Matthew 25: 15-18 “To 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. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”
This is a tough one. Not tough to read because we’ve all read it countless times but tough to understand what this means in my life.
Is this passage talking about tithing? Maybe you tithe and therefore think it’s all wrapped up, that’s all there is to it. Don’t let the wool get pulled over your eyes! There IS more to it. Not only is the tithe the Lords, everything you have is the Lord’s!
There’s more at play here than the concept of “giving back” to the Lord, like once we’ve tithed we’re off the hook and we can spend the rest of our resources purely on ourselves because we’ve obeyed the obligation to tithe.
How about “helping out” for the Lord. How about understanding that because all we have has been entrusted to us by the Owner, he has a plan in how we spend the money, time, opportunities that he has entrusted us with.
So a few questions came to mind as I was reading these verses:
How many talents have I been given?
How do I measure the return on the talents I received?
Are talents the same thing as gifts?
What have I done with my talents in years I’ve been alive?
These and many more questions beg to be answered but I want to focus on one component for today.
I’m semi-retired. I used to be fully retired but was asked to go back to work for a wonderful company part-time. With some of the money I earn I buy yarn. It seems like a frivolous thing, silly to most people…I mean…YARN right? Not clothes, not shoes or jewelry just plain yarn.
I’m using my job and the funds at my disposal to increase my kingdom calling which is to do the good deeds the Lord set out before the beginning of time for me to do (Eph 2:10). With yarn.
You may be thinking…whoa, what does yarn have to do with this scripture passage? Well, let’s break down the story and tie it together with a crochet hook.
What does this parable mean?
There is an Owner who provides the Servant with all the Resources the servant needs to Work with, in order to earn a Profit for the owner. The servant will be called to give an Account for what he has accomplished with the Owners resources.
Owner/Master – God
- Owner of all
- Distributes his wealth as he sees fit
- He has plans he wants implemented in order to increase the value of what he owns
- He knows each servant intimately and assigns tasks and finances appropriate to what the servant can accomplish
Servant – Us
- A servant owns nothing outside of what his master has given him
- The servant trusts his master to provide for his every need so he can serve his master to his full capacity
- He takes his direction from the master at all times and knows that going off on his own spells disaster
Resources – Finances, time, abilities and opportunities we’ve been entrusted with
- Each servant is allotted a certain amount of resources that the owner knows that servant can safely manage
- Talents mentioned in this passage are monetary units that tie into a broader picture of resources namely time, abilities and opportunity
Work – the method of putting the resources to use
- The exchange of time for pay of some sort
- A focused, concentrated effort in accomplishing something or producing something
Profit – the increase gained from the original amount as it was put to use
- A measurable amount
- What you have left over after expenses have been paid
Accountability – give account
- We are accountable for what we were given by the owner
- Being able to produce a record of what we did with our resources in order to show a return
Now if this sounds like Finance 101 you’d be right. God finance, kingdom finance, Biblical finance. Let’s figure out what it means for us.
Look at your life.
Where you live, the job you have, your access to opportunities are a measure of the talents entrusted to you by the Lord. Your very life is a catalyst for kingdom-wealth production. Hey that’s good right?! Awesome concept. Whose kingdom are we increasing? GOD’s, not our own…remember that.
Don’t let yourself off the hook by focusing on what you don’t have, or can’t access. Remember that the Owner gave each Servant as he saw fit, and matched his giving with their unique ability to accomplish his will. That way each person will be able to record Profit for the kingdom no matter the amount of Resources given.
This concept eliminates the comparison game and instead focuses on the Accountability we have before God. It doesn’t matter what you have or how much you have, use what you’ve got to find a way to increase the Owner’s wealth.
Speaking of wealth…does God need more money? Physical dollars? No, so what does he want more of? 1 Timothy 6:18 says “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” Spread the love and the light of Jesus wherever you go.
So let’s focus on one way to work and show a Profit for the kingdom of God.
Crocheting.
Some of you are ugly crying right now…but, I don’t even know what to do with yarn!! What am I going to do?!?
Don’t worry, this is an object lesson that you’ll be able to apply to your own life. Stay with me.
I bought 1 ball of yarn. From it I crocheted 28 baby hats. I will donate every baby hat to organizations that care for disadvantaged children. Do you see the Profit or return? 1 ball of yarn turned into 28 children who’ll have warm heads. By the way, I pray over every hat that I make that the Lord will become real to each of those children, that he’ll bring people into their lives who will lead them to the Lord!
And that’s why something as small as a ball of yarn can have big eternal impact and bring a large return on investment (ROI) according to kingdom finance.
Worldly investment and finance only looks to increase my own bottom line, my net worth. Kingdom finance looks at my God-given resources as a vehicle to bring an increase to the kingdom of God by impacting someone else’s life, the Profit is eternal.
So what does this look like in your own life? Be creative, pray about how to make use of your finances, time and opportunities that will increase the Lord’s Profit by helping the most people.
Volunteer
Create & donate
Seed, harvest & feed
Build
Give & support
Mentor & encourage
Bake & fellowship
Pull out your Bible and read Matthew 6:19-21. Daily we have a choice to make whether we will seek greater earthly pleasure and reward for ourselves, or do things that will cause greater personal sacrifice but bring greater reward in heaven. It’s your choice.