The Equipped For Life Podcast
The Equipped For Life Podcast is dedicated to providing men with spiritual knowledge and insight from the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. Whether you're just starting your journey of faith as a Christian or you're a seasoned disciple, Equipped For Life is here to ensure you have the tools you need to handle life's many challenges.
The Equipped For Life Podcast
Faithful Stewardship: Embracing God's Call With Purposeful Action
What happens when you realize that your talents are not just gifts but responsibilities with divine implications? In this insightful episode of the Equipped for Life podcast, we unravel the profound lessons from the Parable of the Talents, challenging you to rethink how you manage the gifts and opportunities entrusted to you. We promise that by the end, you'll have a clearer understanding of the urgency and accountability that comes with being a faithful steward in the body of Christ.
Join us as we discuss the compelling narrative found in Matthew 25:14-30, highlighting the immediate actions of the servant who embraced his responsibilities with alacrity. We analyze the bold difference between purposeful action and the futility of inaction, encouraging an introspective look at our own responses to God's call. By contrasting the diligent servants with the one who hesitated, we seek to inspire you to overcome fear and excuses, leveraging your talents for meaningful growth and service.
Listen as we explore the true rewards of stewardship, which extend far beyond material gains to a fulfilling relationship with God. The master's equal praise for his servants underscores the fact that our works should emerge from a robust relationship with the Messiah, not from comparison with others. Reflecting on themes from the episode, we challenge the mindset of envy and excuses, urging you to confront and embrace the opportunities before you. Empowered living awaits those who recognize and cultivate their God-given abilities, promising not only personal joy but also a broader positive impact in the world.
For information on EFL, in person group studies, or donation opportunities please visit eflpodast.buzzsprout.com.
Welcome back to the Equipped for Life podcast. I'm your host, bc Vine, happy to have you back. If you did not listen to our previous episode, it was an introduction to the Parable of the Talents. Today we are going to get into the Parable of the Talents covered in Matthew, verses 25, 14 through 30. But before we hop into that, I do want to remind you that Equipped for Life is a men's ministry, equipping men on their spiritual journey. We have classes or studies three times a week in person Tuesdays, fridays and Saturdays in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. If you are interested in those studies, please go to EFLmencom. That is EFLmencom. We also have a YouTube channel. We'd love for you to check out the content there. We are going to be accelerating the amount of content that we produce different content types, probably going to add some videos soon here Very, very excited about that and we have a bevy of other activities that are going on. If you are interested in those activities, you can contact Alex at EFLmencom Alex at EFLmencom or you can go to EFLmencom for more information. All right, so once again, we have been in a study on the parable of the talents. Last episode we did an introduction to that parable and today we're going to dive into it.
B.C. Vine:Just to kind of recap, we were in Matthew 24, giving a precursor to the parable and seeing how Jesus set this up in the backdrop that this parable is within. And it comes in Matthew 24, verses one through three, where Jesus is leaving the temple and he is talking to his disciples and he gives a prophetic utterance about how the temple is going to no longer be there and the disciples begin to ask Messiah, give us an indication of when this will occur. And he begins to go into a telling of certain signs, rumors of wars and wars and false prophets and false teachers. He tells them to not be led astray. He goes into a teaching on how they should be prepared, by giving an analogy of a master who goes away and the servant is left in charge and that servant is a poor steward. And then we also got into the beginning of Matthew 25, the parable of the 10 virgins, which is a setup parable for the parable of the talents. And again, I think it's important for us to remember that he's talking to his disciples here. He's not talking to those that are outside the body of Christ, he's talking to the ones that are crafted into the vine. So, as you're listening to this, see yourself in these parables, understand that it is us who he is relating these particular messages to. All right, so, with that being said, we are going to get into the study on the parable of the talents. If you have your Bible with you, your Bible app, I would encourage you to go through it. I'm going to read the entire passage and then we're going to break it down. All right, so let's strap on into your seats and let's get into it.
B.C. Vine:So this is the reading of the parable of the talents Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30. 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, to another two talents and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the 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. The man who had received the 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.
B.C. Vine:The man with two talents also came, master, he said you entrusted me with two talents.
B.C. Vine: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 and share your master's happiness.
B.C. Vine:The one talent 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. 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, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. 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.
