Responsible Investing
November 16, 2008
Matthew 25:14-30
14“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21His master said to him, ‘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.’ 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23His master said to him, ‘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.’ 24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of people in this world—those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t!
That being said, I do believe that it is fair to say that there ARE two kinds of people in the world. Those who believe in an abundant world—a world where resources are plentiful, where it is possible for everyone to have what they need—and those who believe we live in a world where resources are scarce—where we have to fight for and hoard all we can get because there may not be enough for all of us.
In our scripture today, we see both kinds of people. Two slaves who seem to assume that there are plenty of resources out there. So much so, in fact, that they don’t bother to compare what they have been given with each other. Instead, both of them take what the master gives them and immediately go to work to use the talents they have been given for the sake of the master. But then there is the third slave, who so fears the loss of what little he has, that rather than putting it to work he hides it in the ground and waits for the master to return.
Two kinds of people—those who recognize the value of what they have been given and put it to work and those who fear the losing (no matter how much or how little) what they have.
You see, it makes all the difference in the world which assumption you make. If you assume that resources are scarce, then the only wise and responsible thing to do is to be extremely conservative. Hide your treasure in the ground or your mattress. Wait for the perfect moment to use your gift. Expect someone with more resources, more money, more time, and more ability to do it for you. But if you assume that resources are abundant then why not step out in faith and take a risk—after all there is always more. So you use what you have knowing that you might lose it all but you’ll have another chance if you do. Besides if you lose it doing what would please the master then perhaps even the loss would not be so bad!
If you’ve spent any time in church, you’ve heard this story before—lots of times. But I think this parable is extremely problematic today. After all, haven’t we all seen what happens when people invest recklessly? Aren’t most of us suffering financially because of the reckless investment of others?
I’m pretty conservative in my investments. My pension is all tied up in nice safe mutual funds. But my last statement did not contain good news!
Wouldn’t it have been nice if those Wall Street investors had acted a bit more like the third servant than the first? At least then, my mutual fund would have not lost money!
We’ve heard this story so many times that we often lose sight of the fact that in many ways the third slave is a pretty sympathetic guy. And while burying money might seem foolish to us, it was the accepted safe practice for something of value in his day.
Actually, Jesus’ first hearers would have been shaking their heads at the actions of the first two slaves, wondering when those reckless financial barons were going to get what was coming to them. Then they would have smiled and nodded at the wise actions of the third slave. After all, resources are scarce in this world!
So let’s take a moment and cut that third slave some slack, because the truth is that most of us live our lives more like him than the other two!
Okay—so maybe you don’t live that way—but most folks do! I hear it all the time. “I think that is a great ministry, but I just don’t have the time to help you.” “I would really like to help, but you need to ask someone else because I’m just not good at that. “ “I would really like to support that ministry financially, but you know I have the girls’ dance lessons, in a few years they will be off to college and I have to pay for that, and then of course there is my retirement I need to worry about.”
Someone has the gift to sing and you ask them to sing but they declare that so-and-so sings so much better. Someone else is a gifted teacher but they are so tired after 40 hours of school that they can’t find the time to help at church. I have always been amazed at professional musicians, teachers, artists, and financial analysts who walk into church and declare they just don’t have the time to help!
There is only so much money coming in each week. There are only so many hours to each day. I only have so much to give.
Admit it; there are times when we can all relate to the third slave! If resources—time, talent, money—are scarce then he was a very wise man.
That’s why Jesus’ original hearers would have been shocked by Jesus’ parable. Not that the master’s response would have shocked them. What good business man wouldn’t be pleased with two employees who doubled his investment?! But they would have been appalled by the fact that Jesus favorably compared the behavior of the first two slaves to the kingdom of God!
Now we know the point Jesus was making, God brought the pie. God is the one who grants us all that we have—our time, our abilities, and our money. Everything we have is a gift from God and we should be grateful.
God—according to Jesus—is a loving Father, who wishes for us to not only have life but to have an abundant life. In another place Jesus says that if we give “it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back." And in yet another parable, he likens God to a master who forgives a huge debt. This is not a God to be afraid of. This is not a good who would watch us lose it all and then say, “Gee, what a shame.” We worship a God who rewards faithfulness!
Let me share the story of two women’s groups. The one group had a nice savings account that they fiercely protected. When asked to support a ministry or to send money to missions, they’d grudgingly give a little bit. When asked why, they would say, “If we spend it, we won’t have it.” So they buried their money in the ground.
The other group had a different motto. Their motto was, “If we don’t spend it, we won’t have it.” So they used their money generously for the kingdom of God and every time they started to run low an opportunity would come up to earn more money. That is the attitude of the first two slaves.
