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About The Episode:
Join us as we explore the timeless teachings from the Parable of the Talents, unpacking its layers to uncover the essence of faithfulness and the pursuit of joy in serving our Master. As I reflect on this scripture, I bring to light a fresh perspective on the vitality of unwavering commitment to the spiritual and life goals set before us by God. Together, we dissect the importance of steadfastness in our endeavors, the true meaning of the Master’s joy, and the perils of spiritual complacency. Moreover, I’ll share insights on how this biblical wisdom aligns with the core message of my book “You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God,” guiding us to rely on divine provision in these economically challenging times.
Listen in as I discuss the concept of living as a sacrifice, presenting ourselves as vessels for God’s glory, as instructed in Romans 12:1 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. The conversation pivots to the responsibility of stewarding our God-given talents and the accountability that comes with our actions and words. I encourage you to join me in this journey of understanding the joy of the Lord as our strength and using our gifts to serve Him, while also providing for our families. Discover the joy that comes from faithful service and the promise of greater responsibilities as we embrace the spiritual wisdom embedded in the Parable of the Talents.
Where to dive in:
(0:00:00) – Parable of Talents and Joy (5 Minutes)
This chapter examines the profound lesson on faithfulness and joy from the parable of the talents. I share a fresh insight I’ve gained from revisiting this scripture, highlighting the importance of continuously and diligently working towards the goals set before us by God. We discuss the significance of not only working for a season but maintaining a steadfast approach to our spiritual and life tasks, and in doing so, finding the true joy of our master. Moreover, I address the dangers of complacency, the necessity of preparation for Christ’s return, and the inherent warning against starting too late. The focus is on encouraging listeners to discover and experience the Lord’s joy, which is our strength amidst life’s challenges and complexities.
(0:04:42) – The Parable of the Talents (7 Minutes)
This chapter examines the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25, emphasizing the importance of readiness for Jesus’s return and the expectation to multiply the gifts entrusted to us. I highlight that Jesus has left us with the responsibility to share and grow the gift of salvation he provided, with the understanding that souls are the only ‘currency’ that matters eternally. The discussion also touches on the idea that our abilities and resources are not our own but given by God, and it is our reasonable service to use them for His glory. Additionally, I introduce my book “You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God,” which is designed to help navigate current economic challenges by relying on God’s provision rather than financial means.
(0:11:55) – Living Sacrifice (17 Minutes)
This chapter focuses on the Christian principle of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, as stated in Romans 12:1, and understanding our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. I discuss the concept that our abilities and talents are gifts from God, meant to be used for His glory, emphasizing that our lives are not our own but entrusted to us by God. The discussion also touches on the expectation of accountability for our actions and words, drawing on the parable of the talents to illustrate the importance of being faithful stewards of what we’ve been given. Finally, I explore the idea that faithfulness in God’s service can lead to greater responsibilities and the joy of the Lord, encouraging listeners to use their gifts for the Lord while also providing for their families.
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Full Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.
0:00:00 – Jaime Luce
And here we see that in this parable he’s saying you set your mind on my agenda. You were worried about what I entrusted to you. You worried and made your time in your life about multiplying what I gave you. And not only did you do it, but you didn’t do it temporarily, you didn’t do it for a season, you didn’t do it for, you know, a week, you didn’t do it once a week. You were faithful, you were continual in what you did for me and because of it you were able to enter into joy, and not just a temporal happiness. Enter into the joy of your master, a perfect joy, a full joy, a demonstrative joy, a joy that satisfies. Welcome to the Jane DeRose Podcast. Thank you for joining me today. We’ve taken some time out of your day to spend it in the word of God. What better thing can we do with whatever extra time, whether you’re in your vehicle and making use of that, or just out and about listening to the podcast, or whether you’re watching on YouTube. I just wanna thank you for doing that. I commend you for taking the time and investing in your spiritual growth. If you listened to the episode we did last week, then you know that I mentioned the parable of the talents, but as I was reading that again, I just I saw something there I had never seen before. I’ve read the verses, I’ve quoted the verses, but I saw something new and I just wanted to share it with you.
Today’s not going to be lengthy. I’m going to go ahead and read you the parable but and give you the background forward. But I want to hone in on one part in particular and I think that you’ll benefit from this greatly today. It will give you some understanding about joy, about true joy, the Lord’s joy experience. In that joy we can get so bogged down with life and dealing with stuff and the troubles that we face or the difficulties that we find ourselves in and the complicated things that we deal with. And we cannot forget the joy of the Lord, because the joy of the Lord is our strength. And so I wanna be able to encourage you and the joy of the Lord today. So, if you’ll turn with me to Matthew 25, I’m going to read you verses 14 to 30.
