Take a Chance for God

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on July 23, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 25:14-30.

Have you ever thought this story of Jesus’ is kind of unfair?  It seems that way to me sometimes.  Especially that line toward the end.  “For those who have will be given even more, and they will have an abundance.  As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”  That does not seem right, does it?    

When we look at this, we need to remember the point of what Jesus was doing.  Jesus was not trying to teach us about economics.  Jesus was trying to teach us about faith.  This is not a lesson about money.  It’s a lesson about trust in God.

           The translation we used tonight is the New International Version.  That’s the version of the Bible we pretty much always use, and it’s a perfectly good translation.  What some of you may have noticed, though, is that you’ve heard this story differently in other translations.  What this version refers to as “bags of gold” in other translations is referred to as “talents”.

           Now a “talent” was a Greek term for money.  It was a lot of money:  one talent was roughly equal to twenty years of an average laborer’s wage.  Even so, I think that thinking of what these people were given as “talents” gives us a better handle on what Jesus was really trying to say.

          God gives each of us some kind of talent.  In fact, God usually gives each of us several talents.  God does not give us the same talents, and God does not give each of us the same amount of talents, but we all have some.  God expects us to use the talents we’ve been given to honor and glorify God.

           Now, I don’t doubt that each of us here does that to a certain extent.  My point is not to criticize or point fingers at anybody.  There’s something I think we need to notice about this story, though.

           The person who got five talents went and put all five of them to work.  He did not just put two of them to work and hide the other three.  The person who got two talents went and put both of them to work.  He did not just put one of them to work and hide the other one.  They both took every talent they had been given and put it to work for the master.

           That’s what God wants us to do.  God wants us to take all the talents God has given us and use them to serve God.  God does not want us to just use a couple of them and hide the rest.  God wants us to use them all.

           That includes talents that we might not think we can use for God.  It even includes talents that we might not even think of as talents.  Let me give you an example of what I mean.

          You probably all know that I’m a big sports fan.  When I first felt called into ministry, I wondered if that was something I should give up, or at least cut back on.  After all, I spend a lot of time following sports.  I thought maybe that was time I could use for God better if I used it in other ways.

           After I thought about it, though, I decided that was not right.  I’ve been a sports fan ever since I can remember.  A love of sports is something that God put into me.  It’s a part of me.  To stop paying attention to sports would be for me to try to be someone I’m not.  That’s not what God wants us to do.

           God wants us to be who we are.  But God wants us to be the best we can be, and God wants us to use who we are in God’s service.  God wants me to use being a sports fan to serve God.

           Now, maybe you think, “How can being a sports fan serve God?”  But it can.  Because what it does is give me a connection to other sports fans.  Going to the local ball games gives people a chance to get to know me, and it gives me a chance to get to know them.  It helps people feel comfortable with me.  It especially helps me connect with younger people, because it gives us something in common to talk about.  And once in a while, once that connection is established, it can lead into other, deeper conversations that help bring people closer to God.

           Whenever God gives us a passion for something, it’s for a reason.  God wants us to use that passion in God’s service.  In fact, sometimes I think that what we call passion is really just shorthand for saying “something the Holy Spirit has put in our heart.”

           Anything we are passionate about can be used for God.  Anything.  Fishing.  Quilting.  Baking.  Music.  Gardening.  Anything.  If we’re passionate about it, it’s because the Holy Spirit put that passion into our heart.  It’s up to us to use that passion in God’s service.

          What keeps us from doing that?  Well, think about the person in Jesus’ story who only got the one talent, the one bag of gold.  What kept him from using what he’d been given the way the others did?

           Fear.  That’s the only reason.  He was not trying to do anything wrong.  He wanted to do right by his master.   But he was scared.  He thought, “What if something goes wrong?  What if I try to use this money for my master, and it does not work out?  What if I lose it all?  The master will be mad at me.  Who knows what might happen then?  I’d like to use this money for the master, but it’s just too risky.  It’s just a chance I cannot afford to take.  I’d better just keep this talent hidden, where it’ll be safe.”

           That’s one of the main things that keeps us from using our talents to serve God.  Fear.  We’re not trying to do anything wrong.  We want to do right by God.  But we get scared.  We think, “What if something goes wrong?  What if I try to use my talent for God, and it does not work out?  What if people make fun of me?  What if people laugh at me?  What if, instead of using this talent to bring people to God, I end up accidentally pushing them farther away?  I’ll be humiliated.  Even God might be mad at me.  Who knows what might happen then?  I’d like to use this talent for God, but it’s just too risky.  It’s just a chance I cannot afford to take.  I’d better just lay low and keep my talent hidden, so it’s safe.”

           What this story is telling us is that God wants us to take risks in God’s service.  We cannot make money without taking risks.  We cannot use our talents without taking risks.  And we cannot serve God without taking risks.

           Now, when we take a risk, there’s always a chance we might fail.  If we were guaranteed success, there would be no risk, right?  But you know what?  That’s okay.  You know, I was thinking about this, and it occurred to me that I cannot think of a time in the Bible where someone took a risk for God and God got mad at them for doing it.  I did not go through the whole Bible to check, but if there’s an example of something like that I cannot think of it.  In all the examples I can think of, when someone took a chance for God, God honored them for it.  They may not have succeeded, at least not in the way they would have defined success, but God still honored them for it.  Because God does not define success the way we do.  To God, success is being faithful to Him.  And when we do that, God is pleased with us, regardless of what the outcome in human terms might be.

           That brings us back to the line we started with.  “For those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance.  As for those who do not have, even what they will have will be taken from them.”

           This is not some arbitrary policy by an unfair God.  It’s a statement to encourage us, to encourage us to take risks for God.  When we take chances and use the talents God has given us to honor God, God will reward us for that.  When we don’t, when instead we keep our talents hidden out of fear, we lose them.  Not because God is mean and takes them away from us, but because one of the rules of life is “use it or lose it.”  You’ve experienced that in your own lives.  Whenever we don’t use the talents we have, we eventually lose them.

           God has given you talents.  God has given you passions.  God’s Holy Spirit has put certain things into your heart.  God did those things for a reason.  God wants and expects you to use those things to serve God, just like God expects me to use the talents and passions and things God has put into my heart to serve God.

           If we don’t do that, there’s a price to be paid.  But if we do it, there’s an incredible payoff.  Is it risky?  Yes, it is.  But God will honor our efforts.  When we use the talents and passions and desires God has given us to serve God, we get rewarded in abundance.