In the sermon 'A Master Worthy of Profit,' Jason Dohm explores the parable of the talents from Matthew 25:14-30, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the worthiness of Christ as the master. Dohm argues that the parable is not merely about hard work but about understanding the value and beauty of the master, leading to a life lived out of the overflow of recognizing His worth. The sermon highlights that God entrusts resources to His servants, expecting them to use these gifts faithfully for His glory. The parable serves as a reminder that all gifts and resources are from God, and it underscores the call to be diligent and fruitful, driven by faith and the desire to glorify God. The unprofitable servant is portrayed as one who fails to recognize the master's worth, resulting in fruitlessness and judgment. Dohm concludes by urging believers to take inventory of their resources and to live out of the abundance of recognizing God's worthiness, ensuring that their lives reflect His glory.

Sermon text this morning is Matthew 25 verses 14 through 30 following up on a parable from last week and Jesus continues telling about what it's like when when the Son of Man will come verse 14 For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to to each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.

But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money After a long time the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying Lord you delivered to me five talents look I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord you delivered to me two talents look I have gained two more talents besides them. His Lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Then he who had received the one talent came and said, "'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you had not sown, and gathering where you had not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.

Look there you have what is yours. But as Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I had not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance.

But from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth Let's pray Almighty God we We thank you for your word We come before you ready to learn, Lord. Open our hearts and our ears and help us to hear the meanings that you have in these parables. Father, help us to take Jesus' words to heart and to apply them to our lives. May your Holy Spirit fall on Jason now and speak through his mouth and tell us what you would have us hear, in Jesus' name. Amen.

I always look forward to preaching, always. Every Sunday when I'm up here, I'm anxious. I'm anxious to get started. But there are certain days when I'm just jumping out of my skin, And it's a wonder that I don't just bull tailor over and throw him with his guitar out of the way and make him yield to me so that I can start preaching a text. I am like that this morning.

I've been like that all week. I've just been studying this text and it's magnificent. What God wants to show us people from this text is magnificent. And we just couldn't have gotten here fast enough for me this morning, although I loved the singing. The sermon title, sometimes I just don't think it's that important.

This morning I think it's really, really, really important because I think it captures the essence of this text. The sermon title this morning is, ìA Master Worthy of Profit.î A master worthy of profit. And if you donít start here, what you end up with in this text is, ìWork, work, work. Iím behind. I havenít done enough for the Kingdom.

Iím in danger of being cast out where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. I'm an unprofitable servant. And While you may come to that conclusion from this text, that's not the heart of this text. Work, work, work is not the heart of this text at all. It is a beauty and worth and value of a master that's recognized by the service so that they live out of an overflow of the recognition of the worth of this master.

That's what's in this text. This is not a work, work, work text. This is a beauty of Jesus Christ, worthiness of the master text. And so, if you don't start by thinking about a master who's worthy of profit, then you miss the heart disposition that Jesus is poking at here. He wants a heart that recognizes that he is a master that is worthy of a hundred-fold profit, sixty-fold profit, thirty-fold profit.

Broadly, the parable can be applied to anybody who's ever been given anything by God. And so there's not an unregenerate, hard-hearted person out there who The meaning of the parable can't be applied to because anybody who woke up this morning and is breathing his air has been given something by God and something is required of him because he's been given. So God makes a claim on everyone, but though it can be applied that broadly, I believe that Jesus has a target here with this parable. And it's not the hard-hearted, unregenerate man. It's his church.

Jesus' target in this parable is his people, and he's putting his finger on hypocrites. He's been doing that for a couple of weeks now. Actually, if you go back to verse 23 where Jesus pronounces the woes against the hypocrite, he's been doing this for many weeks in Sovereign Redeemer time. Because of hypocrisy, we just keep hitting it and hitting it and hitting it. Last week, we were in the parable of the ten virgins.

Five were ready for the cry to go out. The bridegroom's coming, go out to meet him, they have the oil in their lamps, they're ready, and they go out, five aren't ready, and they're exposed as the phrase I used last week is, religious imposters, fakers, hypocrites. And that's how the parable ends with being assigned a portion with the hypocrites, being denied entry to the wedding feast. And we're right back there again. Jesus is talking about a couple of kinds of servants.

