In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells of a man who was about to travel a long way from home. He called his servants together and gave them instructions as to how his affairs were to be handled while he was gone. He gave each one an amount of money (talents) and expected there would be wisdom in their stewardship. As the story goes, two of the three servants invested the talents wisely providing an increase for the man upon his returning home. The third servant buried the talent without any concern for investing with a possible increase in profit. When the man returned, he sternly rebuked the unprofitable servant for burying the talent he was given.

Of course, the point of the parable is that the Lord has invested His gifts in His servants as He is away expecting us to manage His earthly kingdom until He returns. When He does return, He will be expecting us to have invested the talents He has given each of us.
I love this story, and there is very much to consider in the context of this portion of Scripture. There is one point I wish to make regarding this story in light of the responsibility our Lord has given us. We each have been given talents to invest in His kingdom. As with the three servants in the parable, some have received more talents than others. He expects us to be faithful with what He has given us.

What came to mind the other day in comparing the large church and small church environments is this. In a large church, say of 1000 people, there are many talents that remain unused; buried, if you will. For instance, out of 1000 people, there might be 50 musicians who would be potentially awesome worship leaders. But in a large church, there is already a worship leader; perhaps several teams of worship leaders. Under those circumstances, the opportunity for one of those 50 musicians to invest their gifts is small. The odds of all 50 using their gifts is doubtful. I would venture to say that in the distance between home and the church there might be four or five neighborhood churches which would be considered small churches (under 200 people). I would also venture to say that the majority of those small churches are in need of a worship leader and would be greatly blessed to have one of those musicians in their fellowship. Give me an hour and I bet I could find 50 churches who would love to have a worship leader join them. I used musicians as an example, but you could say the same thing for children’s workers, Sunday School teachers, ushers, etc.

My point is that there are multitudes of people who are not investing the talents they were given by their Lord while there are many churches that are in need of those gifts. The Lord has supplied His Church with all the gifts and talents necessary to accomplish the task He has given. I just question whether those gifts and talents are not being buried in disuse.