The Reason Why We Won't Let Go

Last week we began this series on stewardship by laying a foundation on one simple phrase from Psalm 24. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. Our first step was to get past any notion that this world belongs to me. Every possession and every ability which we have is a blessing from God. and God’s blessings are given for the purpose of cultivating and developing his shalom flourishing of all creation. That’s where we began last week. I am a steward of this world and all that is in it because it all belongs to God.

Let’s be honest. This is often hard for us to do. Maybe we are okay with generosity, so we think we have it all nailed down and put together. But stewardship is more than generosity. Stewardship pulls upon the reasons and motivations for being generous in the first place. Today let’s dig into a story from Jesus and uncover one of the barriers that holds us back from turning our generosity into stewardship.

Matthew 25:14–28 NIV

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.

The Parable of the Talents

Maybe a little context around this story would be helpful. It is commonly referred to as the parable of the talents. First, a quick reminder on Matthew’s gospel. This is good background now that will help us focus in on an ultimate meaning and application for this story from Jesus. If you were to do a quick study of this passage and dig in a little bit, you might quickly discover that this story seems to appear in two gospels. It is here in Matthew 25 as we have read today. and a similar story also comes up in Luke 19. But the setting, the audience, and the telling of the story are completely different between Luke and Matthew. Whenever I see this kind of discrepancy in parallel passages in the gospels, it always causes me to pause and take note of the surroundings of the story to see why and how the gospel writer uses the story.

arrangement of Matthew - five discourses, echo five books of Torah

Matthew writes his gospel for an audience of Jewish Christians. More than any of the four gospels, Matthew assumes his readers will have a solid understanding of Jewish Old Testament customs and scriptures. This may well be the reason why Matthew organizes his gospel in a way that divides the spoken teachings of Jesus into five segments, or discourses. Because the Jewish people would be very familiar with Old Testament concept that the law of God was revealed to them through Moses in five books. The first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, make up the Torah law for the Jewish people. Matthew tells the story of Jesus in his gospel writing in a way that communicates to the Jewish people that Jesus is a mirror of the Torah. He is the fulfilment of the covenant relationship which God began in the Old Testament.

chapter 25 is in the fifth discourse - focus of Jesus’ teaching is to look ahead

Now then, whenever we pick a passage out of Matthew that is a spoken teaching of Jesus, it is always good to stop and remind ourselves of the place in Matthew’s gospel where that teaching belongs. Here in chapter 25 of Matthew we are looking at the fifth discourse of Jesus in the five segments Matthew uses to organize his stories about Jesus. The audience here is just the disciples of Jesus. This is sometimes labeled by biblical scholars as the Olivet discourse.

how to live now in a way that anticipates what Jesus is bringing next

In general, the fifth and final discourse of teachings from Jesus in Matthew revolves around the theme of looking ahead. There are teachings about the signs of the end times. And there are these parables about what it means to live as a disciple who is looking ahead for the coming kingdom of God which is being revealed. This story does that. This parable of the talents is a story that looks ahead and demonstrates how disciples should be living now in a way that anticipates what Jesus is bringing ahead.

We did not look today at all the parables in Matthew 24 and 25. They all share this common theme, but they also each have a particular focus. Here are the ones that I skipped. The ending verses of chapter 24 tell the story of the two servants as a focus upon responsibility. The opening verses of chapter 25 tell the story of ten virgins as a focus upon readiness. Then comes the story we read today about the talents which focuses upon productivity. And chapter 25 closes with the story of the sheep and the goats as a focus upon accountability.

The parable of the talents fits into that bigger picture of stories all carrying the theme of living as disciples who look ahead to where Jesus is bringing his kingdom. This is a forward-looking story. Jesus is saying, keep your attention focused ahead on the kingdom of God that is yet becoming; not behind on what has already been. These are all stories that carry an anticipation of what is coming next. That will be important to remember when we get a little further along in this message to application for us today.

first two servants double the resources = use what is given to its fullest potential

Take a closer look with me, then, at the parable of the talents. A wealthy man divides resources among three individuals. The discrepancy of those amounts is not alarming nor a cause for concern. The master then leaves on a journey and the servants put their resources to work. When the master returns, the first two servants report back to their master what they have done. Each one of them doubles the money. Here again, the amounts themselves are not significant. The doubling is what should be noted. It is simply a way for Jesus to convey in the story that each of the first two servants used what they had been given to its fullest potential. That’s all. Jesus says, here is what those two were given; and they each used the full potential of what they had received from the master.

third servant keeps resources hidden to himself, does not use what is given

But just like the other parables in this chapter of Matthew, the story turns. The third servant takes what he is given and hides it away, not using the potential of his resources at all for the master. And in the end it doesn’t turn out so well for him. Let’s turn our attention there and figure out why he buried his treasure and what that has to do with us today and stewardship.

Buried Treasure

Whenever we find ourselves in a bit of a tight spot, perhaps the first inclination is to always give an explanation. This story is no different. The servant who buried his resources explains why he did it. Here is what he says. “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

third servant views the master as not being fair

He just held it. He did not do anything with it. And the explanation he gives points towards his view of the master. The NIV English Bible translates the Greek word sklaros as “hard.” It appears in other English Bibles as harsh. The word carries the notion of being stubborn or unyielding or determined or unrelenting. But beyond that, the servant notes the way in which the master harvests in places where he has not sown. This is confusing. Some biblical scholars suggest that perhaps it is a nod to the way in which the gospel message through Jesus now extends the harvest of God’s people beyond the nation of Israel. But that explanation seems to stretch beyond the point which the parable is trying to make. It is much more likely that the servant held a view of the master in which he judged the master to be unfair.

do I hold back generosity because I haven’t been given as much blessing as others?

