The least of these

 Read Matthew 25:31-46

We will cover Luke 17 again in the next service.  For now, I want us to make a brief stop in Matthew 25.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We know the parable before this one.  It is the Parable of the Talents that you might have heard a few times or a few dozen times or more.

We long to hear the words, Well done good and faithful servant.

We covet our Master telling us to come and share his happiness.

We also know the words in between the Well done good and faithful servant and those I just read to you.

There is a third servant who didn’t do anything with what his master gave him and even that was taken away from him in the end.

Remember we saw the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous played out at the end of the Parable of the Talents.

The next parable talks of a sorting—sheep and goats are the metaphor in play.  They might represent the righteous and the wicked.

We know this one as well.  Some—possibly those who should have known better—saw people in need or hurting people and went about their business as usual.

Jesus might have been targeting the Pharisees but I think he was speaking to all of us to guard against our selfish human nature.  We want our problems solved and when one is solved, we want to move on to the next one, and the next one.

Sometimes it seems that we take life as nothing more than a series of problems to be solved.  We do solve many problems in our lifetime, but our lives are much more.

Along the way, there may have been people that we could have helped but we didn’t.  We were too busy. They didn’t smell good. They were different.  We had places to go and things to do.

We walked on by or drove on by or walked on the other side of the road or looked down on them as unworthy of mercy.

We know how this parable ends.  The group that walked on by continues along their path to eternal punishment, but the righteous—those who truly seek to live in right standing with God—go on to eternal life.

We want to be in that latter group.  We are in that group because of what the blood of Jesus has done for us, but do we want to live up to the right standing that was imputed to us by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus?

I have talked about the vending machine before.  We are not a form-in and food-out organization.  We are not a signup and pick-up program.

We are about bringing the good news of God’s love and eternal life to people.  Sometimes it comes with a bucket of food.

Sometimes it comes with a blue wristband for the person with a screaming kid in front of us at Walmart.

Sometimes it’s a hug.

Sometimes it’s a ride.

Sometimes it’s a turkey, but it is always delivered in the spirit of God’s love.  We are not Feed the Children or the Oklahoma Food Bank.  Those are good organizations and they do good things, but we bring words of life to people.

We have an abundance of food.  We have sent out an abundance of food to the other church bodies.  We still have an abundance of food.  People bring food here—that never worship here—because they know we will deliver it to hungry people.

Not all of them know that we will deliver it with good news.

Some only have eyes to see the hungry stomachs.  That’s fine.  Empathy and compassion for your fellow man are good qualities.

But we must deliver more.  We must long to feed not only the body but the soul.

I posted this prayer in the Missions Room.  Consider this petition to the Lord as we conclude this morning.

Lord, help us have eyes to see those who are hungry and prompt us to feed them.

Lord, help us to have eyes to see those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and bring them to you.

Lord, help us to deliver good news with every basket of food.

Lord, help us to be your love in action!

Amen.

That’s what I posted.  Let us never become callous to the needs of our brothers and sisters. Know that when we help, it is never really about the stuff.  Sure, people need food for their stomachs, but food without truth can only sustain the body.

Let us deliver food or rides or other help with compassion, mercy, kindness, generosity, and love—most of all love.

Let us speak the truth in a spirit of love and deliver Living Water and the Bread of Life!

Now let’s take this as our own petition to the Lord and as our closing prayer.

Lord, help us have eyes to see those who are hungry and prompt us to feed them.

Lord, help us to have eyes to see those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and bring them to you.

Lord, help us to deliver good news with every basket of food.

Lord, help us to be your love in action!

Amen.

 

One returned to give thanks...

 Read Luke 17:11-19

I have offered up this verse to you in a few ways over the past two weeks.  Today we will stick with the expository mode.  We will go verse by verse.

You got some main concepts before, but today we drill down a little. We begin with verse 11.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

OK, so Jesus is out walking again, but we see more.  He is not only in Judea and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, he is also preaching, teaching, and saving humankind in Samaria, that country so despised by the Jewish people.

We remember in John 4, that Jesus purposely went through Samarian surely for an encounter with a woman who had lived in sin for so long that she had adapted comfortably to her worldly circumstances.  Jesus, however, wouldn’t let her off the hook.

