “Invested”. We will be looking at how God has called us to handle, manage, and be obedient with things He has blessed us with in life. Usually when we think of investments our minds will go straight to money. While it is true that God has a lot to say about how we handle our finances, we need to understand that God speaks of how we handle and invest other blessings as well - like our talents, time, and opportunities. Before we specifically talk about how we are called to manage all these blessings biblically, there are some overarching truths that we need to discuss first because they will be a part of every topic we discuss in this series. I’d like to look at those universal truths as we explore the Parable of the Three Servants in Matthew 25.
Before we get into today’s text, we need to understand that this entire Chapter is written in the context of one single fact, JESUS IS COMING BACK!!! Jesus spends all of the 24th Chapter of Matthew telling His disciples about how the world will end and what will happen when He comes back. Everything that we see in all of Chapter 25 is based on that fact. Even in the first part of Chapter 25, Jesus tells another parable about 10 bridesmaids - 5 who were ready for the return of the Bridegroom and 5 who were not. The point was to tell us that we should always be ready for Christ’s return because no one knows the day or the hour that it will happen. It’s at that point Jesus gives us our text for the sermon this morning.
The Assets Given - Matthew 25:14-15
14 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.
Anytime we see the phrase “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” in scripture we need to pay close attention because Jesus is about to reveal something about Kingdom living to us. As Christians that is the life we are called to live - a Kingdom life. Any time He reveals something about the Kingdom lifestyle we always see that it is not like the world's way of living at all. It’s a call to a higher standard of living. Here Jesus reveals exactly what our service to Him (understanding service can look a lot of different ways and can involve a lot of different things) should look like in our lives until He returns again or calls us home.
Jesus sets the stage of this parable by showing us three different servants. The man who is going on a trip is Jesus. The servants are those who are servants of Jesus Christ (Christians). In this parable He gives each of the servants at least one bag of silver. We need to understand that the amount that was given to each servant is not important in the parable (as a matter of fact there is great debate to what it would actually be in today's currency). The important part is the fact of what was given by the Master was something that the servant did not deserve nor could they accumulate themselves. It’s this truth that should lead us to a vital attitude when it comes to our relationship with God. Psalms 24:1 tells us “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.” The truth in this verse, as well as our parable, should shape our attitude to understand that everything we have (and I mean everything) is the Lord’s and He has entrusted the things He has blessed us with for a short time. This is a hard attitude for us to have as Christians because this is VERY much against what the world teaches. We like to think we have worked hard and have earned everything we have ourselves and we deserve it. That’s not what scripture teaches nor is it reality. The truth is EVERYTHING is the Lord’s - your house, your car, your family, your work ethic, and your skills. Everything is the Lord’s and it’s by His grace that we have anything at all. We deserve nothing because of our rebellion against Him. When we are able to live this truth out in our attitude and actions, day in and day out, everything else we will be talking about in the coming weeks will become a lot easier to follow through with in obedience. This first step, this change in attitude, is tough because this is usually a stronghold for all of us - a stronghold for our pride.
The next thing we need to understand is the different amounts that were given. Jesus tells us these were given based on their abilities. It could be (like we spoke about last week) based on the amount of faith they had in God. They could be different because of a variety of reasons, but we need to notice (and we will refer to this again by the end of the parable) that the amounts that were given didn’t really matter. All that matters is He trusts us all with the same amount of trust and expects us all to carry out the same mission before He returns.
The Work Required - Matthew 25:16-18
16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
There is an unspoken mission here that was understood by the servants. It was to make the most of what the Master gave them. Immediately when the Master left, the first servant went to work. We have a word here that is interpreted as “invest”, but investments like we understand them today did not exist at the time. Instead he put the money to work and reaped the benefits. We don’t know what method he used. All we know is he made the most with what he had. It’s the same thing that we see the second servant do as well. Then comes the last servant. We can see that he wasn’t like the other two and he actually sins with what he was given. His sin is interesting because it’s not that he misspent what he was given, but he just didn’t use it at all. It was the sin of omission that caused him to stumble in this story. At best he opted for safety and comfort instead of service to the Master. At the worst he just didn’t care.
We all find ourselves in the same place as the servants in this parable. Every one of us has been given some kind of blessings that are supposed to be used to share the Gospel and grow God’s Kingdom. We can be like the first or second servant and get to work doing God’s work or we can be like the third servant and sit by safely and comfortably doing nothing with what God has given us. Be assured there is a day that we will all have to give an account for what we have done with what God has entrusted us with. While we don’t know when that day will be, we can all be assured that the day is coming.
The Rewards Received - Matthew 25:19-30
19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! (Or enter into the joy of your Master)’ 22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ 23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! (or enter into the joy of your Master)’ 24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
As this parable is finishing up, we see that the Master returns after a long period of time. He calls the servants to give an account of what the Master has entrusted to them. The first and second servant reported on what they had done and both received their rewards. We need to notice that the Master didn’t even mention the return on these investments. Rather He was more concerned with their faithfulness to their mission. The first made more money for his Master, but the Master wasn’t concerned with this. He had the same trust in all of them, and had the same expectations for all of them. Those who were faithful were all given the same reward. His only expectation for the servants was faithfulness in their mission. Their reward was one only the Master could give. It was joy that only comes from the Master. It was His joy that they were going to experience (John 15:11). It was a joy that Jesus laid down His life so that we could experience it at its fullest. It’s a reward that will not rust, grow old, or fade away. It’s a joy that only comes through Jesus Christ. It’s a reward to be trusted with more and more than we’ve ever been trusted with before.
Then we have the third servant. Before anything is even said, this servant starts to play the victim, blaming the Master for his lack of faithfulness. That’s what sin does in all its forms. It doesn't matter if you commit a sin or sin by omitting a behavior we always want to blame someone else for our problem. Then the Master addresses this useless servant by using the same argument/excuse this third servant used when he was trying to throw the blame for his unfaithfulness on the Master. He said if I'm so horrible and terrifying then why didn’t you just do the bare minimum? The Master knows the motives, thoughts, actions, and the fruit of the servants so there is no fooling Him. It’s time for the consequences of the third servant's actions. What little he had was given to someone else and the servant wasn’t able to enjoy what the Lord had in store for him.
We need to understand in our context this parable doesn’t mean that we would lose our salvation if we don’t use our gifts properly. However we wouldn’t get to enjoy the joy of the Lord while we are still here on earth. We wouldn’t be partakers of the abundant life Jesus promises in John 10:10. The gifts we were given would be removed from us because of our lack of faithlessness. Grace still covered this third servant but grace never condones irresponsibility with what God has trusted us with.
It’s here in this parable we see the basis of investing that we will be looking at over the next few Sundays. It’s knowing and living the truth that everything is the Lord’s. It doesn’t matter what you have because God has given it to you and expects you to use it to carry out the Great Commission. It’s the truth that He is coming back. We will have to give an account to God for what we have done with what He has entrusted us with and that we will be rewarded or punished depending on what we have done. So it’s time to stop saying what we would do if we had more and start doing something with what we have. God is looking for your faithfulness in even the smallest of blessings.
