II. THE UN= LIFE: UN-USED
Matthew 25:14-30

(Note: the Parable of the Talents was interpreted by four of our yo= uth as I read. Money bags of vari= ous sizes depicting the three amounts were handed to the servants by the master= and then doubled upon his return, except the one talent servant was carrying the same amount plus a shovel to symbolize burying it.)

14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted h= is property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he = went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went= off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his Master's mon= ey.

19"After a long time the Master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained = five more.' 21"His Master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful serv= ant! 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 the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me wi= th two talents; 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 thin= gs. Come and share your Master's happiness!'

24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew th= at you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where = you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent= in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

26"His Master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So yo= u knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well 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"Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping a= nd gnashing of teeth.”

The stories of Jesus found in Matthew 25 are probably = not among our favorites. We prefer parables like the “Prodigal Son,” where, after squandering the father’s money in a far country, the boy comes to his senses and heads toward home. The father sees = him in the distance and goes running out to meet him. He even throws a party for him. We love it when God does that.

But what about those five foolish virgins we heard abo= ut last week? Remember--they get= shut out of the party just because their oil ran dry. We understand they should have bee= n better prepared—but is this really such a big deal?

According to Jesus, it is. It matters because being unprepare= d is a symptom of the UNLIFE, which is the opposite of= what the Lord wants us to have. He= came to give us life to the full! Anything that gets in the way of this abundant life is a problem.

And how about the—quote—“worthless s= ervant” in Jesus’ story today: he also gets left out in the darkness, like th= ose foolish maidens did; only his darkness includes “weeping and gnashing= of teeth.” But what crime = did this poor guy commit? So he t= ook the talent his Master gave him and buried it—is that so awful?

If you and I ever find ourselves thinking this wayR= 12;and we inevitably do—then that explains why we like the story of the Prod= igal better than any of these three stories we find in Matthew 25. These parables hold us accountable. They rem= ind us that life in Christ includes responsibilities and obligations. One day, you and I will have to gi= ve an accounting before God of what we’ve done with what He has given us.

Last week, we saw that being UN-PREPARED is not okay w= ith God. We’re to trust Chr= ist and live for Him daily so that when the Lord comes for us, we’ll be ready--prepared!

Today we learn that if our lives are UN-USED—that’s not okay either. It’s just another symptom of= the UNLIFE. To understand this better, let’s take a look at Jesus’ second para= ble.

Seven talents are distributed among three servants. In our vernacular, a talent is an ability or a giftedness. If we say that someone is talented= , we usually mean the person has the ability to do something significantly bette= r than the rest of us. Either this o= r the person we’re referring to is our grandchild. The talents of grandchildren far e= xceed those of the general population!

In Jesus’ day, a talent meant something different. It was a measure of money. It seems reasonable, t= hough, to think of the talents in Jesus’ story as anything the Master gives = his servant with the intention that it be used.

The point of the parable is that two of the servants t= ook the talents entrusted to them and put them to good use. This resulted in joy and celebrati= on when the Master returned. The= third servant, though, failed to use the talent he was given. When the Master returned, he rebuk= ed the servant for taking what he was given and burying it in the ground.

Let’s briefly consider each of these servants, beginning with the five-talent fellow.&nbs= p; You know this person. = He or she seems to be able to do anything. If you needed to entrust some money to someone, this is the first pe= rson you would turn to. If there i= s something you wanted accomplished, this would be your go-to guy.

Be thankful these people exist. They get more done, and they do it better and faster than the rest of us.&nbs= p; Our lives, families, churches, businesses, communities—even our world—would be diminished without their presence among us.

Some people are envious of five-talent folks; but we shouldn’t be. Having so= many talents brings added responsibilities.&nbs= p; Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” (= Luke 12:48)

The Master commended the fellow who took the five tale= nts and made five more; but he was commended in exactly the same way as the man= who received two talents and made two more.&nb= sp; “Well done” on both counts.

The Master gives to each servant what he chooses to gi= ve him. It’s important for five-talent people to always remember that their remarkable abilities are g= ifts from God.

Anyone who is tempted to feel superior to others becau= se of their giftedness should pay attention to these words: “This is what t= he Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lo= rd, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.”&= nbsp; (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

The five-talent servant in our story seems humbled by = this awareness: that the multiple talents in his possession are not his own. They belong to the Master.

When the Master returns, this servant is eager to show= him how well he has managed his money. “Master,” he says, “you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.” (v.20) And the Master says: “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!” (v. 21)

Don’t you think the Master had good reasons for = giving this man five talents—more than he gave the other two servants combined? That’s implie= d here, I think. The talents were obv= iously used well, which confirms the wisdom of the Master and the ability of his servant to handle the responsibilities entrusted to him. Well done, everybody!