He wasn’t there to condemn her but to liberate her.  He met her where she was in her life.  She was knowledgeable of God’s word and that a Messiah was coming, but her life was one of sin and being ostracized by her community.

Jesus met her where she was but was not content to leave her there.

Jesus came asking for a drink but giving her living water.  Jesus ministered in Samaria, and it seemed that he loved using the Samaritans as the best of examples. I think Jesus enjoyed ruffling the feathers of the self-righteous and disturbing some comfort zones. 

On to verses 12 and 13.

As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

What do we see?  There were 10 men with leprosy.  Where were they? Outside the village.  Lepers were outcasts.  They were different. They looked terrible.  They were far from mainstreaming in society.

And they knew it…

They remained at a distance and called out to Jesus.  They didn’t approach him.  That would be socially unacceptable.  Jesus was at least a rabbi and had some standing.

We should note that they called him Master.  Did they know that he was the Messiah?

They asked for pity.  They asked for mercy.  They wanted to be healed but they would take what they could get.  Sir, grant us some compassion.  We are at the bottom of life.  We can only associate with each other or those who associate with us might be considered unclean themselves.

Have mercy on us.

Now verse 14.

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

What do we see?  Obedience. Jesus said go and they went.

Unlike the man at the pool in Bethsaida who had his list of excuses at the ready as to why nothing helped, these men obeyed. Jesus directed and they obeyed.

They were headed to show themselves to the priests and they were cleansed as they walked.

Verse 15.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.

All were obedient. They were on their way to see the priests, but one was overwhelmed with thanksgiving.  He was compelled by the spirit within him that sought out God to give thanks and praise to God.

All were obedient, but one was thankful.  He did not become disobedient in his thanksgiving.  Yes, Jesus told him to go to the priests but here he was in front of Jesus praising God in a loud voice.

In a loud voice. He was not timid.  He was not concerned about what others thought of his praise.  He was compelled to praise God.

Verse 16.

He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

He threw himself at the feet of Jesus. It would have been socially unacceptable to approach Jesus so closely before, but he knew that he had been cleansed and nothing would stop him from thanking the King of kings and Lord of lords.

He would fall at the feet of the one who saved him from such a horrible illness and who would go on the bring salvation to the world and he would give thanks.

He was thankful. OBTW—he was a Samaritan. Think about it.  He was despised because he was a leper and he was despised because he was a Samaritan, and he was the only one that returned to thank Jesus.

Mr. Double Despised returned to thank Jesus.  That had to get under the skin of the self-righteous.

Now verse 17.  Jesus has healed.  Now he will teach, but in a provocative manner.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

Jesus was not asking the leper who was now clean.  His question was for all gathered and it is for us.

All ten were obedient but one was compelled by thanksgiving to return to Jesus.  One realized what Paul would later describe the surpassing glory of Christ over the law. 

The law was good and continues to be good, but this one Samaritan man saw the One who was so much greater.  We don’t know, but he might have later gone to the priests as instructed, but he didn’t need to go. 

Peter would write that Paul is sometimes hard to understand.  He didn’t say that Paul missed the mark, but he was a theologian among fishermen and sometimes stretched the thought process a bit farther than they could cast their nets.

I love Paul’s writings.  Many misconstrue them innocently or with devious or self-serving purposes, but this one Samaritan understood the surpassing glory of the Christ and could not help but return to praise God and give thanks.

He fell at his feet and gave him thanks. Today, we grumble when Tom has us stand for four songs, albeit short ones.

When we think of our salvation and our victory over sin and death, should we not be both thankful and prostrate before the Lord?

Should we not raise our hands or shout aloud?  Maybe a hallelujah here and there would be appropriate.

The leper who had been cleansed knew what to do.  He fell down before the Lord, praised God, and thanked Jesus.

We are saved from a disease just as vile—sin and death—yet we are cured in the blood of Jesus.  Should we not be just as excited about our healing?

Verse 18.

Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

One out of ten who were healed from a horrible disease and a life of exclusion returned to give thanks.  Yes, the others had an excuse—they were on the way to see the priests.  They were obedient.

