273: Mark Amis - Exhortation: Six Tips to Ensure Godly Growth (Matthew 25:14-31)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to Good Chris Selfie and talks. I’m Levi. And I’m Chris. And I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new. Episode at. The start of each week with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for. The talk you’re about to listen to. And now, let’s talk more about this week’s talk. For this week, we’re listening to an expectation that was given at Verdugo Hills at the beginning of November by brother Mark Amos, who is visiting from the seamy Hills Ecclesia. This was an exhortation that was recommended. By several people who?

2. 1:03

   Were in attendance. We even got a voicemail message from a particular. Brother who felt really. Strongly that this would be an excellent exhortation to share. For the podcast, what I really appreciate. About brother Mark’s exhortation beyond the point that he gave the too long didn’t read version right at the beginning of his exhortation because he has two young children and sometimes can not be able to stay focused on an expectation through an entire memorial service, which I can understand having three young boys myself. But what he is focusing on is something that I’ve been looking at personally a lot, which is trying to make sure that you’re always doing something to ensure that you’re growing and being more in line with the.

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   Characteristics that God has. Given to you and what he has called. Us to follow. After his son in SO he breaks it down to 6 tips, which I will not spoil. He mentioned it right at the beginning of the expectation, so if you only have a few minutes you can get right into it, get the six tips and move on.

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   But I would encourage you to listen to the entire expectation. He took it from the reading from Matthew 25, specifically the 14th to 31st verses, so if you want to read through that before you listen, you can do that, but I really enjoyed this expectation. He dives into those 6 tips in more detail later on in his expectation, gives some really good actionable advice, and even if you pick just one of the six to apply in your life, it will help to strengthen your faith and encourage you in your walk and make you a. Better follower of Christ.

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   With the little things that we can do to. Help us to better reflect God’s character so. Thank you to those who sent this in as a recommendation and to Brother Mark for being willing to let this be shared. We will now turn it over to him for his exhortation. 6 Tips to Ensure Godly Growth. Good morning, everybody.

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   Thanks so much for having me. Especially the last couple years, it’s been very nice to get an invite like this. It gives me a real push to, you know, get the Bible into my life, something that’s changed over the past couple years, definitely having kids. And one thing that comes along with that is your ability to concentrate from beginning to end of an exhortation. Nora is very smart.

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   She’s already smarter than AB and I, and so you need to hang on and be very careful with your words or she’ll catch you later, almost like a transcript in her mind, like you promised this And and may her nickname is Mayhem. She’ll find the tallest thing in the room and jump off of it. Just this morning she got into our chia seeds and dumped them all over the floor.

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   We left that for this afternoon and hopefully dogs aren’t allergic to those things ’cause I guess we’ll see. But she also got into our deodorant and took a bite out of it. I’m pretty I’m almost confident that’s OK for kids to eat. It’s not poisonous. We’ve called Poison control before, but it hasn’t been for deodorant. So, but with that in mind, something I like to do now when I give a talk is to those that might be distracted, whether it be your parent or whether you just stayed up too late last night.

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   For those that can’t really be with us for the next 15 to 20 minutes, I like to give just a short 32nd summary of you know what this exhortation is what we’re trying to get across so at least some of us can can get something out of it. So here it goes, our talk in 30 minutes, 30 seconds.

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    Rather. Our primary purpose in life is to grow and develop in character, putting on the characteristics of God and using these qualities to serve God by serving others. So developing characteristics such as patience, gentleness, self-control, so that we could be of more help to others. And this is really the main lesson of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.

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    And that quality, that development, is what Jesus is looking for in us when he returns and what we will be judged on SO6 tips by which we can be better at growing in character and nurturing godly characteristics. So tip #1 is be humble, be honest with ourselves regarding our personal shortcomings, realizing areas our character needs to grow in. Tip #2 is Lean on others to help us see where we need improvement, to help us push towards that mark, and to practice and live out these characteristics. Tip #3 accept trials as teaching moments specifically designed to advance an aspect of our character. Tip #4 Learn from others because there’s really only so much that we can go through ourselves.