So let’s move on now to the two-talent servant.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He probably gets noticed least of = the three simply because he is stuck in the middle. The other two servants are on the opposite extremes of life, and as such, they get the most press. Where would we be, however, without these two talent people?

Servant Two doesn’t waste his time fretting over= why he didn’t get five talents—you know, like that other guy! Nor does he allow himself to be lu= lled into lethargy by what he sees in the third servant who doesn’t use his talent at all. He stays focus= ed on his assignment. He works well= with what he has been given to work with.

This, friends, is where most of us live our lives. We’re not super-talented peo= ple who make the news because of our outstanding accomplishments. We simply take the talents we̵= 7;ve been given and do our best. We’re well aware that we cannot do everything. We may not be the best in the worl= d at anything, but this does not prevent us from doing some things very well and making a contribution to the lives of those around us.

Recently, our family worshiped in the oldest church in Walhalla, SC, Saint John&= #8217;s Evangelical Lutheran Church, built in 18= 51 by German settlers. As we shared= in worship, I was impressed by an old gentleman who was sitting at the front of the sanctuary playing the violin for all the hymns and responses—there are many of these in the Lutheran service.= Anytime the congregation was singing, he was playing the melody on h= is violin.

After the service, I spoke with him and learned more of his story, which he gave me permission to share with you. His name is Mr. Boos (pronounced “Bows”). He moved= to South Carolina from upstate = New York about three years ago. Sadly, his wife died shortly after= they arrived here.

He quickly found a church, though, and began doing wha= t he has done for most of his adult life—playing the violin for worship, and d= oing so quite beautifully. By the = way, did I mention that Mr. Boos is about to celebrate his 92^nd birth= day?

I don’t know how many talents Mr. Boos has, but I assure you he is putting his gift of music to good use. He is honoring the Lord through th= is faithful service.

His story reminds me of another man who loved music. His name was Antonio. He took violin lessons and tried h= is best to play, but he simply did not have the right abilities to play the vi= olin well. He tried other instrume= nts, still with little success. He finally realized that making music was not his gift.

One thing he seemed to do well, though, was whittling = and carving wood. This talent lan= ded him a job as a violinmaker’s apprentice. He was very good at his craft, and= he worked at it patiently and devotedly for the rest of his life.

By the time of his death, he had made over 1,500 violins. They are among the m= ost sought-after instruments to this day and are quite expensive if you can find anyone willing to sell one. E= ach of these cherished violins bears the name of Antonio Stradivarius.

What a blessing when a person finds his talent and uses it well, recognizing the source of his gift and honoring his Master through it. Such was the case with the two-tal= ent servant; and the Master says again, “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!”

Well, this brings us now to the servant who received o= ne talent. We could speculate as= to why he buried his talent instead of using it. Or we could recall our own favorite excuses for not using our talents as we should, or for the purposes our Mas= ter intends.

But not today. Today we commissioned our twenty-five member mission team to Puebla, Mexico. We recognized two of our members, = Arlis Hinson and Lawrence Webb, for their outstanding interim ministry among us a= s we searched for our new Minister of Education and Administration.

We will close the service by ordaining Marian Moorhead= as a new Deacon in this church. Th= ere are too many good people here using their talents to serve the Master to fo= cus on that worthless servant in the parable who gets cast out into the darknes= s.

Suffice it to say that he represents the UNLIFE--because his talent went UN-USED. Agai= n, was that so awful? Yes! If the Master gives you a talent, = He expects you to use it.

You may say you’re too afraid, but the Master recognizes that excuse as a lack of faith.= Without faith, we don’t even know the Master! People of faith are grateful for t= heir talents and use them. In the process, we find LIFE.

If Jesus Christ is your Master, He’s given you a talent to use in His Kingdom’s work.= If you’re not using it, then you’ve buried it! So what if the Master takes it away. If you’re not fin= ding a way to use it, you don’t really have it anyway. It only makes sense for it to be g= iven to somebody else who will use it! &nb= sp;

Christ knows that Christians who keep their talents bu= ried can quickly bury a Church! An= d, yes, that’s a very big deal with Him. So members of First Baptist Church, remember th= is: you’ve got talent. USE IT…for Christ’s sake, and for His Kingdom.

Use your talents day in and day ou= t--as long as the Lord gives you strength--use them until He finally comes for you and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come a= nd share your Master's happiness!”