Do not keep it buried. (Matthews 25:14-30)

Do not keep it buried. (Matthews 25:14-30)

 

16.   다섯 달란트 받은 자는 바로 가서 그것으로 장사하여 또 다섯 달란트를 남기고 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.   두 달란트 받은 자도 그같이 하여 또 두 달란트를 남겼으되 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.  18.   한 달란트 받은 자는 가서 땅을 파고 그 주인의 돈을 감추어 두었더니 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19.   오랜 후에 그 종들의 주인이 돌아와 그들과 결산할새 19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  20.   다섯 달란트 받았던 자는 다섯 달란트를 더 가지고 와서 이르되 주인이여 내게 다섯 달란트를 주셨는데 보소서 내가 또 다섯 달란트를 남겼나이다 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.   그 주인이 이르되 잘하였도다 착하고 충성된 종아 네가 적은 일에 충성하였으매 내가 많은 것을 네게 맡기리니 네 주인의 즐거움에 참여할지어다 하고 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!’ 22.   두 달란트 받았던 자도 와서 이르되 주인이여 내게 두 달란트를 주셨는데 보소서 내가 또 두 달란트를 남겼나이다22 “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.   그 주인이 이르되 잘하였도다 착하고 충성된 종아 네가 적은 일에 충성하였으매 내가 많은 것을 네게 맡기리니 네 주인의 즐거움에 참여할지어다 하고 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!’ 24.   한 달란트 받았던 자는 와서 이르되 주인이여 당신은 굳은 사람이라 심지 않은 데서 거두고 헤치지 않은 데서 모으는 줄을 내가 알았으므로 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.   두려워하여 나가서 당신의 달란트를 땅에 감추어 두었었나이다 보소서 당신의 것을 가지셨나이다 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

 

26.   그 주인이 대답하여 이르되 악하고 게으른 종아 나는 심지 않은 데서 거두고 헤치지 않은 데서 모으는 줄로 네가 알았느냐 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.   그러면 네가 마땅히 내 돈을 취리하는 자들에게나 맡겼다가 내가 돌아와서 내 원금과 이자를 받게 하였을 것이니라 하고27 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.   그에게서 그 한 달란트를 빼앗아 열 달란트 가진 자에게 주라 28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.  29.   무릇 있는 자는 받아 풍족하게 되고 없는 자는 그 있는 것까지 빼앗기리라 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  30.   이 무익한 종을 바깥 어두운 데로 내쫓으라 거기서 슬피 울며 이를 갈리라 하니라 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

Intro)

1. Here's the story. Someone felt that if he used both good eyes together, both eyes would get bad. So he thought. "If one eye gets bad let me use another eye." So, he covered one eye to save it. After a long time. one of his eyes got bad. So, he took off the bandage that he had closed. But he was surprised. He didn't use the eyes, so the other eye he thought it would be good is now also bad. If not used, it will be discarded.

 2. In today's text, a king-like master has left for a while for another country. He had three reliable servants. So he called in three servants and left with five talents for one, two for the second, and one for the third. What was the value of a talent of money at the time? Today, it's a lot of money, hundreds of millions of dollars. So the servants' wit five, and the two talents said they had doubled their business after the owner left.

But the last servant did not do any business, but secretly dug up the land and buried his owner's money deep into the ground.

 After a long time, the owner of the servants came back and settled with them about the money. The servants who received five and two talents said they had doubled the money given by their owners. The king said " 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!' 

But the servant who received on talent 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 word here that he's a hard man. It means strict, cold, strict, and ruthless. In short, He was afraid if he loses money, he won't survive.

Then the owner was very angry. Money is money, but He was even angrier that the servant thought he was a ruthless man. So the king said. " 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. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The servant became wicked and lazy servant because he buried the talent. Just as this story, if we do not use our talents given by the God, we will become wicked and lazy servant.

A) If you bury your talent, you become an evil servant.
Verse 15 says  < 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. > God has given you a good talent and an excellent gift, but if you bury it without using it, you become a wicked and lazy servant. God gave everyone a unique talent. You should use God's gift to your heart's content.