There is nothing wrong with obedience.  In fact, there are incredible blessings in obedience but nothing in obedience precludes us from thanksgiving.

Only our human nature and a concern about what others might think preclude us from giving very vocal praise to God and falling at the feet of Jesus.

When the world—even the Christian world—goes about business as usual saying they are playing by the rules—at least the rules they think are important—you be the one who returns to Jesus to give thanks and praise God.

Be the one who doesn’t care what the world thinks but is compelled to give thanks to God.

And finally, verse 19.

Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

The process was to show yourself to the priest but the power was in the faith of this most pitiful man in our almighty God. God’s healing was manifested in the faith of this Samaritan.

When I stand before Jesus, I want to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant!”  Between now and then, I would love to hear the words, “Your faith has made you well.”

Your faith has made you complete.

Your faith has made you whole.

How about, I can see your faith!

What a powerful thing for Jesus to see your faith. What powerful words. Your faith has made your well.

Let us be the faithful ones.

Let us be the thankful one.

Let us be the ones not afraid to praise God and let us not be shy about it.

Let us be the ones who seeing what the Lord has done in our lives, come to him with praise and thanksgiving.

Amen.

Psalm 100 - Make Melody in it to the Lord

 Read Psalm 100

This morning we will be expository.  That is, we will look at our scripture line by line. 

You may wonder why.  We know the psalm.  We say it often, more often at this time of year. But let’s examine it verse by verse nonetheless.

I don’t use many commentaries.  Some extend metaphors well beyond what was likely intended.  Some go down rabbit trails.  Some state the obvious, but as we look at this psalm, I think Matthew Henry’s introductory notes hit the target.

It is with good reason that many sing this psalm very frequently in their religious assemblies, for it is very proper both to express and to excite pious and devout affections towards God in our approach to him in holy ordinances; and, if our hearts go along with the words, we shall make melody in it to the Lord. The Jews say it was penned to be sung with their thank-offerings; perhaps it was; but we say that as there is nothing in it peculiar to their economy so its beginning with a call to all lands to praise God plainly extends it to the gospel-church. Here. We are called upon to praise God and rejoice in him.

The first verse says, Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Everyone, everywhere should exude joy as their state of living. Even in our trials, we should have joy.

Paul wrote, rejoice in the Lord always.  Once wasn’t enough. He added again I say rejoice!

We remember This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Henry noted, if our hearts go along with the words, we shall make melody in it to the Lord. Think about it. If our hearts are in tune with the words, it’s music to the Lord.

The second verse says Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

I have a little difficulty sometimes discerning whether it is irony or paradox when people don’t want to come into God’s house with gladness in their hearts and a joyful song for the Lord, but they want him to hold their reservation in heaven.

Some come to worship in an Eeyore state of heart and mind.  Guess I’ve got to go. I want to get to heaven after all.  Could be doing something else.

If we are not excited about lifting up a joyful song to God, why do we want to spend eternity with him?  Some might have come to their salvation thinking I don’t want to burn in hell. 

For those who came to salvation knowing that God loves them and he loves us so much that he did everything required for us to spend eternity with him—even committing his Son to death on a cross—how could we come before God with anything but joy and gladness.

Now verse three.

Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

God is sovereign.  He reigns. He was not elected and is not up for reelection.  He is sovereign.  There are none beside him. He reigns.

The sooner that we accept this, the sooner we can reconcile so much in our lives.  We are not the master of the universe. The world does not revolve around us.

There is a term for people who think the world revolves around them.  That term is teenager. It’s that unique period in a person’s life where they know everything about everything while knowing nothing about anything. Most grow out of it.

We never grow completely out of it.  Sometimes we relapse and think everything revolves around us, but the psalm reminds us that it’s all about God. He alone is sovereign.

Again, I will use part of Henry’s Commentaries.

It is he that has made us, and not we ourselves. I find that I am, but cannot say, I am that I am, and therefore must ask, Whence am I? Who made me? Where is God my Maker?

We know that we exist but we must ask how? Who? Why?  Those answers come only from God and not our own doing.

The pagans made their own gods from their own workmanship and by definition they are not eternal or infinite or even divine.

We belong to God. He made us. We are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  In those few words, we find that God is not just all-powerful, but he is our Shepherd.  He cares for us.