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    We need to be able to learn from the experiences of both those around us as well as Bible characters. Tip #5, we should set goals looking to Jesus and his character as our guide and role model. And finally, tip number six, Give thanks to God, Jesus, his angels that he sends for the opportunity that we have to develop our character and to serve others and really the patience that they endure with us, with our stubbornness to grow. So there it is for those that really can’t be with us. The next 15 minutes, I hope you got something out of that short summary.

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    But for those that have a bit more attention, let’s let’s dive into Matthew 25 and specifically look at the parable of the talents here. So to just paraphrase the the parable that Jesus gives here in Matthew 25, starting at verse 14, we have a man that goes on a journey, but before he leaves he calls his servants and he entrusts them with his property.

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    While he’s gone, the three servants, he gives 15 talents to another two talents and to the third one talent according to their ability. We’re told Then over the period of time this man is absent. The first two servants double their talents 5 to 10, two to four. However, the servant that was given one talent hit it away, burying it in the ground. When the man returns, the servants come to him with his talents.

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    To the servants that increase the talents, the man responded. 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 to the servant that hid the one talent, the master rebuked him for his lack of growth. The servant was cast in the darkness and his one talent was given to the servant with 10 and then finishing the parable.

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    Jesus says 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. So a simple story that I think we’re all familiar with, but what does it mean? What is the specific lesson that Jesus is trying to teach in this brief parable? Well, as often as the case, I think we you have to consider the context from which this parable falls to really get that answer.

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    It helps us to put our minds in the right frame to see the story through the lens that God wants us to see. So without diving too much into the context where we are at Jesus is in Jerusalem and this is very shortly before His crucifixion. And so I think in this one quick fact we uncover the need that prompted this parable, that being preparing his disciples of current and future for the time, he would not be with them physically.

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    When we look at the chapter as a whole, Matthew 25, we can break it down into three sections. We have the parable of the 10 virgins that’s describing the preparation that needs to take place as we await Jesus return. We have the parable of the talents and then finally in verse 31 we have a section outlining the judgement seat, how all nations will be gathered and everyone will be separated and judged based on the measure of love they displayed in their lives.

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    So I would propose that the overall theme of this chapter is addressing the period of time that Christ is away and what he and God wants us to do during that time until he returns. So that’s our theme. So when we look at this parable of the talents through this lens, I think we have an easier time assigning roles to these metaphorical actors.

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    The man, the landowner, or the master is Jesus working with God. The journey or period that he is away is the time for when Jesus ascended to when he will return. The three servants are everyone that lived in this period, including us here today. And then the returning of the man and the interaction with his servants is the judgement seat occurring, occurring at the return of Jesus.

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    Fairly straightforward, right? But what do the talents represent specifically? And I think that’s a little bit harder of identification to put your thumb on. And I think the reason why it is harder is it represents something a lot more dynamic. The common interpretations you might have read regarding the meaning of these talents include traits or abilities, preaching measure of service to others, faith, number of people around us we are responsible for.

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    And I think a number of these interpretations make a lot of sense and fit well with this overall intended message. But what I propose is that the talents represent a combination of these things. What the talents represent to me are opportunities God gives us to serve others. Opportunities God gives us to serve others.

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    More specifically, it is character traits or situations by which we can utilize to serve others. So circling back to the question that Jesus intends to answer this parable, what are we to be doing until he returns? That’s the answer, to use these talents that we’ve been given, the opportunities, the character traits in service and growing these things so that more come and it may be important to kind of back up and add where I’m getting this great emphasis on service. In our definition here.

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    Well, in the section filing the parable of the talents regarding the Judgement Seat, Jesus outlines the criteria by which we will be judged. It will be those in verse 35 where it reads fed the hungry, gave the thirsty drink and welcomed the stranger. It will be those who in verse 40 says did these things to the least of these people.

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    So just as the three servants stood before their master at his return with their talents, so too we will stand before Jesus at his return and give account of our service to others. A verse that tied these ideas together well for me was First Peter chapter 4, verse 10. You don’t have to turn there but I’ll just read that for us first.

