Matthew 25: Don't Waste the Gift God Has Entrusted to You

Introduction

Have you ever been given a gift and had no idea what to do with it? A food you can't eat, a piece of clothing in a color you don't like, a perfume that isn't to your taste. The gift has value, but you don't know how to use it. So more often than not, you throw it out, hand it to someone else, or let it sit at the back of a closet.

Pastor Monty of Lifehouse Tokyo starts from this picture in his message from the second Sunday of October, part of a series on the joy found in the purpose God gives our lives. His theme: the joy of knowing the gifts God has entrusted to us, and the call not to waste them.

He builds on the parable of the talents, told by Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30. Rather than dwelling on the third servant's mistake, he chooses to look first at the two who did well.

Message Outline

1. Everyone Has Received a Gift

The word "talent" is often understood as an aptitude. But in the context of the time, it was a unit of money, a bit like saying "a thousand yen" or "ten thousand yen." The version read during the message speaks of "bags of silver": the pastor invites us to hear, behind those bags, the gifts and abilities God entrusts to us.
Jesus compares the kingdom to a man leaving on a long journey. He calls his servants and entrusts his property to them: five bags to one, two to another, one to the third, "to each according to his own ability." Then he goes away (Matthew 25:14-15).
When we hear "five, two, one," our minds jump straight to comparison: did I receive five bags, or only two, or just one? Am I someone with no talent?
That is not the point of the story. The point is that everyone received something.
The text says "according to his own ability": not the ability of the person sitting next to you, but yours. God is not calling you to become someone else. "Even if you try as hard as you can, you will never become Monty," the pastor says with a smile. God trusts you and entrusts something to you.
The pastor links the Greek word for gift to charis, grace: the two words share the same root. God gives us these gifts by grace, not because we did something or deserve them.
"The real purpose of your life begins when you know what God has placed in your hands." We often look for that purpose elsewhere, in a person or in a relationship. God has already placed it in us.
So the question to ask is: "Lord, what have you given me?" If your answer is "I don't know," that's fine: "Let's find out together."

2. Receive, Then Get to Work Right Away

The servant who received five bags puts them to work and gains five more. The one who received two gains two more. The third digs a hole and buries his master's bag (Matthew 25:16-18). "A rather absurd thing to do," the pastor notes.
The first servant doesn't brag about having received five bags. He doesn't spend them on his own wants. He doesn't compare himself to others to say "I got more than you." He receives, and gets to work right away.
The second point of the message: having a gift is not enough, you have to learn to use it with care. You can have a gift for teaching and never train, a talent for music or sports and never practice, an entrepreneurial ability and never learn how a business works, leadership potential and never lead.
God gives us our gifts "in the raw." When we use them faithfully, we become skilled in that area.

3. Acquired Skills and What You Do With Them

Today, the pastor explains, a company that is hiring doesn't just look at the talents listed on a résumé. It looks at what you have done with them.
In the past, in Europe or the United States, a degree was almost enough: graduating from Harvard guaranteed a good job. Today the question becomes: "What have you accomplished with what you learned? Have you started a team, volunteered, built a business?"
The pastor encourages you to get an education: what you learn at school are technical skills, needed to function in the world. But employers also look for people skills: problem solving, teamwork, communication, the ability to take initiative, leadership, the way you handle relationships.
A degree can get you to the job interview. What you have done with it decides whether you are hired, and people skills help you grow afterward. We need both. The servants with five bags and two bags had both: what they had received, and the ability to act right away.

4. Pastor Monty's Testimony

At 15, he started serving at church by playing guitar on the worship team, and then began to sing.
At 18, he moved to Sapporo for a year and a half. He had no degree and no work experience, but he had to find a job. He taught English all over the place and gained people skills that way. At the same age, he began leading the church's worship team.
At 20, he came back to Tokyo and the church hired him. He kept learning, led bigger teams, then bigger parts of the church. Today, he has the privilege of leading the Tokyo campus and the church in Japan.
"This is not a story to say: look how strong I am." God gave him a gift and the opportunity to use it young, then he learned to make it grow, by doing many things and making many mistakes. He is still on the way, hopefully with a few fewer mistakes today.
What has always driven him: giving his best with what God has entrusted to him in the current season. That is where there has been blessing, growth, and fruitfulness.
He often hears stories of people who found a job thanks to skills gained while serving: a former sound team member who became a sound engineer, someone who learned to film at church and became a professional cameraman. Hence his invitation: join a team. The needs are real, but the church also wants to help you: by serving, you develop the skills that will let you help those God puts on your path.

