Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Will You Settle For a Participation Trophy? | New Testament | Matthew 25

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

The kingdom of God doesn't work like your 2nd grade soccer team. So what does it look like to have an active faith? Can faith alone save us? In today's episode, Jensen uses Matthew 25 to discuss what real faith looks like. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Matthew 25

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. As a kid, I had a shelf in my closet that held all of the trophies I had gotten over the years. There were a lot of them, and it wasn't because I was particularly amazing in a sport. See, my trophy shelf was mostly made up of participation trophies. Every year at the end of each sports season, everyone on the team was awarded the same trophy that basically, basically said, you did it. You played second grade soccer and didn't quit. And on the shelf it went. And when my parents eventually moved out of my childhood home to downsize, I had to go through that

trophy shelf, and I got rid of most everything on that shelf. There was one for Miss Hustle from a basketball camp in third grade. I remember knowing that our coach would be giving out this award, so I worked hard all week to be the one who was running the hardest and longest. I had a blast that week working towards a goal and in the end, I got the award. I was Miss Hustle. And that's why that award survived the downsizing purge while my participation trophies went directly into the trash. They didn't mean anything. They didn't show any devotion to anything or any hard work.

Now, this might be a hot take, but I think for many of us, we are on track for a participation trophy in our church membership. And if we aren't careful, we'll end up at the end of our journey, facing our king and creator, realizing the kingdom of God doesn't work like our second grade soccer teams. See, Jesus calls his disciples to faithful obedience and partnership in building his kingdom. He isn't satisfied with us just showing up, just believing in the cause. He calls his faithful disciples to get out on the field, and his faithful disciples will they follow? Matthew 25 consists of three parables where Jesus makes this really clear. The first parable, the parable of the ten virgins, contrasts two differing amounts of readiness

in the bridal party as they wait for the bridegroom to appear. One group brings extra oil for their lamps so that they are prepared to meet the bridegroom whenever he comes. The other doesn't have enough, and so when they have to go out to buy more, the bridegroom comes. The bridegroom comes, and they miss the entrance into the wedding party. And when they try to get in late, the bridegroom replies, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Now the second parable,

the parable of the talents, tells us of a master who's going on a journey. He entrusts his servants with money to care for while he's gone. One gets five talents, one gets two talents, and the other gets one talent. The first two go out and invest

what is entrusted to them, and they double their money. The third, afraid of losing the money because he misunderstands the character of his master, buries the money to keep it safe. And when the master returns, he says to the first two servants, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. But when the third servant explains why he buried the treasure, showing he doesn't understand his master's character. His master responds saying, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed.

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers. At my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. for to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now in both parables, we see imagery of Jesus returning to his people when the bridegroom comes and when the master returns.

And in both parables, we see the church. church represented by the bridal party and the servants. These parables show us what Jesus expects of his church as they await his return. And in both parables, he expects his people to be prepared, to have enough oil when he comes, though we do not know the hour, and to take action while he is away, to be faithful with what we have been given. The third parable is even more explicit. Jesus speaks of when he returns as though he is a shepherd, coming and separating the sheep from the goats, the faithful from the unfaithful. To the sheep, the faithful, he says, Come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of

the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. But to the goats, the unfaithful, he says, depart from me. You cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they will also answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison? And did not minister to you.

Then he will answer them saying, truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Jesus makes it clear that his faithful followers, those who will inherit his kingdom, are those who cared for the least of these, who gave their lives to the service of the kingdom. And he does not mince words. Those who failed to care for those in need who neglected the poor, the needy, the sick, the imprisoned, are cast away, called cursed, and given the same fate as the devil. Their lack of action had consequences. Now, some of us may be a little

frustrated with this whole idea. Haven't we been taught our whole lives that faith and faith alone in Jesus is what saves us? That we don't have to work to prove ourselves worthy of his kingdom? That he accepts us as we are? Well, yes, of course, that is all true. But this faith, the faith that saves, is not a participation faith. It's an active faith. James 2.14 to 17 says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body? What good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

See, James had heard Jesus's words, his warnings, and he knew that a genuine faith, a faith that was rooted in the truth of who Jesus is and what his kingdom is about, could not exist without action. faith without works is dead. It is blunt, but it shows us that true faith in Jesus, true belief that Jesus is the king of the universe, that he is creator, that he is establishing a kingdom of love, justice, and mercy, shows itself through a partnership with Jesus in building that kingdom. True faith produces action that leads to a real reward bestowed upon us as a gift. from King Jesus. See, we don't work to erase our debt of sin or make up for mistakes. We work out of a joy in the truth of who Jesus is and what he's doing in this world. Notice that in the parable of the talents, one servant brings back 10 talents and one servant brings four. But both receive the exact same reward because their faith produced action and saved them. It's not about the amount we bring, or how good we are, or how much we do, but about the quality of our faith.

And faith without works is dead. This chapter, these parables from Jesus, do not contradict the doctrine of faith in any way, but they do carry with them a huge warning that we can so often miss when we misunderstand the doctrine of faith laid out in Scripture. Jesus doesn't just want participants. He isn't just hoping for large numbers of people to participate in church on Sunday and spend the rest of their lives twiddling their thumbs, building their own kingdoms that have no eternal value. See, Jesus is severe in his rebuke, but he's also clear on the joy and blessing that awaits those with real faith. In each of these parables, we see imagery of great blessing and joy for all that were prepared for the Lord. The bridal party entered into a marriage

feast with the Lord. The servants were invited to enter into the joy of their master. And those who cared for the least of these were blessed by the Father and inherited the kingdom of God. In the same way that I knew the trophies I had worked for and believed in held more value than the many participation trophies I got. Jesus tells us that a life lived in his service, working for his kingdom, faithfully following his way of life, produces a reward of far greater value than anything we could ever hope to achieve by just showing up and skating by. Jesus calls you and me to do more than participate. He calls us to take action. I don't know what this looks like specifically for you and your current stage of life, but I do know that there is a clear warning and a clear call for faithful disciples of Jesus in these passages.

Faith without works is dead And Jesus is looking for disciples who are prepared Working to build his kingdom and caring for those in need Are you tempted to just escape by? To do the bare minimum, to say you love Jesus and go to church But live your life just like the unbelieving people around you? Jesus is calling his church to wake up,

To take action, to let the truth of who he is and the beauty of his kingdom he is building move you? How can we say we believe that Jesus is king, that he is creator, that he is building a kingdom that is good and perfect and just and live our lives as though he doesn't exist, as though we are in control, and as though the things of this world are our final goal? Real faith produces action.

I want to challenge all of us today to consider where Jesus may be calling us off the sidelines and into action. Don't misunderstand the truth of who Jesus is and waste the gift of the gospel he has given you. When we have real faith, real belief, it will push us into action for the kingdom of God because the gospel changes everything. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.