Intimacy with God through talents
At Damascus Road International Church we have been going through the series about Intimacy with God and we have looked at many different ways of growing in our understanding and relationship with God, today I would look at using the talents God gives us and how we can grow closer to God through them.
In Matthew 25:14-30 we see Jesus telling the parables of the talents, a master leaves to travel to a foreign land but before he leaves gives a certain amount of “talents” to each of 3 slaves. The first get five talents, the second gets two talents and the third gets one talent. When the master returns he finds that the first and second have put the talents to good use and have doubled the number the originally received, the master is overjoyed at this and hails them as “good and trustworthy” and puts them in charge of bigger things. However the third has decided that the master is a harsh man who reaps where he did not sow and gathers where he did not scatter seed and therefore the third slave dug a hole in the ground and hid the talent until the master returned giving back exactly what he originally received. The master calls out the slave as “wicked and lazy” and says the least you could have done were to invest so I would have at least received some interest from the talent. The parable ends with the master proclaiming that to those who have more will be given until they have in abundance but to those who have nothing even what they have will be taken away and the third slave is sentenced to be thrown out into the darkness.
Well that did take quite a turn at the end but as with all parables there is much more to this story than just being a cautionary story about money, laziness and masters.
What are talents?
Etymologically the english word “talents” are derived from the Greek “talanton” which incidentally since Matthew is written in Greek is the exact word that is used in the parable. In the Bible the word “talanton” is used in two parables (Matt 18:23-35; Matt 25:14-30) and in both the word is used to describe amounts of money and in neither does it mention it as abilities. Looking into the original Greek meaning as well it is meant as a measure of weight or money.
So when we look into the talents that Jesus is referring to we start realising the importance of the context where the parable is placed. At the start of Matthew 24 we see Jesus foretelling the destruction of the temple, the disciples understand this as the end of the age and begin to inquire about this. Jesus begins then to explain what it would look like at such a time and age describing the signs that would occur and the preparedness that would be required of Christians eagerly waiting on the Lord. It is in the explanation of how one should be ready that Jesus proceeds to tell the parable of the ten bridesmaids and the wisdom of the bridesmaids who had extra oil, and then starts the parable of the talents.
Jesus begins this section of this sermon by stating, “Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like this”. He is trying to explain the end of age and what we must do to be prepared for this.
In this context we begin to see that the talents are alluding to the riches that God our Father has given to each of us and what we do with it in the time allotted to us. This parable is a warning about how we should use what has been entrusted to us and the urgency of this. In the light of this it becomes clear that talents are really not just innate abilities or skills that people hone over hours of practice but they are gifts that are freely given and we are called to steward.
I love the Chronicles of Narnia and I feel a great illustration of this point is in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” where Mr. Tumnus tells Lucy Pevensie that since the evil White Witch has placed herself on the throne of Narnia it has been “always winter but never Christmas” in Narnia. This spell breaks with the entry of the Pevensie children to Narnia and the winter begins to thaw leading to them meeting Father Christmas. Father Christmas bestows upon them useful gifts which become part of their ability for the battle they were preparing toward. Father Christmas symbolises the free gifts one receives in their walk as a Christian and how these gifts are not meant simply to be placed on a pedestal and admired but are meant to be used for the ministry that God calls us to.
So now to stress the point talents are gifts given to us from the abundance of God’s riches.
In my view the talents can be broken down into three categories:
Equally given talents
Simply put these are talents that everyone has equal access to. In a world rife with inequality and imbalances in power it is generally accepted that the one thing everyone has equal access to is time.
Everyone gets the same 24 hours during the day, yes some people have the resources to outsource some of their essential care giving them more free time but at the end of the day it is really our choice how we opt to spend the 24 hours we are given. If you struggle with accepting that you are the master of how you spend your time I would recommend the book “168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think” by Laura Vanderkam. That book highlights great examples of successful people structuring their time and give some great insights into how people can better structure their time in different aspects of their life.
Another equally given talent or gift is the ability to go to God and ask anything freely from Him. The whole Bible points towards the coming and ministry of Christ Jesus and in the New Testament (Mark 15:37-38) we see the temple veil being torn in two that signifies that Jesus’ sacrifice sets people free and gives them full access to God.
