Sunday School Lesson – Called to Excellence, Part 3 (9/30/18)
KEYS TO THE SERIES
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” - Philippians 4:8
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,” - Colossians 3:23
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” - JOHN 15:4
SUMMARY OF THE LAST SERMON
As Christians, we have to turn our backs to the old way of life, the way of life that embraces the motivations of this world. We can’t just add Jesus to our lives; we have to start a brand new life with Him. As Jesus states, we must die to ourselves and pick up our crosses and follow Him. In this new life, we think about, meditate on, and purse excellence. This means we are not simply trying to avoid sin, we are trying to reach holiness and excellence.
Read Matthew 25:14-30
TEACHER NOTE: If the talents are talents of gold, the value of what the master entrusted to the stewards would be immensely high, in the millions of dollars. Since the Lord uses only the term "talents" we must make some assumptions, but it seems reasonable to assume that the owner of the talents, the man traveling into a far country, was a wealthy man. He is entrusting his wealth to three men who become stewards of his money. One receives five talents. Another receives two talents. A third steward receives one talent. Each is given a significant amount of money. These are stewards entrusted with the care of the money. The stewards must know the personality and character of their Lord. He expects them to know Him well enough to apply the spirit as well as the letter of His instructions. Those that do are richly rewarded. The others receive severe judgment. The amount given is based on each steward’s ability. The first two understand the spirit and letter of instructions and the character of their Lord. They both use the resources by "trading" to gain a profit. Each of them makes a 100 percent profit. Fear and mistrust of his Lord motivate the third steward. He buries the money in the earth and returns the original amount. The profitable stewards are praised, given increased responsibilities and invited to enter into the joy of their Lord. The untrusting steward is scolded, rejected, and punished.
As you read the parable, who are the characters representative of? What is the setting of the story in relation to the real world?
TEACHER NOTE: The Master is representative of Jesus, the servants are representative of the people of the earth, and the talents are representative of God’s truth, the gospel. The setting is the world we currently live in. Jesus came and through Him, God declared the Gospel. Different people see it in different ways and with different capabilities, but all still see it. The master leaves, representative of Jesus going and ascending to Heaven, and the we know at some point the Master will return, we just don’t know when. What will we do with the gospel we have been given?
What do the servants, individually, represent?
TEACHER NOTE: The servant with five talents represents someone who hears the Gospel and responds, immediately, and the gospel produces fruits in their lives. The servant with two talents represents someone who hears the Gospel and also responds. They may not respond as quickly or as fervently, but they respond and the gospel produces fruit in their lives. The last person represents someone who hears the word and does nothing with it. They are afraid of the Gospel and afraid of the Lord. They bury the Gospel and it produces nothing. It comes right back to Jesus the way He left it.
There is another important aspect to the story, besides just responding to the Gospel. This aspect speaks more specifically to the pursuit of excellence we have discussed. What is that other aspect?
TEACHER NOTE: The other aspect is missing your opportunity. Each of these people have an opportunity to using amazing wealth to do something profitable for the master that has shown them love and trust. The first two people have different abilities but both take what they have been given and try to make more of it. They do not settle. The third one does nothing. While this parable is mainly about salvation, there is a second point to Christians. Some of us take our salvation and run in it to change the world. Others of us take our salvation and let it become stagnant. Some of us end up finding our relationship with God and our spiritual maturity haven’t changed at all from that moment we first met God.
Why do you think some of us run and some of us don’t? There is an answer in the parable.
TEACHER NOTE: Fear. The servant who did nothing was not motivated by love, he was motivated by fear. Because he did not love the master, he figured as long as he didn’t lose what he had been given he could not fail. The point of Christianity is not to avoid failure; the point is to pursue excellence and victory. We must not sit back in the gifts that God has given us, we must run in them.