Using What we Have Been Given | Matthew 25:14-18

[00:00:01] We'll Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. Recently I saw the movie in its an old one,

[00:00:11] was made in 1997. Goodwill hunting with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It's one of the best

[00:00:18] movies I've ever seen. Now I got to tell you, the language is not good, right?

[00:00:22] But the story is incredible. It's about a young man who has incredibly gifted at mathematics.

[00:00:28] It's a matter of fact, one in a kind, one in 4 million kind of mathematician.

[00:00:34] But he doesn't have any kind of college education. It's a matter of fact he's just a

[00:00:38] janitor and the professors in this movie, this professor in this movie, wrote down a very

[00:00:43] difficult equation that it takes sometimes years to figure out. Matt Damon's character

[00:00:48] figured it out in a day, right? He was incredibly gifted and the professor got to know

[00:00:54] him and so did a counselor. And he was just perfectly content with just staying in the

[00:01:00] south Boston neighborhood, working construction and not using the gift that he had been

[00:01:07] given. Now Ben Affleck's character told him every day after work they would go and they'd

[00:01:13] hang out and have some beers and stuff like that. And Ben Affleck knew that Matt Damon's

[00:01:18] character wasn't incredibly gifted and he said, sometimes it would please me more than anything.

[00:01:24] If I came to your house ready to hang out, knock on the door and you weren't there

[00:01:31] because I know that you were using your gifts.

[00:01:36] Hmm. So the whole movie pretty much was about him not using his gifts

[00:01:42] and people saying, you can do so much more. You can benefit so many people.

[00:01:46] You can make an incredible difference in the world and he wasn't willing to do that

[00:01:51] until the very end of the movie using your gifts that God has given.

[00:01:59] I want you to think about this text. It's found the book of Matthew chapter 25

[00:02:02] and we've covered a couple of verses already, but we go on with verse 14 and it says this.

[00:02:10] Where it will be like a man going on a journey. He's talking about his second coming. It will be like a man going on a journey.

[00:02:16] And that's Jesus of course. The application is Jesus who called his servants and entrusted to them is property

[00:02:22] to one he gave five talents to another two to another one. To each according to his own ability, then he went away.

[00:02:31] He would receive the five talents when it once and trade with them and made five talents more.

[00:02:37] So also he you had two talents made two talents more, but he would receive the one talent went and dug it in the ground

[00:02:45] and hit his master's money. Now obviously in the context we're talking about money.

[00:02:51] The mastery given them the man had given them this money and they utilized it to benefit other people

[00:02:57] and to make their own kind of money, right? But the one guy who only got one talent buried it.

[00:03:03] Now the application historically that the church is used is that God has given us gifts and talents

[00:03:09] to utilize in the body of Christ, to build up the body to extend His kingdom.

[00:03:15] And those talents can be used wherever you're at in the church, in the community, and in the home.

[00:03:22] Here's the problem. I've been in many churches down through the years as a matter of fact, I've served five different churches.

[00:03:28] I've been in many churches down through the years where people sat in the pews and had all kinds of gifts

[00:03:35] but failed to use them. Why? I'm really not sure, but the body of Christ suffered as a result of that.

[00:03:46] Every person that believes in Jesus has been given gifts and talents to use

[00:03:54] to build up the body of Christ, to extend His kingdom and to minister to the church.

[00:04:01] Every person has at least one, but if a person doesn't use them,

[00:04:06] if they're not utilizing those gifts to do what God has entrusted them to do,

[00:04:10] it's like the guy who's bearing his talent. Here is my question.

[00:04:15] Are you using your gifts and talents to serve the Lord in the community, in the church, in your home?

[00:04:22] I'd encourage you to do so, and if you say, well, I'm really not involved in the life of my church.

[00:04:28] Maybe should be this is what you can do. Talk to your pastor, and he will have an apparatus or an instrument

[00:04:34] to help you understand what your gift in this is, and then can plug you into ministry so that you can benefit others and serve the Lord in love.

[00:04:43] This is what God has entrusted to you to do.

[00:04:46] Matt Damon, his character in that movie Goodwill hunting, didn't use his gifts until finally

[00:04:52] he got a clue that he was incredibly gifted and he should maximize the gifts that God had given.

[00:04:59] So it is with you. Use your gifts to glorify God, to minister to others,

[00:05:06] and to build up the body of Christ.

[00:05:10] Oh, by the way, why do we do this? Because Christ has saved us. Christ has redeemed us.

[00:05:17] Christ has forgiven us. Christ has opened up the gates to be turned alive and given us that!

[00:05:23] As a result of that, we say, here I am, Lord Jesus, use my gifts to serve other people with the gifts that you've given me.

[00:05:31] To God be the glory, let it be so and let it be done to the glory of God's holy and saving name.

[00:05:39] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:06:01] See you next Daily Truth.