That’s the parable of the talents. Now, before I do, I wanna give you a little background. So Jesus has been explaining three parables about his coming kingdom and the common thread that has been going in between these parables has been the people being prepared for his coming, being prepared for that day. And we see both in the parable of the 10 virgins there is a clear implication that’s being made about the dangers of falling asleep, not being prepared, starting too late. And because of the time delay, because of what they’re dealing with, because it seems like so much time has gone, this is taking longer than they expected. The hour seems late, that it lends itself to these exact things falling asleep, not being prepared, starting too late. So there’s a warning going out so that those are things that we can be prepared against and not fall into those traps. So that is the warning. Well, in the parable of the talents, we see a little shift come. It’s the same understanding the master has gone, he’s coming back. So you still have the thread of being prepared for when he returns and there’s an expectation when he returns. But there is a small shift that is embedded in this particular parable. So let’s read it together, okay.
That’s chapter 25, matthew 25. And, like I said, we’ll start in verse 14. For it will be like a man. What will be like a man? They’ve asked Jesus when are you coming back and he’s explaining. No man knows the day or the hour. You need to be prepared. That’s why he talked to them about the lesson of the fig tree, the parable of the 10 virgins.
And now he’s saying 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, that he went away. 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.
Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more. His master said to him well done, good, faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over, but enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came forward saying Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him 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.
He also, who had received the one talent, came forward saying Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talents in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But his master answered him you, wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers and in my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, give it to him who has the ten talents, for to everyone who had this will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of tea.
Now I’m not going to go over everything I went over last week and the other meanings that are found here and what we see happening in this parable, but I do want to talk about something. I want to make a couple points about the context and then I want to point out something that I think we could all use today. In verse 14, it says that he entrusted to them his property. He entrusted to them his property. Well, if we look at this, this is a parable, but if we look at truly, jesus is now gone and he’s going to return and he has invested. He has entrusted his property to us. What is his property that he’s entrusted to us? Well, it’s many things. He’s entrusted to us. What is his? Jesus has been entrusted to us. The gift of his death and resurrection has been entrusted to us. What he did for us and that beautiful gift that he gave to us has been entrusted to us.
The expectation is that we will take this new life, this resurrection life, this newness of life, and we will multiply it and make more of it by sharing it with others and causing others to also be made new, that there’s an expectation that that salvation that was brought to us will be multiplied by us in order to give that back to him, because nothing that we do on this earth can go with us to heaven except people. There’s no, nothing else that comes with us but souls. That’s all that’s. That’s the only currency that’s going to be here and there. It’s souls, people. We’ve got to be about the father’s business. We’ve got to be about making sure and taking a stand for the true word of God, for for truly being his witnesses in this earth to live out the great commission. And so in that there’s there’s a couple of things. So he’s entrusting it to us, which means he trusts that you have the ability to do what he’s asking you to do.
I like that. This is the word talents, even though we know it meant money. We can also mean that whatever we have we know came from God. Whatever my abilities are, whatever I have that I’m able to do and use, all of it comes from him. It doesn’t belong to me. So it is the scripture that says that it is our reasonable service in order to give to God what belongs to us, our reasonable service to give our life. I want to look that up for you real quickly here, hi my name is Jamie Luce.
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0:11:55 – Jaime Luce
Room is 12-1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And the reason I use that verse is because this is the my body. Whatever my body can do, any talents or gifts that you have, any abilities you have, are housed in the body that you’ve been given. And it is our reasonable service to use those gifts, those talents, those abilities, those influences, those inroads to things. Whatever God has given us, whatever doors he’s opened for us, it is our reasonable service to use those things in this bodily form for his glory and his service. It’s reasonable for us to do that.
The other scripture I wanted to give you is first current bins. I will turn there with you. First current bins. My fingers some days feel like they have got a little sticky on them and other days they don’t, and makes harder to find. But first Corinthians, chapter 6, and we’re going to look at verses 19 and 20.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you Home you have from God. So you have the Holy Spirit from God and your body is the temple he is housed in. You are not your own. You are not your own. That really is offensive to people nowadays, because everything is about this reparations and slavery from years past and bringing all these old terms and wanting to punish people for slavery. And yet you will see over and over again where disciples call themselves bomb servants and slaves to Jesus Christ, that they offer themselves as such. And it says you are not your own Verse 20, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.
