Playing It Safe Is Risky

What if the greatest risk is doing nothing at all?

In this episode, we unpack the Parable of the Talents and explore how fear, comfort, and our view of God can keep us from stepping into what we've been entrusted with. We discuss biblical principles of stewardship, wise risk-taking, investing, and resilience, challenging the mindset that playing it safe is always the faithful option.

If you're looking for a faith-filled perspective on money, purpose, business, and courage, this conversation is for you.

PRAYER
We are here to pray for you - with you. Please share your prayer request or praise report here - https://hopeucindia.churchcenter.com/people/forms/3009, and someone from our team will pray for your need through the week.

NEXT STEPS
If you would like to give your heart to Jesus, it's the best decision you could ever make. We want to celebrate with you, provide you with resources and get you the support you need on this journey. Please fill the form - https://hopeucindia.churchcenter.com/people/forms/297739, and someone from our team will contact you soon.

ABOUT HOPEUC INDIA
Hope Unlimited Church is an independent, Spirit-filled church with multiple campuses in India, serving young professionals and families from all parts of India in a modern, dynamic metropolitan church setting.
More about us - https://hopeuc.in/

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopeucsecunderabad

Transcript

Hook And Scripture Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:10

So I've titled my message today as Playing It Safe is Risky. Okay. Playing It Safe is Risky. And I'm gonna read the passage scripture from uh is Matthew 25, 14 to 30. This is the parable of the talents. I'm sure most of us are aware of this story. And we have been taught this for a very long time in the church and in Sunday schools. Let's let's just study this uh scripture, let's meditate upon this. I'm reading from verse 14, Matthew chapter 25, verse 14. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. So this man is going on a long journey. He called his servants and said, Hey, here's my property. And he said, Take care of it. To one servant he gave five talents, to other two, to another one, to each according to his ability. So this master, this rich guy, is going on a long journey. He called his servants and said, Hey, look, I'm going on a long journey. Here's five talents to one guy, to another guy, he gave two talents, to another guy, he gave one talent, each according to their ability, according to what they could have handled or what master thought they could handle. You know, we could always increase our ability. Yeah. So then

Parable: Trading Versus Hiding

SPEAKER_00 1:40

he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So this five talents guy, he went at once and traded. Traded in the sense he got into business. He made five more talents, he doubled the money. So also who had the two talents made two more talents. The two talents guy made two more talents, he made it, he doubled it, he made it four. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. The one talent guy, what he did was he took the money, hid it in the ground. If you calculate, I've been reading some commentary on this. If you calculate, it's almost like a million dollars, each talent is. So he took that money, million dollars is like eight crores today. Sorry, nine crores. So he took the money, his master's money. First of all, remember the property or the money does not belong to them. If you put yourself in the context, the money or the property is not yours. Whatever you have today in your hands does not belong to you. The master has given it to us. The master has given it to you. Look what this third guy did. He's he said, I'm gonna just dig it up and hide the money. He said, I'm gonna play it safe. I'm not gonna go and trade with it, I'm not gonna go do business with it, I'm not gonna do any type of investments or anything. I'm just gonna play it safe. So he thought it's better to be safe than lose the money. Right? So he went and hit the money. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled the accounts with them. The master comes back. We don't know. The Bible does not give us very clearly how long was the master gone. Maybe five years, ten years, fifteen years, twenty years. We don't know. The duration is not given to us, but it it is a long time. But when the master comes back, he's gonna settle the accounts. So today he's back and he's like, hey, come on, let's settle the accounts. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you deliver to me five talents. Here I've made five more. Master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over little, I will set you over much. Remember, in the master's eyes, it's very little, even though each talent is equivalent to a million dollars or equivalent to nine crores. Master is like, You've been faithful over little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me the two talents. Here I've made two more talents. His master said, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over little. Again, the master says the same thing. It's like, you've been faithful over little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also, who had received one talent, came forward saying, Master, now look, this guy is also giving his accounts. He's saying, Okay, this is what I did, Master. I know you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. So this last guy said, Master, here's your money. I played it safe. I didn't lose your money. Take it. Here's your money. But the master answered him. He said, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was mine with my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to you, for to everyone who has will be given more and he will have abundance, but from from the one who has not, even that will be taken away