Differentially given talents
These are talents that differ from one person to another. Some have the ability to speak eloquently, some can sing incredibly well, some can practice and be mavericks in using any tool, some can be great at identifying how to inspire and motivate people, etc. This list is endless and these are talents we develop over time based on the raw materials we are given to begin with (good larynx control for singing, an ability to capture visual beauty with words, an understanding of what motivates people).
The use and honing of these talents also have a huge impact on how these talents develop, so while it is given to different people the use of these talents are driven by our circumstances.
We see such talents being used over and over again in the Bible, whether it is with David using his gift of song to glorify God or write the many Psalms we enjoy, or the many skilled artisans who made articles for the temple, or the gift Paul had to speak and debate for God and how he uses it to proclaim the message of Christ.
We are called to use these talents we have but also to nurture them in others, we see this in Acts 15 when Paul and Barnabas are travelling together but Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, now John Mark had deserted them earlier and so Paul was reluctant to take John Mark along but Barnabas saw the talent John Mark had and insisted on going with John Mark, leading to Paul and Barnabas splitting but spreading the gospel even further. It is believed that John Mark was also the author of the first of the 4 gospels i.e. the gospel of Mark, his work inspired Matthew and Luke as well. In the same way we see Paul take Timothy under his wing as well and nurture his talent.
Circumstantially given talents
This an interesting set of talents, these are the talents that are afforded to us by our circumstances or position as we exercise the earlier sets of talents. For example our position in a company or our influence developed through our social presence, etc. I would even place money and riches on the earth under this bucket of talents, it is accorded to us by the circumstances we are born into or the places we reach over time through the use of our talents.
These are harder to see as gifts however once we realise that “From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God, and perhaps grope for him and find him-though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:26-28) we realise that even the circumstances we are placed in are there because God willed it be so.
We see this gift being used in Esther, now Esther was given the talent of beauty and this allowed her to be placed in a circumstance where she had some influence with the King of Persia. When the lives of Jews were at risk Mordecai goes to Esther and proclaims that “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14). Esther realises that this position she has been placed in the circumstantial talent she received was meant to be so she could save the lives of her family.
How do we use these talents?
If you doubt that you have a talent be assured that you have a beautiful set of talents given to you by God that is meant to be used to glorify God. But how do we put these talents to use, this is something that Jesus makes clear in the parable again. It is obvious that we are called to be like the first and second slave who put their talent to good use thereby producing even more, however there is also urgency attached to this. These gifts are not given for our personal enjoyment but they are on loan from the Most High God and He will be requiring accounting from us about how we produced fruit from them.
Again putting the parable in context helps us identify the mood in which the original disciples heard this parable, Jesus is talking about being ready for the coming of God’s Kingdom and mentioning that it should be not be assumed that we have a lot of time, the bridesmaids had to have oil ready because you do not know when the groom would show up and there may not be enough time to go find oil, the slaves did not know when the master would be back so they first two slaves put the talents to immediate use, etc. We do not know when we will be called to give our accounting but all we know is that we are given abundant gifts also access to even more when we ask for it and we are called to be people who use them for God’s glory.
It is also important to remember that the talents you have are part of a bigger picture, just as we are all part of the body of Christ as it says in 1 Corinthians 12:12 “There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ”. There is no point in being jealous of the talent someone else has since the same father who gave them their talent loves you and has given you your talents as well. God is looking at what you do with what He has given you, do you put it to good use or do you squander it away wishing you had another talent or do you work hard at honing and using what God has given you. When you use the talents God gives you He entrusts you with even more since He has seen you be faithful in even the little that you have been given.
When we grow in our use of the talents God gives us and start seeing through the Spirit where we could be useful we are becoming ever more reliant on God and dependent on the strength and gifts that flow from Him. In this manner we grow stronger and build a lasting relationship that is confident in God’s love and is able to weather the storms that may come our way.
Discussion
- What challenged you today about how to use your talents?
- What are some talents that you would like to grow in using?