Verse four gets us to thanksgiving.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

Because God is sovereign and chose to make us, we should be thankful.  We might have never existed. We not only exist, we exist in God's image and live in God's love and grace.

Is that not enough to evoke thanksgiving in our lives, especially when we come to worship God.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

Let’s wrap up with verse five.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

The Lord is good and the Lord does good. We know that God will take everything in our lives and use it for good. That is good news for us.

You know the mantra. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. These last two lines contain three powerful thoughts.

First, God is good.  God would still be God if he were just sovereign. But we are blessed that God is good.

Second, his love endures forever.  He loves us with an everlasting love.  It’s not love you today and kick you to the curb tomorrow.  He loves us now and will never stop loving us.

Third, his faithfulness continues to all generations as well. Even when we are not faithful, God is faithful. It’s just who he is.

He is good. He is loving. He is faithful.  That’s who he is.

Should that alone not evoke words and songs and lives of thanksgiving?

Let us wrap up this morning by saying Psalm 100 together.  This time let God know that we have joy in our hearts because of him and his love and we want him to not only hear but feel our praise.

Let our hearts be in tune with the words as we worship in this psalm of thanksgiving.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

    Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

 

Amen.

 

One Returned

 Read Luke 17:11-19

Read Psalm 100

Lord, please help me with this month’s bills

Lord, please get my kids home safely.

Father God, please help my nephew overcome addiction.

Lord God Almighty, please don’t let me lose custody of my kids.

Jesus, Precious Jesus, help him pull through this operation.

God, I know you know my situation, please help.

What happens when somehow, the bills get paid?

What happens when somehow the kids all arrive safely?

What happens when the chains of addiction are broken?

What happens when you get to keep your kids?

What happens when the operation is successful?

What happens when the very thing you asked God for is delivered?

Is thanksgiving our first response or is it on to the next problem?

Is thanksgiving our continual response or is it a one-and-done?  C’mon God, I said thanks.

Do we awaken each morning thanking God that we have a roof over our heads and something to eat?

Do we consider in the course of our day that we are provisioned to live in this modern age?  We have electricity, a phone, a car or at least someone to give us a ride? Do we give thanks to God for these things that are so easily taken for granted?

Do we thank God that we had a job yesterday and it is still there today? We don’t have to go to a gathering place like day workers who hope someone will hire them.

Ten men had leprosy.  All ten were healed but when they realized they were healed, only one returned to give thanks to God.

That means that 9 out of 10 just went about their business.  Now that business was to make the sacrifice required by the law, but it was absent genuine thanksgiving.

That’s human nature.

Human nature leads us to just go through the motions, to just do the next thing, to live without giving much thought to thanksgiving.

Our nature as new creatures must always include thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a part of who we are now.

We are told that Satan has blinded unbelievers, but we are believers and we have eyes to see.  What do we see?

Blessings. In every direction and in most every circumstance we can see blessings.

I was playing golf one day in January with Jim Fisk and Ned Fite. If you can play golf in January in Oklahoma, that’s a blessing unto itself.

I had hit a terrible tee shot into the woods.  There was no good way back to the fairway.  Even if I hit back to the tee box, I would have to squeeze between trees.

Ned looked at my situation and remarked:  I always try to find one good thing about each shot.

I looked at him suspiciously and he continued:  The good thing here is that it’s not my shot.

Seriously, we have eyes to see blessings in most everything, even in our trials.  Because we can see God at work everywhere, we should be thankful.

We should give thanks.

We should be known as a grateful people who give thanks in all circumstances

Let us approach not only this month but every day with Thanksgiving.  Let us be known as thankful people.

Let us always look for reasons to thank God.

Let us conclude as we began this service with Psalm 100.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

   Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Even if all others seem to just being going about their lives business as usual, let us be the ones to return and give thanks.

Amen.

Mutual Support

 Read Ephesians 6

We will put on the full armor of God in the next service.  For now, let’s look at how Paul wrapped up that section.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

There is a concept in military operations called mutual support.  Not only am I shooting the bad guys in front of me, but also those in front of you.  You do the same for me. 

