Three servants, one master

Pastor Devon Ortiz preached from Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents. A master traveling to a far country gave his goods to his servants, five talents to one, two to another, and one to another, "to every man according to his several ability." A talent was not a skill but a sum of money so large that most people would take decades to earn it. Each servant was given a fortune, none of it belonged to them, and none of them received more than they could handle.

The servants with five and two talents went and traded with what they had, which meant taking a risk with the master's money. The servant with one talent dug in the earth and hid it. Pastor Ortiz said Jewish teaching considered that the most blameless thing to do, since the money could always be recovered, but it was done more to protect himself than to please his master.

Well done

After a long time the master came to settle accounts, and there is always a reckoning with the Master. To the servant who gained five more talents he said, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things." Pastor Ortiz noticed that word "few." A fortune was a few things to the master, and what overwhelms us is small to God. The servant who gained two received the very same words, which shows we are never to compare ourselves with anyone else. He recalled a man who told him he did not think he could ever be a Christian like his pastor. "When did God ever call you to be me?" he answered. Both faithful servants heard, "Enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

The third servant began by telling his master what he knew about him: "I knew thee that thou art an hard man." All three served one master. Two found joy and one found harshness, and the difference was not in the master but in the servant. "I was afraid," he said, and yet 2 Timothy 1:7 says God "hath not given us the spirit of fear."

The weight of expectations

Pastor Ortiz described the expectations we carry. At church we are expected to be at every service, serve in every ministry, and never let anyone see a low day. Students are expected to bring home straight A's and know their major before college. At home we are to provide, lead spiritually, keep a clean house and a happy marriage, and care for aging parents. At work there are quotas, deadlines, and emails at nine at night. In life we are supposed to marry, buy a house, and have children at a certain age, and always look like everything is okay. Some of those expectations come from God, he said, but most come from people, and the worst for placing them on us is ourselves.

How fear works

God sets your expectation, not the crowd. Verse 15 shows the master dealing with each servant individually. What God has given you is for you. Do not try to be Devon Ortiz, he said, because the world already has one. What we need is one of you. Galatians 1:10 says that if we seek to please men, we cannot be the servant of Christ.

Fear starts with the wrong view of God. This is why it matters that Christians read their Bibles, pray, and see answers to prayer. A Christian with no desire for those things has a poor view of God, and a bad view of God affects behavior. Solomon concluded that the whole duty of man is to fear God, and the fear of man is a snare.

Fear chooses safe over faithful. The servant buried his talent in the earth, and Pastor Ortiz said many Christians are burying the grace God has given them by living deep in the world and expecting God to bless them anyway. In 1 Samuel 15:24 King Saul admitted he had disobeyed "because I feared the people."

Fear loses what it protects. The master called him a "wicked and slothful servant," and the talent was taken from him. A seed grows in the ground and money does not. A farmer buries a seed to lose it and gain a harvest, but this servant buried his talent only to keep it where it was.

More of Him

God answers fear with His presence, Pastor Ortiz said, and He does not lower the standard. When Moses listed his reasons, God did not shrink the assignment. He made Himself bigger and told Moses to say, "I AM hath sent me." The more you know who He is, the more boldly you live. God does not cure the fear of expectations by asking for less. He cures it by giving you more of Himself. So rather than hiding what God has given you, he said, give it to God, live by faith, and let Him give the increase.