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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants, but also includes reference to the Old Testament reading and the Epistle reading. You may be seated.
Complacency. Did you hear that word in the Old Testament reading? Complacency. The word complacent was actually the word in the Old Testament reading, but it implies complacency, which is what? It’s defined as a feeling of quiet pleasure or security in one’s self while unaware of a potential danger, defect, or the like. In other words, complacency is built on false security. Complacency is built on false security. And it is a playground of Satan, for he loves to come and lull us into complacency.
Zephaniah, the prophet, in the Old Testament reading, preached strongly to the people of Jerusalem. They were about to be literally moved from Jerusalem and sent into present-day Iraq, the city of Babylon and the country of Babylon. And they would die there because the people would be there for 70 years. So Zephaniah is preaching to them to repent, because what had crept in among the people? Complacency. He also is preaching of Christ’s second return, his second coming, when he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. The glorious return of our Lord and the entrance of our bodies and souls into heaven.
Zephaniah says, “Be silent before the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near. The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast. The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.”
That kind of hellfire and brimstone would have converted anybody, you would think. Very few, if any, because complacency had taken root and was producing fruit and was not repented of. In fact, not only were the people complacent, but the false prophets who preached to the people were preaching a preaching of complacency. They said, “Oh, the Lord will not do good when he comes, nor will the Lord do ill when he comes.” Boy, now if there is something that produces complacency, it’s that statement right there.
But that wasn’t just in the time of the Old Testament, mind you. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, the epistle reading for this morning, he mentioned people who preached complacency when he said, “While people are saying, ‘There is peace, there is security.'” In other words, be complacent, don’t repent. “Sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” Amen.
Complacency has been a part of sinful human beings’ DNA since Adam and Eve sinned. It was a part of the people in Zephaniah’s time. It was a part of the people of Paul’s era. It was part of the people that Jesus spoke this parable to.
Now, the parable talks about a master. It’s pretty easy. That master is Jesus. He will return. And as the master, Jesus, he gives his servants… talents. So who are the servants? The servants are everyone who have heard the word of God, whether they repented and believed or whether they didn’t. But they all have heard of the love and benevolence of the master. That’s who the servants are.
Now it’s interesting about this parable, isn’t it? Because though different amounts are given to each of these servants, the servants aren’t concerned with who got how much. You don’t see the servant going, “Hey, you gave him five talents and I only got two. What’s that mean? What are you trying to say to me?” They rejoiced over the gift of the giver. The one who received five acknowledged that the giver is loving or he would have never given them anything. Anything. Because what did he give him but something that was his own to give? Same with the second one who received the two talents. He acknowledged the gift from God, the master, Jesus, and he acknowledged that the master loved him so much that he entrusted his property to him, the servant.
So what does that say about these servants? It says the master loves them. The master trusts them, and the master has a relationship with them. Whether the servant sees it or not, the master died for them.
Now, there was no expectation mentioned by the master. Did you notice that? The master didn’t give those gifts and say, “You who receive five talents, I expect a 200% return. You who receive two talents, I expect a 500% return. You who receive one talent, I expect a 1,000% return.” He never said that, did he? He never said anything about the expectations. He didn’t even tell them, “Turn around and use it.” That is interesting. Jesus puts no expectation of how to use the gift, just to use the gift.
Now, isn’t it interesting? That though the one with five and the one with two are given two different amounts, yet what was their return? Exactly the same. The five came back with five, and the two came back with two. Middle schoolers, doing your math, you would say, “Both gave the same amount, did they not, middle schoolers?” Yes, thumbs up from the back row, got it. So it is in this text. They brought back the same amount to their master. That’s a gift. Because he never said how much to give back.
It’s the slothful servant or the wicked servant that reveals some very interesting things about his complacency. When he was given the gift, he, by how he received it and by what he did with it, said a whole bunch about his attitude and relationship to the master and to the master’s gift. It did not arouse anything within him to do anything with it. Boy, that’s… That’s really a judgment on this young man because the master gave a piece of his property to him and he did not want it because it meant too much responsibility, expectation, who knows.
He had such disdain for this talent, this piece of the property of the master, that it actually took him more energy to go find a place to bury it, to dig a hole to bury it and cover it back up than it would if he would have just gone down to the marketplace and invested it. He has disdain and hatred toward the gift, but more importantly, toward the giver. And he knew better. The master showed his benevolence the same way to him as he did to the one he gave five and two. The master showed his trust of the servant by giving him that one just the same way as he showed the trust in those servants whom he gave five and whom he gave two. He was unbiased toward them all.
Now it’s interesting because if you know better and you don’t repent, you’re not… Jesus spoke some pretty harsh words to us when he said, “It will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for you.” He was referring to different towns, Chorazin and Bethsaida, and other towns that refused to repent upon the kingdom coming to them.
But what’s really interesting is how that servant, the wicked and slothful one, judged his master. Right? Why did the ones who received the five and the two judge their masters of being loving, benevolent, and trusting them? And the one who received the one did not judge his master that way. Did the master show himself differently to him than he did to these two? No. Then why did the one who received the one talent judge the master to be self-serving, envious, and a harsh man?
Because this servant did not trust in the master’s benevolence and in the master’s proclamation of trust in him. He judged his master the same way he judged himself. He knew himself to be self-serving. Therefore, he put two and two together and said, “Then my master must be self-serving.” He knew himself to be envious. Then, therefore, he judged his master, “You are envious.” He knew himself to be a harsh and hard man. He judged his master as being a harsh and hard man.
Why do some people view God as an angry judge? Why do some people view God as an old grandpa who doesn’t care and will give you whatever you want and there is no good or no ill? Because that’s Satan’s way of complacency. “Cast that worthless servant into the outer darkness. Yes. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Now, who is faithful and who is unfaithful? You can’t judge and neither can I. We don’t know, do we? There’s only one who knows who is faithful and only one who knows who is not faithful, and that is the master, Jesus himself. And that will be revealed to everyone on judgment day.
Now judgment day is when Jesus returns, but what if you and I were to die before judgment day? Then that will be revealed to you on the day of your death, whether your death is today or next week or any time before Jesus’ return. All that is asked is faithfulness, not success, not a prescribed amount of return. None of that. Just use the talent, as all that God requires. Faithfulness in using the gift.
Okay, so what’s the gift? What’s the talent? What’s the talent? First and foremost, your faith. God has given you faith to see your master in a benevolent way, not in a judgmental way. God has given you the gift of saving faith that views your master as one who is faithful to you in spite of your unfaithfulness.
But God’s gifts of talents are also everything he has given you in this world. Your money, how you use it, your attitude toward it. Your health, how you use it, your attitude toward it. Your friendship to other people, how you use it, and how you view it in your relationship to them. All of these are gifts that he’s given you, and all he says is use them. Use them.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Trust in that. You know that. It makes a difference in your daily life, but trust in that. God is the one who has given you that revelation.
He goes on, the master speaks. “You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. You are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” And then he goes on. “God has not destined us for wrath. God has destined us to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that, whether we’re awake or asleep, we will live with him.”
And then finally, this was said last Sunday. At the end of Paul’s fourth, or in the middle of Paul’s fourth chapter, he says it also here, twice in the same section of his first book of Thessalonians about how we are to view the last day. “Therefore, encourage one another. Don’t scare one another. Encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.”
For Zephaniah said, “The Lord has given Jesus consecrated, made holy, his guests at his feast.” You are that guest. You have been made holy. That is a talent, one of the talents that God has given you. Be faithful and trust your master, and you will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a little. Enter into the joy of your master. Enter into the joy of your master.”
In the name of your master, Jesus, amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
