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Each week a discussion guide is published for the latest sermon at North Coast Church (northcoastchurch.com). The discussion guides are based on the study questions that are available for each sermon. We hope these guides help facilitate the discussion for your group.
One of my favorite historical facts
is that the word talent did not mean
ability until after the Bible was written.
In the time of Christ,
it was a unit of weight.
It was how they measured money
or sometimes goods or whatever.
For example, we used to use the word
bushel or the British used the word
pound to both talk about a unit of
weight and their monetary denomination.
But in Bible times, their talent
was a unit of weight, and it
was a, a big unit of weight.
It was a lot.
Now, throughout history, it has
meant different amounts of weight
depending on the people group using it.
It was very commonly used as a
unit of weight throughout much of
Mediterranean region and history.
But during Roman times when Christ
was alive, a talent was often a
unit of silver or a talent of gold.
The Bible doesn't specify in
this parable which talent Christ
was referring to, but typically
They were often handed out as a
talent of silver or a talent of gold.
One talent of silver, which is
obviously worth much less than a
talent of gold, would have been
enough to pay the annual salary of
about thirty-five Roman legionnaires.
So for the sake of this, and
because the value of silver and gold
fluctuates a lot, uh, it would have
been ballpark a million dollars.
A talent of gold would have
been much more valuable, roughly
around five million dollars.
Now, we get our English word talent
from this parable, but we use it
as ability, not a unit of weight.
Why do we do it?
I, I don't know.
If any of you know, uh, let me know.
Email me at
jbrowning@northcoastchurch.com.
I'd love to find out because I've
been deeply curious about that.
But most Western languages adopted
the word talent specifically from
this parable in the Bible, and we
adopted the word to mean abilities.
And not only English, but most other
Western languages like Eng-- like
Spanish, French, Portuguese, many of
the Romance languages, even though
they had that word originally in
Latin to mean a unit of weight, it
has since turned into meaning ability.
So for whatever reason, we all
changed it from a unit of weight
where Jesus was talking about money
into meaning our skills and abilities
and the gifts that God has given us.
For me, this puts a big spin on this
parable because when I first thought
of the guy with one talent burying it,
I thought, "Why didn't he invest it?
It was no big deal."
But if I had a strict boss who gave
me a million dollars and told me
I had to take care of it, there's
a chance I would have been pretty
conservative with my investments.
The other spin that I get from this
is that as I've gotten older, I don't
know that I've gotten that much more
talented as far as skills and abilities.
But if we're talking about
units of weight, I'm a lot more
talented than I used to be.
Let's dive in.
Hello, leaders and hosts.
Welcome to week five.
I'm James Browning, the Global Adult
Ministries pastor here at North Coast
Church, and this is week three of me being
one of the voices on your way to group.
Now,
this is gonna look a lot similar to the
past couple weeks, a quick tour of the
questions, some of what I got out of
this, and a little bit of a rabbit hole
that I went down, three moments to be
ready for, and then one thing for you
Speaker 11: before you go
We are now back
in Matthew after a week off.
Last week, Chris took a timeout to
make sure we understood surrender, and
this week, Arnold picked the book back
up with the parable of the talents.
Matthew twenty-five, verse
fourteen through thirty.
If your Bible is a newer NIV, it
says bags of gold instead of talents.
It's the same story.
The warm-up is light.
What's one thing that can
instantly make your day better?
Then what's something you've enjoyed
lately that you'd recommend to a friend?
For me, this has been, uh,
snorkeling with my kids in La Jolla.
Uh, the water's been so warm this year.
There's been lots of fun things to
see, and we're newer to the area, so
it has been almost like a vacation
every weekend when we get to go down
and just be tourists in our own town.
So I'd love to hear what's something
that you've enjoyed lately that
you'd recommend to a friend.
For me, La Jolla.
It's beautiful.
Okay, and next, what stood
out to you from the message?
I know it is a little different this week.
Your group doesn't start in
Matthew, it starts in Luke chapter
12, verses 27 through 34, and the
guide says to read it slowly and
sit with it before anybody talks.
Uh, go ahead and do that.
I think there is an art to, uh, listening
to the Bible orally, and I honestly think
it's one that the modern church has, in
America at least, tends to have forgotten
since we all have our own Bibles.
We all have audio versions.
We all have our own quiet time.
But we have gotten much less practice
at reading the Bible together as
a body, just like they used to do,
just like the Book of Matthew would
have been originally heard for those
who didn't have their own Bible yet.
We're sitting together as one
body, like we learned about
last week, hearing the Bible
Have somebody read it, let it
be quiet for a second, then have
somebody else read it again.
Reading it twice takes about three
minutes, and it will kind of shake
up your whole perspective, largely
because it's Luke and not Matthew,
and we're gonna get into that a little
bit more in the rabbit hole later on.
Question number two: What do
Jesus' words reveal about the
Father's heart towards us?
