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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Most all of us who have any kind of a retirement fund or pension fund know that it’s all connected and interlocked with the stock market. And knowing that investment is going up and going down, it is frightening at times. Now, in investing, when you have control over it, for those who do not wish to reap a bigger return, because with a bigger return comes a bigger risk, we call those kind of people, in the investment world, they call those kind of people risk-averse, people who do not want to do that. And then there are those who tie it to a smaller return, because the risk is less.
In this morning’s Gospel reading, there are three servants. One of them is very risk-averse. And so stubborn is he to avoid risk, he dies an unbeliever. And the root behind that risk is he is chained to his own fears. Fear has a way of doing that, doesn’t it? The master, of course, in this morning’s text is Jesus. And he gives gifts to his servants. He shows you and shows me in this text of the great trust that he has in his servants. He does not see the giving of these gifts to his servants as being foolish, but as being loving, honoring even. So much does he love and honor his servants. He says, I know you. Here is a gift. Use this gift.
Now remember, prior to the giving of this gift, does the servant have anything? No. At the end of the story, when the servant gives the gift back with interest, does he have anything? No. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It’s exactly like you’re in my reality in this life. We come into this life having nothing, and we leave this life without the ability to take anything. What’s been given to us has been given to us as a trust, a loving trust by a loving God who reveals that love to us in dying for us and entrusting the greatest gift, faith, in that great gift of His sacrifice.
Now, the two don’t do anything special. They just faithfully use those gifts. Now one of the problems in this text, which you and I can clarify just by looking at life experience, all we know about this text is we have the master giving the gifts, and we have judgment day when the master takes the gifts back with interest. The slave, again, had nothing to begin with and has nothing to end with. We do not know what happens in between, and that’s where we live and walk by faith, isn’t it? Because your and my experience knows that in using God’s gifts, sometimes he allows us to see success, confirmation of what God is doing in our life. Lots of times he does not allow us to see that. We see sometimes failure, sometimes no fruits being bore. And we wonder.
Now Satan and God use the same thing to shape us. The failures. He uses the failures. Because Satan uses him so that we get despondent and give up. God uses him so that he continually reminds us he’s the giver of the gift, and he’s the one accomplishing it in us and through us, and we’ll see it bring about a reward at the last day. But he wants us in the between times to use it. And in using any gifts, there are times when it seems as if it’s never going to happen. And at other times it’s happening and we tend to misinterpret why it happens rather than clinging to the promise that he’s given us.
In the collect of the day, the very first prayer that’s prayed, it’s kind of a summary of the theme of the day. And in the collect, in front of your bulletin, it says this: Almighty and ever-living God, you have given exceedingly great and precious promises to those who trust in you. Dispel from us the works of darkness, for that third servant worked a work of darkness. He buried it. He didn’t want any risk. You can’t say that he misused it or lost it, can you? You can even say, well, he’s extremely fiscally conservative. He didn’t lose it.
In your confirmation, you remember learning about sins of commission and sins of omission. Commission are those sins that we actually are doing. Well, you can’t say that he sinned that way, can you? But you and I can say he sinned by omitting to do something with that gift that was given to him to do and to use. Look at how he comments to his master when the master returns. I know you to be a hard man. You read that text and you can say, wow, this guy is oozing with guilt. Guilt does that to you and to me. Guilt drives us to blame someone else. And this man is blaming God who gave him the gift in the first place. Kind of like a certain Adam did to God when Eve and he sinned. The woman you gave me, O Lord.
The man who squandered that third, the third man who squandered that talent and buried it was completely fixated upon himself, wasn’t he? It was all about him, what he’s going to do, how he’s going to do it, how he’s going to take care of it. The other two were not looking at whether or not they were going to reap a profit. They were looking at the promise of the one who gave the gift. If God loves me this much to have given me this gift, if God trusts me this much and honors me this much to have given me this gift, then I’m going to be able to do it because he’s going to do it through me. The focus is not on me, but on God.
