Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 25:14-

Big Idea: Don’t waste your life.

My Life is not Mine

Explain: Clearly Jesus is the Master in this parable.

As He ascends to Heaven, He entrusts His followers with “talents.”

Now, we use the word talent to mean an ability, but that is not the meaning here.

In fact, verse 15 plainly says that the talents are given based on each man’s ability.

Interestingly, our word “talent” came from this text, where it became a metaphor for God’s gifts.

Since talent was such an unusual word and was certainly not used as a weight, the In the same way, “mansion” used to mean a regular home, but because Jesus said “in my Father’s house there are many mansions,” people started to use the word “mansion” to mean a heavenly home, until it gradually shifted to the meaning it has today.

Each of the servants has been given a large sum of money to invest, according to his trustworthiness.

A talent is a weight of precious metal, over 50 pounds (although the exact amount fluctuated over time), presumably silver.

A talent of silver was worth 6000 days wages, or about 20 years of a farmer’s life.

The lowliest slave is entrusted with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the most able several million.

Matthew 25:18-

God is Not Looking for Results, but Faithfulness

Explain: The five talent servant and the two talent servant are treated the same way.

Their master gave them what they could handle, and they did so faithfully.

They were good servants because they were faithful servants.

We are not equal in ability or opportunity, but we can be thankful to know that the God who knows our every circumstance knows what we need.

Psalm 50:7-

Matthew 25:24-

Serving is Giving Back to God

“To do no harm is the praise of a stone, not of a man.” - Richard Baxter

Ephesians 2: