Faith - Getting Started

Read Hebrews 11:1-3

We begin a course of examining the topic of faith in this service.  It’s a word we often use but don’t always understand.

For those who went through Hebrews with me in the First Light Service last year, much of what you hear this morning will sound very familiar, if you were awake and listening.  If you were there and it’s all new to you, here is your second chance.

The word faith is used very few times in the Old Testament.  It appears at least 245 times in the New Testament.  Paul is the likely culprit for such a large number, but Jesus also used the term.

It’s sometimes hard to distinguish between the modern words believe and faith, so exact counts vary based on translation, but faith is a big word in this age.  We begin in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews.

If you were wondering how we would begin to tackle this topic of faith, now you know.

There are very few definitions in the Bible, but Hebrews 11:1 has one worth noting.  It is the definition of faith. 

Anyone know where to find the definition of eternal life?  John 17:3

Listen to verse 1 of chapter 11 in Hebrews in these translations.

NIV:  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Holman’s:  Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

This translation also offers this variant:  Now faith is the assurance of what is hoped for, the conviction of what is not seen.

New Living:  Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

King James:  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is believing is seeing.  We can’t see it but we know it’s there.  We believe just as if we saw it wit our own eyes.

Anyone been to the Colosseum in Rome?  It’s quite the deal.  I didn’t get to see it until a couple of years ago coming back from Africa.  When I went, I was sure it would be there.  It was.

Do you believe it’s there?  Have you seen it?  A picture?  Nobody can fake a picture.  Somehow you believe it to be there.

Anyone have a cell phone or smartphone or watch you can talk on or Star Trek communicator?

Your phone says MOM on the caller ID.  If it said TOM you would let it go to voice mail.  I know how you do me. 

You answer and a voice sounds like your Mom.  Is it your mom?  How do you know.  Can you see her?  Can you see the signal come and go from your phone?

Sometimes when the service is slow, I can see the signal .  Not!

But I have faith that’s my mom or my wife or my kids or grandkids on the other end.

We have a lot of faith in things of the world.  Now we are told to have faith in things we can’t see just as if we could see them.

Paul would complement this by saying that we walk by faith not by sight.  That’s having such faith—believing even though we can’t see—that we walk, we act, we do things based on what we cannot see.

We have faith in some things of the world. How about faith in God.  For example?

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

It didn’t just happen.  The unexplainable has an explanation but we have to take it by faith.

We were not there.

There is no YouTube video in the archives.

We have faith that God brought everything into existence.

Even those who try to come up with stand-alone scientific explanations have to have faith in their theories.  They were not there either.  Nobody was taking notes. 

Either way, you have to have faith in what you believe about creation.  Either the word of God is true or your theory of cosmic beginnings is true, but you must put your faith in one or the other.

There is no seeing is believing.  We weren’t there and there is no snapchat video.

We take it on faith that God did this.  Others take their theories on faith but faith is there one way or the other.

The author here says that the ancients were commended for their faith.

Let’s venture briefly to John’s gospel.  You know the story.  Jesus rose from the dead, entered a locked room and appeared to the disciples, except Thomas was out.

Thomas said, I will believe it when I see it myself.  I want holes in the hands.  I want to see where the spear went in his side.  SEEING IS BELIEVING.

Jesus comes back some days later.  Thomas is present.  Jesus tells him to see what he needs to see.  Thomas says in shocked belief:  MY LORD AND MY GOD.

He doesn’t even need to put his fingers through the holes. 

Jesus tells him that he believed because he saw.  Then Jesus said:  BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND HAVE BELIEVED!

That’s what we are talking about to begin this time of examining faith.

We have not seen; yet we believe!

Here is the King James Version again:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is tangible belief for what the world sees as intangible.  The world chooses to substitute wordy theories for faith.  The world thinks it believes what it believes based on intellect.

The problem is at the root of all the supposed intellect is a premise of faith when it comes to the beginnings of everything.  You must take by faith that God spoke everything into creation or that everything came about by some other means, but either way, we must take it by faith.

Everyone takes something by faith.  It’s not always the word of God.

We say that we believe the word of God.  It’s true.  The world says you can’t get there from here, even though they must take much of what they have built up as fact on a foundation of faith.  It’s not faith in God, but you can only extrapolate your theories so far until you must take something on faith.

The world says that we are crazy.  You can’t get there your way.  We say, I’m already there.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Let’s once again think about the beginning of all things.  This is from the beginning of John’s gospel in the New Living Translation.