B.C. Vine: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 gnashing of teeth. So that is Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30. This is a very, very heavy scripture. Note what we talked about in the last episode. If you weren't here, we talked about this idea of weeping and gnashing of teeth. So hold on to that. That's a very important line, and the Messiah says that a lot when he's talking about the end of the age or when he is what I would call engaging in discussion on separation right, the wheat from the chaff. Okay, the goats from the sheep and these kinds of dialogues that the Messiah is engaging in. He talks about the weeping and gnashing of teeth. So put a pin on that in your mind or in your notes as you're listening, because that's going to be very important for us as we get to the end of the study.
B.C. Vine:But let's break this down. There's some key elements here of the story that I want you to be aware of. You have the man or the master, depending on which translation you're reading, whether it's ESV and NKJV and ASB, you may see master. And then you have the servants, which is another story element. You may have yours may say slaves, but man, master, the, the journey, the property and the talents. These are the five main story elements here in matthew 25, 14 through 30, the parable of talents. Once again, the five main story elements in the parable of talents are the man, the master, the servants, the journey, the journey, the property and the talents. Okay, so be thinking about that as we're going through.
B.C. Vine:So in verse 15 here, to one he gave five talents, of money, to another two talents and to another one talent, each according to his ability. The question you want to ask her what are the key points of observation regarding the talents entrust to the servants? What are the key points of observation regarding the talents entrusted to the servants? What I want to bring your attention to is the ability aspect of this Each according to his ability. You see, stewardship is important because a lot of times we are not doing things according to our ability, we're doing things outside of our ability, or we are being dismissive about our abilities and we're not living up to our stewardship responsibility over the things that God has given us. To look at here is that five talents, two talents one talent is not necessarily about whether or not he trusted one over the other. More is that he gave them things based off of what they were able to do. Right, what they were able to do, and I think that's important, because all of us have things that we're able to do, and God has an expectation that we do those things that we are able to do and not focus on the things that we can't do or focus on what other people are doing. All right, that's outside of our control, outside of our ability. Focus on your ability. If you've got gifts and skills and talent, if you're sitting around not using those gifts and skills and talent that God has given you, that's a problem, and you've got to really do some self-reflection and figure out what's going on, what's hindering you, what's stopping you, what is keeping you from using your ability and being a good steward of what God has given you. All right, the next part of this this is interesting.
B.C. Vine:This is verses 26, or verse 16, matthew 25, verse 16. The man who received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. You have to ask yourself, as you're reading this, what is the meaning behind at once, at once, right At once. It has a sense of urgency, does it not? There is an immediacy. He went without reluctance. He went quickly, with haste, to go and take care of the responsibilities that he had been given. He went at once.
B.C. Vine:There's an emphasis on here that the Messiah wanted to communicate, because a lot of times, god gives us a word or he gives you something to do, and you wait and you wait, and you wait and you wait. What are you waiting around for, right? You are allowing fear or anxiety or worry or stress or Bitterness, or all of these different things. That's keeping you from doing what god has asked you to do, and that's where we find doing what God has asked you to do, and that's where we find ourselves really in a quandary, is that when God gives us a word, when God starts to turn your heart towards something, to push you towards something, and you're hesitant, right? That's not the mindset of the servant that you want to be. You want to be able to go at once when God tells you, when he moves you, when he leads you and guides you in a direction. We want to cultivate that inside as believers, as followers of Jesus, where, when we're given something, we go at once and we begin to make good on what we have.
B.C. Vine:I mean, think about your life for a second, to make good on what we have. I mean think about your life for a second. How often would you say that you went immediately and did what God asked you to do? How often, on the contrary, how often do you ponder? You ask people, you pray again, you pray again, you pray again, you pray again. You ask God, are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? You see this servant? He didn't do any of that. He had full understanding and knowledge and he had full confidence in his own ability and he wanted to be a good steward, and this is a really important point. I think that's probably why he was the one that had the five right. There's a reason why he had more responsibilities because of his attitude, his disposition, his posture, the way that he approached life allotted him to have more responsibility. You see, a lot of times we want more responsibility, but we don't have this same attitude. We don't have the attitude of at once we have a delayed type of obedience, a delay type of response when God is calling us. So think about that in your own life and where you can improve those kinds of things.
