Use Your Gifts And Talents To Grow The Kingdom of God

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you for being here today. Got a great sermon for you on how you are gifted. You have been gifted with a lot of things and it’s important for you to use those gifts.

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God has given you many gifts and talents. You’ve got to use them. Don’t let them go to waste. We’re deriving this message from Matthew, of the Parable of the Talents, [Chapter] 25, Verses 14 through 30. So, if you have your Bibles, get them out, use them. If you don’t have your Bible, it’s okay. I’m gonna read it to you, and I will put the references in the description below.

So, get your Bible, come back, read through this stuff, as a refresher of this message at a later time. It would be great for you to read them with your Bible, read them to your family, et cetera. Use it as a discussion, whatever you can do.

I’m gonna read through this: [Matthew] 25, Verses 14 through 30, so bear with me. Here we go. “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money….”

Now, how much is a talent? A lot. A talent was worth more than about $1,000. So today, a talent was probably like five grand. So,…five talents of money, so $25,000.

“… to another two talents, and [to] another one talent.”

Some scholars say it was like $1,000,000. So the value varies, but it’s a large, large sum of money.

“Then he went on his journey.” Now, this journey wasn’t just like a day trip. He was gone for a year or more. “The man who had received five talents went at once, put his money to work, and gained five more.” So he doubled it. “So also, the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.”

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” A long time, a year or more.

“The man who had received five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 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 man with two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ 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, share your master’s happiness!’”

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

“His master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I harvested where I had not sown, and gathered where I have not scattered seed? Why then, should you have not put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have had it back with interest?’”

That’s why I say he was gone a long time.

“‘Take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping, and the gnashing of teeth.’”

Luke also has a similar story. So, we’re going to read that one very quickly. It’s a little shorter.

Luke 19:11-27. “While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people who were going to the Kingdom of God were going to appear at once. He said this was Jesus: ‘A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed a king and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work until I come back.’”

“His subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ He was made king, however, and returned home. He sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.”

“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your one mina has earned ten more.’ ‘Well done, good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’”

“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your one mina has earned five more.’ “His master said, ‘You take charge of five cities.’”

“Then another servant came.‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’”

“His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I would’ve have collected it with interest?’”

“Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’”

“He replied, ‘I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given, but for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

Pretty serious business. This is a great parable. Both of them, of a master, going away, leaving money to, in this example, three separate servants; he left money to more, but three of them are specifically noted.

The first two servants in both scenarios put their money to work, and they doubled or, in the one case, they turned one mina into ten and one mina into five. So, I mean, ten times and five times the master’s investment. They really, really put their money to work – their talents. In Matthew, that was called a talent.

Now that talent is money then, or could be money, but today could be your God-given talents. Put it to work. What did the master say in Matthew 25, Verses 21 and 23? “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.”

And in Luke, what did they do?

“Well done, good servant!… take charge of ten cities. Take charge of five cities.”

“This other one, no, he doesn’t get anything. Give it to the other guy who already has.”

Everyone who has a little, it will be taken from them. Why? Well, because they are not able to manage what they have. So if you have a little bit, and you don’t seem to get anywhere, you don’t seem to get anything, maybe start managing what you have, properly. Show God that you can manage it properly and He’ll give you more.

The master was pleased that his servants were faithful. As a reward, he put them in charge of more than a small amount of money. One put them in charge of ten cities, five cities. They passed the test. How are you doing on your test? Are you failing your test or are you passing it? God is giving you some stuff – something. He wants to give you immeasurably more, but can you handle it?

It’s the same way if you have employees or kids. You put them in charge of something and then, as they show you that they can be responsible, you give them more. You say, “Hey, here’s an allowance, manage it properly,” or “Hey, your job is to do this,” and then when they show you they do that well, all right, here’s more.

But if a kid comes up and says, “Hey,” for example, – This is a great example — your child may say, “Dad, I want these new toys,” or “Mom, I want these new toys.” And you say, “Look at the toys you have. They’re broken.”

“They’re beat up. They’re never put away. Why would I buy you this $50.00 item when you can’t even take care of the $10.00 items? No, show me you can take care of these other items, and then maybe you’ll get the big item.”

God’s the same way as evidenced in both of those passages. But if you can’t take care of your little $10.00 toys, then you don’t even get to have those toys. I’ll take them away from you because you’ve shown me you can’t take care of it.

So, do you let your child continue to have that thing and keep breaking it, or you take it away, because they don’t use it properly? What do we call this as parents — You lose your privilege.

If we do this to our children, God is our Father, of course, He does it to us. Look, it’s in the Bible. If you’re not managing what you have properly, why would God give you more? He wouldn’t. He’ll take it away and give it to someone else who can manage it properly.

He’ll take it away. Don’t lose your privilege, start managing things properly. These servants, in this parable, they were trusted with a little and now they can be trusted with much.