Some who proved to be true servants by the way that they have lived their lives and invested the things that God has given them. Some which proved to be religious imposters, just religious imposters, fakers, people who wear a mask. So let's get right to the text. I'm going to read verses 14 through 19 again and then talk about them and then We'll keep going bit by bit. Matthew 25 verse 14, for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.

After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them." We have a parable here with two key time markers. Do you see that in the text? The first time marker is the going away of this man, this master, to a far country. He's going on a long journey. So the first time marker is his going away.

Now the man is Jesus Christ. This whole chapter is about the coming of Jesus Christ in glory to judge the quick and the dead. So this is what the parable is about. This man, this master who is going to a far country is Jesus Christ and he has ascended into heaven. He sits at the right hand of God and all his enemies are being made his footstool.

The second time marker is the time, specifically the day that he comes back to settle accounts with all of his servants. So that's it. The beginning time marker is this master going away to a far country. This is Jesus Christ ascending into heaven. And the second time marker is his return to settle accounts.

And the parable is really about what happens between those two time markers. What are these servants, these so-called servants of his doing between these two time markers? So the man, the master entrusts his resources to his servants. So this master, he has a doulos, that's the Greek word, right, a doulos. And it's the word again that Paul uses in Romans 1, 1, where he introduces himself to his readers as a bond servant of Jesus Christ.

Same word, dulots, a bond servant of Jesus Christ. And the meaning is it's somebody who completely sets aside their own interests to take upon themselves, voluntarily, willingly, joyfully take upon themselves the interests of their master. So if I'm that doulos, then the things that used to be my interests to be looked out for, I cared nothing for them. I set all those interests aside and now the interests of my master become my interests and I represent him. So this is the word again, servant, do-loss.

And so this master has entrusted his resources to them. During the course of the whole parable, they're going to stay the resources of the master. It's never fully transferred in a way that this due loss or this servant can say, this is just mine now, this is mine. He's always acting in behalf of his master. Everything that he has that's been entrusted to him remains the goods of his master.

And he's supposed to act on behalf of that master to make a profit. So he's supposed to act just like he thinks his master would act. And take these resources that have been entrusted to him and gain from it. Make a profit from it. For his master.

Now there's three servants and they don't all get the same thing at all. Actually, the range is pretty broad when you look at it. This one servant, he's getting five. And the second servant is getting two. He's getting less than half what the first servant got.

And then the final servant is getting one. He's getting half again as much. You have a really broad range of what is being entrusted to each servant. And the text says, each according to his own ability. That's what determines whether you get five or two or one.

It's according to your own ability. What's implied in the text is that you have a master who knows who can handle what. Isn't that here in the text? You have a master who knows exactly that servant number one can handle and make gain from five. And servant number two, he has the ability, he has everything he needs to make gain from two.

And servant number three, everything's been given to him, He has everything that he'll need to take this one that I give him and make gain. So it's according to his own ability. Now let's come outside the parable for a minute. And we know that we're the servant, we're the servants, and that God is the master. Well now how does God know this about us?

Well, it's because He's made us for a very specific reason. It's not as disconnected as what you would read the parable as if it was just human beings. God is actually this master and He's made each one of these servants, He's crafted, crafted each one of these servants for what He knows will be put before them and given them every single thing that they'll need to gain and profit from his own resources that he's going to entrust to them. So you have a master who knows who can handle what. He gives them currency.

It says a talent. This is not a talent like American Idol talent. This is not I played the piano great kind of talent. This is cold hard cash. Cold hard cash is the talent.

So it's currency. It is money. A talent is actually enough money to pay a day laborer for 20 years. Okay, so you're hiring a guy to come work in your field. Well, you can pay him with this one talent, you can pay him for 20 years of his labor.

I'll buy 20 years. You come work in my fields, I'll buy 20 years of your labor. So this is serious, serious resources being deployed here. This is not have 20 bucks and see what you can do with a lemonade stand. This is 20 years labor, 20 years labor, the money that it would take to purchase that.

So the guy who just gets a little bit gets 20 years worth of capital. So by modern standards, U.S. Minimum wage, you're talking about $300, 000. Okay. Go do something with this $300, 000.

And I'll be back later to see what you've done with it. And at the top end you have a million and a half dollars being deployed. So major, you have to understand, it's so important to understand the parable rightly, major resources being deployed and put to work by this Master. So there's a serious trust being given, a massive stewardship. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 1.

