CMB 033 : Bob Kauflin on The Parable of the Talents

Here recently at the blog, the parable of the talents has come up a few times (CMB 029 with Stephen Miller, and this guest post by Kristen Gilles).

I had to originally reschedule my chat with Bob Kauflin, and before that, I had not heard his talk from the Worship God East conference. Thanks to Bobby and Kristen Gilles, I was turned on to it after she did her guest post here at the blog.

Suffice it to say, I was glad we rescheduled our Skype call. It seemed God wanted us to continue looking at the words of Jesus in Matthew 25.

The Parable of The Talents has been a challenging and inspirational parable for many Christian artists. We long to see that our talents not be buried and unfruitful.

But here's the problem....

I have looked at this parable the wrong way for a long time. So many times I've used it to justify my selfish ambition, all in the name of stewarding "my gift".

The Call of The Christian Musician

We need to pay closer attention to Jesus' words in this very important parable.

A few years ago, I was in Gaithersburg, Maryland, attending a class for the Sovereign Grace Pastors' College. While I was there, I spent a little time with some of the local musicians and songwriters in the worship internship that Bob was doing.

One day, while in the SGM studio, I saw a large plaque on the wall that said the following words....

The call of the Christian musician is to faithfully make music, in any context, that reflects a grateful servant's heart to the gospel.

That's what the Parable of The Talents is all about, and every one of us should ask for God's help to daily apply these words of Jesus. When we do this, the master is glorified in and through our lives as people of faith who make music.

Here's the breakdown of our conversation

Bob's story of faith

Bob's story of musicianship

The call of the "Christian musician"

A closer look at the parable of the talents

How to discover your talents

The value of getting feedback

1 Peter 4

Serve people and watch what bears fruit

The truth about self promotion

How to reach out to someone about your music

Looking for opportunities to grow and serve

God promotes

Sovereign Grace Music

Why the gospel matters

Bob's upcoming book, True Worshipers

Important Links

Bob's talk at Worship God East- Faithful to Grow

Bob's blog - worshipmatters.com

Grace Has Come: Songs From the Book of Romans

Bob on Twitter

Other Things Mentioned

Three Key Ways To Grow As A Worship Leader

Caroline Cobb

Dustin Kensrue's new album, The Water and The Blood

Matt Redman's Your Grace Finds Me