Matthew 25 : Sermon

Transcription

1 Matthew 25 : Sermon Investment is a major topic at the moment. News programmes and radio discussions all seem to focus in on the same topics; the value of pensions and savings, the cost of government bonds and the ups and downs of the Ftse index and many other things which many of you will know much more about that I do. Investment is a big issue today, and I am very pleased that it is not my job to speak about how you should invest your money. It is however my job to speak about how you should invest your lives, and that, I would dare to suggest, is actually more important. After all we have a limited time available to us, our days upon the earth will not add up to all that much in the great scheme of things. So we should take some careful thought about how we use the days, what we will invest our precious time in, how best we can make use of the talents we have been given. The parable which we read this morning talks about people using talents; investing them, or indeed failing to do so. In fact a talent was a measurement of weight, and the talents referred to on the story would have been a weight of silver or gold. It is actually from this story that we get the word talent in English, a word for something which we are given and which we can use to do good things. So while it may not have been the original intention of the writer the word does have the fortunate effect in reminding us that the message of Jesus is not about money. That in itself is a much bigger gospel concern which I will attempt to address next Sunday, but here Jesus is speaking about what we might do, or not do, with all the things which go to make up our lives, all of the things which make us who we are, all the things that we were given when the creator first planned us and put us together in our mothers wombs. The question is - what are we going to do with what we have been given, and the key to that is understanding that we have been given everything.

2 2 The very first principle which underlies every other thought we might have about Christian stewardship is that nothing which we own is ours. We may have paid for that clock, or that cd, or that television. We may have the receipt and the guarantee. But we still only have it because God brought us to life in the first place, and we will still only have it until the day comes when we will leave it all behind and someone else will have to decide what to do with it. Nothing is ours by right, and nothing is ours forever. That is basic understanding which underpins the whole Christian attitude to how we will live in the world. That is the source of the humility and gratitude which frees us from all of the traps of consumerism and materialism. From there, we can go on to say that this is true not only of our possessions but of our very lives. We may have worked hard to educate ourselves and gain the right experiences and impress the right people, but all of that is using what was already given to us by the creator who dreamed such wonderful possibilities for us. Without the gift we would not have anything and we would not be anyone. Nothing is ours by right we just get the great privilege of using it. And with the privilege comes the responsibility to use it well. So Jesus, when he is explaining to his followers how they should approach life when he is absent from them, how they must live as they await his return, says - For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; Well there is the point right there. Whose property was it? Clearly it was the master's. The slaves were given the money to use as they please. To anyone passing by it would have looked as if it was theirs, but it wasn t. God has entrusted some things to us, he has trusted us with enormous freedom to use it or abuse it as we chose, but really it is all his. to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one As I said back in New Testament times a talent was a weight and it is thought to have been around 35kg. The total value is not as important as the fact that this was a serious amount. Either the master was incredibly rich or incredibly trusting and probably both. And if we think that sounds a bit unlikely,

3 3 well, just think what you have been given, life and education and friends and health and financial resources and the ability to do so many things. And what had we done, back when we were conceived, to deserve any of that, or to suggest that we might be worthy recipients of it all? The master gives us a serious amount, and he leaves us to use it as we choose. Of course the servants are not given the same amounts. One gets five talents, one gets three, while the other gets one. Why? Perhaps simply becuase it reflects reality. That is just how life is. We do not all start out with the same gifts. I would love to have been a footballer, but anyone looking in on my primary school playground could have told you that it wasn t going to happen. Other boys were just faster and stronger and more co-ordinated than me. We do not all start from the same foundation. So the amount given differs but everybody gets something. There is no such thing in the story as a no-talent person. There is no such thing in life either. What matters, as we will see in the story, is not how much we have, but how much we use what we have. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. (v19) The master had made an investment and he came to see what people had done with it. But actually he does not seem terribly interested in the money, not even when the vast wealth he has given to the first servant comes back doubled. The money doesn t get commented on only the person who had used it who is then rewarded with more. That is quite a thought isn t it? However we might understand the idea of a day of judgement, or the idea of Christ s return to judge the living and the dead, at the heart of our faith is the belief that we are accountable for our lives and that some day we will be held accountable for how we have used them. What will we have to show for our time on the earth, with all the talent we have been given, all the privilege and potential that comes with living in a place like this? The man who was condemned in the story was not convicted because he had done anything wrong. He had not taken his masters money and used it to do things which offended the master s ethical standards. He had not

4 4 even used it for a selfish time of sin and debauchery. He was condemned because he had not done anything at all. Having been given so much, he just wanted to keep himself safe. He just wanted to avoid any difficulties. He just wanted a quiet life. Jesus tells this whole story to warn people against taking what they have been given by God and seeking to do no more with it that keep themselves comfortable and safe. He tells this story to warn people against wanting to keep what they have been given by God rather than using it to do God s work. So the first two characters are made partners in the business while the third one is let go. Someone who doesn t do any good is no good in the master s business. And even what he has is taken from him and given to those who will do something with it. Of course we have the freedom to do what ever we want with the lives we have been given. We are free to invest our talents any way we choose. We can really invest ourselves in our education and we might become well educated. We can invest a lot of ourselves on a career and perhaps we will have a wonderful career. We can invest our best efforts in the great capitalist game of earning and consuming, and we might end up earning and consuming a great deal. After all, to use Paul s image rather than Jesus for moment, we will reap what we have sown. But how sad it would be to get to the end of our days and discover how much we have neglected along the way. How little we have invested in the deep spiritual things of life. How little we have ever done about building a strong connection with our creator. How little of ourselves we ever put at the service those we could have helped. How rarely we have taken the risk of being selfless, of contributing to the community, of practicing prayer and discovering the scriptures, of learning to see Christ is the hungry and the thirsty and needy of this world. How sad it would be to get to the end of our days and realise that we have been so busy looking after ourselves that we really haven t done very much good at all. So much that when we leave the material things behind, as we inevitably will, we will have very little to show for ourselves at all.

5 We have been given a ridiculous amount. God has been far more generous and far more trusting than we deserve. Let s make sure that we are using it well, investing it in the right things, sowing in the right fields, making the most of it all. So that one day we may be among those who hear the words: Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master. 5