Every generation, stories have shaped the world, not just by entertaining us, but by changing the way we think, live, and believe. Around campfires, on movie screens, across history. Because when you want to change people, you don't just give instructions, you tell a story. And that's exactly what Jesus did. When people expected simple answers, Jesus told stories that challenged assumptions, flipped expectations, and revealed a completely different kind of kingdom. A kingdom where the last are first. Where mercy triumphs over judgment. Where greatness looks like serving. An upside down kingdom. Let's walk through the parables of Jesus, stories that don't just inspire us for a moment, but transform the way we see God, ourselves, and the world around us.
Well, please pray with me. Dear Lord, we thank you so much that we could be here in this place. God, I pray that you would allow your word to sink deeply and root deeply into our hearts, God, that you would allow us to be able to experience the love and the grace that comes through that, Lord, and then to be a witness to that and be able to share that wherever we're going, God. May my words be your words, not one word more or one word less. In your name we pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.
So in May of the year 2000, on an outdoor lawn in Memphis, Tennessee, 40,000 college students gathered together for a day of prayer and worship and teaching for their Passion One Day Conference. And it was at this conference that a message was shared that changed the trajectory for so many of those young people's lives. And I remember re-watching it because it came from the most unlikely speaker. You've got all these college-age students, anywhere from 18 to 24 years old, 40,000 of them gathered on a lawn. And who stands up to speak? Not the trendy college-age pastor, but a guy who was old enough to be their dad in a button-down dress shirt tucked into his khaki pants.
But he went on to share a message with an image that would radically change many in that generation. An image of some seashells. And as he stood up to share this message, he had a simple prayer. His prayer was that a generation would answer one simple and yet pivotal question: How will you invest your life?
Now, when John Piper was preparing to stand up and share this message, about three weeks earlier, two women from his congregation were on a mission trip. Ruby Eliason, 80 years old, spent a career as a nurse, and now she's on a medical mission in Cameroon, alongside Laura Edwards, also 80 years old, who spent a career as a doctor. These two women in their retirement decided to go to Cameroon to give people medical care they couldn't find on their own and use it to share the gospel. And as they were there, driving from one city to the next, the brakes on the car went out. They careened over the side of a cliff to their death.
And John Piper, in that moment, looked out on 40,000 students and he asked a simple question: Is this a tragedy? Is this a tragedy? And then he looked at those students, to their shock, and he said, "No." He said, "This is the tragedy."
And he pulled out an article from a magazine most of them would never read. You wouldn't find it sitting there on the coffee table in somebody's dorm room. It was a magazine some of you may know: Reader's Digest. A 1998 article, and the title of the article was this: Start Now, Retire Early.
It told the story of 59-year-old Bob and 51-year-old Penny. Bob had spent a career in the Northeast in finance, and he had earned enough to be able to retire early. So at 59 and 51 years old, they found themselves in Punta Gorda, Florida, trolling on their 30-foot cruiser, walking, playing softball, and collecting seashells on the seashore.
John Piper looked out and he said, "This, this is the tragedy." He said, not the 80-year-olds who are investing their retirement years in mission, but the person who works so hard to do nothing more than invest in themselves. And John Piper said, "This is the tragedy. And there are people in this country spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it. And I have 40 minutes to plead with you. Don't buy it."
Now, this is what John Piper was saying. He was not saying retirement is wrong because now John Piper is retired. He still preaches, probably doesn't pick up seashells, but he preaches. What he was saying was this: This life we've been given is a gift. And it doesn't matter what you've been given. How will you invest that gift in the kingdom of God?
And what John Piper was doing is what we sometimes see the parables do. In fact, the story was so locked in my mind because for the past several weeks I've been reading this parable from Matthew chapter 25. One of the things the parables do is they simply share with you what the kingdom of God is. They expose you to the concept of God's kingdom.
Another thing the parables do—and we've heard parables like this—is they teach you what the kingdom of God looks like and how to live and move in the kingdom of God and how to live out the kingdom of God in your own life. Those are fun messages to preach.
But the third thing the parables do—these are the parables that tend to be the most uncomfortable—is they look at you and ask a pivotal and critical question: How will you respond to the message of the kingdom of God?
And this is what Jesus is doing today in our parable. He tells a parable that asks the very simple question: How will you invest the gifts of grace and life you have been given in the kingdom of God?
And so, to show you what I'm talking about, let's open up to Matthew chapter 25. So if you have a Bible, it's the first Gospel. If you don't have one, raise your hand. We've got one there for you that is our gift to you. And of course, if you don't have a paper Bible in front of you, you can always pull out your smartphone, open up the YouVersion Bible app or the Faith Oakville app, and we've got the Bible in there.
I'm going to be in Matthew chapter 25, starting at verse 14 in the English Standard Version. It says this:
"For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away."
Now, really important, Jesus is telling, once again, a series of stories. And so the "for it will be like" he's talking about is the kingdom of God because he's just told a parable in which the reference was the kingdom of God. So you could read it like this: "For the kingdom of God will be like a man going on a journey..."
Now here's what you need to understand. This was a normal practice back then. Somebody would go on a journey. In Luke it calls him a king. In this one it calls him a wealthy master. They would go on a journey, and when they were on that journey, they would hand some of their resources to their servants and have their servants invest them and do business on their behalf.
Now, you don't give a lot of instructions when that happens. Why? Because travel is not like travel is today. In the first century, travel was a lot different than the 21st century. Some of you have taken vacations. You know what I'm talking about. When you're going to go somewhere, you know exactly when you're leaving, when you'll arrive, how long you'll stay, and when you'll return. Give or take a few hours, maybe a day if you're incredibly unlucky.