Genesis 1. Jesus is picking up on the theme of the dominion mandate, the world actually being handed over in a sense to the people who he's given a life to and they're supposed to do stuff with this world that he's made. Genesis 1. Genesis 1 beginning in verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them.

And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. If you come to Genesis 1 verses 26 through 28 and you don't get the word privilege screamed in your ear, then you are not paying attention to what's here. Privilege, privilege, honor is being bestowed in Genesis 1, 26-28, to have the image of God. How many times is image used in here? It's got to be three or four times.

The image of Almighty God stamped upon His creatures. And then the world given to them to multiply, to multiply, to subdue on behalf of Him. You can't come and say, what a burden, what a burden, how terrible that God would press this on our shoulders. No, privilege, privilege, privilege, honor, that the image of Almighty God would be stamped upon us, that he would make us in his own image and then give us these resources so we could multiply and subdue all for his own glory. What Jesus is talking about in the parable as he's giving his goods over into the hands of his servants has always been the plan.

Since the left-hand cover of your Bible, it's always been the plan. It's always God's plan to put resources into the hands of His servants so that they could multiply those resources. Now Genesis 1 is talking about, I think, physical multiplication, more people who will actually be worshippers of God. But This is the same thing, the same category of multiplication and gain and profit in our text this week. It's always been the plan.

And this isn't a burden. It's an honor and a privilege. Jesus says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. So you can't say, my master has forced a million and a half dollars on me and now I have to go make profit and it's crushing me. You have to say, Almighty God has stamped me with His own image.

What an honor. He's deployed resources, put them into my hands And He wants me to go do something for His glory. That is what is in our text. Now what is a talent? It's hard, cold, cash, but not really.

Not really. That's in the parable. And it's included. But that doesn't nearly swallow up all of what Jesus is teaching about. So I'm going to call the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter to weigh in on this and what the Talon is.

Listen to Paul in Romans 12 verses 6 through 8. Romans 12 verses 6 through 8, Paul writes this, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, He who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

There's two phrases from Romans 12 that I want to zero in on. The first phrase is this, gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. That's in this parable, right? Each according to his ability. Gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.

The second phrase is this, let us use them. And then Paul just starts listing. If you have this gift, do it. If you have this gift, do it. Harder, faster, More.

Take the gift and go for it. That's what I get out of Romans 12. Go for it. Take these resources and go for it. They're given to be used.

They're given as a blessing and a privilege and an honor and they're given to bring glory they're given to profit this master who's given the gifts. It's almost like venture capital it's almost like venture capital. Given to go for it with. You can't always be thinking about risk every minute and risk mitigation. How to keep the worst thing from happening.

You got to go for it with the venture capital because we're given these gifts to make gain. And we can't be held back by always worrying about, what if we lose something? What if something bad happens? No, the faithful servants aren't thinking that way at all. They're not afraid to take risks, but they have their eye towards gain.

Gain for their master who's worthy of profit. Now Peter, listen to 1 Peter 4 verses 10 and 11. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." That word manifold is many-colored, the many-colored grace of God. "'If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen." So again, in this text, in 1 Peter 4, I want to zero in again on two phrases. And they form the two reasons that Peter gives why we should deploy these resources that have been entrusted to us. The first phrase is, minister it to one another. So there's a purpose. It's not a ruthless, heartless profit motive.

This is not corporate greed, why the Master is deploying resources. He's actually deploying his resources to be a blessing. Minister it to one another. The second phrase is that in all things, God may be glorified. This is it.

This is it. This is why God is deploying his resources. This is why he's giving $300, 000 to the servant to go deploy and put into action that God may be glorified. And then he goes on to say to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. They belong to him.

He ought to have it. The giver of these gifts ought to have the glory and the dominion forever and ever they belong to him. They belong to him. He ought to have it. This is the master worthy of praise.

This is the master worthy of profit. And so the talent, though in the parable it's cold hard cash, in life and what Jesus is teaching, it's anything, it's anything that you can say God has given me and it's good. And that's a lot of different categories, isn't it? That's not just the money category or the house category or the children category or the wife category or the it goes on and on and on. It's the laptop category.

I mean, this sounds silly, but I was thinking this week, God has given me this laptop. Like, it's an asset. It's a resource for the Kingdom of God. This is how he's teaching us to think in this. How can I get more profit for the praise of God?

