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.
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