Let’s go to Luke again. A different passage, Luke 16:10, and this one is the parable of the shrewd manager. So read this whole parable, but I’m not gonna read it now for sake of time. But Verse 10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”

So if you can’t be trusted with your $10.00 toy, I’m gonna take it away. And I know that I can’t trust you with a $50.00 toy. But if you can be trusted with this little one, I know that you can be trusted with this big one.

God’s the same way with us. If He gives you a certain income or certain talents, and you’re not using it properly, He’s not gonna give you more. He’ll take what you do have because you’ll lose your privilege. That third servant was afraid to lose what he was given, so he hid it. Don’t hide your talents. Don’t hide your gifts. Don’t hide your wealth; use it.

This servant, he was afraid; he hid it in the ground or hid it in a piece of cloth, then he gave it back to the master when the master returned. The master was very unhappy and said, ‘You ought to have invested it with the bankers, so at least I could have gained interest’. That was Matthew 25:27 that said that.

Let’s go to another verse, though. This was similar to Luke; Matthew 13:12. This verse says, “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even whatever he has will be taken from them.” Just like Luke 16:10, you’ll lose your privilege.

In this parable, this master represents God, as we’ve said. The servants are His people: you and me. You have a choice, either be like the first two servants. What were they? There are some lessons here, beyond managing what God is giving you. The reason: these first two servants have a couple of characteristics that you need to have in your life.

So, these are some points to write down. Use your gifts, use your talents, use what God has given you. Okay, points. How do you do that? These two servants, in both parables, they have the same words representing them. ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’

That’s what you need to do. You need to be good and faithful. And how do you show that you’re good and faithful? You use what you’re given appropriately. That means take care of it. Just like the child who wants more toys.

You say, “Take care of these, pick them up, put them away.” Take good care of your belongings and more will be given to you. I’ll get you more, then, because I know you can take care of it.”

Just like the kid who wants a pocket knife. If they can’t operate it properly, you’re not gonna give them a knife, they’ll cut their own head off. Or that movie, that crazy movie, “The Christmas Story”, where he wants the Red Ryder BB-gun and they all tell him, “You’ll shoot your eye out,” because they don’t think he can properly handle it.

It won’t be given to you until you show you can properly handle it. But how can you show you can properly handle it unless it’s given to you? Good argument. Show you can properly handle what you already have so that you can request more.

And this could be part of it. Sometimes, you might pray for things in Jesus’ name. We’ve talked about this before, in other sermons; you might pray for things, but you’re not getting them. Well, Jesus says that if you say anything in His name it will be given to you and James has said oh well if you’re praying and you’re not receiving, you’re asking with wrong motives.

Maybe, sometimes, you’re praying for things in Jesus’ name that you can’t handle, because you’ve shown you can’t handle them. Show you can handle it. Take care of what you have. Do you have a beat-up car? Do you have a broken lawnmower? Do you have a house that’s falling apart?

Maybe it’s time you start taking care of those things that you have, so that God will see that, “Hey, this is a good and faithful servant. Everything I give them, they take care of. They take really good care of it. They manage it properly. They keep it well maintained. They’re taking care of what I have given them. I know that they can handle more. I’ll give them more.”

Whoever is responsible with very little will also be responsible with much. What is the lesson here? Get to the root of the problem. The root is: God is training a characteristic. He’s not saying “You’re gonna get wealth, you’re gonna get possessions”. He’s building up character. If you are responsible with little, that characteristic means you can be responsible with much. If you can manage little, you can be responsible with much.

The one master said you can manage these minnas, this money; you can now manage cities of money, treasuries. You can manage it all because you’re able to deal with little. If you can maintain your house, you can be trusted with a hotel.

If you can maintain your bank account, you could be trusted with another account, maybe a savings account or a brokerage, or this. If you can manage the car you have, maybe now you can manage a second car, or maybe now you can manage a boat or a toy: a jet ski of some kind, or whatever, a snowmobile.

If you’re faithful with little, you can be faithful with much. If you have a little and you’re good with it even, you can get more. God says more will be given to them. But if you’re not good with it, even what you have will be taken from you. Just like if you can’t manage it, your car will get repossessed.

Maybe your house will be foreclosed on, and the bank will take it. Your money will go to the credit card companies, in the form of exorbitant interest, because you’re not managing it. Even what you have will be taken away. You will lose your privileges.

You can either be like those first two servants, good and faithful, and be given more. Or like that third servant. What is he? Evil and lazy.

You wicked and lazy servant! You let it go to waste. Folded up in a cloth or buried in the ground, where for the whole time period, it didn’t move, it didn’t do anything. It was worthless, at that point in time. It had no value because it wasn’t being used for anything.

Money or talents, our gifts, our abilities only have value if we use them. If you don’t use it, there’s no value. This book, right here, this Bible – you could buy a Bible for five bucks, ten bucks, you could buy them cheap, maybe even at the dollar store. You could buy this Bible; you could get them for free. But if you let it sit on the shelf, and never, ever use it, it’s worthless. It’s worthless.