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    Peter 4, verse 10 says, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied race. So, with these definitions in mind, revisiting the specific details of this parable allows us to extract a couple interesting takeaways that hold a great deal of invocation. For example, just as the three servants were entrusted with differing amounts of talents, so too we are not initially endowed with identical or necessarily equal attributes to serve, And this is echoed in Romans 12 verse six.

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    Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service and our serving of others, so on and so forth. But I think of all the points and lessons that kind of hit me the hardest was our need for growth.

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    For it was the growth in talents that the master was looking for that prompted him to say well done, good and faithful servant. And it is our growth and character that creates more opportunities to serve others. And that is what God and Jesus are looking for in us. That is the that is the desired return on their investment. And this struck me as, you know, such a monumental thing and why wouldn’t it?

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    Really. Right. I think it speaks to really our our purpose for living, why we are given life. It is to grow in character because without changing ourselves for the better, we cannot serve others. And if we cannot serve others, we cannot love. And if we cannot love, we can’t please God. Our life is effectively worthless or vanity, as Solomon puts it.

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    So shifting here. What does this character look like? What specific features or characteristics once practice can allow us to serve others more the way God intends? Without going into too much detail, I think a good summary can be found in the Fruit of the Spirit, right Galatians 5. Lovejoy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, self-control. Or in Colossians 3 where it talks about putting on Compassionate Hearts.

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    Kindness, humility, Meekness, patience. All these attributes are like tools that, once equipped, can allow us to effectively complete our job of service. And I really think this is a theme throughout scripture, not just here in Matthew. When we look at the Bible, when we look at different Bible characters and really the small glimpses of their lives that’s recorded for us in Scripture, it paints a picture of character, growth and development, often times of a specific attribute. Joseph’s life, or at least what’s recorded for us, is an example of learned patience and forgiveness. Abraham of faithfulness, Jonah of compassion. God, through his angels repeatedly constructed these situations to nurture these characteristics and their lives. And I think with that fact in mind, it’s interesting to kind of turn the camera on us.

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    What will our story be? What characteristics for the lack of a better term has been beaten into us over and over again and how receptive have we been in learning these characteristics through our life.

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    And this point transitions us well into next part of our talk, as we talked about in our summary, that being practical ways in which we can be more receptive for the changes God wants us to make in our character. So in other words, how do we grow in character? How do we become more malleable so we can be shaped into something that has a greater capacity to serve?

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    And so that’s what we’re going to try to answer with the rest of our time. So here are 6 tips we can try to adapt this week to make it easier for ourselves to to grow into people that God is looking for.

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    So tip #1, as we said in our summary, is humility. Our development starts with humility because humility gives us the ability to be transparent with ourselves. It allows us to truthfully examine our weaknesses and pinpoint those areas that we need to improve. Because how can we learn if we’re already convinced that we’re a finished product? I think that’s ridiculous to say out loud I am perfect. But that is what our pride wants us to think. Acknowledging our weaknesses or shortcomings is extremely uncomfortable for us as humans.

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    It’s a vulnerable position, so we try to hideaway our weaknesses and just pretend that they’re not there. Pride is the opposite of humility. Pride is a stumbling block of growth. Because while humility makes you teachable, pride resists change. While humility let’s God be in control guard, guiding our life and then molding our character, pride seeks to control our own life. Humility, more than anything else, allows us to realize that we’re a work in progress.

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    And that’s what we are, right We’re a work in progress. We all start with different strengths and different weaknesses of character, and we’re all at different parts of our journey and shoring up those shortcomings. And I think once we realize this, a couple good things come from it. For one, this attitude is infectious. If we acknowledge that we are a work in progress and express that humility in our lives, others see that and they start to see that it’s OK to not be perfect and they have an easier time kind of seeing this in themselves as well. But I think the inverse is true as well. If we act with pride, and if we interact with others with the goal of showing no weakness, showing that, and pretending that we’re perfect, others do the same, we’re really just lying to each other.

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    This results in a lack of character growth and discourages others to see change out of fear of appearing different, fear of appearing weak. I think another lesson here is that if I’m a work in progress that others are too, it is not a phenomenon unique to yourself. So when you’re having a hard time with someone else, let’s remember that we’re all in the same boat. We are all being shaped, and we’re all not quite there yet. So let’s be patient and compassionate to others when we think that they’re not displaying the characteristics of a servant of God.

