Don’t Bury Your Gift

Matt 25:14-30; 1 Cor. 10:31-4/21/2106-Don’t Bury Your Gift

Last week we talked about grace and how it is equal and given to all who come to Jesus Christ and once we accept Him as Savior and Master over our lives, we find out we have certain gifts.

Maybe these were talents we had before we became believers, and maybe we discovered them after. The important note is not to get caught up in the details of whether you had the gifts, talents, or abilities, or even resources before or after you became a Christian.

Rather, remember that every good thing you have, whether a talent, ability, or resource is ultimately a gift from God.

We are caretakers, and if we know who has given us these gifts, and if we love Him, should we not use them for His glory? If the farmer has graced us to work in His field, and has promised us a grace-filled reward, should we not do all we can to please Him?

If you work a muscle and you use it, it becomes stronger, if not it weakens and shrinks. It is the same idea with our talents and gifts, and we can look at this parable to prove that.

The Master gives the talents (here “talents” means money) to these servants and leaves, and in the meantime the servants are given the chance to be faithful, and so the first servant invests well and doubles his money, and the second servant does the same.

The third servant…hides the money in the ground, and as time passed the Master returned and look what happened. The first two servants, who I can imagine loved their Master, came forward, and I would imagine they couldn’t wait to show Him what they had.

Then we get to the third who shows…nothing but what he had been given at the start, and when we read the Master’s response, we think it is a bit harsh and unfair, but before we judge the Master, we have to look at the servant first.

It is not as though this servant had tried sincerely to please the Master but just had a string of bad luck. Instead, the third servant didn’t even try. He did not even try because He did not love the Master and did not trust Him. Instead the servant thought he could just get by with the bare minimum.

So, the Master is saying, “You didn’t try at all here. If you had tried because you love me and even if it was not that much that you earned, I still would have celebrated with you. It was because you did not even try that I am taking your gift and giving it to those who trust me enough to take a step forward in faith, and they were blessed.”

I think the third servant acted wickedly because he did not have a proper understanding of the Master. So how does this parable speak to us today?…It is meant to show us something. The Master in the parable is God, and He gives us giftings, and says, “Ok, at the end of it all, I want to see how you have used what I gave you.”

But unlike the master in the story, God does not leave us completely. He gives us the Holy Spirit, who shows us in the Bible, in prayer, in worship and in community what to do with our talents. He shows us how to use them wisely.

If we are seeking after God and His will for our life, He will show us the way. So He gives us these talents, and just like a muscle grows when it is used, He wants us to use them, and to be like the first and second servants.

Sadly, there are many people, individuals, and groups, that don’t have a right understanding of God, so they act like the third servant, and they take their God-given gifts, and because they are scared, they don’t use the gifts.

I can understand because I still struggle sometimes, and I think, “But Lord, what if I fail at it?”

Friends, take joy in this fact: If you are sincerely trying to serve God with the gifts He gave you, and are using them the best that you can, then you cannot fail.

So don’t let fear stop you from serving. Trust God instead. He wants us to use what He gave us for His glory, and our neighbor’s good. We all have gifts. Everyone is good at something, so put it in God’s hands and say “Lord, how do you want me to do this for you?”

Take responsibility for the gifts He gave you. This is how a church grows, everyone using their God-given gifts for His glory and our neighbor’s good. And remember, if you have a heart that loves God, and you use your gifts for Him…YOU CANNOT FAIL 🙂

God’s Grace Is Equal and Open to All

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4/14/16-Matt. 20:1-16-His Amazing Grace

In this parable, the Master goes out and hires workers to work in the vineyard. So the Master goes out to hire.

The Master is right up front with the first of the workers, saying “I will pay you a full day’s wage”. So the early workers went, and then the Master traveled again to hire, and again, and again.

And each time he went out He found more workers, more people anxiously waiting, and keep this in mind. These workers wanted a job, and the wanted to be hired early, because the later you got in the day, the less you worked, and hence the less money you earned.

By the time we get to vs. 6, it is the 11th hour, very late and the work day is almost done, and you still have these last few workers, who maybe felt rejected because no one had chosen them to work.

Maybe they are thinking, “What are we going to do? We have to eat, and we have families to feed, but no one has hired us!”

But here comes this generous Master, and He asks, “What are you guys doing?” Then when they answer, I can imagine He says joyfully “You too, you get the chance to go work in my vineyard, so go!”

These last workers know they won’t get a full day’s wage, but what choice to they have? It is either work a little and get a little, or go home with nothing. So I would imagine these workers would be excited and thankful to go serve.

So when it is time to pay up, the ones that picked one bunch of grapes…get the same payment as those who worked all day and picked a full barrel.

So imagine the joy and excitement of those workers who were shown generosity! The Master gave them grace and mercy, and it shows the Master is supremely good.

Can you imagine getting that kind of grace when they didn’t deserve it? That amazing grace!

Now they may be excited, but what about the other workers? Well they are a bit perturbed. Yet their frustration, while understandable, is not justified at all.

If the Master (God) tried to cheat them or not pay them anything, they would have a right to be upset.

Yet, look at the Master. He upholds both truth and grace. It is truth because He honored His agreement to pay the first workers a full day’s wage. It is grace because he also showed compassion to those who only worked a little bit, and still payed them the same.

