Toure Roberts - Play Your Hand

Do me a favor and just turn to somebody on your way down and say, «Play your hand.» Play your hand. Play your hand. Play your hand. That word, that theme—play your hand—I don’t know if there has ever been a more clear and urgent word in my spirit of late than those three words to me, and I believe to you: play your hand. And when I say «your hand,» what am I talking about? When I say «play your hand,» what do I mean? When I say «your hand,» I’m talking about your portion. I believe that God has given everyone a portion. It is a worthy portion; it is a good portion. A lot of times we get mistaken about the portion because we compare our portion to the next person’s portion. In some sort of way, there are times when we think that because we may have less than what another person has, our portion is unworthy. As a result, instead of playing our hand and working with the hand that God has given us— which will undoubtedly multiply as it’s supposed to—we become so discouraged that we become ineffective. We can’t even believe God’s promises, not realizing that God knows how to make a whole lot out of a whole little. Are you tracking with me? That’s one of the things that God specializes in. God knows how to— in fact, God knows how to make everything out of nothing. Come on, somebody! The solar system, the universe, none of that stuff was there; there was nothing there. The Word says that the earth was void and without form, and darkness was over the face of the deep. There was nothing there. God is a Creator, and a Creator doesn’t need materials to create. Are you tracking with me? We need materials to create, but our Creator, God Almighty, specializes in making something out of nothing. If He can make something out of nothing, then certainly He can make something out of little. So you cannot despise your small beginning; you cannot look at what somebody else has. We’re going to get into this text in a minute; I’m going to break it down. But you can’t be discouraged. You can’t look at your hand and say, «This is not a good hand,» because if God saw fit to give you that hand, then there is something good in that hand, and God is going to multiply your hand. This story—it’s not unfamiliar; you’ve heard this sermon preached; I’ve preached it. But there were some insights I saw in it recently that underscore this theme for the day: «Play your hand.» I feel that for somebody—just play your hand. So here’s what’s happening in the story. First of all, Jesus is teaching us about life. He’s teaching us about the Kingdom. He’s teaching us about what we have. He’s teaching us about what we’re supposed to do with what we have, and He’s teaching us the value, or the blessing, in doing what we know to do and what will come back to us as a result. So He is speaking in parables, trying to help us understand what God has given us. He tells a story about a lord who had some servants, and this lord was getting ready to take a journey. Before he takes the journey, he takes of his goods and distributes them to three of his servants. To one servant, he gives five talents; to another servant, he gives two talents; and to the third servant, he gives one talent. He doesn’t just give them these talents without discretion; the Scripture tells us that he gives them talents according to their ability. So it is not indiscriminate. He knows his servants. He knows their capacity; he knows their present capacity, and he is distributing these talents to them based on what he knows is in them. That word «talent» that is used here is an interesting word, evolved over time, but at the root of that word «talent,» when it says that he gave five talents, two talents, and one talent, is the idea or the thought of «to bear» or «a burden to bear.» He is giving talents, or a burden, according to their capacity. Are you tracking with me? God will not give you beyond your capacity. Oh God, I feel it, and I’m almost going to go left; I don’t want to do that, because I’m trying to stay focused here. I don’t have my wife here to reel me in today, but He won’t give you things beyond your capacity. We’ve heard that theme connected to God not giving you more than you can bear—meaning you can handle it—but He also won’t put more on you than what you are going to be accountable for, or what your capacity allows. So that word has evolved; at the root of that word is the word «to bear,» and then that evolved to represent weight. Ultimately, it became currency because the monetary value at that time was based on the weight of a thing. Even today, it’s the same way when you think of precious metals; their worth is determined according to their weight.