The military term is interlocking and overlapping fields of fire. While we train individuals to defeat the enemy man to man, we practice defeating the enemy together.

Paul’s concept of prayer fits this model.  Be alert, not just for yourself but for all of God’s people.  Pray for all believers not just yourself and your family.

Ask for what you need to accomplish the mission that the Lord has given you but ask also that the Lord protect and provide for those other believers who have put on the full armor of God.

Paul asked for boldness and fearlessness.  Paul knew that his mission was to take the gospel to the world, most of it the Gentile world.

Paul asked his fellow believers to pray that he would never wimp out. Paul faced physical hardship, being stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned.  He asked his fellow believers to pray that he would heed his own counsel and continue to press on toward the goal.

We know that Paul often prayed for new believers to stick to the one true gospel and not be persuaded by other arguments that might appeal to their own understanding.

How do we apply this?

The prayer list is one way.  Putting someone on the prayer list doesn’t help.  Praying for those on the prayer list does.

We don’t say—I hope—I put them on the prayer list. My work here is done.  Unfortunately, some do just that.

Connecting with other believers more than on Sunday or Wednesday gives us insight into what we should pray for in their lives.

Serving the Lord in various ministries often gives us eyes to see where prayers would be most effective.  We are told that the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective. 

How powerful would the prayers of many who are made right by the blood of Jesus be?  Surely, the more that we pray for each other the better.

Paul asked for prayers for himself. How should you pray for me?

Pray that I don’t ever preach to itching ears.  My tendency is to preach the truth without regard to whether or not it is favorably received; however, we live in an age where so many do not want God’s word but want his blessings.

Pray that I don’t put any fluff in the messages entrusted to me. You are still going to get the dad jokes, but pray I don’t dilute anything to avoid ruffling feathers that the word of God intended to be ruffled.

Pray that I stick to the truth even when it leaves me socially isolated.

Pray that I do not become cynical.  I am somewhat sarcastic by nature, but I must never become cynical even when people come to the church seeking only the things of this world.  Help me to continue to preach and teach and counsel salvation through Christ alone.

Pray that I never abandon my echoing of the Lord’s charge to love one another. When my human nature says chokehold, help me to preach and live love one another.

Like Paul, my charge is a little different from yours, but we share many things in common and should pray for these things for each other.

To be known by our love.

To be a light unto the world.

To seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness before all things.

To forgive when my own understanding says not this time.

To seek to be led by God’s Spirit in all that we do.

We are to be mutually supporting.  We put on the full armor of God each day but we fight not only for ourselves but for each other.

One of our main munitions is prayer. Let us be mutually supportive in our prayers.

Amen.

Gear Up!

 Read Ephesians 6:10-20

There are several ways to view our relationship with God and with the world.

We have a walk—a journey if you will—through our time in these bodies on this planet. We want to be on the path that the Lord has directed.

We run a race of faith.  We are commissioned to take the gospel to the world.  This requires focus and purpose.  As people who run this race, we will never know a day without purpose.

We are students.  We learn and we grow. We must trust in the Lord with all of our hearts as we grow in God’s grace. He will never leave or forsake us.  If we remain faithful, we will grow in our trials. God will take all of our life experience and use it for good.

We are letters and ambassadors and messengers.  We deliver good news.  We are examples of right living and right relationship.  That doesn’t mean we don’t fall short. It means that we confess and continue our missions.

We are sowers of seeds. Some plant. Others water. Some harvest.  It seems that we are all involved in agriculture.

We are part of a family.  We are brothers and sisters with our Lord. We are known as the body of Christ. We each have different gifts and talents and roles to play in this family.

We are in a relationship where we are abundantly blessed yet called to live sacrificially.

We could frame our relationships in other ways. It’s not a multiple choice.  It’s not one for each day.

Monday we’re walking.

Tuesday we’re running.

Wednesday we’re learning.

Thursday we’re delivering.

Friday we’re sowing and harvesting.

What do you think?  How does Sacrifice Saturday sound?

We actually do some of each on almost every day.  We might have a streak where we just learn for a couple weeks or have a season of sacrifice or just enjoy the walk with the Lord.

But there is one way of framing our relationship with God and with the world that I have omitted. It is that of warrior.  We are also warriors for the Lord.

