Skip to main content

PARABLE: of the talents

 {PARABLE} of the talents_ 

Matthew 25:14-30 

 
God has entrusted each of us with resources to use in the furthering of God’s Kingdom of love. We each have been called to invest the resources we have been given so they can grow and multiply. 

 
[Group discussion starter] If someone loaned you a million pounds and you had to pay it back in ten years, what would you do with it? 

 

 
We do not need to fearfully horde or hide what we have been given. It is important that we not let fear trap us in this way. The results are tragic, as Jesus’ parable of the talents demonstrates... 

 
[Read Matthew 25:14-30] 

 

If you could re-name this parable, what title would you give this story? 

 

 
In verses 14-15, how and why does the master entrust his money to these servants? 

 

 
A ‘talent’ wasn’t a personal ability, but a weight measure of money, equal to 20 years’ worth of wages! Put yourself in the place of the first and the third servants. What thoughts, beliefs and feelings would you have experienced if you were entrusted with their talents? 

 

 
In verses 19-23, compare the reactions of the master to the first and second servants. 
What matters to him, and what does not matter? 

 
As you look at the statements of the three servants (verses 20, 22, 24-25), what can you infer about their relationships with their master? 

 

 
How might their relationships have affected their actions in verses 16-18? 

 

 
Think of people you have done jobs for. 
What bearing did your relationship with them have on your attitude towards the job? 

 

 
How is the master like God and how is he unlike God? 

 

 
How does our relationship with God affect our attitudes towards what we do? 

 

 
[Activity] List some of the resources God has given his people to further his Kingdom. 

 

 

 

 
How can you faithfully handle the responsibilities God has given you?  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #3

  {SEVEN LETTERS}    The Attractiveness of Suffering_   Revelation 2:8-11     In the year AD 177 persecution broke out against the Christians living in what is today the French city of Lyon. Christianity had raised the suspicions and hatred of the Roman  bureaucrats who governed the city. The vicious persecution that raged, touched Christians at every level of society. After the persecuti on subsided, church father Irenaeus, arranged for a letter to be written to Christians in other parts of the Roman Empire describing the faithfulness of the  martyrs...   We  can’t  even begin to put into words, much less describe in detail, the  magnitude  of the persecution here: how the pagans raged so terribly against the saints, and how the ble ssed martyrs endured so patiently... To begin with, they nobly endured all the abuse the whole mob collectively piled on: screaming  at them, punching them, dragging them through the stre...
Post a Comment
Read more

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #1

  The Lord Who Speaks_   Revelation 1:9-20   We  don’t  tend to get many letters these days. We get emails, text messages,  WhatsApp  and other electronic messages, but rarely  a handwritten, pen-and-paper letter.    I tend to save any good ones I get... notes from when Leah was little. Letters that encourage or bless me.   I’ll keep them in my  bedside  drawer or  tucked  into books on our shelves. Then I get to read them again and feel loved and blessed by their words. ..     [Discussion starter]    Tell the group about a significant letter you have received and why it meant so much to you.     Revelation 2-3 records seven letters written by Jesus to seven churches.   It must have been a thrill for an early church congregation to receive a letter from the apostles Paul, Peter, or James... but here were letters from Jesus himself . And we all get to read everyone else’s ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

David #12

  [DAVID] Generous giving_   1 Chronicles 29     Giving has become a sore spot for many Christians. Every day we are bombarded with appeals for money – from TV and radio evangelists, from missionaries, from parachurch organisations , from charities and from our own churches. Sometim es we might feel like shouting, “Enough is enough!” How can we adopt godly attitudes toward giving so that we don’t live with a closed fist but an open hand and a generous heart?     [Group discussion starter] How do you tend to respond when people ask you for money? Explain.     David had a refreshing attitude toward giving. In this chapter he illustrates what it means to give joyously and generously to the Lord...     [Read 1 Chronicles 29]     What does this chapter reveal about David’s perspective on giving?       In verses 1-5, how does David provide an excellent example of what it means to give generously to God?    ...
Post a Comment
Read more