B.C. Vine:You are listening to the Equipped for Life podcast. I'm your host, bc Vine. We are going through a study on the parable of talents, eflmencom EFLmencom if you want more information about who we are and when to find our in-person group studies, ok, let's continue to go through this. I want to look at the next part of this, and we see the individual that had the five. We see the one that had the two. They both did the exact same thing. The one that had five, he made five more. The one that had two, he made two more. They both were very diligent about going and being good stewards and making a return on what was given to them. Okay, now let's observe this individual who had the one. All right, and it says that. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. He dug a hole in the ground and hid the money. So you have to ask yourself here what is the significance of digging a hole in the ground. What is the significance of digging a hole in the ground One of the things that we talked about in the study and if you've ever lived, for those of y'all that have lived in the country, or if you've lived in a farming community or if you've lived in an area where you had to work with your hands a lot, digging a hole is a labor intensive activity.
B.C. Vine:There's a lot of work that's involved in it and you typically don't dig a hole for not Now. Of course, if you were a little kid, you know you may dig a sand pit or a hole because you want to dig, but as a grown man no grown man is going out and digging a hole for fun Okay, a hole is dug because you're irrigating it's, you're going to put in a fence post, you are going to plant something. There's a purpose in the meaning behind the hole. Even if it was to bury the deceased, there's a reason why you're doing it. You're not just arbitrarily digging a hole. So here this individual is. He actually worked hard to do nothing. He worked hard to do nothing. He dug a hole in the ground and he hid the money in the ground. He put the money in the ground right.
B.C. Vine:So a lot of times you have to say to yourself how often have I done a lot of work for nothing In my life? How many times have I found myself, have I found myself, doing a whole lot of work to accomplish not? Or you worked on things that had no value, or you engaged in activities, or you did things that didn't have a return on it, hard work that didn't bless God, didn't honor God, didn't bless people, did not progress or advance you, but it was a lot of work for something that you thought was important, or you thought that was significant, when it actually wasn't right. This idea of fruitless work is the same kind of thing that was mentioned in Matthew 24. And if you didn't get a chance to hear that, you can go back and listen to the last episode, where we did an introduction to Matthew 25 here, in the introduction to the parable of talents, but we talked a little bit about that. This idea of fruitless endeavors things that don't amount to anything of value or of benefit.
B.C. Vine:And so here, this individual, this servant, he does a lot of work for nothing, a lot of work for nothing, right? So let's. Let's continue, though, because it gets worse with this, with this guy. He's he's not done here, but the man that received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and he hid his master's money. The other part of this, in this very compact version, you've got to ask yourself is what is the deeper meaning behind hiding the money? Why did he hide it? It you've got to ask yourself is what is the deeper meaning behind hiding the money? Why did he hide it? It's a strange thing, right, he's on his master's property, he's a steward of the property that you don't get the sense that there's thieves around. Okay, you don't get the sense that there is anything that's going to come and take the money. The other two servants had no apprehension. They went and they took the money immediately and they gained a return. But he dug a hole in the ground and he hid the money.
B.C. Vine:Pirates and you know about treasure and buried treasure. You typically bury treasure with the intent of coming back to it. You're hiding it from someone that you think will take it, but your intention is to come back to it so that you can use it for some gain. Whether you want to buy things for it, right With it, should I say you want to use the treasure, and that's the reason why you worked hard to find the treasure in the first place. Or you stole the treasure. In the case of a pirate, you went to hide that treasure and you want to come back at a time that is going to be unbeknownst to the person that's looking for their treasure and you're going to take that treasure, you're going to use it for some purpose, but this guy hiding it, it had no value. There was no benefit for him hiding the treasure. You see, and you're going to see the master later, how he responds to this servant hiding the treasure, and he gives him a very logical response to this particular behavior and action. But it's just more of this guy not really displaying the type of behavior that you would expect, somebody who is the servant of the master.
B.C. Vine:Now let's remember the parallels that we're drawing here. This is in the backdrop of the end of the age, from Matthew 24, where Jesus is discussing what it will be like in the last days and he's talking about his disciples, his followers, who have been entrusted with property, and when the Messiah comes back, he finds them doing nothing. So think about it. The master went away on a long journey and he was going for a time that none of them knew when he was going to return, and this guy dug a hole, he put the talent in the ground and then he sat around for the entire duration of the master's journey. Let that settle in for a second. He did nothing. He worked hard to accomplish nothing and then for the rest of the time he did absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing. And we're going to see how the master responds to him here in a second. All right, let's continue as we go through Matthew 25, 19. After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
B.C. Vine:So we just talked about that here a little bit, a long time. What does that represent? Well, if you were here on the last podcast, you know what we talked about in terms of the end of the age and generation. This long time is describing the duration from when the Messiah went to the right hand of the Father after his resurrection until his second coming, when he returns in full glory. Okay, this is the time period that we are in. It is the end of days, it is the last generation, if you will. Now, that word generation we use in english can be confusing, because we think about, you know, gen z, millennial, boomer, alpha generation. We think of generations, more so in these 10 to 15 or 10 to 20 year periods of time, whereas here, in the biblical context, it's speaking of that time from when Messiah left to when he's going to return.
