Got the Goods
There are a lot of expectations for the 1998 Georgia Bulldog football team. There hasn’t been quite this much pre-season hype for the Dogs in several years. Can Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and Mark Richt deliver a championship? Or will they fall short of expectations? Are they over-rated, or does this team really have the goods?
In sports, we often talk about a very talented team or an athlete as someone who really has the goods.
What about you? Do you have the goods?
Jesus told a parable about a man who went on a journey and “delivered his goods” to his servants (Matthew 25:14-30
). One servant was given 5 talents, another 2 talents, and another 1 talent. A talent was a monetary amount equal to 20 years wages. The servants were entrusted with the Master’s goods and therefore responsible for it while the master was away. According to Jesus, these servants had the goods.
It is evident in the story that the Master was expecting some return from the trust that he had given to each servant. He wanted them to do something with what they had been given. After a long absence, the Master returned to find that two of the servants were faithful to work and use the talents they had been given. They doubled their number of talents. The Master was pleased and said to both of them, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
One of the servants was unfaithful and took his talent and buried it. He still had the talent, but the Master was not pleased because the servant had not used what he had been entrusted with. He simply hid it in the ground and its potential was wasted. The Mater called the servant “wicked and lazy.”
The parable reminds us of what God will expect from us when he returns. The Master is Jesus who has entrusted each of us with some talents. The talents represent our time, resources, natural talents, and giftedness. God has given us the goods; He has given us a trust that He expects us to use for his glory and purposes.
Are you putting your talents to use? Many are afraid to use their talents for God because they do not feel like an expert. “What do I know?” they say. Look at the man who received five talents though. In verse 16, it says that he “went at once and put his money to work.” He didn’t have to go to seminary or wait for his expert certificate to come in the mail before he used his talents. No, he just began at once doing what he could with the trust he had been given. I am sure he continually learned as he worked with his talents. Thank God that he didn’t wait until he was an expert though.
I think many people have buried their talents because they are not experts. They want to leave it to the paid professional preachers to serve God. The fact is though that we have all been “entrusted with God’s goods” to bring glory to His name. The servant who buried his talent was not blaspheming God’s name or living a wicked life – and yet he was called a wicked and lazy servant. Why? Because he wasted what the Master had given him. He was unfaithful with God’s goods.
You have got the goods. You really do, and God wants you to be faithful with the trust you have been given. I once heard a cheer that went like this: “You got it! Now use it! You got it! Now use it!” Sure sounds like what God may be saying to us. “You got it! Now use it! You got it! Now use it!” And that’s the Word.