We can go back to Abram and note that he led 318 men in battle, and won. He won against some big armies.

The Lord had Gideon reduce his numbers so there was no doubt that God was with him in military victory.

Joshua led God’s chosen people into battles as they took possession of the promised land. The Lord preceded these warriors.

David was renowned as a warrior. He was credited with killing thousands upon thousands of Israel’s enemies and one very large Philistine.

These examples all have one thing in common.  They were physical battles.  God was with these warriors, but they battled flesh and blood enemies.

We may have some flesh and blood battles in our time, but Paul’s words are to ready us against enemies in the spiritual realm.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We battle Satan, evil, and the sinful nature in our hearts daily.  Some battles are tougher than others. You might think, I don’t know if I have ever encountered Satan or pure evil, but you have battled them

How?.

For half of my time in the Marine Corps, my war was the Cold War.  It involved readiness and a forward-deployed presence. There were some small and very short shooting matches, but not full-scale war, as we saw in the Arabian Gulf.

Make no mistake, the world was full of enemies of the United States. 

Make no mistake, Satan is at work in the world, but our readiness to serve the Lord does wonders to keep him at bay.  Do you remember, resist the Devil and he will flee?

Paul tells us that our battles are against the powers of the dark world.  They are less flesh and blood and more those in the spiritual realm.

Know with certainty, that God wins. God has won!  The outcome is certain but we still battle spiritual forces. We still battle our sinful natures.  We still have battles.

In addition to everything else, we must be warriors.

To win, we must be equipped.  We must put on our gear.  This is not accessorizing. These are not articles of clothing that make a fashion statement.  Listen to what Paul projects in this metaphor.

The belt of truth enables us to stand firm—to hold our ground.

We can hold our ground because of God’s righteousness that he imputed to us in the blood of Jesus.  We call that the breastplate of righteousness. That would be our flak vest in this era.

Our combat boots are readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  You remember that Cold War reference.  We won because of readiness.  This country’s readiness came in the commitment of its service men and women, funding of our military forces, and a forward deployed presence that said, “You don’t want to find out what happens…”

Our readiness resides in the gospel that we are to take to the world.  We will never live a day without purpose.  God trusted us with the gospel.  Living that purpose makes us ready for the battles ahead.

We take up the shield of faith. It shields us from the attacks of the evil one. Yes, sometimes we are under attack.

But we go on the offensive as well. We are fitted with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

We do not sit passively hoping for the best. We invade a godless world with the word of God. It’s all a metaphor, yes, but that makes us no less a warrior.

We don’t go looking for a fight but we are always prepared to make a defense of our faith as we take the gospel to the world.

The old Marine Corps recruiting slogan was “Nobody likes to fight, but somebody has to know how”

As spiritual warriors, you are not looking for a fight, but are prepared for one and know how.  Our mission takes us into the world.  We should be examples, light in a dark world, messengers and ambassadors for the Lord, and yes, even warriors.

There is a single word, an adjective, in this pericope that I want us to anchor on as we wrap up.  The word is full.  We are to put on the full armor of God.  It’s not just a piece here and there.

Do you remember what Colin Powell said as we neared combat in the first Gulf War?  Desert Shield got us into place. Desert Storm would be the combat operation that put the German blitzkrieg to shame.

He said, we learned our lessons from Vietnam. This time were are not holding back. We are bringing all of our toys and using them.

In similar fashion, we are to put on the full armor of God—every piece, every day.  We may not fight on that day, but we will be ready.

We will be ready!

This is not a strange concept. You have heard it from me for years.  We take the full biblical witness, not just a verse or two here and there, and seek to please God.

We take the full message that God has sent to us and put it into practice.

As we prepare for spiritual warfare, we put on the full armor of God

Gear up!

Amen.

Take the Talent Away from Him...

 Read Matthew 25:14-30

 

You wicked, lazy servant!

 

I do not want to be at the end of a sentence that begins with “Woe unto” and I do not want to be the addressee of the statement, “You wicked, lazy servant!”

 

For the most part, I focus on what we are to do as trusted servants when examining this parable.  We know that we are saved from sin and death.  We know that the blood of Jesus has rescued us from condemnation.