And then, where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
What do the three servants' actions
tell us about what they valued?
And that second one has your group
read the parable itself, Matthew
twenty-five, fourteen through thirty.
So you've got two readings for this week.
This is gonna be great practice
for our Bible in a year as we
go through the Bible together.
Seventeen verses the second time.
Spread that one around if
no one wants to read it all.
Now share it.
Have you ever felt real joy from
sharing something that God gave you?
This is probably the one that
warm-up number two was setting up.
Like, what's something you've enjoyed
lately that you would recommend?
And then Arnold shared about his
own picture of God as a father.
What shaped your perspective
of God as a father?
And have you ever had a moment where
you thought, "Maybe my picture wasn't
quite right," and what prompted that?
Next is livid.
Who in your week would Jesus be
intentional about noticing or serving?
And then the big one, God's entrusted
you with time, money, gifts,
relationships, and opportunities.
Where are you investing them?
What does faithful management actually
look like in your life right now?
And the kinship question is
back right after the warm-up.
What's a compliment someone gave you
years ago that you still remember?
Why did it stick?
Still a bonus.
You don't have to do it.
It's not extra homework.
It's just a fun one.
It's in your guide, not the member guide,
if you do try it out, tell me how it went.
There's a link in the guide,
or you can email me at
jbrowning@northcoastchurch.com.
Got another message this week
from Luis and Marsha Nunez up in
Fallbrook, whose group has been
doing this together for three years.
They also wrote last week, and
this time they tried question four,
the week four question together.
"Who in your life really knows you?"
And everyone answered, there
were tears, and they said these
questions were teaching them how
to love and encourage each other.
So I am thankful for Luis, responding,
and he's even said that he's gonna try
to bring in, uh, an idea for a future
question if anything comes up to him.
Luis and anyone else
listening, I would love it.
So feel free to send those in I honestly
like doing these questions too, so thanks.
Okay, onto the rabbit hole section.
So I'm reading the story, and the
first thing that stuck out to me was
the word one, the one talent servant.
In my head, he's always the
guy who's got the small amount.
And like I said, when I learned that
talent was a unit of weight, and it
was, like, roughly seventy-five pounds
of silver, That's not a small amount.
The guy who got five was handed, like,
a hundred years' worth of salaries.
Nobody in this story got a small amount.
And I think in my own talents,
like, this is something I need to
realize that, uh, God has given us,
uh, these incredible gifts for the
kingdom, but we tend to view them as
small, as just one or as no big deal.
But God realizes just
how valuable these are.
Okay.
Second thing, burying it.
Re-read that and think, "What a coward."
But if you dig into the Jewish
practice at the time, burying
money somebody trusted you with was
considered the responsible thing to do.
If you buried it and it got
stolen, you weren't liable.
He did the safe, defensible thing.
This is literally the first-century
definition of conservative investing.
Gold and silver will continue to
appreciate in value, usually keeping up
with in-inflation, if not beating it.
And so for him, like, this was a
guaranteed way to make sure that
the money entrusted to him would
not lose value, uh, even if it
wasn't gaining a whole lot more.
So yeah, for him, it seemed like
the smart conservative investment
Which is kind of why this parable,
like the 10 virgins, the story of the
10 virgins, it bugs us a little bit.
Like, it doesn't seem fair that
the other half didn't get in, and
that's what this parable is meant
to create as far as feelings go.
But because we've lost the meaning of
the original word for talent, it doesn't
bother us as much as it was meant to Jesus
wasn't warning against recklessness here.
He's warning against
fear that does nothing.
So here's where this really gets me.
There are three servants, and only one
of them tells us how he sees the master.
He says, "I knew that you were a hard
man, harvesting where you did not sow."
That's verse 24.
And the one sentence
explains all that he did.
He pictured the master as hard,
so he got scared, so he hid.
His picture of the master
produced the pattern of his life.
The sermon notes say it
almost exactly that way.
How you picture God will determine
the pattern of your life.
It will determine how
much you are investing.
The parable hands that to us in
one verse from the perspective
of the servant with one talent
And that's why your group reads
Luke 12 first, because Luke 12:32 is
Jesus describing the same father, and
he says, "Do not be afraid, little
flock, for your Father has been
pleased to give you the kingdom."
Pleased to give, not a hard man
It's the same God, but
two different pictures.
One causes someone to bury the talent,
and the other one opens his hands.
So make sure your group is reading Luke.
It's not just an unnecessary detour.
It's very helpful.
Okay, two more quick ones.
The well done verse in 21 and verse 23
are the same sentence word for word.
The guy who made five more and the guy
who made two more get the same identical,
"Well done, good and faithful servants."
The master doesn't say, "Well
done, good and productive servant."
Faithfulness.
It's not even just, um, an act of faith.
It's a life of faithfulness.
