OUTLINE
Listen to the sermon
as you follow the outline
Recordings from November 13 are
now available. I apologize for the poor sound quality,
especially for the sermon (which I thought Steve did a
nice job with). We had technical difficulties with the
microphone at the pulpit which didn't pick up Steve's
voice very well. We'll try to make sure the preacher
has a better mic in the future. Tom Clark posted
Steve's sermon outline on the web site, so you can read
along with that for the portions where it's difficult to
hear.
Matt Domsch
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1. I have heard this story before and
it makes a great stewardship sermon
a. However this is not the case today
2.
Today we are
going to discover different ways of looking at this parable. If you read the
parables, you will find that they are written to create conflict. There are
no happy endings like in nursery rhymes or short stories. Each was written
with certain audience in mind, and each was written to explain something to
an audience in the narrative. Like wise, each is written so we can discover
something about God, Jesus, ourselves and the relationship between each.
3. Tell the gospel story
a. In
the gospel, there is a man - we can presume that he is a wealthy man as he
is giving talents to his slaves
i.
Now this term
talent should be looked at as something of great worth
ii. Historically this equals about 15 years wage per talent
b. This wealthy man trusts these slaves
i. He summons them
ii. Entrusts his property to them
iii. Gives them talents according to their abilities
c. Then the man leaves on a long journey - to where we do not know
i. As soon as he leaves the 5 talent slave leaves at once
1. he makes five more talents quickly
ii. the 2 talent slave goes off at once
1. making two talents quickly
iii. the one talent slave digs a hole
1. digs a hole
d. the master returns and settles accounts
i. the five talent slave brings his five
1.
he is regarded as
trustworthy and good
2. enter into the
joy of the master
ii. the 2 talent slave brings his 2
1. he
is regarded as trustworthy and good
2. enter into the
joy of the master
iii. the one talent slave brings his one
1. tells the master that he is a harsh man
a.
reaping where he
didn't sow and gathering where he did not scatter
2. This
master looks like someone who takes advantage of others and the one talent
slave is outright telling him, but why???
3.
Because
he was afraid
4. he had hid the talent and returned it to the master
iv.
The master gets
angry - calls him names and tells the one talent slave other possibilities
to do with the money - giving the talent to the 5 talent slave. Or as Donald
Trump would say - "your fired"
e. Now the last two verses
i.
From my studies I found that these were added
later and can influence your way of thinking so we are going to discuss this
gospel without them.
4. Many people look at
this story as God or Jesus being the Master
a. If this is the case then:
i. When
the master is leaving on a journey - this could mean Jesus going for three
days, or even the second coming
b. The disciples are then the slaves, or better yet we become the slaves
i. We are given talents according to each of our abilities
ii. We use the talents and they grow
iii. If we bury the talents they stay the same
1. If
I never practiced yo-yoing, I would have never learned tricks
c. When Jesus returns
i. Who gets to go into the joy of the master????
1. those
that have used the talents given
2. bringing glory to the Jesus and God
ii. who doesn't?
1.
those that bury the talent
2. apparently they are afraid of Jesus and just want to return it
5. While studying this parable, I began to look at this word talent
differently
a. What
if it is not money, or even a gift given to our ability
b. What
if this talent is a code for the word of God? The Kerygma, the good news,
the gospel message
i. If
we are given the Word of God and are meant to spread this word then we would
leave like the first two slaves quickly and multiple the word
ii. We
would greet others with this word and thus share it again and again. It
would double over
c. What about the third slave?
i. If
he just buries the word of God, not tell the story then it doesn't grow
ii. Returning to the Lord the same way
iii. You would get the boot
d. Here
is the problem I have with looking at this story with the idea that Jesus or
God is the so called man of the parable
i. If
God or Jesus gave you a. talent, gifts, money, the word of God and you being
afraid choose to hold on to it to return it to the Lord the same way you got
it
ii. Would
this benevolent God, this Jesus Christ the savior of the people, call you
wicked?
1. or
lazy? And then take away your talent and give it to another person who has
spent the money, or used the gift or spread the word of God?
2. I
have a hard time believing that Jesus would condemn you as soon as he
returned, being the last time he was here he died for our sins and all
6.
I ran across a
book that has shed some new light on this topic of talent, slave, and the
man - the book is by a man named William Herzog and it's title is Parables
as subversive speech
a. Herzog
informed me that in looking at the parables of Jesus we need to be aware
that these are not earthly stories with heavenly messages. No, they are
earthly stories with heavy messages
b. At the time this story would have been told
i. at
the time - the relationship between the head of the household and the slave,
or servant would be more like that of a king and a court bureaucrat,
regardless the slaves would be the most trusted in the master's inner
circle. These slaves were completely dependant of the good will of the
master. But they could also use their position to gain more money on those
below them in the social hierarchy.
ii. The
man is rich - has slaves that he trust, enough to leave them with a
lot of property
1. these slaves are the retainers in the household of the elite -
a.
the elite are
like the rich in the USA - there is only a small percentage of rich holding
a large percentage of wealth
c. In the realm of this story
i. The
rich man leaves and soon after the 5 and 2 talent retainers go quickly and
make more on the master's generosity - they become like the master - using
their own slaves to profit more - this is an oppressive nature and an
oppressive cycle
ii. The 3rd
retainer digs a hole - and when the master returns the 3rd
retainer tells the master like it is
1. the
master doesn't reject what the slave tells him, but repeats it after
2. he
is someone who reaps where he didn't sow and gather where he didn't plant -
the master is this man and is not disagreeing with it, no he is disagreeing
with the retainer not making any profit - how am I going to reap, how am I
going to gather - if you are not going to plant, if you are not going to
sow?
3. The
man tells the slave he could have at least put it in the bank for interest -
what is the master wanting - profit!!!!
a. Does
the master care about the well being of the retainers - no, just their
profit
d. What if we look at it this way
i. The third slave, the 3rd retainer is the hero in the story
1. he
takes the money out of circulation - taking it away from its oppressive
means to create more
SIR Steven R. Cox
