It all Depends on Who You talk To   -   Pentecost 26 A  -  November 13, 2005

It all Depends on Who You talk To - that’s an old saying that it so true. It’s been a great month as we celebrated our one hundredth anniversary. It was fun to talk with pastors who served and people who remember the past years. We were truly blessed.

Now over then next few weeks, I’m going to talk about our future. Who do we talk to about that? The scriptures for these next few weeks are talking to us, too. In this parable, Jesus is talking to his disciples and the crowd about the future, the kingdom of God. I there’s a message to us, as well. This teaching begins when Jesus says in verse one, "The kingdom of heaven will be like this." He then tells three parables about life in the kingdom of heaven. This the second of the three parables.

A master gives away his money his three servants and leaves. One servant receives five talents, another two, and another one. That's where the English word “talent” misses the character of the parable. In the Greek, a "talent" is a huge sum of money. In Jesus day, a talent equals the amount of money a laborer would earn for twenty years of work. I pulled out my calculator to see what that would mean in today’s terms.

In Fort Worth, we pay day laborers about 10.00 per hour, or $400.00 a week. If they take off four weeks a year and work 48 weeks, they will make $19,200. I multiplied that times 20 years, and it’s $384,000. Even the salve who only received one talent got a huge sum - $384,000. The one who received five talents got $1,920,000.00- almost two million! Most people route for the underdog, and the parable sets up a natural sympathy for the one-talent servant.

The two with the most money invest their capital wisely and double their return. The one with only one talent buries the money in the ground. Years go by, but the master finally does return. The two servants with the most money make a huge return, and he says “well done, good and faithful servant!" He gives them even more. But the one-talent servant buried his money in the ground. He gives back all the money bag to his master.

By now, you already know the master in this parable is God, and the servants are disciples like us. How do you think the master felt when this servant returned the money to him? He was angry, personally insulted that one of his servants would do such a thing!

Then this servant does something even worse. He tells the master that he knew he was ruthless man in business. He thinks the gift the master gave him was a trap to make him fail and be punished. As the parable ends, his worst fear comes true. The other servants got his money, and he was thrown into the outer darkness.

His problem was fear. In his fear, he was wrong about the nature of his master. He was wrong about how to handle the gift his master gave him. He was wrong in believing he could not trust his master’s character. Fear took him because he was listening to the wrong people about his master. The first two servants got it right. They were glad to receive the gifts the master gave them. They worked hard, took risks, and it paid off for them.

The point is this. Our master God has given us all things as free gift, not all the same amount, or even the same qualities of life. But each of us has received tremendous gifts. We have life, we have money, we have clothing, food shelter, health, families, parents, good government. The question is, what will we do with them? Are we afraid, or will we take risks and work hard, and accept the pay off when the master, Jesus Christ returns?

Here’s something I want to say very carefully. This parable also tells us that what we believe about the nature of God shapes how we handle the things God has given us. Those who believe God is harsh and vindictive subject themselves to God’s judgement. Those who believe in God’s grace and receive a God’s blessing. I’m not saying that we create our own god, or that we control God response. Nor Am I saying that by our good works we earn God’s favor. However, what we believe about God shapes our future in eternity.

Or let me put it this way. Of the three servants in the parable, which reflects our own response and assumptions about God’s judgement and God’s grace? It all depends on who you talk to.

Many years ago, I had a family in the I served where a man named Jim who was dying of cancer who was 76 years old. I had served that congregation for almost a year, but never saw Jim in worship. But one of his daughters came, and frequently brought her mother.

When I first visited him, Jim told me he was a retired coal miner. For many years he saved his money prudently. He paid cash for his house, barn and sixty acres of rolling Pennsylvania farmland. With a no nonsense attitude, he said his cancer was terminal. He told me how much he loved his life, his wife, three sons and two daughters, and several grandchildren. Before he died, they got together for one last holiday, and by outward appearances, got along fine.

But when Jim died, at his funeral, it was clear to me that this family was in conflict; they were not talking to each other. About a month later, I visited his wife, and she told me how much she missed him, and remembered all of the good things about him. But finally she said, that one thing she really regretted was her husband's way of handling money. Now her children were fighting and suspicious of each other.

She said she and John remembered the depression, and the hard times coal miners had back then. The banks they used were all owned by the coal company, and whenever they went on strike, the company could wipe out their savings. Out of that fear, the old coal miner buried several thousand dollars in a coffee can somewhere on his 60 acres of land.

She said he hoped to live a few months longer, and give it to her their children but he died before he could ever do that. Now each of the children suspected that the other had found the money, and kept it for themselves. The five children even suspect that she has it, and she said that now only one daughter was speaking to her. She did a few years later, and last I heard her children barely speak to each other. What can we learn from that story? The kind of fear and suspicion with our money breads contempt in our relationship in our family and community. In Jim’s case, that fear was passed down to his children.

However, there is a better way. In the parable, there are two servants are thankful for the tremendous gift the master has given them. They go out and make investments, and multiply the gift the master has given them. Their attitude of thankfulness changed everything. When we give thanks for the gifts God has given us, we are motivated to use those gifts and multiply them. This produces opportunities for others to receive the gifts, and to go out and multiply them.

The best example is Jesus. Jesus was God’s son, and thus had all the riches and glory of his father. But Jesus gave up everything to God, even his life. When he died on the cross, he suffered tremendously. He gave up everything, his friends, his ministry, even the shirt off his back. He forgave all our sins, and died. But God raised him to show us the victory of his kingdom. When we come to receive him in Holy Communion, Jesus is canceling our debts, and renewing the new covenant he gave by his cross.

This is a time when most of us have already filled out our pledge card to the church. Some of you will no doubt find all kinds of reasons not to. I say, it all depends on who you talk to. If you are suspicious of God, and are fearful of your future, you probably would keep the treasure God has given you buried in your back yard. But for those who trust in the grace of God, you will see your investment multiplied.

Sometimes we make mistakes, and make bad investments. But I honestly believe that if one of the servants came and said, Master, I invested everything you gave me, and I lost some of that money, the master would have forgiven him, and gave him another chance. I know that God has given me several chances in my family, in my finances, in my work, and yes I have suffered a setback or two over the years. But I know God’s love, and God’s grace and the forgiveness of sins. It all depends on who you talk to.

A few months ago, we adopted five principles for our congregation. They were developed around the letters, G-R-A-C-E. The G stands for “God’s Grace has no limits.” That means that we trust God’s judgement will be right, without fear. The second one is Receive God’s life changing grace. Grace changes everything. And everyone needs to believe and trust in it.

When a whole congregation believes that, good things happen. We have trusted God’s grace for one hundred years, and many good things have happened. And as we trust God’s grace for the next one hundred years, we will multiply the gifts God many times over. With Grace, forgiveness is given to ourselves, and to our neighbor. With Grace, doors are opened to people different from us, new ideas are welcomed. With trust in God’s grace, we look for new and innovative ways to use the gifts God gives us. And we will one day hear our master say, well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.

Amen!