In the beginning the Word already existed.

    The Word was with God,

    and the Word was God.

He existed in the beginning with God.

God created everything through him,

    and nothing was created except through him.

The Word gave life to everything that was created,

    and his life brought light to everyone.

The light shines in the darkness,

    and the darkness can never extinguish it.

This is what we believe.  We believe it by faith.  We believe it as much as if we were there watching.  This is faith.

This is our starting point for the next few weeks.  I know that we have a memory verse for this month, but I want us to take this first verse from the 11^th chapter of Hebrews, in the King James Version, and make it our memory verse for our faith excursion.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Amen.

Parable of the Talents - You wicked, lazy servant!

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.  But we 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 by 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.

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?

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. 

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.

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.

We are usually in tune with what’s happening up to this point, but now the master says, “Take the money way 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 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. 

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.

Throughout the psalms, the people cry out, “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, and 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, well, that’s a message for another time.

Amen.

Parable of the Talents--God's Generosity

Read Matthew 25:14-30

At the early service, we looked at the end of this parable.  You know the words.  You wicked, lazy servant!  Now those are some words I don’t want to hear.

We don’t always understand this part in our modern mindset.  Hey, the guy just didn’t do well.  Why accost him and call him names—mean names at that?

Was he really wicked?  Lazy, that’s easier to swallow, but wicked, really?

Understand the Proverbs.  In macro view they say there is God’s way and there is everything else.  What are the terms for everything else?

Wicked.

Sinful.

Slothful.

Lazy.

Foolish.

It’s a dichotomy:  Righteous or wicked.  There is no middle ground.  There is no fence sitting.  It’s God’s way or everything else and everything else is labeled wicked.

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!  I love being your servant and bringing you this good report.

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.

He only had one talent.  How can he be considered 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 $25,000 per year.  On the high end, perhaps $50,000 per year.  I’m not talking 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. 

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.

This morning I want us to look at the wealth of the wicked being stored up for the righteous in the context of this parable.

The first servant had done very well.  We know this from the beginning of the parable.  He was trusted with more than the other two.  He produced more than the other two.  He put what the Master gave him and put it to work right away and produced a great return.

Today, it would take 10 years to double your money if you invested in something with a 7% interest or return.  The master was gone a long time, but I doubt it was 10 years, so this first servant surely made some aggressive investments that required much attention. 

He had to be diligent.  He had to be wise.  He had to be decisive but not impulsive.  His master trusted him in accordance with his ability.  He produced a fantastic return.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

The second servant did likewise and received the same commendation from his master, but at the close of this parable, we see the first servant rewarded beyond all others.

So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents.  For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough.

The wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. 

This first servant took the money with which his master had trusted him and produced a good return.  He knew what he started with and what he produced.  But when the full accounting of these servants was finished, this first servant was given more.

The talent first trusted to the third servant was put in the first servant’s trust.  He was given more.  He had more and was given more.  He had more than enough.

Now both the first and second servant were also invited to share their master’s happiness.  They got a promotion and they were invited to be a part of their master’s happiness.

But the first servant got something extra.  So the moral of the story is it pays to be number one!  That’s the ticket!  It’s dog-eat-dog even in the parables of Jesus. 

Or not.

All of the money still belonged to the master.  Even the 11^th talent received by the first servant still belonged to the master.  It’s not about how much you have.  It’s about what you do with it.

In this parable, it has to do with money.  Money is something that we get—we can wrap our minds around it easily.  It’s not conceptual or reflective.  We can count and measure money.

But we are trusted with so much more than money.  We lead and we serve.  We parent and look after parents.  We proclaim the good news and we are a light unto the world.

We are generous.  We are people of truth.  We are people of love and mercy.

We are disciples.  God has trusted us with following Jesus, taking the gospel to the world, doing our best to live the right standing with God that we have received as a gift.

We can look at this parable and if we are not careful, we might think it’s about what we do that puts us in right standing with God, but it has nothing to do with what we have done.

God made us right with him.  He did all that was required.  We are receivers of his blessings.

Look at the religions of the world. They require their followers to do good, or follow certain rules, or a combination of both to get to heaven, or get to a state of Nirvana or reach a plane of consciousness or become nonexistent.

Everyone else is working their way to heaven.  Heaven has been given to us freely in the blood of Jesus.  We are receivers of this gift.

The world that believes in something else but thinks they can earn their way to heaven spends time doing things that get them there or so they believe.

