This week two entrepreneurs will go face to face in the final episode of what is astonishingly the 16th UK series of the reality television show, The Apprentice. They have been competing to become Lord Alan Sugar’s new business partner with an investment of a quarter of a million pounds in their own businesses. Months ago, 16 hopefuls originally entered the process and now after a series of gruelling challenges 14 have been fired. Only two remain – I won’t spoil things by telling you who. Which one has the best hope of turning a profit? If you have ever watched The Apprentice, keep it in mind as we think about the story Jesus told about a man who entrusted three of his servants with bags of gold and set them the challenge of making the best profit. Jesus is in Jerusalem in the final week of his life, telling a series of parables about how to live as his disciples and how we can prepare for the end of the age when he will return in glory.
Matthew 25 14 ‘Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The race is on! While the master is away, who will make the most profit ready for his return? Notice that from the start that the three servants were given different amounts of capital to work with, “each according to their ability.” Life is like that. We don’t all start off with the same. Some people have advantages, others face challenges. The man entrusted the slave who he felt had the most potential with greater responsibility. These were big advances. It would take a day labourer half a lifetime to earn just one bag of gold. One slave was given twice that much and the third with five times as much, to see how much profit each could make while their master was out of town.
16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
The first two servants were successful. They doubled their master’s money. The third was not successful. He just buried the money to make sure it wouldn’t be stolen. So time passed by.
19 ‘After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The day of reckoning came. The master returned. Which of the apprentices would be successful? Which would be fired?
20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.”
21 ‘His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

The servant had turned a tidy profit of 100 per cent by skillful and shrewd business. He doesn’t just get hired. He gets a promotion. Before he was put in charge of five bags of gold and that only counted as “a few things”. So being put “in charge of many things” is much greater still. But that is only part of his reward. The servant had proved to be good and trustworthy. So he also receives this wonderful invitation. Come and share your master’s happiness!

22 ‘The man with two bags of gold also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two bags of gold: see, I have gained two more.”
23 ‘His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Although he had not been given as much capital, this second servant had been equally successful in business. He also made 100 percent profit and he is rewarded with the same promotion, from overseeing a few things to being put in charge of many things. And the same wonderful reward. Come and share your master’s happiness! We’ll return to this glorious reward in a few minutes after we have thought about the third candidate. Sadly he had been a miserable failure.

24 ‘Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”

The third servant had made no profit. The issue was not that he had been unsuccessful. He hadn’t even tried. He was afraid of failure. He wasn’t prepared to risk losing what had been entrusted to him. So he just hid what he had been given. He hadn’t tried.

26 ‘His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 ‘ “So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.

The third servant gets fired. And there is an unexpected bonus for the servant who had originally been given the five bags of gold. Now he will have eleven bags of gold to work with, not for himself to enjoy of course but to use in business. Even more opportunity to make a profit for his master.

But what happened to the third servant? In the Apprentice the unsuccessful candidates just get fired. The servant who was too scared even to attempt to do business on his master’s behalf faced a gruesome end.