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    And instead of writing people off for these weaknesses, let’s support them and see it as growth and development of character. A connection or a verse that’s not quite from the Bible, but a verse that I really like that ties this point together well, is from the song You’ve Got a Friend in me from Toy Story which reads You got troubles, I’ve got them too. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. We stick together and see it through because you’ve got a friend in me.

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    So the importance of humility in the context by which we are viewing it here, that being development of character and an opportunity to serve others, I think is summed up really well in Philippians 2 verses one through 4, and that reads Philippians 2 verses one through 4. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

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    Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you not look only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, having this mind amongst yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. So that’s humility. That’s Tip #1, Tip #2. We need others.

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    Development of character is definitely not a mission that we can accomplish alone, and I think this is the case for a couple different reasons. For one, we need others to identify the parts of our character that need improving. No amount of humility can replace the role others play in that respect, as much like the human eye that has these blind spots, we too have gaps in our vision in regards to our character flaws and negative tendencies that those around us might have an easier time seeing.

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    Family is a perfect example of this, right? Who’s better than our family to know our flaws and lovingly point them out on a on a regular basis? Don’t ask Sammy. Sammy’s my cousin, He knows too much about me. So this notion of proof that we’re talking about too is another key element in character development. The book of Proverbs insists consistently on this value of proof which the wise man welcomes and the fool resents. Also in Psalms in Psalm 141, verse five, it says, let a righteous man strike me.

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    It is a kindness, let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head, let not my head refuse it. And separately, in Ecclesiastes 7 verse five, it is better for a man to hear rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. However, I I think it’s really important to note that the outcome of a nodishment highly depends on how we deliver that message. And I think this comes down to whether we’re highlighting areas improvement of improvement from others out of love or for other reasons that don’t have that person’s best interest in mind. I think this is a very difficult thing to do when when we’re trying to bring these things up to others, but I think what it comes down to is really checking our motivations before rebuking someone else.

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    Make sure that you know these words come from place of love and wanting what’s best for that other person. The final piece I’ll touch on in regards to needing others for godly character development is that really without interacting with one another, without being amongst others, we’re never really going to understand and develop principles such as empathy and and selflessness. It was very intentional.

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    God set up this environment, whether it be families or or ecclesias, to provide a playing field of sorts for a character growth to practice and and hopefully improve on facets of our character that is lacking. And that’s something that I need to remind myself quite frequently as a recluse. I’d be very happy, or at least I think I would be happy just in a small room for the rest of my life.

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    But God was very intentional in creating these structures to necessitate this interaction, which brings about this change because I think if you try to do it alone, there’s no character growth and I think often times there’s regression. So we need others. All right, tip #3. Approach trials and circumstances of life with a focus on development. Or as we put it earlier, accept trials as teaching moments specifically designed to advance an attribute of our character. And this is easier said than done, right? I think it’s easy to write off, you know, the different things that happened in our life, the circumstances, as just happening by chance.

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    But when we assign attention or in tension to these life situations, I think our outlook, excuse me, changes significantly. If we believe God’s hand is at work and his angels are in fact ministering spirits sent out to serve, then we must also believe that there is purpose to what we go through. It’s not random.

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    And this purpose is clearly laid out for us in the scripture. In Romans 5 verse three it says more than that we rejoice in our sufferings. Knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, and separately in James One verse 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and less.

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    And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So the message is clear here, right? Our lives are guided by God and His angels, who place specific things in our path to bring about growth. We are the clay and He is the Potter, as we’re told in Isaiah.

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    But while God can place these things in our lives to facilitate this change, he cannot make the change for us. And sometimes we can even get in the way of God’s carefully crafted teaching moments. For example, I think whenever you get a group of people together, and this is something we see in our community as well, there’s a harmful pattern to respond to mistakes or difficult situations in a way that prevents the growth that God desired and intended for in the 1st place. Because if someone’s hardship or mistake or trial becomes public knowledge, there’s always opportunity for gossip, right? Everyone knows the situation, talks about it and has their own opinion.