How can I get more profit for this master who's worthy from it out of these transistors? I want to squeeze more profit because God's worthy of it. I want the transistors to throw off more gain for this master than they've ever thrown off before. God is teaching us to think about that. At the end, I'm going to go all the way to the end and say, one of our applications is going to be take inventory.

Take inventory. Okay, God's given you transistors too. You have a laptop too, but you have a lot more than that. Take inventory. And have a heart that says, God is worthy of all the gain that can be squeezed out of these resources he's worthy of.

I'll never be able to out-produce his worth and give more profit than he's worth. So it's anything. It's money. It's assets like cars and houses. It's helpers, husband.

Has God given you a wife? Has God given you a wife? Has God given you a wife? It's a stewardship, it's part of the talent or the five talents that God has given you. Help, help to generate profit for a master who's worthy of it?

How about influence? How about your gifts? Has God given you an exceptionally sharp mind? Or has God given you the ability to play an instrument really well? Then it's a stewardship that's been entrusted and he's a master that's worthy of all the profit you can squeeze out of playing the piano well.

How about your time? How about your time? How about your health? Do you have good health? You know, people with good health who have been given good health, we just take it for granted day after day after day, they can actually squeeze more profit out of this life for a master who is worthy of it because they feel good today.

Did you know that? So, it's an asset. Listen to James 1 verse 17. James 1 verse 17. Every good gift, every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Anything that you can call a good gift, a perfect gift that God has just plopped into your hands. You never deserved it, but here it is. It's a good gift. God has given it to you. It's part of this talent that has been entrusted to you.

And God wants his people to have a heart that see the worth of the Master to squeeze every single drop an ounce of profit out of these resources that He's entrusted to us. Now what happened? What happened? The one with the five talents, he was diligent. He went to work.

He went to work with the things that were entrusted to him. Not out of fear, but because he saw the worth of the master and he wanted the master to have the very most profit from what had been entrusted to him. So he went to work with a diligent heart, he took risk, and he doubled it. He doubled it. And the same with the one who had been entrusted with two talents.

He was diligent, he went to work with it, he took risk and he doubled it. Each set aside his own interests and adopted the interests of the Master. He stopped caring about his own interests. He wasn't protecting any of his own turf anymore, and he wasn't afraid to lay it all on the line to go get some gain for this Master who was worthy of it. And at the end, they found out that they had doubled what the Master had entrusted to them.

They were fruitful. They were fruitful soil like Matthew 13. This soil that hears the Word and understands it and yields a hundredfold or sixtyfold or thirtyfold right back into the parable of soils. We seem to be ending up there every week. But they're fruitful.

Not everyone in the parable is fruitful. This man who's been entrusted with $300, 000, nothing to sneeze at, he just digs a hole and he puts it in the hole and he puts the dirt right over the top of it. And there is no gain. As if the Master is not worthy of any profit. There is no gain.

So you see, that's what this man is shouting with his life. The Master's not worthy of any gain. He's shouting it with his life. The master is worthy of no gain. I'm just going to dig it and put it in a hole.

Now, here's a danger point. Here's a danger point in this parable. Not understanding cause and effect. I turn to John 15. John 15 is going to make so crystal clear for us, cause and effect.

If you get this wrong, you are on a fast track to becoming a Pharisee. If you don't understand which is the cause and which is the effect, then you're going to put the cart out front and ask the cart to pull the horse. It's just impossible. You'll never end up where Jesus is trying to take us with this parable unless you understand which is the cause and which is the effect. Matthew 15 verses 4 and 5.

We could spend a lot of time in here. This is the abiding in the vine text. But I'm going to start on, excuse me, John. John, thank you. Ron saved me there.

John 15, verses 4 and 5. Jesus says, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing, cause and effect." If you abide in the vine, then this living sap flows from you and you'll find that fruit pops up on the end of the branches.

You'll find that. But it all starts in the vine. You're just going to try to construct fruit away from the vine. It's a fool's errand. It's madness.

You'll never find real fruit that way. There are some counterfeits. You can cobble together some counterfeits, but you'll never really be fruitful unless you're abiding in the vine and It is this living sap that is flowing from Jesus Christ who says He is the vine. It is the root that determines the fruit. It's the vine that puts fruit, real fruit, not the counterfeit kind, real fruit, on the end of the branches.