B.C. Vine:So this long time that the master has been gone for, is that period of time has been gone for? Is that period of time and the settling of accounts is at the end of days, when your life is settled and you're having to come and give accounts to Messiah for how you spent what he entrusted you with? Think about that for a second. So, although it may appear that he's not going to come, it's going to happen when you don't expect it. And this is the reason why, from the last study, in the last episode of Matthew 24, we talked about not being unprepared, making sure that you are prepared, because you don't know the day or the hours. What the Messiah said in 24, he told the disciples that right. And you don't want to find yourself in a situation to where, when he comes, that right. And you don't want to find yourself in a situation to where, when he comes, you are caught being unproductive. You are caught being a bad steward and you ultimately have a really sour attitude about the whole thing, and that's what you're going to see this servant.
B.C. Vine:But before we get that, let's look at how the master responds to the first two. We forgot about them for a second because we've been focusing and talking about the last servant, but let's go and see how he responded to the first two servants that went ahead and put their money to work. His master replied well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I'll put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. The man with two talents also came, mastery, said you. So the question here that you got to ask yourself are what are some key observations we can take away from the master's response? What are some key observations we can take away from the master's response? Well, one of these observations is that he had the same response for both of the servants. Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done.
B.C. Vine:It wasn't that he gave the one that five more praise than two. He gave them the same amount of praise and, if you notice, the reward was the same as well. Come share in your master's happiness. It was the same reward, same response, same praise, same reward. So a lot of times we get caught up in the quantity, the five and the two. But it was not about the five or the two, because the five or the two were given based off of the ability, but the return was the same for both and he gave them both.
B.C. Vine:More to steward, more to steward. See, a lot of times I think that we get off focus because we're concerned about what others have, and you're going to kind of see that in our last servant, we're focused on what others are stewarding when you should be focused on your own stewardship responsibility. We're also focused very much on the reward a lot of times, because we look at things in the natural sense Well, you know, god, I did X, y, z for you, right, I prayed, I went to church, I read my Bible. I'm sure that you've heard individuals that have been disgruntled about God's timing or lack of response to a prayer or a request or an ask and they'll say, well, I don't understand. I've been reading, I've been serving in the church, I've been doing X, y, z, I've been going to the food pantry, I've been treating people well, but yet I don't seem to be getting quote unquote a reward. I think it's because our minds are confused about what the reward is. You see, the reward was the master's happiness. It was the master's presence, not the things that they gained from the obedience or from the stewardship. You see, the reward that we have as Christians is the Holy Spirit, is fellowship, is connection and intimacy with God, in close relationship with him. It's not the work or the things that we get as a result of the work right, because works in themselves don't bring about light. Works are results of a strong relationship with the Messiah. You see, we've got to change our paradigm and this is a great parable to help us do that.
B.C. Vine:All right, you are listening to the Equipped for Life podcast. I'm your host, bc Vine. We are in discussion on Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30, otherwise known as the parable of talents. We've just looked at the observations of the master's response. We are going to continue in this. We are almost wrapping up the study. Stay with us to the end. You don't want to miss the last part of this lesson. All right, what are some key observations we can take away from the master's response? We talked about that a little bit here. Well done, good and faithful servant. To both of them the reward was the same and the reward is the relationship. It is the fellowship and the opportunity to spend time with the master and in his joy, in his happiness. Okay, now let's continue and see what else we have here Matthew 24 through 25.
B.C. Vine:We get back to our friend man, our guy, with the one. He's having a hard time and if you thought that his behavior was egregious at the beginning, it's about to get really, really bad here in Matthew 24 through 20. We'll read through yes 25 here. Then the man who had received the one talent came. Master, he said I knew that you were a hard man. We'll read through yes 25 here.