We spend our time receiving what has been so freely given.  We want to receive more and more of the Kingdom of Heaven into our lives now.  Yes, there is more in store, but we are to receive God’s kingdom now.

Every time that we receive God’s kingdom and live in his kingdom, he gives us more of his kingdom.  God wants to add to what we have already received and put to work and refined and produced.

God wants to add to what we have.

When we receive the gift of salvation and decide to follow Jesus and put his words into practice, we should expect not only to please God but to be further blessed by him.

Sometimes this is with money.

Sometimes it is with Spiritual Gifts.

Sometimes it is with opportunities.

Sometimes it is with peace that is more than we can understand.

Sometimes it is wisdom that God grants generously.

Sometimes it is eyes to see and ears to hear in the midst of a chaotic world.

God wants to give us more!

God wants us to live an abundant life.

Some might be thinking that he is going to preach name it, claim it.    No, I am preaching about the abundant generosity of God.  God is looking for a reason to bless us.  God wants to give us good gifts, fantastic blessings, and this thing called abundant life.

I am talking about the abundant nature of our Master!

If God is for us, who can be against us?  Make no mistake that God is for us.  He has opened his kingdom to us.  He has saved us from wrath and punishment in the blood of Jesus and he is looking to bless us beyond what we might expect.

God wants to add to what we have for we are his trusted servants, his children, and his friends.

When we live every day God’s way, we should expect God’s blessings to continue even in our trials and tribulations.  We will have trouble in this world but take heart—take courage—Christ Jesus has overcome the world for us.

For those who consistently reject God’s way, even what they have will be taken and given to those living in right standing with God.  Are we talking about salvation here?  I don’t think so.  All three were trusted servants.

What about the wicked and lazy part?  I think we are talking about someone getting through this life as one escaping a burning house with only the scorched clothes on his back and having missed a few payments on his fire insurance.

Are we talking about rewards for the righteous?  Yes, to an extent.  But we are also talking about awards.  Rewards come in return for what is done.  Something awarded is an honor bestowed upon someone beyond the customary reward.  Awards consider what has been accomplished but is more about bestowing a greater blessing upon someone who is already enjoying the rewards of doing things right.

What do we take home here?

God made you right with him by the blood of Jesus.  That’s the biggest gift and blessing ever.

God wants you to do things his way and rewards those who do.

God wants to give over and beyond what might be expected.

God wants to give you more. 

We often look at what we are to do when we examine this parable.  That’s good.  We should—we should be faithful in a few things.  We should take what our Master gave us and be faithful to put it to work to produce a good return for the body of Christ and bring glory to God’s name.

This morning, however, I want us to focus on the generosity of God.  God wants to give you more.

The sun shines and the rain falls on the wicked as well as the righteous, but there are some things that God gives only to those seeking him and his righteousness.  God wants to give you more.

The question is, “Will we receive it?”

The Kingdom of Heaven has been opened to us.  We may live in this kingdom now.  We are not on our way there.  God’s kingdom has come to us.

God wants to give us more.  The wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous.  The wicked don’t want to live in God’s kingdom.  They want the benefits but are afraid to give up what they have in the world thinking it to be better than what God has in store for us.

I believe that we want to receive this kingdom now, but we must first stop believing the lies of the enemy, of the world, and of our own selfish nature.  God’s way is better than the way of the world. 

The world has a great advertising campaign going but God gives us truth.  And the truth is that God loves you.  He has called us to love one another.  He wants to bless us more and more.  He wants us living in his kingdom now where he is our only Master.  You cannot serve two masters.

You may look around at those in the world getting away with all sorts of scandalous things and wonder, will God let them get away with it, or how much longer will the wicked live the rich life?

Don’t worry.  What the wicked have, they don’t get to keep.  In fact, they are only holding it until it is given to us.  The wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous.

Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten talents.

God wants to give you more than he has already.  Be ready to receive it.

Amen.

Parable of the Talents - Leadership Lessons from the Master of the Servants

Read Matthew 25:14-30

Let’s look at the man in this parable—the master of these 3 servants.  What do we know about this man?

He is going on an extended trip.

He has some wealth.

He has servants.

He knows what each servant can do.

He trusts his servants in accordance with what they could do.

He has high but reasonable expectations of his servants.

He settles accounts with his servants upon return.  He models accountability.  Trust but inspect.  Trust but verify might be modern corollaries.

He rewards his servants in accordance with what they did.

He harvests where he has not sown.

He understands return on investment.

He places high value on faithfulness.

He places a high value on happiness.

He does not put up with debilitating fear.  That is to say, courage is essential.