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    And unfortunately, this now publicized situation intensifies the personal trial of that individual because now it’s just not dealing with what happened. It’s also about dealing with everyone’s reaction to what happened. It could all become too much and you know, throws this person into a spiral that prevents any opportunity for growth. On the flip side, I think as a result of this, too often when we make mistakes or are going through something difficult, our first reaction is to just cover up, hide it away and avoid other people knowing about it. Avoid that public trial of sorts. That’s certainly something I do because a lot of the time for me, when I’m going through something, I have an easier time myself just dealing with it rather than even if it’s from a place of love where others are asking how I’m doing. Sometimes it’s a burden.

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    It’s hard, but I think there’s things that we could do to make it easier in that regard. So I think the lesson for us is to be mindful of the detrimental role we can play for those struggling and endeavor to meet others. Trials and mistakes with compassion and empathy. Seeing it for what it is, right? An opportunity that God and his angels specifically put in there and our life to develop our character as we discussed before.

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    Another point I wanted to touch on regarding approaching trials in our life with a focus on development is giving time to reflection. I think this is something that we overlook. Give appropriate time to be mindful and and reflect on life experiences, searching for the truth of what God intended us to learn, asking the questions of ourselves or others. What was the reason I or another went through this in their lives?

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    What did this bring about? How was I supposed to be molded through this situation? Simple questions, I think as they may be. I think they’re neglected. And I know they are. For me, just because of the pace of life, right? Something new always happens. Move, move, move. Life moves fast. And I think unless we’re very intentional about making time for self reflection, it just won’t happen.

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    It’s an interesting exercise, you know, even looking back years in your life, you start to think about different things and you say, well if that didn’t happen, then this wouldn’t have happened and I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have done that. It’s almost like a chain effect that travels through and it’s really interesting hearing about different people’s points in their life that made big changes.

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    It’s not always the big things, but it’s it’s cool to see that God’s hand is at work. We just kind of need to take the time to to look at it and ask others about it.

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    So that was tip #3. Tip #4, we need to learn from others, and I’ll be brief on this one. Our character development and ability to serve others is dependent on learning from the experiences of others. And I think the basis for this tip comes from the the famous quotes. You must learn from the mistakes of others. You cannot possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.

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    And secondly, those who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it. And these aren’t just quotes, but I think a function of scripture. In First Corinthians 10 verses 11 through 13, it says Now these things happen to them as an example, but they are written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

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    Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has to overtaken you. That is not common to man. We can then look at the Bible as really just a guidebook to life, right? A resource for personal growth and development. If we take the time to read it and to learn its lessons, all with the focus on serving others, I don’t want this talk to ever be about me as a person.

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    All this is so that we can serve others. But I think learning from others isn’t restricted from, you know, those we live with today, but also obviously Bible characters, right? But when it comes to kind of learning from others around us, this requires us to be open with others, to accept things as they come to grow and and to kind of share these things that happened in our life instead of being ashamed from them. So that was four.

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    We have two more. But good news, these are quick and they’re combined with the bridge. So our final two pieces of advice will hopefully lead us to the memorial service this morning. Because when we talk about Tip 5 or setting goals, in other words being deliberate in our intention to grow in character and serve others, we look to Jesus, right and his character as our guide for which we base our goals.

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    The way he lived, the way he navigated life situations, the way he treated those around him. And first Peter verse or chapter 2 verse 21 it says for to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so you that so that you might follow his steps.

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    And one of the great benefits of having a weekly memorial service is that it gives us that constant reminder to look to Jesus as our role model, as the character that we want to develop into. We can re establish our goals and and strive to improve our character in the service of others. A verse in Philippines that I liked pertaining to this point Philippines 3.

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    Verse 12. It says not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own brothers. I do not consider that I’ve made it my own. But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straying forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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    And finally tip number six. Let’s be thankful. Thankful to God for giving us this life, this time to grow into something that’s worth for setting up this world, this environment that gives us an opportunity to grow, to be more like his son and and practice love and service. Let’s be thankful for the gifts that we have been given, the opportunity that we have to serve others and finally, let’s be thankful for God’s patience and and His mercy as we are all slow learners and are certainly still a work in progress.

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