It is the abiding in the vine that leads to fruitfulness. Profit does not equal activity. Activity does not equal profit. You come away from this parable saying, I have to double my activity. Now that might be true.

You might need to double your activity. But that's downstream. That's downstream from the heart of what Jesus is teaching here. Activity does not equal profit. God is not trying to generate activity with this parable.

He's trying to increase his glory. He's trying to put himself on display for the world to see his worth. He is a master who's worthy of profit. This is what this text is about. So if you define profit wrong, all is lost.

If you define profit, profit is God being larger and larger in the world. Glorified. You don't light a lamp and put it under a basket. You just don't do that. You put it on a lamp stand so that the light goes through the whole house.

Therefore, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. This is the end of good works. Good works is not so I can be applauded by anyone. Good works is so that they may see and glorify my Father in heaven." Now, apply this to yourself. Apply this to yourself.

You've been given an absolutely unique set of assets. Nobody in the history of the world has been given exactly the same mix of assets that God has given to you. Well, what does that mean? Here's one thing it means. It's impossible to compete.

It's impossible to compete. It's impossible to say, I'm more than you, better than you, because how would we know? I've got a different set of assets than anyone in the history of man, and so do you. How are we going to compare? Now, I submit God knows how to do the calculus, but I don't.

I don't even know how to begin to measure that, and you don't either. So it's not a competition. It's a stewardship where we take the resources that God has given to us because He's worthy of profit and squeezing the last drop out of them. So I'm not in a race against you. We have a saying at our house, not everyone grew up on Fairview Way.

Not everyone grew up on Fairview Way. Janet Mazell, later to be domed, grew up on Fairview Way. And that came with a thousand advantages. I praise God that Janet Mazel, later to be domed, grew up on Fairview Way. It came with a thousand advantages and that puts a certain burden on your shoulder and we recognize that.

Hey, like Not everybody grew up on Oak Street. That's where I grew up. I had a lot of advantages. So, some people have more advantages than me in the home they grew up in. Many, many, many had less.

So if you're thinking, like you're starting to compare, Hey, not everybody grew up on Fairview Way. You either started ahead or behind, and that means something relative to fruitfulness. But man, this shouldn't have us looking cross-eyed at one another as if we all started in the same spot. What kind of crazy attitude is that? You have an absolutely unique set of assets that's been given to you by God.

And your mission isn't to be looking to the right and the left and to see wishing you had somebody else's assets. It's to squeeze the last drop out of the assets that God has entrusted to you. To the extent that you abide in the vine, you will generate profit for your master. To the extent that you are connected to the living sap that flows from Jesus Christ, you will produce glory for Him. His name will be it up and known as mighty.

Verses 20 through 23. Back to our text. Verses 20 through 23. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them.

His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents.

Look, I have gained two more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Here we have the two profitable servants.

The one who's been given five shows that he's increased by another five, so he's doubled. And same with the one who'd been given two, he's doubled. He is able to show his master two more. Now the master comes and says three things to each one of these profitable servants. And actually, it's very remarkable that he says the same thing because the game to the master has been very different.

But he says the same thing because they both squeezed what they could out of the resources that he put into their hands. The first thing he says is this, well done good and faithful servant. Well done. He's been away for a long time, he comes back and his servant has lived in a way that also shouted something, my master is worthy of profit. I want my master to have profit.

He's entrusted me with this. He deserves profit. I'm going to be diligent. I'm going to put it at risk and try to make profit for my master. His life has declared that.

You know it's possible to please this master, it's possible to please him. With all our frailties and all the things that we wish were different and better about ourselves, it is so possible to hear him say, well done, well done, good and faithful servant. Do you view God this way? Do you view God this way? Or do you every minute of every day focus on what isn't quite right about you?

Always thinking about that as if this Master can't be pleased. Hey, if that's the God you're serving, it's just not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible can be pleased. He can be pleased. He comes back and he says to the undoubtedly imperfect servants, the parable hasn't been filled out, you get a long period of time in eight verses or whatever it is.