Fearful View Of The Master

SPEAKER_00 5:48

and cast the worthless servant into the utter darkness in the place they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, why did the guy with one talent did not do anything? Or why did the guys with the five talents and two talents went and did something with it? They invested, they they did they traded, they did business with it. Why? What was the reason? Look at the mindset of the talent uh the guy with one talent. He said, You are a hard man. He's talking to the master now, he's saying, Master, I know you are a hard man. You reap where you did not sow, you gather where you did not scatter. You are a hard man, you're not a kind man. His understanding of the master said, You're a wicked man. He's telling is he's telling the master, you're a wicked man, you're a hard man. You sow where you didn't reap, you gather where you didn't scatter. That's why what I did was I took your money and hid it. And here's your money back. The master said, You wicked and slothful servant, look at the master. Master is saying, You're a wicked man, and you're a lazy man, you're a slothful guy. And he he he says, You have not been faithful over little, so I'm gonna take that away from you because you have not been faithful. Now the question is, I've always thought why this guy did not invest and why other guys took the resources and made use of it. He said, Look at his understanding of the master. The understanding of the master is you're a hard man, you reap where you did not sow. Basically, let's put the master, master is God in this in this context, in this subject. He's saying, You are a hard man, you're not a kind man, you reap where you did not sow. Does God do that? Does the master do that? Gathering where he scattered no seed, he was afraid. What motivated this guy to go and hide the talent, to go and hide the money? His understanding of his master. What is your understanding of the master? What is my understanding of the master? What are you thinking about the master? Are you saying, Lord, you are a hard man, you're a bad God, you're a bad king, you reap where you don't sow, you gather where you did not scatter. I was afraid. So this this one talent guy is operating in fear, in fear of the master. He has a bad understanding of his master. The let's let's talk about the uh talents with the five uh the guy with the five talents. That guy must have thought opposite. He must have thought, my master is a good man. He gave me so much resources. I'm gonna go and make you make use of it. The difference between the guy who took action and the guy who did not take action is the understanding of the master. What is your understanding of the master today? What is your understanding of God? What do you think about God? How do you view God? What is our understanding of the master? Is he a is he a hard man? Is he a hard king? Is he a wicked God? Or this guy is weak. God is saying you are wicked because you did not do anything with it. You are slothful, you're you're basically lazy. That's what he said. The stewards must know the personality and the character of the Lord. The servant, two servants, understood the character and the personality of their master. The third guy did he took it opposite. He did not understand the father, he did not understand the master. He thought, you're a hard man, you're a bad guy. So I'm just playing it safe. I always thought, Lord, he didn't lose the money. He saved your money. I mean, he did not lose the money. But but you you were mad at him because he did not lose the money. But the guy with the five talents guy could have lost the money because he went and invested it, he went and traded with it. He could have lost the master's money. That's why we don't know how long it took. Maybe the guy with the five talents must have lost three talents, gotten back, must have lost it again, gotten it back. He kept investing it, he kept the money in risk. Now the question is, most of the time, we think the resources that we have, the money that we have, is ours. It's not ours. It's God's money, it's God's resources, it's the master's resources. What are you doing with the resources? Are you playing it safe? Are you are you risking it? Because most of the time the mindset is, I'm risking my money. No, you're not. It's not your money, it's not your resources. The more safe you play, the more the master is gonna call you wicked. He's gonna call you lazy. Master is always looking for increase. He wants increase in value. In fact, he said, at least you should have put it in the bank. I would have got some interest out of it. But you didn't do nothing with it. So I'm gonna take that away from you. The first two stewards understood the Lord. They understood the master, they understood the personality, the character of the master. How do we understand the character and the personality of our master? How do you understand? We read the Bible, we we know about Jesus and his personality. The more we read, the more we look into the Word of God, we know we can understand the master, the mindset of the Master, the personality, the character of the master. I assume the guy with the five-talent guy must have thought master is a kind man. Even if I lose the money, he's a kind man. He'll understand, he'll give me another chance. He took that risk. A lot of times we all want to play it safe and think it's great. Not according to the word of God. The first stewards, first two stewards understood the spirit and the letter of instruction, the character of their Lord. Fear and mistrust of his Lord motivated the third steward. What motivated the third guy? Fear. What is motivating you today? Your understanding of the master will determine your steps. Whatever steps you take in life, whatever you do in life is based on your understanding of the master. If you are taking risks or you're not taking risks, if you're slothful or you're wicked,