30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus finished this parable on a solemn and sobering note of judgment to make the point that discipleship is a very serious matter. How we act in this life has eternal consequences. So what did the two successful servants do right and what did the third do wrong?
The first two men were commended for being “good and faithful servants.” J.B. Phillips translates this as, “you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy”. They had been bold and enterprising. Jesus is looking for disciples who are good, sound, reliable, trustworthy, who do their job well until he returns in glory. On the other hand, the third servant didn’t do anything at all. It wasn’t that he had tried in business but had failed. He hadn’t even made any attempt to do business using his master’s investment. He wasn’t prepared to take any risks. One of the points this parable illustrates is that following Jesus will inevitably involve taking risks. If we are following Jesus, sitting back and doing nothing is not an acceptable choice.
Jesus said this,
Matthew 16 24 … ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Again Jesus said in Matthew 10 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Following Jesus will always involve taking risks sometimes. Sitting back and not doing anything is not an option. This is true for individual Christians and also for churches.
David Prior wrote this. “It will be tempting, because we live in such a results-dominated society, to see failure as reprehensible and therefore to be avoided. One way to avoid failure is to call it a mistake—and then to try to eliminate any mistakes, to make sure we get things right and that we succeed. Many local churches base their activities on such priorities and virtually reject anything that is at all risky, because “we cannot afford to make mistakes.”
Following Jesus is inherently risky, for Christians and for churches. The third servant simply didn’t even try. The feeble excuse that the servant made might lead us to think that he was scared of failing and disappointing his master. Perhaps so. But another explanation is possible which in my view is more likely. I think that the third servant was actually more afraid of people knowing who his master really was. He was scared of being publicly associated with the master who had entrusted him with that bag of gold. That would correspond to disciples who are too afraid to let other people know that they are followers of Jesus. But you can’t be a secret disciple. Either the secret will kill the discipleship or the discipleship will kill the secret. Whatever his motives, the third servant was condemned because he didn’t even try to do business on his master’s behalf.
So what is this parable really talking about? The 2011 New International Version talks about “bags of gold” and the Good News translation is thousands of gold coins. The parable is about money and investment and business. How will the servants use the material wealth which the master has entrusted to them?
God has entrusted each of us with treasures, money and homes and possessions. Some have more, some have less. What matters is how we use all the treasures God has given to us, both those which we give to the church and those which we keep for ourselves to use. Are we using all these things for his glory and his kingdom? Or do we keep all our treasures to ourselves?
This primary meaning of the parable is about money. But this has been blurred for us because the Greek word for bags of gold here is talanton which the Authorised Version, the King James Version of 1611 and many English versions since have rendered as “talent”. This confuses us with the English meaning of the word talent as a particular aptitude, ability or skill. People immediately think that the parable is about how we use our natural talents, abilities and skills, in serving Jesus and the Kingdom of God. That is a perfectly acceptable second meaning to the parable although it is not the first. The original Greek never carried this implication. But it is true that God does also care about how we use the gifts and skills and abilities he has given to each of us. Are we continually using our talents for his glory in his service? Have we devoted our natural abilities and our training and our experience and our spiritual gifts to God and his kingdom. Or do we keep them to ourselves and only use them for our own benefit?
God has given us all treasures and talents and he has also given us time. Do we use the precious time we have for God and for his glory? Are we redeeming the time, making time to serve God in the church and in the world as well as making time to spend with God Himself?
And God has also entrusted Christians with his truth, the saving good news of Jesus Christ. Are we sharing the gospel any time, any place, with everybody we possibly can, boldly proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord of all? Or are we just sitting on God’s truth, burying it to keep it safe, too afraid to let it be known that are followers of Jesus?
Treasures, talents, time and truth. Dick France taught me everything I know about Matthew’s Gospel and in his commentary Dick writes that in this parable the talents “represent not the natural gifts and aptitudes which everyone has, but the specific privileges and opportunities of the kingdom of heaven and the responsibilities they entail. The parable teaches that each disciple has God-given gifts and opportunities to be of service to their Lord, and that these are not the same for everyone, but it is left to the reader to discern just what those gifts and opportunities are.” Are we making the very best of the opportunities we have to use our treasures, our talents, our time and God’s truth for his glory?
This brings us back to the exciting topic of the rewards the master had waiting for the two reliable and trustworthy servants.
21 “His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Well done, good and faithful servant! We are called to serve God faithfully week in, week out. In our worship. In our service in the church and in the community. In our witness to the watching world. It is entirely possible to get worn out and weary and discouraged. Hear God’s message for Christians who have been serving Him faithfully through the years obediently and sacrificially. It is simply this. “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master’s happiness”
We should persevere. Listen to this encouragement from the apostle Paul Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
The parable of the bags of gold is all about the challenges and the costs of following Christ. We can be encouraged that Jesus talks about the rewards of following him on the many occasions. Remember Jesus’s words to his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.
The reward Christians look forward to is simply this – the approval of our Lord our God and Father. `Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master’s happiness”
Our reward will be to be with God in eternity, to see God face to face and know Him even as we are known. GOD HIMSELF is our very great reward. Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Treasures, talents, time, and truth. This parable shows us that there is a fundamental division between good and bad disciples, between the saved and the lost. Are we good and faithful, trustworthy and reliable servants of God in all these areas of life? Jesus is coming back soon. We were talking last week about the need for us all to be ready for his return. When he does, will we get promoted or will we get fired? When we are each ultimately called to account there will be glorious rewards for disciples who have proved themselves to be good and faithful servants. Not so for those who refuse even to try.