Managing Your Gifts Well

Pearl Atwood is a former resident of Lansdale. She turned 100 a few days ago. Channel six did an interview recently, as Pearl was on the golf course. She is a special lady who loves the Lord. Her niece is Phyllis Anders, of our congregation.

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Jessica Brown states:

“She is a true inspiration and role model for us all! She has a positive attitude, strong faith, and always ready for fun! She’s truly amazing!”

Phyllis said:

“Aunt Pearl has an amazing outlook on life, a wonderful uplifting attitude, joy in the journey in spite of great heartache, and a great faith in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!”

How do you explain Pearl’s health? She would say: “A gift from God.” At the same time, I am sure that Pearl manages her health quite well by staying active and eating right.

She planned on being here today, but the recent popularity has been a bit overwhelming for her. She has to take care of herself.

Today’s message is about God’s gifts and the management of them. God wants us to manage more than just our health, but also the gifts that he has given each of us.

Managing God’s gifts is a primary calling in your life.

In Jesus is addressing his disciples in what is known as the Olivet Discourse. This speech is found in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. It predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and is most likely delivered during his final week.

Here, he tells the parable of the talents. Now talents here is just an extremely large amount of money. It is not to be understood as “talent” commonly is associated with special gifts or abilities. Nevertheless, it does stand for life and how one operates as a steward. It is repeated a couple of places in our passage.

This parable is about, “a master entrusting his wealth to his servants, who are expected to invest and grow the money/property.” The gifts given vary from individual to individual. Here, one servant is given five talents; one is given two; and the last is given one.

The focus is not so much on the amount, but the management of each allotment to the three servants. Two of them managed well. To the first, five became ten. To the second, two became four. A doubling of the original. Pretty good stewardship.

Both are commended on their management, not the amount. Romans 12:6 tells us that God has given grace to each of us, according to His choosing.

Romans 12:6 ESV

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

Upon the master’s return, he congratulates the first two servants who hear those coveted words in Matthew 25:21 and 23:

Matthew 25:21 ESV

21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Again, it is not the amount of money, but the quality of the stewardship. Both servants doubled the amount. If we’ve managed well, we’ll be rewarded well.

Let us not be found negligent or ill-intended regarding God’s gifts.

The problem is with the third servant. He wasted the opportunity. Notice his skill in sucking up to the master upon his return. Matthew 25:24-25

Matthew 25:24–25 ESV

24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’

He is driven by fear, or is not being honest. Maybe a little of both. By burying the sum, anyone could have watched him and dug it up later, to steal it. He was quite careless in his management of the master’s money.

I have encountered people that do just about anything but apply themselves to honest work. It is a shame. Some spend more time trying to work individuals, than working to improve themselves and their situation.

Notice the master’s reaction. He saw right through this answer and called it like it was, in Matthew 25:26-30

Matthew 25:26–30 ESV

26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Notice that the third servant is called wicked and lazy. And he is ultimately judged in the severest way for his mismanagement of his master’s resources.

Who is the master? I would venture to say, it is God. Who are the servants? Those that have been entrusted with God’s resources.

There is a broader interpretation of this passage. It is any gift, ability, resources or opportunity that God gives you. Will you use it for His glory and minister to others? Or will you bury it or spend it on yourself?

What am I here for?

A big question that we can ask ourselves is: “What am I here for?” You are employed by God to represent Him to a lost and dying world. Jesus died and rose again to establish His church, a people that would proclaim His excellencies. 1 Peter 2:9

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Jesus managed His life perfectly. He spent it for His Father. And we have benefitted from it.

God has given you gifts to serve His church and His kingdom. Thomas Schreiner states:

“I would define spiritual gifts as gifts of grace granted by the Holy Spirit which are designed for the edification of the church. Gifts are given to believers so that we will serve and minister to others; they don’t focus on our own abilities.” (Schreiner, Spiritual Gifts, 16-17).

How does your spiritual gifts affect the church? It ties into your belief of the “Communion of Saints.”

We say in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, and the forgiveness of sins.”

Question number 55 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks: “What do you understand by ‘the communion of saints.’” It answers as follows:

“First, that believers one and all, as partakers of the Lord Christ, and all his treasures and gifts, shall share in one fellowship. Second, that each one ought to know that he is obliged to use his gifts freely and with joy for the benefit and welfare of other members.” (The Heidelberg Catechism, 56).

James Bannerman states:

“The Christian Church was established in the world, to realize the superior advantages of a social over an individual Christianity, and to set up and maintain the communion of saints.” (Theology for Ministry, 433).

And so as much as we might cherish our individualism in America, when it comes to our spiritual lives, every Christian is obligated to utilize his/her spiritual gifts in the context of the local church.

If I do not involve myself in the local church, I am being selfish. And, subject to God’s discipline.

And ultimately, the cost of not using our spiritual gifts is judgment, as we saw the servant underwent by burying his gift.

It reminds us that you and I are not on this earth for ourselves, but for God and others.

A time of discovery.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church said: “Stewardship is the use of God-given resources for the accomplishment of God-given goals.” We are privileged to be a part of that process.

Later this morning, you will be given a document to fill out. This is not to recruit you, as much as it is a tool to help you discover the different ways God has equipped you for ministry.

It is known as the SHAPE document. SHAPE stands for Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences. It ought to be fun and interesting to drill down into the unique ways God wants to use you.

It’s because stewardship is not just about money. It is about resources, one of the biggest is yourself.

Amen.