Comfort, Regret, And Risky Faith

SPEAKER_00 13:10

it's all based on your understanding of the master. What do you think of the master? Playing it safe might protect your ego, but slowly kills your potential. A lot of people think I'm playing it safe. I talk to people and they're like, you know, brother, I I I want I have five mouths to feed. I have a wife and a children. I cannot risk it. I don't want to risk it. And I'm asking them, is this your money? Or is it the master's money? Whose money is it? Whose money are you risking it? Because if you risk and lose, he can give you more. What is your understanding of the master? Oh, this is it. This is all the money I have. If I invest and I lose, it's gone. My life is over. Lot of people have that type of understanding. The character and the and the personality of God. Comfort is expensive. Not our pastor comfort. Comfort is expensive when it costs you who you would have become. You know, a lot of times there has been a research done that a lot of times when people are on their deathbed, there are two things that they regret. One thing is they say, I wish I would have spent more time with my family. I wish I'd spent more time with my mom and dad, with my children, with my wife. The second thing they say is, I wish I did that venture. I wish I invested in that business. I wish I would have taken that step. These are the only two regrets that humans have on the deathbed. You could you can go and read about it. You can go and uh research about it. Do you want to be in a place where, like, I wish I did that? Because at that time, when you're dying, everything seems futile. And you and you wish, I wish I could have taken that step. I wish I could have uh uh walked into the risky waters. What happened to Peter when he was walking in walking on the water? Walking on the water is risky, right? Walking with Yeshua is risky. How many of you agree? Walking with Jesus itself is risky. He's not calling us into a safe place. He's not saying, like, hey, come, as soon as you come to me, the life is gonna be awesome. It's gonna be a road of roses, bed of roses. No, it's not. He's asking, he's calling us into a life of adventure, exciting life. That's why he says comfort is expensive when it costs you who you would have become. A lot of times we do not take any steps is because we are operating under fear. Now we have to self-check, we have to see what are we operating under. Are we operating based on the master's kindness, master's mercy, master's generosity, or are we saying, oh, this is it, this is all I have, and I'm not gonna risk? A lot of people do that. I'm not gonna get in. I know so many high competent people who could do great in life, but they don't step out. They don't step out. And here, a lot of times in this text, a lot of people say it's talking about skill, talent, your gifts that you could use for the Lord. You could use for the Lord. Yes, maybe, but it's clearly talking about money. This parable is clearly talking about money. Right? God has given each person a wide variety of gifts. He expects us to employ those gifts in his service. Of course, if you have a gift, God expects you to employ your gifts. It is not acceptable merely to put those gifts on a closet or a shelf and ignore them. Yes, that is true. Yet, this particular text or the particular talent invested in the parable in is money. In this context, it's talking about money. On the order of million US dollars in today's world, in modern English, this fact is obscured because the word talent has come to refer mainly to skills or abilities. But this parable concerns money, it depicts investing, not holding. I'm gonna hoard it. Not according to the this is not my text, by the way. This is what Jesus said. This is the parable of that Jesus taught. He said, he's basically saying, invest, take risk, go into risky waters. Do not hold it, don't keep it to yourself. More pointedly, for the workplace, it commands putting capital at risk in pursuit of earning a return. What do we do? We take the capital and put it at risk. That's what the five-talent guy did, the two-talent guy did. We don't know. They could have lost the money and got it back again. We don't know what kind of risk they took, but they did risk it. But the one guy who didn't wanted to play it safe, the master said, Man, you are a wicked guy. You're a slothful guy, you need punishment. And he put him in utter darkness. But this parable uh overturns that notion we should invest our skills and abilities, but also our wealth and the resources made available to us at work. The resources that we have, that you have, that I have, God is expecting us to double