So if the Mastered honored the agreement, and it is His money to do with it as He wants, and He chose to be very good with his actions, what right do these workers have to complain?

These workers had the wrong attitude, and we as Christians must guard against having this attitude as well. We should not be bitter when God chooses to extend grace to those we do not think deserve it, because the truth is none of us deserved it, that is why it is a gift of love from God. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9).

The right attitude is that of the Master: joy and compassion. They could have said, “Wow, look at this Master. He kept His word to pay us, He was truthful, and He is also gracious and generous that He is showering those other workers plenty, so hey let’s go out and tell other workers, the poor, the downtrodden, all about this gracious Master and maybe they will want to serve Him too!”

Brothers and sisters, lets go out and tell others, the poor, the rich, the downtrodden, the well-off about our Master and His grace and love, and maybe they will want to serve Him too.

Remember these points

  1. From the early workers, we know God treats no one unfairly

  2. From the late workers, we know God is quite generous

  3. All of us disciples are equal in God’s eyes and given the same salvation, based in Jesus Christ. For we are made perfect in Him.

  4. God’s Grace is Equal and Open to All. 

 

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4/3/16-Luke 24:13-35-God’s Viewpoint

So last Sunday was Easter, Now we sit here one week later but when we look at what we celebrated last week, we are left with a question.

…Is Easter just going to be a holiday or is there something more to it? Is the Resurrection of Jesus only going to be one-time event to celebrate. OR will it shape us and mold us as a church?

The Resurrection of Jesus is not only a fact, but a way of doing life for us as Christians.

It is through having a relationship with God that we have those “big questions” answered (“why am I here?” “Do I have a purpose?”). To answer those questions, we have to see the world the way God sees it.

When we spend time with God, in church, reading His Word, in prayer, in service to others, even in our work, schools, and homes, God is constantly shaping us and molding us to help us see as He sees. God shows us how life is meant to be, and through our lives, we show the world there is another way to live, the way of Jesus.

So with that said, let us look at our story. These two disciples of Jesus (not any of the Twelve) are walking to a village called Emmaus. They were probably going back and forth between each other, wondering if Jesus was who He claimed to be. (Remember, they did not know Jesus was raised from the dead yet).

If they were going on the road to Emmaus, they were probably going home, but Jesus has more in store for them then just returning to their old lives.

As they are walking along, this stranger comes along whom they do not recognize. Why don’t they know it is Jesus? Scripture does not really give an answer, but this stranger asks them, “So, what are you guys talking about?” and Jesus could see they were in deep thought and they were both sad and confused.

Like we sometimes are when we lose someone we love and cannot understand why. Well, after they had finished telling Jesus, I am sure they were still sad, and Jesus, wanting to reassure them that their faith wasn’t in vain, showed them the truth about who He was.

I love this because Jesus is having his own personal Bible study with them! He opens the true meaning of the Bible, and they start to understand. As they reach the village, they still don’t know it is Jesus, but they invite this wonderful stranger to stay with them. So then they sit to eat, and this stranger takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and suddenly they recognize Him: IT’S JESUS!!

It is as if, by teaching them the Bible (the Word), and sharing the bread (communion), Jesus is saying “When you see me, you see truth, you see reality, you see that I am more real than anything else”

When we study God’s Word, we too have the Holy Spirit to help us understand, and we we come together during Lovefeast, we too are in the presence of Jesus when we eat.

After Jesus breaks the bread, He disappears. And the two start to say, “didn’t our hearts feel strangely warmed when He spoke to us?”

Then, they went straight back to Jerusalem where they came from, for they knew they could not return to their old life, and now they they knew Jesus was alive they didn’t want to return anyway!

They were no longer content to think this is the real world and that is all there is. Instead they had seen the One who is creating all things new, who is using His kingdom (you and me) to redeem the world!

In Jesus, we lack nothing, and we have everything.

These two were changed because their eyes were opened to see things as God sees them. And Jesus showed them as He does us, “don’t look at this situation as hopeless. Instead, look at this the way God looks at this, and when you do, you will see what I am talking about.”

Look at the world, look at your neighbor, look at reality the way God does. If God created all things, what is more real? The creation or the Creator? It is the Creator!

Our answer to those big questions comes from having a relationship with Him. When we spend time with God, He tells us how we got here and where we come from. When we read His Word, He shows us truth, how to live, and our eternal destiny.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him. This is not complicated to understand. Think about the needs we have, and what we have to meet the needs. For we would not have hunger if God had not created food. So when we look around the world and the hurt and the pain and sadness, and say “Lord there must be something better than this” Guess what, there is!

Kings and Kingdoms may all pass away, but there is just something about that Name.

These disciples here were shown that there is something beyond all this, and they were to live that way everywhere they went, to be ambassadors of God’s kingdom.

When we spend time with God, reading His word, praying, gathering here for worship, serving, doing all we can in His name, when we do that, we get reminded that He is more real than anything else.

So the next time you feel hopeless, down, troubled, look at your situation through God’s eyes. And you will see there is nothing our Lord cannot handle. We don’t come to church to escape “the real world”. Instead we come to worship the One who is real, and then go and show the world He is real.