He is master over his servants but expects them to be master over their trusts, in this case, money.

We often put Jesus in the place of this man, this master.  It’s a good comparison but surely not complete; however, the man in this parable is surely a good model for any leader.

What could leaders glean from this parable?

Know your people.

Set an example of what return on investment looks like.  Harvests where he has not sown.  OK, your Okies, think plum thickets.

Employ them in accordance with their abilities. 

Trust them based on their track record.

Set high but realistic goals.

Measure and reward.  In this case it applies to performance and results.

Promotion is great.  Inclusion in the family is greater.  Performance is great, but connection and inclusion get you better results.

If fear of failure exceeds the desire to produce good things, it’s time to sever the relationship.  If fear governs your decisions, you are not playing on my team.  Will I help you deal with this?  Yes.

Will I tolerate that mindset?  No.

Remember that fear and trust don’t keep company and you are his trusted servant.  When you lead, you should have like expectations of those whom you trust.

Many of these should sound familiar.  They have appeared in leadership maxims for ages.

You can’t cop out on this one and say that, “Well, I am not in a leadership position.”  If you follow Christ, you knowingly or not are a leadership example to others.  You have committed to a path.  I have decided to follow Jesus!  No turning back.  No turning back.

Remember, we are also teachers, coaches, parents, supervisors, or even just the guy who trains the new guy.  We all have opportunities to lead, so why not use the best examples we can.

We most often take the examples of the servants and apply them to our lives.  Today, consider the example of the master in this parable and the Master who gives us life in him as our examples on how to live and how to lead.

Amen!

The Parable of the Talents: Points & Prayers

Read Matthew 25:14-30

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 

For over a decade, I have been preaching or teaching or examining this parable with you at least twice a year.  The year that we did all of the parables, I taught this 3 consecutive Sundays.  This year you can get it twice a Sunday for two Sundays in a row.  That’s 4 messages in 2 Sundays at no extra charge, but you must act now to receive this special offer.

If you know me, then you know how special this parable is to me.  It ranks right up there with lost and found in Luke 15, and has so many perspectives and dimensions. 

I always try to take a slightly different approach to the parable each time.  There is, of course, some overlap.  In the earlier service, we focused on the perspective of the master in this parable, noting his expectations and what he valued.  It was a good model for our own leadership.

Though many of the aspects of the master surely represent Jesus, we should not make the parable allegorical.   Today, I ask us to look at this unique aspect of the parable—the master was gone for a long time.

This wasn’t a typical 2-week vacation.  This wasn’t a 6-month sabbatical.  The master was gone a long time.  The servants were left to their own inclinations for a long time.

There is a short book by the title of A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard.  It was published first in 1899 and is therefore in the public domain and can easily be found on the internet.  It puts us in the age of President McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, and the Spanish American War.

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at Perihelion. When war broke out between Spain and the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the insurgents. García was somewhere in the mountain vastnesses of Cuba—no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.

What to do!

Someone said to the President, “There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find García for you, if anybody can.”

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to García. How “the fellow by the name of Rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot and delivered his letter to García, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to García; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, “Where is he at?” By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing—“Carry a message to García!”

General García is dead now, but there are other Garcías.

The remainder of the essay is worth reading.  My own children have read it numerous times, surely mumbling bad things about me on some occasions and joyous when they needed a last minute book report.

It looks at how unique it is to find a person who will do his job, do it right, do it with excellence, and do it without someone having to look over his should every minute.  The first two servants in the parable were such people.

They took what had been entrusted to them, put it to work, produced an excellent return, and stood ready to settle accounts with their master upon his return.

I have previously used an acronym that I created for this parable.  It’s TURN.

T is for Trusted.  Each of these servants was trusted with money in accordance with their ability.  That means that there was a relationship of trust already in place.  The master knew what each servant could handle and extended his trust accordingly.

Such a trust sets up the scenario for success.  Failure is always a risk, but these trusted servants would find a way to succeed.  Trust continues even in the absence of the master, perhaps especially in the absence of the master.

At this time, I ask that we consider the trust that we have been given by our Master.  We are trusted with the gospel, being a light unto the world, these temples in which we live, the stewardship of this planet, and so many things that we may not think of on a daily basis.  So we pause briefly from the didactic form of this message to seek our Master in prayer.

Lord,

We seek you once again, coming this time thanking you that you trust us so much.  We thank you for your confidence in us, giving us the gifts and talents which we need to produce good fruit for you.  We petition you to open our eyes and ears and help us to see the many trusts given to us.