Money, Work, And Expected Return

SPEAKER_00 19:00

it or at least increase it in value, or at least get it. I want to at least get some interest. You know, in John 15, Jesus again is talking about this. He says, There's a tree, and every year the master is coming for the fruit, and there's no fruit. Master is coming every year. By the end of the third year, master is saying, like, okay, let's cut this tree off. It's taking the ground, it's using all the nutrients, but it's not producing any fruit. Let's cut it off. Then the gardener comes and says, Master, hold on. Give it one more year. Now I'll prune it, I'll give it more nutrients, I'll dig around it. Maybe it'll produce fruit. Every year the master is coming to see if there is an increase. If there is a fruit. What are we producing? What are you producing? Because the resources that is in your hands, right now, God is expecting a return. God is expecting increase of value. For what? Let's say you've increased, you double the assets, double the resources that God has given. What did he do? He gave it back to that guy again. Right? Said, oh, come on, enter into your master's joy. This includes the production of needed goods and services. One of Jesus' most significant parables regarding work is set in the context of investments. Expectations of the master. The master is expecting something. He's expecting something from all of us. The stewards must know and understand the personality of their Lord. The moment you understand the personality and the character of God, you will go into risky waters. You will step into risky waters. The master expects growth and increase of value. He said in the parable, at least I would have gotten interest if I put it in the bank. See? At least interest. Now, the question we have to ask ourselves is what are we doing with our resources today? Are we playing it safe? I know business is risky. I'm a businessman myself. There were many times where I thought, this is it, it's over. I'm done. I came back to zero again. Many times I did came, I did come back to zero. But from there the Lord lifted me back again. Because the point is this the principle, what is the principle that He's trying to teach us in this? You know, the Word of God, the principles of God work for everyone, regardless of whether you believe in God or no, regardless of whether you believe in Jesus or no, the sun shines for everyone, the rain rains for everyone. It's not like the sun is only shining for us, the rain is only falling on your ground. No, it falls on all the ground. The principle of God works for everyone. I know I think it's the Sony and McDonald's. One of the biggest companies in the world is McDonald's. The largest companies, the largest real estate holders are McDonald's in the world. They and Sony, what they do is they openly say that we use principles from the Bible, but we don't believe in your God. They say that. And they pay a lot of money to pastors and preachers and call them and have them preach in their conferences. They want the principles from the Word of God. And they say, McDonald's claims that by using the principles from the Word of God, they have gotten where they got. Sony also claims the same thing. There are many companies, many atheist companies say the principles from the Bible is what we've used to get this far. But they also openly say we don't believe in your God, but we want your principles. Look, the principles are working for them. They will surely work for us. There are many principles in the Word of God. In context with money, in context with everything that is pertaining to our life. There are principles. One of the principles today that we are talking about that Jesus is challenging is like, take risk, guys. Don't hold it, don't put it away. You don't want to be at the end of your life and think like, man, I should have invested in that. I should have put some money in there. How many I I think even now, I think looking back, man, I should have taken that. I should have done that. Many times I think like that. I should have taken that, I should have gotten into it. But most of the time we want to play safe. You know why we want to play safe? Because you think or I think that I am my source. I feel that I have to provide for myself and for my children and for my wife. So I am gonna play it safe. I am not my provider. The resources that I have is not mine. The moment you think start thinking like that, you're free now. Because your trust is not in your resources, your trust is not in your skills, your trust is in the Lord. Clearly, this parable is talking about money. We don't need to spiritualize it. Let's spiritualize it. Let's take it in the context of Jesus is gone, He's coming back. He's coming back to ask all of us the accounts. What are we gonna say? Lord, I was scared. That's why I didn't do it. Lord, I was scared to get into it, I didn't get into it. I played it safe. You want the Lord to come and say, You wicked and slothful guy? Look, the Lord is saying the reason you did not invest, the reason you didn't do business, or the reason you did not take risks is because you are lazy, because you're wicked.

