We read of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. In this parable each person is given different talents as per his ability – one gets 5, another 2 and another 1. This is a picture of the people in the church. In the church, some people have been given 5 talents, some 2 and some others 1. God has placed us in the church with people who have been given different number of talents than us. Each person brings their own skills and abilities to the church and thus the church grows. There are different things we can learn from the person who got each number of talents in this parable.
Let us think of the man who got 1 talent. In verse 24 we see that he thinks of God as a hard master. He isn’t sure of what he can do with his talent. He looks at the man who got 5 talents and the man with 2 talents and he thinks his 1 talent is insignificant. He sees the others working hard with their talents but he feels that his work is close to insignificant compared to the work that others are doing. So instead of doing anything, he just wraps up the talent so that he doesn’t lose it. We see the master’s reaction to this in verse 26, “You wicked, lazy slave”. The master takes away even what he has and gives to another. The master is clearly not pleased with this slave. May none of us ever be in this state. If God has given you 1 talent, He wants you to use that 1 talent to further His kingdom. In whatever way God has given you ability, do your part for the church. The master wanted to see some return from the talent that he gave this man. We shouldn’t despise the gift that God has given us, however small it may be. The least I can do is encourage another person with a verse that blessed me.
Now let us look at the person who got 2 talents. The biggest danger that this man can have is to be jealous of the person who has 5 talents. When I see another brother in the church who God has blessed with more talents than me; and that brother is clearly able to do so much more for the Lord than I can; then what is my response? One of the easiest ways for the devil to tear a church is from the inside. If we look at history, whenever a church goes through persecution from the world, the church generally grows stronger. But churches in places where difficulties aren’t present, usually the church is torn down because of bitterness and jealousy within the church. This is a danger that a person who has 2 talents may face. When you see some others who can share from the word better than you can, when you see others who can sing better than you can, someone who is being blessed more by God; you are in the danger of being jealous. When jealousy comes in, we need to pull it out from the root. In Proverbs 27:4 we read, “Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?” It is next to impossible for someone else to fix my jealousy. If someone corrects me of jealousy, most likely it just becomes stronger. The best way to fight jealousy is shown in Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled”. I am the only one who can root out the spirit of jealousy and bitterness form my life. God can show me where the jealousy and bitterness is and give me grace, but I have to work to root it out myself. It is part of keeping the garden of my heart pure. If I am not careful with bitterness, it is like weeds – it will grow and spread. We know that in a garden, weeds have to be constantly pulled out because weeds tend to grow faster than the other plants. Jealously and bitterness have to be pulled out or else it will crush the other fruits of the Holy Spirit that God wants to grow in our lives. If I am not diligent to pull out bitterness and jealousy, it can spread out to other people also. And it is like weeds, when you pull it out, it will spring back again, and you have to pull it out again and again. We know how when we pull out weeds, the soil comes up. And so when you pull out jealousy and bitterness, plant in a seed of intercession for the person you are jealous or bitter of. Pray that God will bless their spiritual, material and family life. God wants to see us enduring and being faithful. If I see another brother who God has given more peace that I have, whose ministry God has blessed more than mine, who has more health than I have; what is my attitude? Do we rejoice with God for the brother? In Zachariah 3 we see a picture of heaven. Zachariah gets to heaven and he sees Joshua, the high priest, with filthy clothes. Satan is ready to accuse Joshua but God removes Joshua’s iniquity and gives him festal robes. Notice here the choice of Zachariah; he joins with God and asks God to give Joshua a clean turban also. Which side will we choose? Will we accuse our brother or will we join with God and pray for more blessing over his life? There is such a desire of Zachariah that his brother is more blessed. That’s the attitude that we should have when we see a brother who has 5 talents when we have 2 talents. As soon as bitterness comes up, pull it out and intercede for the brother.