5. "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant"

A long time later, the master returns and asks for an account. The first servant brings five more bags. The master answers: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:19-21). The pastor pictures this servant with a smile from ear to ear: he worked, he made a difference, and his master is proud of him.
The servant with two bags brings back two more. He had less, but he receives exactly the same answer (Matthew 25:22-23). He is not praised a little less because he had less.
It is also worth noticing what the master does not say. He does not say "Look at all this money," or "What a return," or "You have an extraordinary talent." He says two words: good and faithful.
"God looks at your character more than at your abilities." You can be a genius and be proud. You can be skilled and unreliable. You can succeed without being faithful.
At church, the pastor meets very gifted people who show up saying: "I sing well, I'm ready, let me get on stage." He tells how his father reacts, welcoming them with a big smile: "Wonderful! Then start by helping us set up the chairs." The following week, they don't come back.
They may hold the bag of gold in their hands, but their hearts are turned toward themselves: "me, me, me," the desire for the spotlight. Between someone very skilled whose heart is not in the right place and someone less gifted with an upright heart, the church chooses the second. God wants you to be faithful to what he has given you.

6. The Servant Who Buried His Gift

The third servant arrives with his single bag: "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow, and gathering where you didn't scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours" (Matthew 25:24-25).
The master calls him a wicked and slothful servant: he could at least have put the money in the bank to earn interest. The bag is taken from him and given to the one who has ten, and the unprofitable servant is thrown out, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:26-30). "A rather heavy ending," the pastor admits.
He says it clearly: God was not angry because this man had received only one bag. He was angry because the man did not use it, tried nothing, and did not dare take up the challenge.
He honored neither the gift nor the one who had entrusted it to him. He wasted it by burying it, and that was not what his master wanted. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to end up like him."

7. The Greatest Gift: Jesus

God gives us gifts to show Jesus to people. But he has given us a gift greater than anything we can imagine: Jesus himself.
Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross carrying our sins, rose on the third day, and is alive today. He wants a relationship with you.
It is not because we did something, or because we deserve it: it is the ultimate grace, the ultimate gift. Through him, you can know your purpose and your gifts, and use them for him.
The pastor says what he looks forward to at the end of the road: the day he meets Jesus, hearing these words: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful with what I gave you; let's celebrate together." This is what gives purpose to his whole life, and he prays that the same anticipation will rise up in each of us.
The message ends with a prayer of thanks for the gifts received, without comparing ourselves to others, and an invitation to receive Jesus, the gift who forgives past wrongs, transforms us from the inside, and gives hope.

Key Takeaways

Everyone has received a gift from God, according to their own ability. The question is not "how much did I receive compared to others?" but "what has God placed in my hands?"
A gift is useless if it isn't worked on. God gives it in the raw, and it is by using it faithfully that we become skilled.
Serving at church builds skills that will also serve you in your professional life and with others.
The master praises the one with five bags and the one with two in the same way. God looks at faithfulness and character more than at abilities.
The greatest gift is Jesus. Receiving him gives life a purpose and the hope of hearing one day: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Personal Application

If you ask today, "Lord, what have you given me?", what answer comes to you? If nothing comes, who could you look for it with?
In what area do you compare yourself to others to the point of forgetting what you yourself have received?
Is there a gift you have "buried" out of fear, laziness, or lack of training? What first step can you take this week to use it?
Would you be ready to start by setting up the chairs, or are you waiting for a place in the spotlight?
Have you received the gift of Jesus himself? How does the prospect of one day hearing "Well done, good and faithful servant" change the way you live?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the talents represent in the parable of Matthew 25?

At the time, a talent was a unit of money, a bit like speaking today of a thousand or ten thousand yen bill. Some versions speak of bags of silver. Pastor Monty invites us to hear in them the gifts and abilities God entrusts to each person according to their ability.

Why is the master angry with the third servant?

Not because he received only one talent. The master is angry because this servant did nothing with what he had received: he did not use it, tried nothing, and honored neither the gift nor the one who had entrusted it to him. He buried it.

What does God look at most: our skills or our faithfulness?

The master does not say "what a talent" or "what a return." He says "good and faithful servant." For Pastor Monty, God looks at your character more than at your abilities: you can be brilliant and proud, skilled and unreliable. He expects you to be faithful to what he has given you.