So all the detail is not there, but undoubtedly you don't have perfect servants here, but you have servants who are looking towards the profit of their master because they think he's worthy of it, and he says, well done. He's pleased. He's pleased with them. Second thing he says, you are faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things." So, he looks at the one and a half million dollars and says, you know, I put you over just a little bit. What kind of a master is this that has such resources to deploy that he can look at these five talents, at these hundred years of wages and say, I put you over a little, you know, just a few little trifling things.

Since you did something with it, now I can give you something real. Like now we can start playing with real money. Not this little million and a half dollars you've been messing around with. I can start entrusting you like with real assets. What kind of a master is that?

What kind of resources does he have at his disposal? Now there is another parable in Luke 19. It's a different time and there's enough different about it that it's definitely not the same parable exactly. But they're so similar. It's about the menace.

Minus, menace. And I want to pull a couple of things out of that parable and just bring it over to this because the parables are so similar. In that, he gives each one of the servant ten minas. Now, a minas is worth about a tenth of a talent, so even the currency is different. But in that, in Luke 19, they all get the same.

And in Luke 19 verse 17, the master, when he has come back, says, because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities. So it's not like the one who doubled the five to ten is now going to get ten more or something like that. Understand the scale. I'm pulling this over from Luke 19. You did something with this little.

Now, have ten cities. Govern ten cities because you can be trusted to bring profit. So have ten cities. Listen to Paul in Romans 832. Romans 832.

He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" You want to talk about a stewardship and a trust and resources being given? Paul says, he who wouldn't even spare his own son, if he'll give us Christ, this is the argument that Paul is saying, if he'll give us Christ for us, how will he not give us freely all things? If the Son of His love isn't off limits, what would be off limits to God that He'll say, no, I'll withhold that from you? Okay, you have to understand this.

Nothing is off limits. If anything were going to be off limits, it would have been the Son that He loves. Nothing is off limits. And He's willing to give. Remember the Sermon on the Mount?

Ask, seek, knock. If you evil fathers give good things to your children, what will God be like? So pray and ask. Because nothing is off limits. If Jesus wasn't off limits, We have it declared.

Nothing is off limits. And God is willing. He's not a miser. He's not a miser who's just doling out grudgingly for really super excellent performance. That's not the God of the Bible.

How shall he not with him, with Christ, also freely give us all things? The third thing he says is, enter into the joy of your master. Enter into the joy of your master. God has joy in himself and he's willing to share. And he wants you to enter into it.

Now, you might have noticed that in labor there are thorns and thistles and that profit only comes by toil. Anybody notice that? Work's not always fun all the time. And it's hard to make a profit. It's hard to end up with gain.

Let's go back to Romans 8 and listen to Paul again. A few verses earlier, Romans 8 verse 18. Romans 8, 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us. God bids us to enter into His joy.

All the thorns and thistles, all the toil that is required to produce what seems like such a little bit of profit, all that is not even worth being compared to entering into the joy of your master. It's not worth comparing. It's not worth comparing. Have you ever had your 12-year-old on one side of the seesaw and your 4-year-old on the other? The 12-year-old thinks that's hilarious because the 4-year-old's just up there dangling forever and there will never be enough gravity and history to make the seesaw actually work as it was intended to work.

That's what Paul is saying about our difficulties and the glory of entering into his joy. They're not even worth being compared. The seesaw will never tip the other way. Friends, go for the joy. I want to sound as much like John Piper as I could possibly sound at this moment.

Go for the joy. Go for it. Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 16 verse 11. You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. God just extends it, offering it. In your presence is fullness of joy. I read a commentator this week that says, right now we get a few drops of joy on us, then we'll enter into His joy. Now joy enters into us, you know, just drop, drip at a time, then you'll enter into joy.

It's a completely different category. Our parable is calling us to live out of this fountain of life, that the worth of the Master is so alive to us that we're just living out of the fountain of it. We see the beauty of this Master and His worth to have gain and profit, to receive glory and honor and dominion forever and ever. And so, the work just bubbles up out of that fountain. Back to Matthew 25, verses 24 through 30.

Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.

For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This is the unprofitable servant, the NASV and the ESV and the NIV, say worthless, worthless servant, worth less, worth nothing servant, unprofitable. The Master will settle accounts with all his servants, the profitable ones and the unprofitable ones, and so it is in the parable. It's his turn to come and give an account of what he did with his $300, 000 that the Master entrusted to him.