If you are someone who has the gift of writing, write for the Lord. It doesn’t mean you can’t write other stuff, but use your gift for the Lord. If you are someone who has the gift of playing an instrument, use it for the Lord. I’m not saying that you can’t use it as a means of providing for your family. If you have a gift of doing something and that’s the way that you make a living praise God, but also use your gifts for the Lord. Let’s see.
Here’s the other part. Let’s go back. Let’s go back to verse 25. So he’s interested us with his property. Our life is not our home. He has an expectation when he returns. He’s let it be known he is returning, so there is an expectation.
He is returning, but I wanted to also show there is a there is a settling of accounts. So we know that judgment day is coming. We know that we are going to give an account not only for the deeds that were done on our body, but for every word, every idle word that comes out of our mouth. We are, we are to give an account for. This parable is not only showing that we have to be ready, like like we had seen in the parable of the ten versions, but again You’ve seen a theme. If you’ve been listening to this podcast very long, you’ve been seeing a theme and you understand how Jesus dealt constantly with the religious leaders and the Pharisees. In saying that, it goes past what you do with yourself. It goes to the heart, that there are heart matters that have to be dealt with, not just the external, not just the outward. These are the matters of the heart and one of these matters is that there is an expectation on you not just to be ready but to give an account. So for the parable of the 10 virgins they had to be ready, but now he’s saying and you need to be ready to give an account. I know that’s a heavy thing to say, but it’s not heavy when it is seen in the light of what was done for us.
Here’s where the next part of what I want to share with you comes in. Where they title it, jesus says in verse let’s start at verse 21, his master said to him well done, good and faithful servant. So he’s saying you were good in what I trusted to you. You were faithful with it. You didn’t just do it once in a while, you were faithful. You remained faithful in the thing that I had entrusted to you. You have been faithful over a little. Here the story expands even more I will set you over much. So he’s letting us know you not only have a job and a life to live in this life, but when I return and I settle accounts, there are things for you to do and there’s a pain in coming. There is a big pain in coming and you were faithful with this little. I’m making you ruler over much is what one of the translation says. Ruler over much. And it goes on to say I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master. I saw that differently. For the first time I saw that there is joy. You have access to the joy of the Lord by means. There is a way to enter into his joy. He has just shown us the pattern of how to enter the joy of the Lord. He says take seriously what I’ve given you, make much of it. Make much of what I have given you. If you will be faithful to what I have given you, you enter into joy. Not only do you enter into the blessing of the multiplication of what you have produced, because it will be multiplied back to you.
If you want to understand all about that, listen to last week’s episode. There is a the gift of grace that is working in our lives. We have measured out, not only as measured to us in this parable. He is saying once I return, it is even much more. What I give you is even much more. What you are going to get in the end is so much bigger than what you even made of it here through the faithfulness that you showed. But our faithfulness to do what God has called us to do, our faithfulness to the work of the ministry, in whatever form that takes in your life, whatever God has entrusted to you, faithfulness to the work of God produces joy. If you are lacking joy today, then I want you to look at the heart that you have toward the thing that you are doing for the Lord. Has there been something that has gotten out of balance? Are you working from a place of working, doing works, or are you working from a place of relationship, of entrustment, of mutual exchange, of this gift, of reciprocity, that you have entrusted this to me, and it is my honor and my joy to do this for you?
If we can set our hearts, there is a scripture in Matthew I want to say it was in. It is when they are walking on the Well. Jesus is talking to Peter and it is when he has to rebuke him and he is reviewing him because he says that you have set your mind on the things of man instead of the things of God. Not only the setting. You can set your mind, you actually set it. That is up to you how you set your mind. That is not something God does. You set your mind. He told Peter you set your mind.
So if you set your mind on the things of man and not on the things of God, then wrong decisions come out of that, wrong attitudes come out of that, wrong desires come out of that. Peter was rebuked because he was trying to tell Jesus what it sounded good. Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man that in the end is dead. We can do things that are right in our own eyes and you can be convinced you are right. But you are only right in your own eyes because you have set your mind a particular way. And for Peter, he thought he was saying no, he thought out of love. He was telling Jesus no, you can’t die, you can’t go to the cross. And Jesus was saying no, peter, you’re the one who’s wrong.