The Old Testament features a famous judge. God has given him a talent since birth. It was a great physical force. t's enough to tear a lion bare hand to death. It was a powerful talent beyond human power.

(Judges 14;5-7)  " 5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her." It was a great deal that he tore a young lion to death, but he was so strong that he thought it was nothing. Samson once killed 1,000 Philistines with a single donkey jawbone.

 If you killed 1,000 people with your bare hand! no one would believe that Judges15;15-17 says "15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

 

16 Then Samson said,

 

“With a donkey’s jawbone

    I have made donkeys of them.[a]

With a donkey’s jawbone

    I have killed a thousand men.”

 

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi."

But this amazing Samson fell in love with a prostitute and began to bury his talent.

Eventually, he fell into the trap and lost all his strength and his eyes were pulled out.  He then ended up living a miserable life of spinning the enemy's millstone.

In the text, Jesus also used a metaphor to say that those who live under their talents are evil and lazy servants. He said they have no choice but to go to a dark place and grind his teeth and cry. You can lose all your awards, lose your honor, and lose your fortune.

 

B) If you bury your wealth, you become an evil servant.
Also, talent is wealth or property. If you bury your wealth deep, you become an evil servant.
Money is something to use. Money is not just for saving, but for doing business and spending.

Luke 12;16-21 tells you story about unwise rich man. This rich man had a great result in farming one year. He had plenty of crops his place was piled up there was no more space for the crops. Then, he muttered like this.

 ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

In the United States, morticians are often notified people to reserve a cemetery around the age of 50. Have you ever thought about a buried in a cemetery?

Fifty years old is the age when you have to think about death and start to prepare for it. At 60, you have to prepare for death every day. Seventy years old is the age of pre-arranging funeral arrangements. It is also said that 80 years old is a person who has to wear a pillow once a day to prepare for death. Well, that makes sense. The foolish rich man tried to devote all his energy to building things up. But Jesus says to accumulate wealth in heaven.  

Matthew 6:19-21 says “19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

The former Ethiopian emperor, Selassie, was 80 years old when he was ousted.

At that time, it turned out that he had money equivalent to Korea's seven-year budget through illegal fundraisers. Why an 80-year-old men have for so much money? If you don't use wealth well, you become an evil person.

In Marseille, France, an old man called tightwad. He had no children to hand over his property, and he always had money to spare. People in the neighborhood always called him a "scrooge" No one knew how much he had. Then one day, he passed away.
There was no one to give him a funeral, so the city hall staff had to prepare him for a funeral. His will was found during the funeral. This is what it said.
I have lived to witness the citizens of Marseilles dying early because of an illness caused by unclean drinking water. So I decided to give my life to provide clean water. So I've been saving money for my life. This is why I saved money like that even while cursed by neighbors. Now I donate all my property to City Hall. I hope to provide clean water to the citizens with this donation.

C) If you bury time, you become an evil servant.
God has entrusted us with the equally precious time. But if you don't use the time well, you become an evil servant. The owner gave each of the three servants plenty of time with their talents. Verse 19 says “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.”

 

Given them so much time, yet the third servant has buried the money. So he became an evil servant. God has given us a lot of time, so we have to make good use of it. So the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:16 “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  The time given to us now is Dalant. You have to make good use of it. So how do we living good using the time?

1. Making plans and living diligently is a good use of time. Don't just play.

2. Do important or good things first is to use your time well.

3. Priority must be placed on giving glory to God and following his will. If a person spends a lot of time reading while studying the Bible verses reading comic books, who made good use of his time?

 

D) Opportunities doesn’t always come.
There is no word that the owner gave the third servant another talent. The opportunity ended with one shot. It will not be given again. Life is one time. Eraser does not exist. Opportunities do not come every day or night. One servant received more and the other ones will be taken away. Your only life! You must have the best use and good use for what God has entrusted you. Let us not waste it, nor let it sit. Live without regret. (There is no reincarnation; no person is born again after death!)

 

Conclusion)
1. If you bury your talent, you become an evil servant.

2. If you bury your wealth, you become an evil servant.

3. If you bury time, you become an evil servant.

4. Opportunities doesn’t always come.

 

ik sun ahn /translated by sung woo Ahn