Use It Or Lose It!

Matthew 25:14-30

You will notice and that when you purchase film for your camera that there is an expiration date.
If you don't use it by then, you can expect not to have favorable results.
You either use it or lose it.

This is true also of a medical prescription.
If it is unused for a long period of time, it will lose its potency and may even become harmful.
You either use it or lose it.

This is also true of a muscle in your body.
Muscles that go unused tend to atrophy.
You either use it or lose it.
This is an established principle of life.

In Matthew 25: 14-30, our Lord told a story of the servants and the talents.
The story has many applications.
One of them is this principle -- you either use something or you lose it.

In this passage Jesus told about three men who were given talents by their master.
The Bible says that the servant in the story who refused to use the talent that was given
to him ultimately lost it.
There was a lack of ambition on the servant's part, a little attitude about himself,
and a lot of apprehension in his heart.
Because of a lack, a little, and a lot, he lost the talent that was given to him.
So let us look at this sad event.
This us a tragedy of the talent that was not used.

This servant lacked ambition.

It becomes immediately evident in reading the Bible story that this servant had no desire
to use this talent that he gad been given.
The other two servants who received more than he, demonstrated their ambition.
One of the servants was given 5 talents.
This servant invested his talents and doubled them.
The second servant, who received two talents, was also ambitious.
He invested wisely and doubled his investment.

Now look at the third servant.
He took his talent and had absolutely no ambition.
He dug a hole in the ground and buried it.
When the day of accounting ultimately came, God refer to him as a " wicked and slothful servant."
(Verse 26)
He was wicked because he did not use what he had.
He was slothful because he lacked the ambition to do anything with it.

If one's intention is to use instead of lose in life, then he must possess some ambition.
It is true that too much ambition can create problems.
Ambition without restraint can create a lot of trouble for anyone.

A good example of this in the Bible in the experience of Jacob.
Jacob was a young man with an overabundance of ambition.
He knew what he wanted in life, and he was determined to get it, regardless of the cost.
And what a cost he had to pay.
He was alienated from his family and hated by his brother;
He spent years spent in exile, and he was always fearful of the day that he would have to give
an ultimate accounting.

Too much ambition can land a person in trouble.
But a person with no ambition will never achieve anything.
A person's achievement is in direct proportion to his ambition.
Someone has said, " Where you go is dependent on the amount of get-up-and-go you have.
If you have no get-up-and-go, you will never get anywhere."

A person who has no ambition is someone who takes the abilities that God has given
him or her -- those priceless talents of life, abilities and skills and figuratively digs a hole
in the ground and buries them.
Ultimately, he or she will lose them.

This servant had a little attitude about himself.

The third servant to whom one talent was given had a little attitude about himself.
He looked at his fellow servants, one who was given five talents and another who was given
two talents, and thought to himself: " I am not nearly the man they are.
They can take what they have and do so much with it, but I cannot.
All I can do is bury my one talent in the ground."

In his mind he visualized himself as a little person.
He did not realize that the size and worth of a person is not dependent upon how much
or how little he may have.

Listen to this great truth about life.
" What you ultimately achieve in life, and where you ultimately go in life,
and what you ultimately do in life is determined basically about what you think
about your self."

All of us carry a mental picture in our mind of how we see ourselves.
A good self image can lead to living a better life because of two important reasons.
One is that all our actions, feelings, behavior -- even our abilities -- are always consistent
with our self-image.
Secondly, we can change our self image.
No one ever lives to long to change his or her self image, and have a better life.

Ronald L. Willingham, in his book, Life Is What You Make It, said that a person's lifestyle
is always consistent with his opinion about himself.
If he thinks he's a failure, he will find a way to fail.
If he thinks he's successful, he will find a way to succeed.
What a person does and becomes are determined by what he thinks of himself.

A good example is found in the Old Testament.
Moses sent out 12 spies to bring back a report on the land of Canaan.
It was a land of flourishing cities and rich vineyards.

But 10 of the spies believed that they could never conquer it.
They saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison to the men of Canaan.
But Caleb said, " We can do it. Let's go do it!" (Numbers 13: 30-33)

The Bible records the tragic failure of the children of Israel to enter the promised land
that God had promised them because of the report of the 10 spies.
The nation of Israel spent an additional 38 and 1/2 years wandering in the wilderness
until a generation who thought so little of themselves could be purged,
and another generation who self-image was greater and and who believed that God would
keep His promise.

What we do is consistent with how we think about ourselves and how we see ourselves.
The servant who put his talent in the ground had a little attitude of self.
With his little attitude of self, he took the talent that he had been given, dug a hole,
and buried it and did absolutely nothing with it.

We can change a little attitude about our selves by recognizing what God thinks about us.
God looks upon us as persons of infinite value and worth.
The price tag put up on our lives was the price paid at the cross and was the gift
of Himself in Christ Jesus.
Everybody is somebody, for every person is someone who is loved by God
and one for whom Christ died.
So, if you think too little of yourself, look at the cross and see what God thinks about you.

But the servant with one talent did nothing.
He was a captive of his little attitude about himself.

We also see that this one talent man was filled with fearful apprehension.

The servant with one talent was filled with fear.
But the day came when he had to stand before his master to give an account of himself.
The master said, " Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers,
and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest." (Verse 27)

The servant said, " I was afraid." (Verse 25)
He received a just criticism because he was filled with fearful apprehension.
Many people never launch out and never do anything meaningful because they are afraid
of being embarrassed and afraid of failing.
Many times people have denied their need to achieve because of a fear of failure.
Yet, we have never learned anything until we have faced the risk of failure.

Failure should not prevent us from attempting a task.
Herodotus wrote, " It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject
to half of the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear
of what may happen."

But this servant with a single talent had so much fear and that led him to a mistrust of his master.
He said, " Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow,
and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
Here you have what is yours." (vs. 24b-25)

He failed to realize that when the master gave him the talent he did not say,
" Now go out and succeed."
But he was saying, " Go out and be faithful in the use of it."
Faithfulness will not always result in success.
There will come dark nights of distress when you realize that in spite of your best efforts,
you will not succeed.
The third servant failed to use his talent because he was so fearful.

The story has a sad and tragic conclusion.
Jesus said, " So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the 10 talents.
For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him
who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep
and gnash their teeth."
(Verses 28-30)

The Lord has richly endowed everyone of us.
The talents that He given to us are to be invested and used for His glory.
And as it was true of the servants in the parable, the day of accounting will come for everyone of us.
Whether we receive the commendation of the Lord or we receive His reprimand is up to us.

A poet has written:
" He made no mistakes, took no wrong road.
He never fumbled the ball,
He never went down 'neath the weight of a load --
He simply did nothing at all.

He lost no fight in defense of the right,
Never bled with his back to the wall.
He never felt faint in his climb to the light --
He simply did nothing at all.

So death came nigh, for life slipped by,
And he feared for the Judgment Hall;
When they asked him why, he said with a sigh,
'I simply did nothing at all."

Oh, God will pardon your blunder, my friend,
Or regard with pity your fall;
But the one big sell that surely means hell
Is to simply do nothing at all."

Every one of you have talents.
Do not be guilty of doing nothing at all.
Use it or lose it.

Sermon by Dr. Harold L White