If you take it, and use your Bible, and read it, now it is worth way more than the $5.00 you paid for it, or the $10.00 you paid for it, or the $100.00, maybe you got an expensive one. The point is anything you have — this pen is worthless, if it just sits here and does nothing. It’s worthless. But if I take it and use it to write my sermons, this pen has value. Without this pen, I can’t write the sermon.

I could type them, of course, but if you don’t use it, it’s worthless. That’s what this is saying. This third servant didn’t use the gifts they were given, and therefore, that’s worthless. Don’t be evil and lazy.

Proverbs is all about laziness. Some of those chapters in there, don’t be lazy. The lazy people are not gonna prosper. The sluggards they’re too lazy to even bring their hand back to their mouth. They’re so lazy they turn on their bed like a door turns on its hinges. Don’t be the sluggard and the lazy person. Get out there and do. Be like the ant who’s wise.

Are you gonna be like the first two servants who are good and faithful, and take care of what you have, so that you show, you prove, that you can be given more? Or are you gonna be like this third servant, who is worthless and lazy and doesn’t use their gifts, and lets them go to waste? And then, even what you have will be taken from you? The choice is yours.

Use your gifts. A great way to use your gifts is just say, “What do I have?” Look around. See what you have: whether it is time, money, space in your home, ability – and then start figuring out how you can use it. You have extra bedrooms. How can you use them? You have extra space; maybe you can use them. Rent out storage space.

Maybe you can rent out a room. Maybe you can house missionaries for free. Maybe you can take care of kids. You could become a safe home; a shelter in place for emergencies. You could use those rooms. Even if you don’t want people, you could store items, and then you could take that money and use that.

Maybe you have extra cars. Someone needs a vehicle to drive; lend them your vehicle. Maybe you have a gift of teaching or interpreting. Or maybe you have divine gifts, like speaking in tongues, understanding tongues, prophecy; start using that. Maybe you have great wisdom; use it.

How? How do you use these things? Well, comment below with your wisdom, your insights. If your gift is teaching, you don’t have to go be a teacher at a school; get involved at church, Sunday school, kids’ programs. There are so many ways you can use the gifts God has given you.

But the point is – start using them. God’s given you a lot of money, and maybe you’re working all the time, you don’t have time to go use your other gifts. Your gifts, maybe you’re already using at your job; bringing in money.

Now what? Use that money somewhere: invest it, tithes, donate, offerings, — use your money; help others. The whole point is, whatever you have, whatever you are given, you need to use it.

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank you so much for the stories of the “Parables of The Talents” and the masters going out in Matthew and Luke. And thank you very much for the lessons provided in those stories. That we want to be like the good and faithful servants.

Lord, we know that you’re our Father, and you’re not gonna just give us everything we want; we have to show you that we’re ready for it. That we’re ready to receive whatever it is we’re asking for, in your name.

And Lord, I ask that each of these people, I know they all have needs in their life. They need something. They want something. Show them what they must do in order to get that. That they have to show, that they have to prove, that they’re worthy to receive those extra blessings.

Inspire them to take really good care of what they do have, to manage it properly. To use their time wisely, to use their skills — to use whatever you’ve given them — and that they would use it to the fullest. And that, then, you would bless them with more, exactly like these parables showed us.

The one who has five, double them to ten. Give them more, give them from this worthless, lazy servant. Give them more. The one who has 10 cities, give him this other minna, give him more.

Lord, inspire them to not be that evil and lazy and worthless servant. Inspire them to use their gifts so that they have use. Inspire them to use their Bibles. Otherwise, these possessions that they have, they’re just sitting there, they’re worthless. They don’t need them.

That’s the other lesson, Lord. If there’s a worthless possession in their possession, something that’s sitting around and collecting dust, throw it out, get rid of it: “into the darkness,…weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Get rid of it. They don’t need it in their lives, help them get rid of it.

We’re not attached to things of this world. We have to build our heavenly Kingdom, store up heavenly treasures. If there is stuff in this world that is worthless, that is a hindrance, get rid of it. In Jesus’ name, inspire them to use the gifts You have given. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thanks again for being here. This is a very important topic. If you have any questions on how you can use certain gifts you might have. There are things that you have in your life. Maybe you’ve taken inventory and you want to know where to bring things, where to get rid of things, how to use space in your home, how to use your money, how to invest, how to do any of that kind of stuff; please, I encourage you, talk to people.

Comment below, comment below. Definitely. We can reach out. We can talk. We can discuss things, and help you find out how to use your gifts. And if you have any questions on what your gifts are, there’s a great spiritual gifts test by Lifeway. I’ll have a link in the description below. Have a great week.

God bless.

Spiritual Gifts Survey From Lifeway (Printable)

Spiritual Gift Test (online)

“Spiritual Gifts: What They Are, Identifying & Using Yours” – Woman Of Noble Character