Matthew 25:14-30 The Trust Sermon preached April 7, 2013 Opening Alright, Im going to ask you to imagine something

youve probably already thought about a dozen times. Say it happens one day. You pull out a wrinkled ticket from your wallet or purse and you look up the numbers in the paper or on a web site and youre shocked - first number matches, second one, third number matches - all seven numbers your heart almost stops - youve won the lottery! Tens of millions of dollars! Youre rich! Now - what would you do with the money? Ive already got it all planned out. First thing, I find a good lawyer who will claim the prize for me so I dont have to go public. Those people who win the lottery and go on TV and have their name splashed all over everywhere, theyre nuts. Not me. Susan and I will be the only people who will ever know. Then I get in touch with my banker friend Jane - she already works with wealthy people - and I put together team of financial advisors and when we get the check - we take almost all the money, and create a foundation. Of course thered be some goodies. A hot car - Id really like a Maserati but thats a little too flashy for a Presbyterian minister, especially one like me who is proud of his humility, so maybe a Mustang GT convertible. And Id keep working too, keep right on doing what Im doing now. Would pay off our mortgage, maybe take the family on a nice trip, have to figure out a cover story about where we got the money. But - almost all of it would go into a foundation. A charitable foundation. Youve probably heard of what Bill & Melinda Gates did - put a lot of his billions into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, got Warren Buffet to put in billions more - and the foundation does great work all over the world eradicating poverty and disease. A few years back, the Gates announced the biggest single philanthropic gift in history $1 billion to be used to over twenty years to pay the full tab each year for about 1,000 black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian students seeking degrees in engineering, mathematics, science and education. Twenty thousand students will now have the opportunity to get an education thanks to Bill and Melinda Gates. My foundation - part of the interest would go to establishing new churches to help reach people who dont know Jesus Christ; part would go towards establishing schools to care for and educate AIDS orphans in Africa - and other projects as they come along. Its a good plan, dont you think? And the odds of it actually happening would be greatly 1

improved if I actually did ever play the lottery. But heres the point - you and I already have our own personal foundations, so to speak the talents, abilities, resources that God has entrusted to us. And we are responsible to God for how we use them - and one day, we will be called to give an account. Parable And thats the clear teaching of our scripture reading this morning. Its a story with four characters. Theres a master, and he has three servants, three people who work for him. And the master entrusts each one of them, with a big pile of money. Instead of a briefcase full of Benjmains, the money is comes in the first-century denomination of talents. A talent was a block of silver weighing about 75 pounds - a hunk of metal the same weight as your nine-year-old. Back in that time, each talent was worth the equivalent of 6,000-10,000 daily wages. We can figure that today, each talent would be worth something around a million bucks. A nice sum. And the master obviously has great confidence in his servants, because he entrusts a whole lot of money to each one of them. And note that the passage says he entrusts it to them based on their ability. The master knows each one of them, and he gives them what they can handle. So to the one with the most innate ability, the master gives 5 talents - $5 million; to the next he gives $2 million, and to the third, $1 million. Something like turning over your wealth to three different portfolio managers to see what kind of return each of them will earn. And then the master goes away and allows them to go to work. No micro-managing, no looking over their shoulders, no quarterly reports. He entrusts them with this wealth and leaves them to get busy. We are a people entrusted Five, two or one talent - that was a huge amount of money in those days, to those listening to Jesus it would have seemed like a bazillion dollars. The point Jesus is making is that we are people entrusted with enormous gifts and resources. Every single one of us. Some of those gifts are obvious to you and other people. You are artistic - you can take a paint brush and canvas or a lump of clay or some scraps of metal and create a beautiful painting that makes people stop in their tracks and just stare at it or a piece of pottery 2