Diversify For Uncertain Seasons

SPEAKER_00 25:06

That's why playing it safe is risky. Ecclesiastes 11, 1, 1 and 2, verses 1 and 2, it says, Ship your grain across the sea, after many days you receive a return. It says, Ship your grain across the sea, after many days you will receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. Now, Ecclesiastes is written by King Solomon, the wisest man living on the earth, is saying, Invest in seven ventures. In eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. In other uh translations it says, invest in eight countries, seven countries or even eight countries, because you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. Think about times of COVID. How many jobs have been lost, how many people have been displaced, how many people died. There was no hope. So he's saying there will be times like this in life, there will be seasons in life where you'll feel hopeless, where the disaster will come upon the land. What are you gonna do? Let's think about COVID time. Let's say COVID hits tomorrow again. There's a lockdown, all the businesses are shut, everything is shut, there's no job. That's why he says, when the disaster comes, your investments will keep you. That's why you know there are a lot of financial gurus out there. They'll say, Hey, diversify your portfolio. Have you heard that? Diversify your portfolio. You know where all that comes from? All the principle this this financial gurus talks about comes from the Bible. They talk as if they are so wise and like, oh, do this, do that. No, every principle comes from the word of God. They use it and it works for them. Clearly says, invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. One thing is for sure, seasons will change. One thing is for sure, times will not remain the same all the time. Right? Last Sunday, Pastor Anand was preaching. He said, if you don't like summer, if you don't like this heat, wait for a few more days, it'll change. You'll have rainy season. If you don't like rainy season, wait for two months, winter will come. Life will not always be the same. That's why God is giving his principle. He's saying the disaster will surely come. There will come a time when you will when you'll be hopeless. When you want if you want to face thus that type of situations, invest your money in seven ventures. Put it across, because a disaster will come upon. So he's giving you a principle saying, Hey, if you want to be safe, risk it. If you want to be safe, invest it. Seasons will change, times will change, and King Solomon is warning us to be ready and diversify our portfolio. The so-called financial gurus also say that God is teaching us a principle here to sustain during the hard times. Because build your house on the rock of Jesus when the wind blows and the rain comes. You've we've heard this the wind comes, the the rain comes. I built my house upon the rock of Jesus. Right? One thing is for sure the wind's gonna blow. Rain's gonna come, it's gonna hit us hard. That's why the principles of the word of God is there for us. He's saying, Do this. When the wind comes, you'll still be standing. When the waters are coming, you'll still be standing, you'll be still strong. You'll be rock, you'll be like a rock, like a like a rock or a house built on a foundation of rock. What are you building your life upon? And what principles, what what principles are you using to build your life? These principles work for anyone. Playing it safe is risky.

Everyone Trades Value For Money

SPEAKER_00 29:17

I ask a lot of people. When I meet people, I tell them, hey, look, we are having uh a businessman meet every Saturday. Every first Saturday, we meet right here, and I tell them, hey, come come to this businessman meet. And a lot of people say, hey, look, I am I don't have a business, I'm not a businessman. I have a job. So I don't I don't need to come there. And I tell them, look, what is business? Business is a trade of value. It's an exchange of value. Right? Business what they don't realize is that business means exchange of value, trade of value. People who hold jobs are exchanging value. Look, if you're working somewhere, I'm not against jobs, by the way. We all need to be working and and and getting the money and and investing and all. But look, if you're working, if you're if you have a job, you are exchanging your time. That's still business. It's still business. You're still in business. The only thing is, I may exchange a product for money. You are exchanging your time for money. You're still in business. You're trading your time for something of value. People who hold jobs are exchanging value. They're trading their time for money, they're selling time, so technically everybody is in business. Psalm 107 talks about different kinds of people. One of the people group that it addresses is businessmen. It says there are merchants that are on the seas. Back then, in biblical days, if you have to trade, you have to get on the ship and go to another country and sell your goods and make business and do business. So one time this businessmen are going and the ship, this the the and the sea is rough. There's rough waters, the waves and all that, and it's like moving the ship. The ship could have been in a wreck. And it says, these men sought the Lord, these businessmen, they sought the Lord, and it says the Lord controlled everything and they he brought them to their safe heaven. So it does not mean that just because you get into business or just get because you're investing, there is no risk involved. There is risk involved, but we have the Lord who can pull us out, like how we pulled out Peter from the risky waters.

Final Challenge And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 31:51

Right? So my my challenge today, my question today to all of us is what is your understanding of the master? What is my understanding of the master? Because based on that, you will make your decisions. Based on that, you'll take action. Look into your actions, look into your look, look into your life. Why are you making decisions that are you making? Why aren't you making certain decisions? Why aren't you stepping into risky waters? Because playing it safe is going to be very risky. Don't ever think like that the like the man with one talent. Oh man, you are a hard man. You you are a man that will reap way you did not sow. He's basically talking very bad about the master. His understanding of the master is very bad. Maybe the guy with the five talents and the guy with the two talents thought, master is awesome, he's a great person. He's given me these resources. So I'm gonna take risk and invest. Today, my challenge to all of us is to not play it safe. And my challenge is also like go back and and read this, go back and study this text. Go back and and and and work on it, meditate upon it. You'll understand the master's mindset. Once you understand the master's mindset, your life will change, your steps will change, your actions will change. Remember this: your actions are based upon what you believe about the master, what you believe about the father. If I know what my father is, if I know who my father is, I am ready to take any risk. If I do not know him properly, that's when I want to protect myself. That's when I want to keep myself safe. But that is risky. Trying to keep yourself is risky.