Sermon Text: Matthew 25: 14-30 and Judges 4: 1-7
Looking up into the night sky when one is out and away from civilization is an awesome, astounding thing. So many stars---too numerous to count---all created by God! On my smartphone, I get informative notices that tell me to “look up” into the night sky to watch the meteor showers—the Perseids in August, Orionids in October, the Leonids (Nov. 16), and the upcoming Geminids on Dec. 13th. We admire the beauty of the sunsets and sunrises. When we think of where God is, we tend to think vertically—God is “up there”. We look at the cross and see the vertical and the horizontal. We think God coming down to earth as Christ Jesus and living among us—the vertical (God/Christ) among the horizontal (earth/us). We often think we are alone when we are really never alone because God is present with us always and always within us. That may be terrifying to some but for others---His presence is yearned for just as our bodies yearn for breath. “Looking to God” may also be in “teacher/student” or “parent/child” mode as a student looks to the teacher for knowledge and as a child looks to the parent for love.
Our readings this week presented the theme of “Look to the Lord”. Psalm 123 is a short psalm, the author is unknown:
“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of the slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.” (verses 1-2)
In this case, we look to God for mercy. We, each one of us, stands before God as sinful people. We cannot remain in His presence because He is a just God. Our sin requires punishment. We cannot make ourselves holy. But God is also a loving God. He prepared the way for us to come into His presence justified by His grace and the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross so that we are sanctified to come before Him. Yes, we “look to the Lord” every day, every time we gather for worship, every time we have our Confession, and every time we privately come before God in prayer.
The Old Testament reading from Judges 4: 1-7 presents us with the story of the prophetess and judge Deborah. As a prophetess, she was the spokesperson or mouthpiece of God. She stood in a long tradition starting with Miriam in Exodus. As a judge, she acted as a legal functionary rendering judicial decisions. However, we know from further reading that this is also a time of national crisis with King Jabin of Canaan about to invade through the efforts of his general Sisera. God has called, through Deborah, Barak, the son of Abinoam of Kedesh Naphtali to lead the Israelite army. She tells Barak: “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: “Go, take with you 10,000 men of Naphtali and Zebulon and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troups to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.” God, through Deborah, was telling Barak---this is a “done deal”, the victory is already won.
But Barak was reluctant, perhaps afraid of the size of Sisera’s army, perhaps afraid of Sisera’s military prowess. Barak tells Deborah: “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Deborah says to Barak: “Very well, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.” Now, before we dismiss Barak as a coward, some commentators think that in asking Deborah to accompany him, he was simply asking for the presence of God to be with him.
One commentator presents his thoughts on Barak: “Even though Barak gains the victory, he expends much time and energy trying to obtain the prize he has already forfeited. This is one of the sad truths testified to in the Bible as well as throughout the history of the church. God in his goodness is constantly looking for opportunities to give good gifts to men and women. Yet because of their lack of faith, they forfeit these blessings that God would freely give. In the case of Barak, he loses the opportunity to truly be used of God. True, he does win the battle, and this is a testimony to his faith (and why he is listed in Hebrews 11: 32—“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised;…..” “But this is not completely what God had in mind to give him. When Christians fail to trust God, demanding assurance when God, in fact, has already spoken, they lose out on the opportunity to be used by him to the fullest extent.” Do we ever think that when we don’t look to the Lord, that we are missing out on opportunities to be used by Him? Opportunities to be used by Him abound—here at church, at home, at work, in the community. Do we actively seek opportunities to serve? Do we seek to use the gifts and talents God has given us?
The “Parable of the Loaned Money” as this passage from Matthew 25: 14-30 is entitled in my Bible speaks to us on this matter. The Master is going on a journey and will be away for awhile. He gathers up three of his servants. To the first, he gives 5 talents. To the second, 2 talents, and to the third, one talent. This given according to each one’s ability. The first man takes the 5 talents and puts the money to work and gains 5 more. In the same way, the one with 2 talents gained 2 more. But the third man with the 1 talent, went and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. The Master returns home. The Master is happy to find that the first servant now has 10 talents to give him. He has done well. The Master is happy to find that the second servant has 4 talents to give him. He, too, has done well. The third servant remarked that the Master was a hard man, that he had hid his Master’s talent in the ground and is now returning the one talent. This DID NOT make the Master happy. Why? Because it did not come back to him with interest. It was not used. Jesus said: “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.”
Last Sunday, we talked about being ready and prepared for Christ’s coming again. This week, the concern is being productive. The talents symbolize the giftedness that is bestowed on each person who is graced with kingdom life and with how we use our gifts in service of the kingdom. All that we are---whether naturally endowed or Spirit-bestowed—must be employed in service of the kingdom of God. Not everyone is born with the same talents, and not everyone is endowed with the same gifts of the Spirit, yet each of us can be productive in our own unique ways. All of our service in the kingdom is inherently valuable, whether it is in sacred or secular realms, whether it receives a greater or lesser return. Our responsibility is to plan for the long haul and use our giftedness to advance the kingdom of God.
There is risk involved. Theologian Fred Craddock wrote: “Take into account the high risk activity of the first two servants. They doubled the money entrusted to them, hardly a possibility without running the risk of losing the original investment…the major themes of the Christian faith---caring, giving, witnessing, trusting, loving, hoping---cannot be understood or lived without risk.”
This next remark comes in the context of a play but here’s a line from the character Nathan: “If I were the Creator, most of all, I’d want my creatures to live every minute of their life, not be so afraid of doing something wrong that they failed to savor the feast I’d prepared for them.” Are we that afraid of using our gifts and talents? (Author Grant Spradling)
Another writer (Marianne Williamson in her prose Return to Love): “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us. It’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Look to the Lord. He gives us mercy. He gives us direction. He gives us gifts for the use of kingdom building. It is not for us to bury them but to risk all in using them---for his glory! Amen.