The danger with a person who has 5 talents; the one who has multiple skills; is to despise the people who have 2 talents and 1 talent. There are very few people in each church who has 5 talents. When God has placed such a person in a church, it is very each for him to think he can do everything without the help of the brothers who have fewer talents. He can have an attitude that he can run the show and wants that others stay out of his way. This is not the attitude of God. In Job 36: 5 “Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any; He is mighty in strength of understanding.” Compared to the talent that we have, God has infinite times more. But he doesn’t despise anyone. So we have no right to despise anyone. How much more is God’s mightiness than ours? If God has given me 5 talents, we should know that has placed me in a church with people who have 2 and 1 talents and their talents are as important as my talents. Each brother, sister and child is a unique person who God has made in His image and so I can’t despise them. Even though I have 5 talents and may be able to help them in many areas, I remind them that they are special in the church and their value is not in the number of talents that they have. The responsibility of those who have 5 talents is to lift up the ones who have fewer talents and this is a way that they multiply their talents. We all have a responsibility to give back to God.
We have all been blessed in more ways than we deserve. A stern warning to anyone with any number of talents – Be careful that you are not proud. God resists the proud. If God is against you, what hope do you have? Pride is the biggest of all sins and it is something that we all have to be careful if we have been given talents. If we forget that it is God who has given me these talents, we can tend to be proud. But the hope is that if we are proud, we can humble ourselves. It is always better to humble yourself than to be humbled by God. To be humbled by God is a very painful process. When I sense pride in my life, seek to be humble. Constantly fight against the urge to be proud and keep your mouth in the dust. The very second that you become proud, God is against you. If you ask God, He will show you areas where you are proud. God doesn’t desire to oppose you, but our pride causes Him to oppose us. If God has given us a little more talents than another, we have to be more careful – just like a person who has diabetes is careful around sugar. It is not pride to say that God has given us 5 talents; it is a fact. But if you have 5 talents you have to be more careful that it doesn’t make you proud. We know how ducks have a hydrophobic layer on their feathers that causes any water to flow off easily. No water sticks to its feathers. There are some leaves that also have this property. The same should be in our case, when some praises us for how we have spoken God’s word or encouraged another person, it should flow off us immediately. We should always give the glory to God. Our God is a jealous God and we can’t touch His glory. In 1 Corinthians 4:7 we read that all that we have in only what God has freely given us.
We have all been given talents, and if we don’t use them it is a sin. The Bible says “let your light shine so that men may see it and glorify your Father in heaven”. It is good at times to sit down and see the many talents he has blessed us with. How much God has taught us and given us light! We have to shine that light around us so that God’s name is glorified. Let people see your good works, but the glory has to go to God. We should always be careful that we don’t hide the talents that God has given us. Be diligent to exercise the talents. If we don’t we are stealing from the master.
5 talents doesn’t automatically become 10 talents. In the parable we see that the men traded and did work to have more talents. In the same way, we also have to work hard to multiply our talents. Our talents won’t magically multiply. We have to use the resources that we have. When we get to heaven we will meet believers from all eternity past. We will meet believers from the 1st century who didn’t have the Bible in written form. They depended in what someone would speak to them. We’ll meet believers who had Bibles in Latin and struggled a lot in order to understand bits and pieces of the Bible. We’ll meet believers who with great difficulty smuggled parts of the Bible and used that. And we who have the Bible in our homes, in many versions, with so much additional study resources will have to hang our heads in shame if we don’t use our resources wisely. We will still be in heaven but we will have to have regret for all eternity that we didn’t work hard with the talents and resources. To whom more is given, more will be required. Let us not be lazy and waste our time, but be diligent to trade our talents and make more. When we get to heaven, we can’t change anything. While we are on earth, let us make the most of our time. In Proverbs 11:25, 26 we read, “The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” If we are diligent in using our talents to help our brothers, God will make sure we are watered. If we hold back what God has given us, there is a curse associated with it. When we meet God face to face we should be able to tell him that we used every moment to make most of our talents. May that be true for each one of us!