B.C. Vine:Wow, the question that we have to ask is what do you notice about the final servant's perspective when he approached the master? What was his disposition, his attitude, his feelings about what was given to him? I think the one thing that you can look at is that, first of all, he's extremely accusatory. I mean, look at the accusations that he's levying against this master. I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. The audacity here that he's accusing the master of pretty much not earning the abundance from the work, right? The other aspect of this is that he's not being honest either. He said that he was afraid. Well, if he was afraid, then you think that his behavior would have been a little different. He wouldn't have come at him in this way. A man that's afraid of someone doesn't have this kind of tone of disrespect, accusatory tone. You know, if you're afraid of somebody, you're going to be timid, you're going to be slow, to be critical or be harsh in the way that you speak. But he was very, very bold about levying accusations to the master. Here you can also see that he was a jealous man. You get the sense that he didn't think that what he got was enough to do anything with. He wasn't the one with the fire of the two.
B.C. Vine:You know, and I think about how often in our lives we make these kinds of statements. Well, you know, if I just only had what this guy has over here, you know, if I lived in this neighborhood, if I grew up over here, then I'd be able to do X, y, z. You know, if I only had this opportunity, you know, if somebody would invest in my business, then I could fill in the blank. If I had her looks right, if you're a female listening to this if I had her looks, or if I had his height, if I had his stature, then I could do X, y, z. But since I don't, then you know, there's not much that I can accomplish. There's not much that I can do. You see, we're envious of others and what they have, instead of focusing on what we have. So whether you have five or two or one, it's not relevant, because the reward would have been the same.
B.C. Vine:Imagine a scenario in which the guy with the one goes and does the same thing. He takes one and makes one more. It would have been the same response. Well done, good and faithful servant, come share in your master's happiness. The same response you have been faithful with a few things, with one thing. I will give you one more thing. He would have responded the exact same, but instead he takes the one, he does nothing with it, he sits around and wastes his time and then, when it's time for him to explain what he did, he makes accusations. He says harsh things that are really not true at all.
B.C. Vine:About the master Now, in case you didn't pick it up the master in this story, of course, is God. And so if you look at ourselves in the end times again, where we are making the parallel because of what Jesus taught us about how this particular passage is placed right in his dialogue to the disciples about the end of days and the end of the age, the master, of course, is God, the servant is his disciple, and this is how the disciples responding when it's time to give account for how he spent his life. Again, how do we interpret the master's response here? I'm going to read this next part of it. I think it's interesting.
B.C. Vine:He says you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. You should have put my money. So he's now responding to this accusation. He said wait a minute. Here you claim that I'm a hard man right, that's what you say and that I reap where I do not sow and I gather where I have not scattered seed. That's your accusation, and you are afraid. Well, if that's the case, then you should have taken the money and put it on investment with the bankers. At least it could have gained interest. That would have been the bare minimum, but you didn't even do that. You didn't even do that. You did far worse than that, actually. You buried it in the ground and you sat around for the entire duration of my journey and did nothing and just grew bitter and spiteful. You're disrespectful, you are extremely disrespectful. And listen to what he says to him. Throw this wicked and lazy servant out. Throw him out. Take the one from him and give it to the one who has ten, you know?
B.C. Vine:Think about this. How long do we wait for God? How long do or should I say, how long does God wait on us, for us to respond to his call? You know, you have people that have gifts and talents that have been laying dormant for years. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years go by and they do nothing with it. They're just sitting on it. Excuses abound, all of these reasons why they can't. Bitterness grows, spite grows, envy for what others have, and then, at the end of it, comes regret.
B.C. Vine:After a life that was wasted, you find yourself saying I wish that I would have. If only I would have started this have, if only I would have started this sooner, if only I would have. And that's not what we want to have in our lives. We want to be able to feel confident, to be able to stand tall, to know that we are doing what God has called us to do, that we are being good stewards of what God has gifted us with, that we're using our gifts and talents for a real reason and a real purpose. Okay, so the master here is not buying the I'm afraid thing. He's not buying the. You know, I knew you were a hard man. Here's your money back. I didn't want any problems.
B.C. Vine:You know, think about this too, as well. How often do we just tell God I don't want to be bothered with you, just take back whatever calling you have in my life. I don't want to be bothered with that, just here. Here's what belongs to you. Take it and leave me alone. But if that's going to be our posture in this position, we can't expect to have relationship with God, right. We can't expect to share in his happiness, in his position. We can't expect to have relationship with God, right. We can't expect to share in his happiness, in his joy, if we don't want to steward the things that he's given us.