And this servant has to cobble together a story. Isn't that the sense that you get from reading the text that he doesn't halfway even believe what he's saying. He's cobbled together. He has to have a story so he's cobbled this together and this is what he offers. Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

And I was afraid. There's no pleasing you. I knew that about you. Classic blame shifting. Classic blame shifting.

I did nothing all this time and it's your fault. He was away for a long time. I did nothing for a long time and it's your fault because there's no pleasing you. You're a hard man. The profitable servants are living out of this root.

They're living out of this fountain. Every day they're thinking how much their master is worthy of profit. Worthy to gain. And so it drives them. They're not afraid like this man says he is.

They're not afraid, but they're driven because they see the beauty of this master. They understand that he's worthy of profit, and so they want him to have all the profit that can be squeezed out of the resources that he's put into his hands. And the unprofitable servant is just the opposite. Just the opposite. He sees that somebody is trying to gain where they haven't invested.

To harvest where they haven't scattered seed. Listen to Hebrews 11, 6. I believe Hebrews 11, verse 6 is the absolute interpretive key to the whole text. If you come away with nothing else, come away with Hebrews 11, verse 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him.

For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Hey, either that's your view of the world or it isn't. Either you believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And so, though you can't see it with your own two eyes, you believe it in your heart and it drives you to generate profit for this master who you think is worthy. Or you don't have faith and it's just impossible to please God. No matter what you do, Bill Gates gives away a billion dollars.

This is not a good work in the sight of God. Yes, much misery in the world has been relieved through the billion dollars. So I suppose we should give thanks for it. The world could use a little less misery, so that part is good. But Bill Gates is not getting credit for that in the eyes of God, for his billion dollars.

So again, back to the terms and defining the terms rightly, that's not a good word. That's not profit for the master. It isn't. Without faith it is impossible to please God. God's not impressed.

The billion dollars came from all the stuff that's God's anyways. Bill Gates hasn't added anything to God with his billion dollars. Without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. The Master just repeats it back to him.

Listen to Luke 19. Remember Luke 19 is the parable of the menace, it's the one that's so much like this parable. In Luke 19 verse 22, the master says, out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. That's what's happening here. As the master plays back exactly what the unprofitable servant has said, he's just calling his own words as a witness against him.

He's just exposing him as a liar. He's lying. That's not why he didn't produce gain. He's lying. And the master exposes him.

Because if that was really what was driving him, if he was really afraid of the master and knew that the master extracted where he hadn't invested. At least he would have put his money in the bank. Have you seen what kind of interest rates are drawn from depositing in the bank right now? It's like You wonder, like, why even bother? Why bother?

It's so little, but it's not nothing. It's not nothing. Here's what he offers. Nothing. And so he's saying, if this is what you thought of me.

At least you would have put it at the bank where you don't have to do anything and it's not at risk and at least I would have had at least a little profit. And the talent is taken and it's given to the one who had doubled the five talents. So the Master just redeploys his own resources where he knows there will be fruitfulness from it, where he knows there will be profit and gain from it, and where there will be an increase of his own glory for it. And the unprofitable servant is cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He's thrown into hell.

The day when the master comes to settle accounts is a day that will is a day that will not admit excuses. So be very careful about your story. Be very careful about all your reasons for fruitlessness. Because the Master won't be accepting excuses. Because the life tells it all.

There will just be evidence for what you really thought. There will just be evidence for what you really thought. If you really think that He's a Master that's worthy of profit, you will have lived your days that way. And there will be evidence. And if you haven't, there won't be.

And there won't be need for a lot of words. There just won't be need for a lot of words because our lives will have said it all. Our use of everything that God has entrusted to us will say it all. A few concluding remarks. I'm going to make a connection with the other place where we've seen talents.

And it's Matthew 18. And it's also a master who has come to settle accounts with his servants. Only this one, instead of this chump change, you know, the million and a half dollars, The five talents, it's 10, 000 talents. It's 200, 000 years of labor, for a day labor, 200, 000 years. And the master's just forgiven it.

You can't pay that, I'll just forgive that debt. So not chump change like here, real money, 200, 000 years of labor. Good luck trying to work off that debt. It's off that debt. It's impossible.

Now, if you've been forgiven ten thousand talents, how will you live? How will you live? How can I bring profit to this Master? How can I bring profit? How can I squeeze more out?