It is momentum, not a moment That's
going to matter here in a little bit.
And the last one, verse 19 says, "The
master came back and settled accounts."
Matthew used that exact phrase
one other time back in chapter 18.
The king who settles accounts with a
servant who owes him 10,000 talents.
Again, talent is a lot of money.
And he forgives the whole thing.
Same words.
So the master in chapter five who
comes to settle accounts is the
same king who seven chapters earlier
wiped out a debt nobody could pay.
Grace came first there too.
I thought that was pretty cool.
Okay, so three moments to be
ready for, and we're gonna be
a little bit more serious here.
First one, the one talent person.
Somebody in your group is going to
hear the parable and decide they're
the servant who didn't get much.
Maybe they're new to faith.
Maybe they're between jobs.
Maybe they're the quiet one in the
group who never feels like they have
a good answer, and they'll be sitting
there thinking, "This story's about
people with more talents than me."
So remind them what one talent is worth.
20 years of wages.
Nobody in the story was handed a little,
and nobody in your living room was either.
Then ask them the simple version.
What's the one thing you
know God has handed you?
Not five, one And how can we be
reckless with investing that?
Think of the joy of sharing your
talent that's not even yours.
It was given to you That just sounds--
It just makes it sound more delightful.
I love it.
Okay, second, somebody hears work harder.
The back half of the
sermon notes is a list.
Share the gospel, serve others,
love people, pray faithfully.
That's a good list.
But without the line right before it,
it turns into a task list, a to-do list,
and somebody will drive home feeling
like, "Oh, shoot, I'm, I'm behind.
Like I gotta up my quota for God."
The line right before it is, grace
comes first, and the work flows from it.
The servants were trusted
before they did anything.
Ephesians two said that we are saved
by grace for good works, not by them.
So if live it too starts to sound
like earning, go back to that order.
Grace first.
This is what we talked about last week.
Then the work, because
you were made for it.
You were made for this.
Thirdly, share it too lands
on someone's actual father.
That question asks, what
shaped your picture of God?
And for a lot of
Speaker 12: us, the answer is
my dad.
And for some people in your
group, that's a tough answer.
A father who wasn't there or who
was there and was harsh or who died
too soon or any number of things.
Here's what I'd say.
Let them say it.
Don't let the room fix
it or explain it away.
"Thank you for trusting us with
that," is enough in the moment.
Then follow up with them this week
one-on-one, and if it's more than a
group can carry, don't forget that's
what the campus group's pastors are for.
That's what I'm here for One
small thing on how you say this.
When you ask, know it one, the
father Jesus describes is a safer
phrase than just the father.
It gives people a little bit of room.
Okay
Again, thank you so much for
sending in messages, for emails
at jbrowning@northcoastchurch.com
and for replying in the form here.
I love getting feedback from
y'all, and I can't wait to start
having you all on the podcast.
We just had an awesome leadership
conference at North Coast this week, but
now that that's behind us, I've got people
queued up and ready in the studio to be
interviewed on this, and I can't wait to
hear some of the great stories of what God
is doing in life groups at North Coast.
Again, if you saw God doing
something in someone's life in
your group, please message me,
jbrowning@northcoastchurch.com.
I wanna celebrate and honor that.
I love all the stories of life change that
I've been hearing here, all of the people
who are learning to see what the Holy
Spirit is doing in other people's lives.
And one of the challenges with this
is that often it is something that
takes place over a long period of time.
So if you're new to groups and you feel
like, "Oh, I haven't seen any miracles
in the five weeks that I've been doing
this," that's usually not how God works.
Usually, God is slowly and
inevitably transforming someone
into the image of Christ.
So be patient, and I'll be
patient waiting for your story
All right, last thing, and this
one is for you in particular.
Here's the gift in this week's
message, and I don't think
it's aimed at your group.
I think it's aimed at you.
Your group isn't yours either.
You're managing something
that the Master handed you.
He's the one who grows it.
So the night that goes sideways, times
where nobody shows up and you clean
the house and you are feeling a little
rejected, uh, the couple that stopped
showing up, the question that totally
bombed, don't worry, that's me, not you
Um, none of that is a verdict on you.
You weren't asked to own the group.
You were asked to be faithful with it.
And that well done at the
end isn't yours to earn.
It's His to say and to give
according to His grace.
And in this parable, He's looking
forward to saying it to you.
So be faithful with the
things in your living room.
They are very talented people,
and I probably don't mean that
as far as units of weight.
The chairs, the snacks, cleaning
the house, all of that may not feel
like eternity-changing stuff, but
it's meaningful to eternal beings.
It's meaningful to people whose
souls were bought and paid
for by the blood of Christ.
So are they small things?
Yes.
Are they precious and valuable things?
Yes.
Thanks for loving your people.
And if this helped, send it
to your co-leader or host.
They can subscribe to the Leader
website and podcast as well.
We'll see you next week