And where does guilt focus you and me at? Here, back on ourself again. Not on the forgiveness of the Father. Not on the mercy of the Lord Jesus. Not on the compassion of a gracious God. But on ourself. You know in your life that God has given you gifts. And you know it’s out of love. Not because you’re worthy or merit it. And you know in giving that gift that he’s given to you, you have seen it blossom. And you’ve also seen those gifts that God has given you fade and rust. At one moment you feel very worthy of the gifts that he’s given you, and in another moment you feel so beholding and lacking of him having given you those gifts. The text says nothing about it, because all of that is self-introspection. The text just says, he loves you and gives you the gift, and he finds that you have done this. That’s the text.
Now, interestingly enough, this text precedes next Sunday’s text in the Gospel of Matthew. Next Sunday’s text is about the sheep and the goats. And remember, the sheep on Judgment Day are completely dumbfounded. When did we do anything for you, Lord? When did we visit you? When did we clothe you? When did we feed you? And the reason they’re dumbfounded is because all they could see was—and all that they knew was that God was gracious and they didn’t deserve to be called a sheep. Who did remember everything that they did? Who did recall everything that they had done? Every T that they crossed and every I they dotted? It was the goats, not the sheep.
An amazing thing happened to St. Paul last year, which fiscal year that is, which was just a few months ago. For the first time in any time that anybody could remember, we finished the year in the black. Which is an amazing thing. That’s a gift from God. So were the previous years when we finished in the red. Those were also gifts of God. But that was a great gift that He showed us. A little transfiguration revelation that He gave us. And then we’ve got to go back down into the valley. I don’t know why God is doing those things. But He does the same thing in your life, doesn’t He? He gives you little glimpses of His ability to take care of you. And then fear at the rustling of a breeze of a leaf. And we’re all of a sudden scared and scatterbrained.
And maybe the reason he does this is to keep reminding us he’s the giver of the gift and he’s the good giver. He’s a loving and honoring God, not one who’s always checking whether or not. That’s the one who died to pay for that price. Don’t take that away from him because he gives it to you freely. He wishes us to realize he’s the giver of the gift and the gift himself. He wishes us to use it faithfully. For here it says very clearly, faithfulness trumps success. Faithfulness trumps success.
And yet, what are you and I accosted by as we walk out this door of this church? If you don’t succeed, it’s because of these reasons. If you didn’t triumph, it’s because of these reasons. And all of those reasons point back to success. You. And boy, is there guilt involved there, isn’t it? And yet your God says to you very clearly, it’s not about you doing it. It’s me doing it.
Well, if you think that the sheep and the goat are a rare occasion and a rare statement where the goats were all about remembering what they’d done for God, there’s another text in the same Gospel of Matthew earlier that goes like this. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. That’s faithfulness. On that day, many will say to me, not a few, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? They’re telling him what they’ve done. Did we not cast out demons in your name? They’re reminding him as if he needs to be reminded of what they’ve done. Did we not do many mighty works in your name? And Jesus says to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Why? Because they were all about themselves and what they’ve done. They were like the one who buried the talent and didn’t use it. Or they’re the ones who feel like they used it and it’s all because of their wise use and not the grace and not the forgiveness and not the mercy.
That’s the reason we enter into heaven. Jesus does not say to you when you come into heaven, well done, good and successful servant. Enter into the rest prepared for you from the foundations of the world. He says, well done, good and faithful servant. And faithfulness means sometimes it looks as if we screwed everything up. And faithfulness means sometimes it looks as if we’re on top of the wave and sailing along beautifully, right? And God’s the one who controls that wave. And most of the time, He loves to keep us walking through the valley, for then our eyes are fixed upon Him and not upon ourself. Because when we’re on top of the heap, we’re always looking as to what we did is why we’re there, and not by His grace pulling us along to be where we are. Faithfulness trumps this.
St. Paul’s been given a great challenge financially. We’ve just come out of a great year. I don’t know why God’s doing it, just like I don’t know why He does and has done the things in your life that He’s done. And you know He’s done them because He’s God. They don’t happen coincidentally or by chance. God allows them. But in allowing them, He is pushing us to see that He’s the giver of the gift and the one who will see it to completion and we’re merely the vessel that contains it.
Be faithful unto death. Be faithful. He will give you the crown of life because you trust in His promises and what he’s given us as a great and mighty master. In Jesus’ name, amen.