Alex McMinn's sermon, Christ Church,  3rd November 2002

This sermon marked the beginning of the parish centre project, a major challenge for our church.  Alex is a member of our ministry team.

Let us pray. 

 Heavenly Father, we ask that as we look at this parable this morning, you will speak to our minds and our intellects that we may understand your will and we pray that you will speak to our emotions and our wills that we may want to do your will - in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.

 

You might find it helpful this morning as we just look at this parable to open the Bible at page 37 as we construct this sermon together.  Page 37 and we are looking at Matthew chapter 25, verse 14.

 At regular intervals our news media try to publicize what is the latest theory of how the world is going to end.  And it’s for lay people like you and I.  And the best as I can understand it and the physicists in the audience will put me right, the history of our universe appears to be a giant tug-of-war between the expansive forces of the big Bang which are causing our galaxies to float apart, and on the other hand the contractive force of gravity pulling it all together and at the moment there seems to be some equilibrium.   But, if expansion wins; that is, if galaxies continued to recede from each other and that includes us, then the universe will end in a whimper. But if, on the other hand, gravity prevails, the present expansion of the galaxies will one day be halted and reversed; and what began as a big bang will be brought together into a cosmic melting pot and everything will end not in a big bang but in a big crunch.

 Now these catastrophes won’t happen tomorrow; I’m told, they are in fact billions of years into the future.  But one way or another the physical world is condemned to ultimate futility, were it not for the fact that, of course, God says at the end of the New Testament: “I will make a new heaven and a new earth”. 

 So any ultimate hope we have as humans rests on the one, Jesus, who is the ultimate reality; Jesus, Son of God, creator of all things as John describes him in the opening verses of his gospel - the one who made everything.  And as St Paul describes him in Colossians chapter 1 verse 17, as the one by whom all things consist; that is the one who holds all things together.  And so at page 37 of our New Testament here is a passage that Paul read to us and here is Jesus, the ultimate reality, the world’s greatest teacher, helping his disciples like you and I all through the centuries to get some understanding of how the world will end for humans; whatever happens to the physical cosmos is one thing; what happens in the realm of the spiritual is another. 

 So here in Matthew 25 the world’s greatest teacher is not only telling us how our world will end for humanity but even further telling us what our personal and individual the responsibility should be in the light of that crisis - a crisis that the New Testament makes clear will surely come.  Jesus’ second and final coming will cut society into two.  The second coming underscores the decision that people have made about the first coming; and the eternal criterion is: “What did I do with Jesus?”

 In these important chapters then (Matthew chapters 24 and 25) Jesus gives us some important little cameos about the end of time, all of which have application for us as Christians here.   In chapter 24 verse 42 you’ll notice the story of the nocturnal burglar emphasising that Jesus will come back when we least expect it.  In chapter 24 verses 48 to 51 the story of, the cameo of, the unruly steward - a man who had acted as if his master wasn’t coming back at all.  In chapter 25 verses 1 to 14 the story of the late shoppers: five foolish ladies unprepared for the wedding - a lesson to you and I that we need to be ready for the coming of Jesus.  Now, at this moment in time, Jesus is not absent from us in the sense of spiritual power; no, we experience His presence with us in our lives.  Yet, in historic sequence - in this period,  this is the period of his absence - He was in the world for one brief generation of 30 years, that great period to which all history looked forward to and from which all else of value has since proceeded.  And the New Testament is absolutely clear; he came once, very important, and he is coming again. 

 So these parables that our Saviour gives us in Matthew 24 & 25 are preparing us for the master’s return; they highlight the absence of our Lord and maker and the interim responsibility of you and I his followers.  In the previous parable, the parable of the foolish ladies, that were unprepared - unready for the return, the parable emphasises that they were unready.  This parable tells us how we can be ready. 

 The previous parable of the five foolish maidens drives home Jesus’ call for constant readiness and vigilance because the hour and the day of his return are unknown.  However it will be marked by an event of shattering suddenness.  This parable then is a story of a rich man of property who, in anticipation of a journey to a faraway country and a long absence from the centre of his operations, delegates sums of money to these three servants.

 Now some translations of the Bible, the one I use for my own Bible study, the New International Version, and I think the Authorised Version actually refers to this as a parable of the talents.  And  in the Palestine of Jesus’ day a talent was not so much a coin as a weight of currency, and the value of the currency depended on the metal of the currency whether it was copper or silver or gold. And, whatever it was that these people received, it was clearly a very substantial amount of money.

 To the common parlance of today the word talent has come to mean the performance of skills, the gift of music, talent for art; so this parable is really focused on that this morning and this parable incidentally for those of you who study the Bible is different from the similar parable in Luke, chapter 9 verse 40 which is the parable of the pounds.  The pattern and structure of both parables is the same.

 Number one: a master goes away giving the custody of certain property to his servant.

Number two: he returns

Number three: he evaluates what each servant has done with the property

 He evaluates their stewardship, as Ross referred to it before, how they managed what God had entrusted to them.

 So in the parable of pounds in Luke’s Gospel, the Master gives the same amount to each servant.  In the parable in front of us this morning, in Matthew, he gives a different amount.

 In the parable in Luke each is entrusted with an equal amount of currency; perhaps this speaks to the currency Jesus is giving to us in terms of opportunity; He has given to us an equal opportunity to serve him  and he says about that: “occupy ‘til I come; busy yourself with my work until I return”.

 And in the parable before us this morning in Matthew 25:14, Jesus is reminding us that we are given also different talents, different skills, different gifts as we face the basic task of trying to live out our lives of faith.  It is not a matter of passively waiting for Jesus, but it’s a responsible activity of which the master could ultimately approve.  Jesus is telling us very quickly there are three principles which relate to our lives whilst we are waiting for his return:

 The principles that govern our stewardship, of our management of both opportunity and talents:

 Principle number one is found in verse 14;  it is the Principle of Assignment.