shaped by your fingers into something functional and beautiful or a piece of jewelry. Or you are musical - like Helen back there on the organ, I listen and watch her play and her hands are flying all over two keyboards and her feet are doing something else on the pedals and you think, how does she do that? And thats just a tiny fraction of the different ways God had gifted us If you can write clearly or speak in public or create web sites; If you are a great cook, make meals that people swoon over; If you can take a complicated project and break it down into tasks and assign them out and monitor progress and see that it all gets done; If you know how to start and grow a business; If youre a talented athlete; If you are good at mentoring people; If you have a wise and compassionate heart; If you have the ability to learn foreign languages; If youve got the knack of fixing things; If youre good looking or have tremendous physical strength and endurance; If you can make people laugh; All those things are gifts that God has lavished on us. Or better, entrusted to us. Then add to that our financial and material resources - our bank and retirement accounts, house or other property, cars and tools and electronics. Then add to that, the gift of time, the most precious gift of all. Now I would say that many of us here are five-talent people. Because were had the benefit of growing up or living in the United States. Weve had access to decent education, we can participate freely in church and grow in faith, we can earn enough money to support ourselves and many times have some discretionary funds left over. You and I had opportunities to learn how to play a musical instrument or develop 3

our athletic potential, we had mentors and teachers who encourage us to discover and grow our talents. Or maybe we inherited wealth and property, maybe you had entrepreneurial ability that you were able to tap into and you live in a country with a relatively free market so you could make your dreams reality. I mean, if you and I were born impoverished in the Sudan, if you were a woman born in Afghanistan, if you were born a German peasant in 1520, how many opportunities would you have to develop those talents? Not many. The deal is, you are a wonderful and remarkable creation of God! You have astonishing capacities for creativity and learning and love and service! The question is, are you aware, that God has dropped a bunch of talents in your lap, so to speak? Maybe its time to sit down and do a personal inventory. Think about what you enjoy and what blesses other people. Ask other people what they think youre good at. You may not know. Take risks and try new things - I had no idea I could speak in public until I was shoved kicking and screaming into doing it. And by the way - stop poor-mouthing yourself. Comparing yourself to fabulously talented people and going into Eeyore mode, poor me, not good at anything, Ill just stay home and watch Star Trek reruns. A wise saint of the church once said, The glory of God is (seen) in a human being fully alive. That means you and me, alive to our gifts and talents and using them. We are accountable Why is this important? Well, for one thing we are accountable for how we use our talents. This parable is in the block of Jesus teaching in Matthew where the Lord is telling us about that great getting-up morning when we stand before the God of all creation. And answer for our lives. Thats what the second part of the parable is about. The master returns home and calls his three servants and its time for them to report on what they did with the talents the master entrusted to them. As Jesus tells it, the first servant goes to work immediately - Matthew uses Greek words connoting excitement, enthusiasm and trust - the man is energized by this challenge and wants to see what he can do with what his master entrusted him with. 4

The second servant is much the same - the Greek means he trades with the money entrusted with him - meaning went into business with the money - maybe opened up a chain of artisanal olive oil stores or something. And both of them double their masters money. Both of them are congratulated, highfived by their delighted master and rewarded with more responsibility - they have lived up to his trust and now they get entrusted with more. And note that Mr. Two-Talent got just as much praise as Mr. Five-Talent. Meaning, God measures not the size of the result, but what you do with what hes given you. But Mr. One-Talent. Well. The master gives him this big sack of money - and what does he do? He grabs a shovel and after dark heads outside, digs a hole and buries it in the ground. Mr. One-Talent, his goal is capital preservation. And when the master comes back he digs up his bag of money and brushes the dirt off and hands it back to his master. See? Heres your money back safe and sound. But his master, is not pleased. Why? Because he wanted them to take a risk with what he entrusted them with - I mean, at the very least, take it to the bank and make a little interest on it whydontcha! We have to push deeper into why he did this. And Mr. One-Talent justifies his behavior with what Dale Bruner says is a pretty sophisticated theological argument He first tries to impugn the character of the master, saying you are a hard, harsh man, and second, he says basically, Im so small and youre so big, what do you need me for? It is actually out of a sense of his masters greatness, and his own littleness, that the servant does nothing. And from that distorted thinking, he becomes afraid to risk and buries his talent in the ground. And thats the root of the mans problem. Hes afraid to risk, hes timid, because his understanding of God is all wrong. And ones understanding of who God is, the character of God, directly affects how one lives. If you think God is basically out to get you, just itching to lower the hammer on you, it will affect how you live. Reminded of one of my favorite Far Side Cartoons titled God at his computer. Shows the Almighty looking at a computer screen and on the screen is a picture of a man walking down the street and hes completely unaware that over his head a big safe is hanging by a rope. And Gods finger is hovering over the Smite button.