It wasn’t that the first two were more naturally optimistic than the third. The fact was that the first two had more faith in their master than the third. They trusted him to reward them if they succeeded and to forgive them if they failed. That is why they were able to put what the master had given them to work. And if they doubled his money, we can easily assume that they took risks with that money. The parable indicates the master was gone a long time. So there may have been times in the ensuing years that their investments appeared to be failures and yet they refused to bury what they had been given! But they knew that their master expected them to use what they had been given.
Now it would be nice right now to turn this into a nice warm fuzzy story about how God graciously gives us gifts, abilities, money, security, love and grace and then hopes that we use them well. But that would be to completely miss the point of the parable.
In context, this is one of several parables dealing with the final judgment. All of chapter 25 deals directly with the question of the final judgment. When Jesus returns, what will he expect from his followers? And the answer according this parable is clear—when all is is said and done and we stand before the judgment seat we will be held accountable for how well we put the gifts God has given us to work in this world.
Yes, we are saved by grace not by works. But saved people are expected to work for the kingdom! There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. In fact, the very next parable is the parable of the sheep and the goats where Jesus declares that we will be judged by how we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and the prisoners. What we do with what we have matters! And when we stand before God’s throne—which would you prefer to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant!” or “You wicked and lazy slave!”?
So assuming you wish to hear “Well done,” let’s explore what that might look like for us here today.
This parable is about the gifts of God. God gives to each us according to our ability and that means that the gifts are not handed out equally. Some of us have more abilities. Some are better singers. Some are artists. Others are good with finances or with people. Still others have a large bank account. And if we spent much time comparing ourselves with others, we will always find someone who has more than us—a better voice, more money, greater skill, etc. So it is important to recognize that the slave with two talents and the slave with five were both given the same reward. The issue is not how much do you have but what you do with what you have.
Since I’ve been at New Life, I have been blessed by a number of people who have offered to give of themselves doing things that felt risky to them. One said to me, “I don’t particularly want to do this, but I feel like God is disappointed that I have this ability and I’m not using it!”
The point is not how talented you are, but how you allow God to use your talents!
But let’s not get too comfortable and lull ourselves into thinking this is simply about our abilities, our time, and our talents! While the word, talent,
which we use to mean a God-given ability to do something, does come from this parable, Jesus was talking money.
Someone said to me recently that stewardship was about more than just money. Stewardship is about how faithful we are in using all the resources God gives us--our time, our abilities. In fact we often tie the concept of faithful stewardship to the living out of our baptismal vows to support the church with our prayers, our presences, our gifts, our service, and our witness. And that is very true. So yes, faithful stewardship is about more than how we use our money, but faithful stewardship is surely not less than how we use our money.
I think it is no accident that Jesus spoke about money second only to the Kingdom of God! My experience is that when it comes to surrendering ourselves to God, money is the last thing to be surrendered!
It amazes me. People come to my office asking for me to give them advice about their jobs, their friendships, their families—even their sex lives!—but discussions of money are somehow considered taboo! Truthfully, I think our biggest idol is money. Our money may read, “In God We Trust” but we attribute to money all the things our faith claims comes from God! We trust in money to provide our security, our future, our status, and our value. And we either want to spend as much of it as possible to ensure we have all we need or want or we want to hoard as much of it as possible to provide some sort of security in this crazy world we live in!
So this parable is also about our faithful use of money—not how much you have but how well you use it!
Now I’m not saying we are to throw money to the winds or to overload our schedules with a 100 good things to do! What I am saying is that we are to use all of our resources—our money, our time, our abilities—to further the kingdom of God!
Last Wednesday, we were discussing this parable in the Wednesday night Bible study and someone mentioned about how they had seen something like this in the efforts to build Kidtopia. With this congregation leading the way, this community came together bringing their gifts. Some hammered nails. Some gave money. Others raised money. I understand some judged dogs. Others painted. Different gifts. Different resources. But all given out of love and gratitude and a desire to do something good for this community and for its future—the children.
And I couldn’t help but wonder what if we put that much passion, that much time, that much effort into the Kingdom of God? What difference would that make in this community?
What if—what you learned and experienced in the building of Kidtopia was just a foretaste—a vision—of what God could do in and through us if we put those same resources to work to reach the unchurched, the disenfranchised, the lonely, and the forgotten for Christ?
Want to one of the first things I learned about this congregation after I was told I was coming here? Well let me paraphrase—this is a five talent church! And in my five months here, I’ve learned it to be true. This congregation is extremely gifted. I’m amazed at the talents, abilities and resources we have in this building! It’s exciting when I think of the possibilities. It’s overwhelming when I try to figure out how to put them all to work. And some days it makes me feel a bit like that little one talent guy comparing myself and what I have to give to what this congregation has to offer!
And—to borrow from a five talent preacher—I have a dream. I have a dream that this church will become a place where those who aren’t comfortable at other churches in Grant can come and experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ! But that can only happen, if we put what God has given us to work!
So the question for us as a congregation—and to each of you individually—is this: Will you faithfully use what God has given you or will you bury your gifts in the ground?
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