In the parable the master assigns a talent or talents – gifts.  Or verses 12 to 13 or 1 Corinthians  13 the whole of the chapter  and there we see what God is doing in giving you and I different gifts; everyone, however, has been given some gift and Jesus makes it clear: it’s not the gifts that matter, it’s how we use them; the opportunity open to every disciple may differ in character and magnitude, but they are all to be faithfully exploited for the Master’s return. 

 It is the Master who allocates to you and I the scale of responsibility. The sums of money he gave the servants were very large as is the task of our outreach project.  God has entrusted and assigned to this generation in Christ Church a big task. In a day when all around us church attendances are dramatically fallen, God has given us a vision of outreach and growth and I do believe that when God envisions, God also enables.  He has people in Christ Church with talents and resources and he will bring others in too whom he will sanctify and encourage so he can use their skills - and the challenge of the project, as Ross has hinted, is not just cost; I believe the real challenge of the project is the human resource for these outreach activities - you and different works - and we need to pray that God will help us identify what he has assigned to you and to me.

 Pray “Lord what is my role in the project?” - it isn’t abstract and it isn’t academic; it comes right down into the parlour of my own heart “God, what is my role in this project; why am I here; how can I be your faithful steward?”

 So the first principle in the passage is the principal of stewardship, of assignment.  God has assigned to me an opportunity. 

 Verse 16 - the second principle in the passage is the Principle of Investment.  God wants me to invest in his work; God wants me to be involved in his work. He has entrusted you with great gifts.  The servants in the parable were given gifts with which to trade and invest, and they were expected to faithfully discharge their responsibility as we are too - we are meant to invest in God’s work and the New Testament makes absolutely clear that our eternal destiny is the consequence of what we believe on earth; but it also makes clear that our eternal compensation - our eternal reward - is the consequence of what we do on earth. We live our lives on the unshakeable certainty that everything we do today matters for ever.

 o Jesus said in Matthew 16 he will reward each person according to his works; “you will have treasure” He says – “you will have reward in heaven”; “look,” He says, “you will be repaid at the resurrection”.   Luke 6: “Great is your reward in heaven”.

 And the implications of these verses are enormous aren’t they?  God’s accolade for those who seriously invest themselves, who trade with the gifts God has given them, his accolade is seen in verse 23; to the committed investor he says: “well done, good and faithful servant” and what God is looking for in Christ church is our stewardship. Faithfulness, devotion, consistency, dedication, reliability, trustworthiness, dependability - and which of us is equal to such a demand? 

 And so many factors militate against these things don’t they? Our best aspirations, our disappointments and frustration with other people, a crowded diary, unreasonable expectations of our employers or our families on our time;  and so sometimes we sit back and we say: “I have done my bit and now I have other priorities”.

 And whatever excuse and response we make, we just need to think “is this going to stand when I stand before my maker”?

 I don’t know whether this will work but let’s try – no, I don’t think we’re going to hear it but this is the loudest clo. .  the tick with the loudest clock in our house and as I listen to the tick on this clock.   I tell you how - no, I can’t even work that;  it’s switched off,  that’s why it doesn’t work.  Never mind, the technology’s beaten me, I won’t bother.

 But if you listen to the tick of a clock, each tick of that clock passes away into eternity for ever - we can never ever retrieve it; each second flows away like a river in flood: inexorable, remorseless, untamed and we cannot recapture it.  And with each fleeting second we miss a little more of our God-given opportunity to serve him.  Jesus said - and this was a powerful verse in the influence of my own life - Jesus said: “the night cometh when no man can work” and it was as if when I read that verse, Jesus was standing by me  and saying to me: “You have a limit to your opportunity to serve me; invest your resources in me”

 

 

Jesus talks about his return in time as a time of audit and as a time of evaluation.  In the parable the property owner comes back.  In the evaluation process, two servants you notice receive identical commendations (verse 23); there is no difference in the reward for the man whose investment yielded 5000 compared with the man whose investment yielded 2000; but for the third man there was condemnation.  Here was a man who, although he knew so much about his master and his master’s expectations (verse 24), he did nothing.  He knew a lot, but his life was one of faithless inactivity. 

 And when you get to verse 30, the story finishes on a note of frightening severity.  We may be horrified at the fierceness of the conclusion but beneath the grim imagery is an equally grim fact - the fact that the coming of Jesus will put every one of us to the test as his first coming compelled every person to make a decision about him and that decision is no light matter - it may be a matter of life and death.

 So, the three laws that govern our Christian stewardship:

 

  1. the Law of Assignment - God has given you a gift.
  2. the Law of Investment - How are you trading your gifts?
  3. the Law of Evaluation – What will be his verdict on me when I meet him on my use of my opportunities and my talents?

 

Any change, any development, may be anathema to some people in the church as it was to the man with one talent - he was Mr Status Quo and every church has one.  Everything for him that was new he hated; he wanted everything to stay exactly as it is. I just want to hint to you: that there’s no real religion without adventure.

 

For Christ Church , we either move forward with the elements of the uncertain ever threatening, but trust in Christ; or, in common with countless other churches, we slowly atrophy as we bury our talents. God has given us a vision to turn our 5000 talents into 5000 more.  Ask God what your role is in the excitement of a God who answers prayer and who is faithful.

 

We prayed last year Jabez’s prayer; we prayed it and he is starting to answer it, isn’t he?

 

 

And so we pray now:

 

Lord, what do you want me to do?

Lord, give me the enablement and the commitment to do it.