 

There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.  Those are some powerful words. 

Those are incredibly powerful words, but we still need to consider the negative examples when they come our way in our Bible study.  The third servant gives us those negative examples.

 

He was governed by fear.  We have discussed fear many times and know that God wants us to be courageous and not afraid.  But for this brief examination, I want to look at the master’s disposition in dealing with the third servant.

 

His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So, you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest.

 

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.  For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

 

The third servant knew right away that when the master began labeling him wicked and lazy, things were not going to work out as he thought.  The master doesn’t just reprimand the servant, he examines his thinking.

 

Some people love me because I tend to examine the thinking.  Just as many people hate me for the same reason.  Back to the parable…

 

You knew that I gleaned a return even where I had not invested.  You knew that about me but you chose a course of action that produced no return.

 

You knew what I expected and you did the opposite.  How could this turn out for the good?  Really?  Did you see any good outcome in your choice?

 

So, you were afraid.  Is that it?  Have I ever valued fear in our relationship?  Have I taught you fear?  If you had fear of me, don’t you think that would have motivated you to please me—to produce some return for me?

 

You get better results with courage but if you were afraid of me then you should have considered that I would not accept anything short of some return on investment. 

 

You should have used your fear of me as motivation to please me and not something to debilitate you.

How could you accomplish this with so little courage?  You could have marched yourself right down the bank and put my money in a Certificate of Deposit.  At least I could have received some interest. That’s a no-brainer.

 

How hard would that be?  You didn’t have the backbone to invest like the other two servants, but you had everything that you needed to go to the bank and deposit my money in an interest-bearing account with no risk.

 

C’mon snowflake, even you could have done that!

 

We are usually in tune with what’s happening up to this point, but now the master says, “Take the money away from this servant and give it to the one who has the ten talents.”

 

Ouch!  Isn’t that being a little harsh?

 

Let’s remember that the money was a trust.  It really never belonged to the servants.  Remember the joy of the first two servants.  ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

 

See what I gained for you.  Here is what I did for you!  My joy is in pleasing you!

The third servant knew that the money belonged to his master, but he never moved beyond fear to realize that he was also a trusted servant.

 

One talent equaled the daily wage for a worker for 20 years.  That’s big-time money even when you are only trusted with one talent.  Today, what does the typical worker make?  If it’s on the low end, maybe $30,000 per year.  On the high end, perhaps $50,000 per year.  I’m not talking about supervisors and executives, but workers. 

 

So, one talent in today’s equivalent is between half a million and a million dollars.  That’s no chump change. 

 

There are other estimates but they also fall under the no chump change umbrella.

 

OK, so we get this is a big trust even for the third servant, but why take what little he has?

 

Think to Proverbs 13:22. 

 

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children,

    but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

 

You may have heard the second part of that as the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just or the righteous. 

 

What else could the master do if he subscribed to biblical wisdom?  The wicked and lazy don’t get to keep what they have if they have anything at all.

 

Remember, the three parables in this chapter are told in response to the disciple asking about the end of the age.

 

Throughout the Psalms, the psalmists cry out on behalf of the people, “How long are you going to let people get away with defying you and living it up, Lord?”

 

The answer is that in the end, they do not get away with it.  Wealth won’t get you anything on the day of wrath, but righteousness is what saves you.

 

Part of the problem is that we have our own connotations of wicked.  Hollywood paints villains as ugly, menacing, and heartless doers of evil.  But we should look at wickedness as everything that is not good—everything that is not done or given or lived in God’s way.

 

There is no sitting on the fence in this dichotomy.  It’s God’s way and everything else.  If you are on the wrong side of the fence, you have earned the titles wicked or lazy or slothful.  Don’t get caught up in the Hollywood picture of a villain and think that’s what wickedness looks like.

 

The wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous, so the decision to take the talent from the third servant was not nearly as harsh as that servant's decision to defy his master.

 

Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents.  That was the message at First Light. God wants to give the faithful even more.

 

For now, there is God’s way and there is everything else.  Those living in the everything else, don’t get to enjoy their Master’s happiness.

 

Even what they have will be taken.

 

We are God’s way people.  We enjoy his happiness.

 

 

Amen.