Our children and parents.

Our church family.

Those who are shut in or alone.

Those whom you have called the least of these.

The day itself for you have made it.

The gospel.

Our example.

Our tithe.

Investment of our time.

Our testimonies.

Lord, help us to see those things with which you have trusted us, so we may give a good account upon your return.

Amen.

U is for Urgency.  The first two servants went at once and put their talents to work.  Realize that these servants knew that they were the master of their master’s money.  They were also prepared to be trusted with more.  Part of the trust was the servant’s preparation to be trusted with more.

When the time came, they were ready.  There was no delay.  There was no when I get around to it attitude. They did not badger their master with a million and one questions before he departed.  They were ready and they put their master’s money to work at once.  They were ready.

Urgency without preparation is busyness and chaos.  They were ready and put their master’s money to work at once.

Let’s think on the things with which our Master has entrusted us.  Are we putting them to work at once?  Are we waiting to share the good news with our neighbor when the situation becomes more inviting?  Are we waiting to share our testimony for a time when we are more comfortable?

Comfort zones and obedience to our Master are often in conflict, at least until obedience becomes our comfort zone.  Let us pause once again amidst this homily and seek our Lord.

Lord,

We approach your throne of grace once again.  We come in confidence that this is exactly where you want us to be, seeking you with our entire being.  For this moment, we come in petition, asking you to grant us urgency in the right things.

Prompt us to preparation and readiness, so that when we receive a new trust from you, we are ready to put it to work.

Sustain us in those things with which you have entrusted to us for some time.  Let us begin each day with new enthusiasm as we pour ourselves into what you have given us.

Amen.

R is for Return on Investment.  We must always desire to produce fruit that benefits the body of Christ and that brings glory to God.  Obedience produces a return for our Master.  Doing things his way—putting his words into practice—produces a return for our Master.

Generosity produces a good return.  Love produces a good return.  Discipline and instruction produce good returns, that is, pruning increases the harvest. 

Study produces good returns.  Group study—those inclined towards the proverb as iron sharpens iron, so one sharpens another—produce good returns.

Ministries that connect people with the God of love and salvation and with each other produce good returns.  Let us approach our Heavenly Father once again as we seek to produce good fruit for him.

Lord,

Our hearts desire to produce a good return for you.  We long to produce fruit that benefits the body of Christ and brings glory to your name.

Help us hear your voice as we minister in this world.  Help us be fluent in your word—a workman approved—who produces good fruit for you.

Give us eyes to see those things that produce good fruit for you and those that do not.  Grant us wisdom and determination to seek only the things that bring glory to your name.

Amen.

The N in this acronym stands for No Fear.  Fear is real and is always a factor.  Having no fear is not really an option, but not letting fear govern us is within our grasp.  We do not have to give in to fear.  We are reminded that perfect love casts out fear.  It does not mean fear does not exist.  It simply kicks fear to the curb.

Without fear, we might never know courage, but rest assured that God desires us to live governed by courage and not fear.

All three servants knew fear.  Only the third servant was governed by it.  Choose courage over fear.  Remember that we are trusted servants.  God is not setting us up to fail.  He knows what we can handle and we should boldly use our gifts and talents.

Let us go to God once again in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

Help us to be bold.  Help us to fear only you and even then, to know with a blessed assurance that you have set aside our punishment, that Christ Jesus has paid the price for all of our sins.

Help us to be strong and courageous.  Help us to remember that you are with us wherever we go.

Help us to never dilute the gifts and talents that you have bestowed upon us with fear.

Help us to recognize fear for what it is, a tool of the enemy, and live as if we have no fear.

Amen.

We have taken on this parable today with a little different tact, but I hope that our points and prayers this morning have been a good investment on the year ahead. 

We are God’s trusted servants.  Let us act with urgency, desiring to produce fruit for our Lord, and kick fear to the curb every chance that we get.

Let us be people who know that they will hear, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Come and share your Master’s happiness.  Let’s conclude in prayer.

Lord,

We love you.  We want our lives to please you.  We want to take what you have given us and put it to purposeful use without delay.  We want our very lives to be a living sacrifice to you, that they are a pleasant aroma to you.

We want to live unchecked by any fear generated by the enemy, this world, or our own sinful nature.

We want to bring glory to your name.

We desire to live this life as fully as we can by using all that you have given us for your glory.

Help us produce good fruit by all that we do.

In the name of Christ Jesus, we pray.

Amen.