But travel was not like that in the first century. Even the best-laid trip plans were tentative. You weren't exactly sure when you'd get there. You weren't exactly sure when you'd come back. So when a master left, they left, and nobody knew the timeline.
So of course you don't add a lot of parameters around what you want them to do with the investment you're about to give them because things could change, and there's no way to communicate quickly. So you give wide parameters, which is what this master did.
Now, you may be asking yourself the question, how much is a talent? Because isn't that the confusing and frustrating thing when you're reading the Bible? We have no clue how much money they're talking about.
Well, I looked it up, and many commentators differ on their conversions, and I remembered very quickly that I am a pastor and not a financial analyst. But one thing they said consistently was this: One talent was worth about 6,000 days' wages for the average laborer.
So I went to my friend ChatGPT and asked, "How many days will somebody work in a working lifetime?" If you work for 40 years consistently, taking normal vacations and time off, you'll work anywhere from 9,500 to 10,000 days in a working lifetime.
So literally, if you are the one-talent servant, you were given about half a lifetime's worth of wages to invest. Not an insignificant amount.
And it also says—and this is important—that the master gave each according to his ability. He gave the five-talent servant five talents because he figured he could use five talents well. The two-talent servant got two because he could use two well. The one-talent servant got one because he could use that well.
Then this is what happened:
"He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money..."
After a long time, the master returned and settled accounts. The five-talent servant presented ten talents total. The master said, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."
The two-talent servant received the exact same commendation.
Then the one-talent servant came forward and said, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man... so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground."
The master answered, "You wicked and slothful servant... You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest."
Now, first, it sounds harsh. But here's another interesting thing I learned this week: the banking system back then was pretty safe, and because of how interest worked, he could have earned around a 50% return just by depositing it. The other servants' returns weren't extraordinary. He simply refused to do anything.
You've got three servants, three different amounts, but really only two outcomes: "Well done, good and faithful servant," or "wicked and slothful servant."
So what's the difference?
The difference is simple: What did you do with what you were given? Two servants invested it. One did not.
So what does this mean for us today?
The master is God—specifically Jesus. The servants are Jesus' followers.
And that's important because it would be easy to read this as though God is telling people to earn their salvation. That's not what's happening. The only people given talents were already servants of the master. This is about those whom God has already brought into His kingdom and entrusted with gifts.
This is not about earning salvation. Everything we have is given as a gift from God. But when God gives gifts, He expects us to use them.
So what is a talent?
I spent two weeks wrestling with that. Is it God's grace? Is it literal money? Is it our abilities? Is it our very lives?
My answer was: Yes.
It's everything.
Anything and everything we have is a gift from God. Every breath we take is a gift. Nothing we have is deserved. Nothing we have is earned. It is all a gift from the giver of all good things.
So when Jesus talks about talents, He's talking about the gifts He gives us.
Paul says we were dead in our trespasses and sins and made alive in Christ. God gives us physical life and spiritual life. Everything we have has been entrusted to us by Him.
The question is: How will you invest it in the work of God?
The world spends billions of dollars telling you, "Everything you have is yours. Use it for yourself."
God says, "Everything you have is Mine. How will you invest what I've entrusted to you?"
So what does investing look like?
Peter writes in 1 Peter:
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace... in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
Peter says you've been given gifts so you can serve others.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that there are a variety of gifts but the same Spirit. God isn't expecting your gifts to be my gifts or mine to be yours. If He's given you the ability to speak, then speak. If He's given you hospitality, then show hospitality. If He's given you mercy, then show mercy.
Your gifts are not lesser than someone else's. God simply asks you to use what He's given you.
Romans 12 says:
"Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them."
And at this point, some of us start feeling that holy guilt. We think, "I'm not even sure how to use my gifts."
Years ago, I felt the same way.
So I prayed, "God, You've given me gifts, and You're going to hold me accountable for them. Please show me how to use them."
And you know what?
God will.
He's not trying to set you up for failure. He gave each servant according to his ability. He will show you where to use what He's already given you.
And when you do, your life becomes a picture of God's glory.
Sometimes we think only pastors invest in the kingdom. But often it's much simpler than that.
The other day my kids wanted to play pickleball. It was hot, and honestly, I wanted to stay inside. We got to the courts, and a younger kid pressed his face against the fence and asked, "Can I play?"
My first thought was no.
Then I wondered, "Is this an opportunity?"
So I told him, "Finish this game with us afterward." He and his friend joined us. We taught them how to play. They stayed for about 20 minutes.
Later, my oldest son said, "Dad, that was really cool."
I thought he meant one of my shots.
He said, "That you let those kids play."
And I realized something.
It wasn't really about pickleball.
It was about teaching my kids what the hospitality of Jesus looks like.
God gives us little opportunities every day to invest in His kingdom. Sometimes you'll realize it. Sometimes you won't.
One day you'll stand before the Father, and He'll say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. I gave you grace, and you shared grace. I gave you forgiveness, and you shared forgiveness. I gave you resources, and you shared resources. I gave you health, and you used it to help others."
Not because you lived someone else's life, but because you faithfully lived the one He gave you.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus said:
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth... but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
The more you invest in God's kingdom, the more your heart grows in love with the God who first loved you.
Don't worry about what He's given someone else to do. Worry about what He's given you.
Because you cannot out-give God.
He will always pour more into your life.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, we thank You so much that You allow us to be in this place. Thank You for giving us the opportunity to invest in others the way You've invested in us. Help us share the grace, love, and every good gift You've given us with a world that desperately needs You. Strengthen us and open our eyes to see where we can invest in Your work. It's in Your name, Lord Jesus, and by Your strength that we pray. Amen.