B.C. Vine:So you are listening to the Quiff of Life podcast. I am your host, bc Vaughn. We are getting to the end here of the study and I want to read this last part of it, of the passage. And he says to him, after you know, he calls him the wicked and lazy servant, and he takes the one from him and gives it to the guy that had the 10. He says and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's a very, that's a very strong thing to say. So the question you have to ask yourself is what is the meaning of weeping and gnashing of teeth?
B.C. Vine:Well, whenever you hear that phrase being mentioned, that has to do with this internal separation from God, eternal suffering, a place where God's spirit is not present. Because here's the thing. A lot of times people will look at hell, this concept of hell. It's very uncomfortable because people don't like to talk about this idea of eternal suffering, but really, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you don't want to spend time with God on earth for the very finite amount of time you have, why would you want to spend eternity with him? That doesn't really make any sense now, does it? But I think that people have this position all the time, is that they want nothing to do with God unless God is giving them something. And if you look at their priorities and the hierarchy of where they place their things of importance, god is three, four, five or six on the list. They've got a bunch of other things that are above God, right, and God gets pushed to the side.
B.C. Vine:I'll do that for God later. I got to get to this first. I'll do that later. Yeah, yeah, I know what the Bible says. But, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what the Bible says. But my politics, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what the Bible says, but but my traditions, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what the Bible says, but I'm just wired this way. Yeah, yeah, I can hear God calling me.
B.C. Vine:You know, out of this addiction, but you know I like it too much or I'm too far gone into it. Right, we have all of these excuses and the reasons why, but yet it's ironic because in the same breath, you'll say that, well, going to hell or having eternal separation from God is too harsh, but yet you don't want to spend God time with God anyway. You're pushing him away out of your life on a regular basis. It doesn't make sense that you'd want to be with him in eternity, you know. So I think that you've got to really try to check your heart. We all do right. If we don't want to spend time with God in this life, then it doesn't make sense for him to want to spend time with us in eternity. I mean, just think about this for a second.
B.C. Vine:What if you had somebody in your life, a friend or family and many of you may have had this experience before that the only time they call you is when they need something. They need money, they need a ride, they need some food, they need this, they need that, they need this. And they call you all the time and they need something from you. Okay, and you get to a point where you say you know what. I just don't see any benefit or value here in this relationship. It's very one way. The only time you really call me is when you need something from me. I think that I'll cut this relationship off and I don't want to be with you. You're not going to be convinced, are you? You're going to say no, you just want the things that I have. Actually, you like what I can do for you. You actually really don't want to be around me. You don't even know me. I can't remember the last time you invited me to lunch or you invited me for coffee. I can't remember the last time you just came over and talked to me. I can't remember the last time you asked about my day. I can't remember the last time you gave me a hug. I can't remember the last time you were there for me when I needed somebody to confide in or I needed someone to talk to or I wanted to share life. In fact, the only time I hear from you is when you want something. So I am not convinced that you love me. I am not convinced that you want to spend time with me, I am not convinced that you want a relationship. So therefore, no, thank you.
B.C. Vine:This is the same way with God. We can't expect to get to the end of our days, the end of our life. We've been spending our entire life 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years, 90 years avoiding God, pushing him away, not wanting his presence, not wanting a relationship with him, and then, at the very end, saying I want to spend eternity with you. That's just a nonsensical idea. It's not rooted in logic or reason and really, if you're honest with yourself, what you want is to avoid hellfire. That's it. That's where the fire insurance Christian comes from. You don't want relationship. You want a safety net to make sure that you're not going to feel any hurt or pain or punishment or suffering. You don't really want to get close to God. You want God to leave you alone and you want to ask him for things when you need something. And then you hope that at the end of this life you'll get to escape hellfire. And those of us that are the elect and the chosen, we want to spend time with God everywhere, all the time, in all ways, in all manner, and we are taking our skills and our gifts and our talents and we are going at once to put them to use for our Messiah, for our King, because we love him and we want to share in his happiness.
B.C. Vine:You are listening to the Equipped for Life podcast. I'm your host, bc Vine. This has been a discussion on the parable of talents. We hope that you have enjoyed this lesson. Be strong on your journey.