He forgave me 200, 000 years of labor, And now my life is just an offering to Him. It's just an offering. Okay, this is where Jesus is bringing us. You've been forgiven 10, 000 talents, 200, 000 years of labor. Your Life is an offering.

You're not adding to the master with this gain. He doesn't need another five talents. It's not for him. It's so that your life will be an offering. This is what's here.

Someone who's been forgiven something that in a thousand lifetimes they could never pay. And so their life is just offered back as an offering to a master who's worthy of profit. Finally, God has entrusted resources to you. A unique blend of assets never before given and never will be given again. And a day's coming and you'll give an account for those assets.

And really, there won't be a need for a lot of words. Your life will have declared what you thought about this master. Are you abiding in Christ? Again, this is the only way to be fruitful. John 15 tells us the only way to be fruitful.

Connect to where the sap is and let the life-giving sap flow through you and there will be fruitfulness. Otherwise, apart from that, you can do nothing, nothing, nothing, except cobble together a few little counterfeits. And God will say, that's wood, hay, and stubble, and it will just be burned up on the last day. Paul says no other foundation can be laid except Jesus Christ and then you better build on it with gold and silver and precious stones so that when the fire comes To find out what's true and what's not true, something will be left over. Listen to what J.C.

Ryle says, we are not told that the unprofitable servant was a murderer or a thief or even a waster of his Lord's money. But he did nothing, and this was his ruin. Let us beware of do-nothing Christianity. Such Christianity does not come from the Spirit of God." And then Ryle quotes Richard Baxter who said, to do no harm is the praise of a stone, not a man." So the unprofitable servant comes and says, I did no harm. Here, have back the one you had.

And Baxter says, that's the praise of a stone. It's good if a stone does no harm, not a man. Ryle says, beware of do-nothing Christianity. Why? Because we need to earn our way into the master's favor.

No, because the spending of our lives tells the tale. That's why. And so I'm trying to be as clear as I can about cause and effect out of John 15. The cause of real fruit is abiding in the vine. The vine is the source of it all.

And yet, when we are abiding in the vine, there will always be fruit. There has to be. There can be no other way. Friends, we have a Master worthy of profit. He's worthy of profit.

He's entrusted resources to us. And we should be with joy conspiring about how we can increase the profit. How can I get more out of my laptop for this master who's forgiven me 200, 000 years of labor? How can I squeeze more out of my laptop? And this is going to look very different for different people.

Wives and mothers have a very particular scope of resources. It's going to look different for them. They're helping their husbands. So often when we look at the fruitfulness of a husband, really that keeps going into the account of a wife who's helping him. Anything you like about Jason Dome, you better be putting into the account of Janet Dome.

She's helping me in a thousand different ways. I shudder to think what it would be like to try to do this job without Janet Dome. It's going into your account. What we're doing with our children is going into your account. And so, if you think about profit in the wrong way, You come out of this all turned around and wanting to be something that God never called you to be, wanting it to be something tangible, demonstrable, showy.

No, it's not. You didn't get it from this parable. It's going to look different for different people. Fathers, okay, he's joined a helper to you. He's given you children.

Hey, these are resources. These are resources. If you love your master at all, rally those resources for profit, for your master that he might be known as great. Take inventory. What has God given you?

How can you squeeze just a little more profit? Not so that you can earn favor with God, but so that He's known as great. Demonstrate that you see that He's a Master who's worthy of profit. Let's pray. Oh God, you are worthy of all honor and praise and glory and dominion forever and ever and ever and ever.

Oh God, may you find us abiding in you, abiding in you. So happy to have been forgiven the debt that we could never pay. So happy to have an opportunity to just offer back our lives to you and squeeze whatever we're able to out of the things that you've entrusted to us. I pray that we would not be people living in fear, but we'd be willing to put it all at risk at the right moment so that you might have gain. Oh God, you are worthy.

You are worthy. We love you because you have loved us first. Now, God, take our lives as a free will offering. Do with us whatever you want to do with us, oh God. I thank you that the parable actually breaks down in that way.

That though you have gone away to a far journey, that you have sent the Holy Spirit to come and dwell your people. And you've not left us alone. You've left us with one who would remind us of your will every day. Oh God, may we hearken to your voice. Live lives of thankfulness to you, God.

May it be so in Jesus' name. Amen.