And so the master calls the servant called evil. And the word for evil is a strong one, meaning corrupt, opposed to the purpose of God. This is not how we think of the word - but we learn here that it is evil to think God so big that you think yourself so little and inconsequential Bottom line is, God will not continue to entrust his gifts, on which others depend for salvation and healing, to those who wont use them - he will give them to those who will take a risk and put them to work. And so, if you spend your life poor-mouthing yourself and playing it safe, you will end up with an eternity filled with regrets. But if you risk fearlessly, confident in Gods goodness, God will richly reward you. We are called to invest our talents Bur risk in what, we may ask? Using our talents, our personal foundation, for a great purpose beyond ourselves. And we get a clue as to what that is, from the parable. In the parable, the man given five talents wins five more -and since Matthew uses the word win in one other place where Jesus teaches on reconciliation and says if you do you win your brother, what this can mean is winning people in the sense that they come to know Jesus and his grace and mercy. From that, I think we are called to use our talents and gifts in Kingdom work that brings people to know and follow Jesus and relieves suffering. I know people who do this kind of thing. Like my friends Phil and Sue Branson. Years ago they started one of the first home warranty companies. Made a pile of money when they sold it. They retired to Palm Springs, California. And theyve taken a big chunk of their wealth and created a foundation and in part use it to give scholarships to seminary students who are going into ministry and missions. And they also have a ministry to other wealthy people in Palm Springs - they have sort of a house church - Sue has the gift of making the Bible come alive that she uses to teach 60 or so people how to love and follow Jesus Christ - and use their gifts for him. Like a story Ben Patterson tells: I was moved and deeply impressed by the sign and picture I saw on a cardboard box in the foyer of a Baptist church in Minneapolis. The sign read, 'Tim Lindbloom's Prayer Ministry.' The picture was of a young man in a wheelchair, wearing a helmet -- apparently the victim of cerebral palsy. There was a slot in the top of the box for people to insert prayer requests. There was also a note that said, 'I only ask that you let me know what happens.' 6

What work could this young man possibly do with his limitations? He could patiently endure, and he could pray -- especially pray. The only hints he might have that he was getting something done was to hear what had happened from those for whom he prayed -- a special fellowship, and a special reward.1 So the question is, what are you doing with what God has given you? Closing John Gardner, the founder of Common Cause, told of a man he knew who asked a question of just about every new acquaintance he got into a conversation with: What have you done, he would ask, that you believe in and are proud of? He never asked the conventional questions like What do you do for a living? It was always, What have you done that you believe in and are proud of? Gardner says it was an unsettling question for those who built their self-esteem on their wealth or family name or job title. But the man said, I dont really care how they answer. I just want to put the thought into their minds. They should live their lives in such a way that they can have a good answer...thats whats important.2 What are you doing that you believe in and are proud of? Are you investing your gifts and talents and resources in ways that help people know and love Jesus Christ, that help relive suffering and pain, that help make this world a little bit more like God intends it to be? Its an important question - because one day, the Lord will ask us. And I hope well all be able to stand before the Lord and hear his words, Well done, my good and faithful servant. Amen, Endnotes 1. Ben Patterson, Serving God: The Grand Essentials of Work and Worship. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill., 1994, p. 76. 2. Dynamic Preaching, Jan/Feb/March 1998, p. 29.