The set. This sacrifice is necessary. This is my love. This sacrifice is my love and my duty. It is why I’m here. You’re, you don’t even know it. You’re being used by the enemy right now. Get me behind me, satan.
Your mind is set on the things of man, not the things of God. So there’s, if we don’t have joy in Our serving, in our sacrificing and our giving, if we don’t have joy, then we have set our minds on Our agendas. We have set our minds on the things of man. We have set our minds on the things we want About earthly things that are not eternal. We, because it’s eternal, it’s people. People are eternal. So if we have set our minds on the eternal, then we will have joy. But if we set our minds on the temporary, on that temporal thing that is only here on this earth, then you’re looking for disappointment, you’re looking for Frustration, fear. All of those emotions and all of that turmoil come from a place of having your mind set in the wrong place.
And here we see that in this parable he’s saying you set your mind on my agenda, you were worried about what I entrusted to you. You worried and made your time in your life about multiplying what I gave you. And not only did you do it, but she didn’t do it temporarily. You didn’t do it for a season, you didn’t do it for, you know, a week. You didn’t do it once a week. You were faithful, you were Continual in what you did for me and because of it you were able to enter into joy, and not just a temporal happiness. Enter into the joy of your master, a perfect joy, a full joy, a Demonstrative joy, a joy that satisfies.
If you are looking for joy today, this short, simple, little message is just to encourage you Be faithful in what matters and what you’ve been entrusted to by the Savior. Make that your business. Be faithful to what he’s entrusted to you, whether that’s in your business and your family, with your ministry, in your personal Commitment to your devotional time, and in your prayer and your reading. Be faithful. It’s where joy is birthed and received, in your faithfulness to him. How do you do that? How do you remain faithful? How do you stay in that place? How do you remain steadfast and faithful? You do so by setting your mind on the things of God.
If you will set your mind on the things of God, god already promises this parable, lines it up. He lays it out that you will receive far more Than what you ever gave, whatever you invested, whatever you did, whatever you multiplied for him, he is going to give you so much more. You’ll even receive what others left behind. You get to gather what others left behind, that wicked lazy servant. One person says it was the one who had the one and it says take it from him and give it to the one who has the five, who it now has ten. You get to. You get to keep receiving what others are laying down. You just get to keep multiplying to yourself what others are dropping off because of the diligence of the way you set your mind, that you know that faithfulness to the Lord is what produces true joy.
The joy of the Lord truly is our strength. Whether you’re having to build or rebuild, we do it in the joy of the Lord and no matter what you think you’re lacking the expectation that God puts on, based on what this parable he gave to each according to his ability. God isn’t asking you to do something you aren’t able to do. So if the enemy lives to you, it says you can’t do that. You don’t have the ability, you don’t have the connections, you don’t have the finances. You know it doesn’t matter what the devil tells you. If God has called you to it, he has equipped you for it. God will see to it that you have what you need. He will entrust into your hands what you need to get done, what he’s called you to do, and you will have joy.
I Want this kind of joy. What is this kind of joy? Joy unspeakable and full glory it’s. There’s so much joy you don’t even know how to express it. You don’t know how to articulate it. It is unspeakable, it is full of the glory of God.
That is my prayer for you today. Let me pray for you, father. I thank you for the the opportunity to enter into an Intrusted relationship with you, to be able to make much of what you have given us for your glory for eternity. Lord, you have been so good to us. You have given to us and graced us with gifts that we did not deserve, and it is our joy and our Honor to serve you, to give our lives as a living sacrifice to make much of what you have given us and to make much of who you are, to spread your fame far and wide and to receive your joy. Thank you for this opportunity, father. Today I pray for your people that they would receive from your hand today, that whatever Encouragement they need, whatever Shifting and their mindset they need, that they are able to see with clear seeing, clear Understanding, with heavenly eyesight, what they need to see, and that their hands and their knees are Strengthened. And that we would strengthen one another in prayer and in encouragement. You said strengthen the knees that are people and the and the angles that are weak. We do that for one another. Today, I lift them to you in the name and the power of Jesus Christ, and it’s in Jesus name. We pray amen.
Thank you again for joining me today. I’d love to hear from you. You can contact me at mail at Jamie loose calm. That’s J A, I am LUCE. Or if you want to visit my website, you can do that at Jamie loose calm. Do me a favor if you enjoyed today’s message, hit that like button and subscribe. Get notified when every new episode Comes up and is available for you. Thanks again for joining me today. We’ll see you next time. Bye, bye.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