There is no further explanation for this. Maybe there does not need to be, because this is the point at which the listener is meant to be inserted into the story. I mean, we all have our moments of casting some questionable doubt upon the fairness of God. maybe this servant was put out because the other two servants were entrusted with so much more of the master’s property than he was given. It didn’t seem fair to him that they got so much more to work with while he had to settle for just one portion.

I suppose we could all make our lists detailing the ways in which it feels like God has poured blessings so much more extravagantly upon others. It just doesn’t seem fair. How could God possibly make a demand for a useful deployment of my talents and resources when it looks like others have so much more compared to me? It’s not fair for God to make that requirement unless he is going to give me as much as or more than everybody else.

And so, with the excuses made, the treasure is buried. And all that the servant has left is an excuse for his explanation. He says, I was afraid; so I hid the talent you gave to me instead of using it.

“so I was afraid”

Fear.

You know, that is what it really comes down to. The one who buried the treasure and did not make use of the resources given by God acted out of fear. And isn’t fear the thing that really keeps all of us from the potential that stewardship can produce? What are some of the ways in which fear entices us to bury the treasure we have from God instead of use it in stewardship?

fear of failure - what if I do not measure up?

Sometimes we are gripped by a fear of failure. The opportunity arises to be a mentor in our Tuesday night Life Skills class, or lead a Bible study, or join the praise team, or be nominated to serve as an Elder. And sometimes my reaction is to bury that treasure because I am afraid. What if I cannot do it? What if I come up short? What if I fail? I look at others around me who already serve in these ways, and I see those who have the ten-bags-of-gold kind of talent. I see the way they use those gifts and the ten-bags-of-gold return that comes from the way they use those talents. And I am afraid that my one talent can never measure up. So I bury it instead of use it. When fear starts to hold us back from letting go of our resources in generosity to others, it is like burying our treasure.

fear of unknown - hoarding what I have because I never know if it will be enough

Sometimes it is a fear of the unknown. Of course there is a good and proper place for planning financially for the future. But prudent financial planning turns into hoarding when fear takes over. When I lived in Kalamazoo, there was an old woman in our community who had grown up during the great depression in a family that had very little. Later in life, her husband passed away leaving very little for her. She began to collect and hang onto absolutely everything she could because she was taken over by a fear of not having enough. It came to a point where a group from our church worked with her go in a clean her house. It was a sight like maybe you’ve seen on the TV show Hoarders. There are entire rooms of her house stacked from floor to ceiling from one wall all the way across with items she had collected and hung onto just in case she might ever need it. The kitchen had absolutely zero counter space because so much stuff was piled in every space. There was barely room to walk through the house through the doorways and down the hall. In her bedroom was a path from the door to the bed and that was it. We had to rent more than one dumpster to clean up enough stuff from her house to make it safe again for her to keep living there. But she was afraid to let it all go. She was afraid that if she didn’t keep all of this stuff that something might come along and happen in her future and then she would not have enough.

That’s an extreme example. But we face those moments too. We have times in which opportunities come for us to share our resources with others, and we catch ourselves holding something back. And sometimes we hold back not because there is some other plan or need for our finances. But we hold back because we are afraid of the unknown. What if something comes along I did not expect and then I wish I could have it back again? There is a difference between some sensible rainy-day contingency savings and a doomsday stockpile. When fear starts to hold us back from letting go of our resources in generosity to others, it is like burying our treasure.

fear of loss - what am I leaving behind in order to give my generosity to what is ahead?

Sometimes it is a fear of loss. In fact, many times we hold back from stewardship because of a fear of loss. Last year was the first time my family celebrated Thanksgiving in Michigan since before 2010. All the years I lived in Denver, my family celebrated Thanksgiving as a quiet family day at home. It was a little surprising last year when Thanksgiving Day included the curve ball of having to leave the house. It was a new thing to go to church on Thanksgiving and then go to Grandma’s house for dinner—these are things we had not done in over a decade. Last year my family had the wonderful opportunity to join with our church family in worship as a way to start our Thanksgiving celebration. We had the opportunity to join with extended family and share a big meal together.

But I will be honest. Those things came with a sense of loss. We lost a quiet day when I could spend the entire day with just my wife and kids at home. I lost a Thanksgiving Day that was filled with the blessing of feeling like a true sabbath rest. Yes, there was the gain of new ways to celebrate the holiday. But it came at the loss of the old ways we had cherished Thanksgiving for so many years.

Matthew tells this story about stewardship of resources in a section of his gospel which points our attention forward on what Christ is bringing and becoming in his glorious new kingdom. It is a vision of using what we have been given to press ahead into a new unfolding kingdom of shalom flourishing. It is a stewardship that does not look back; it is a stewardship that places our resources in use of what is ahead. It is a stewardship of resources that anticipates the renewal and rebirth of his heavenly kingdom.

And sometimes moving forward into the place where God is leading comes with loss. Moving ahead means having leave some things behind. This is a hard one. Sometimes with the best of intentions we take our resources and use them in an attempt to turn around and go back to a time that used to be. We seek to preserve some kind of a past that we once knew. We spend our time and our efforts on trying to keep things forever arranged just as they used to be. We are afraid to place our resources into what God is bringing about next because we are afraid to let go of anything we might lose along the way. And so, rather than lose something I would like to keep hanging onto, I choose to bury my treasure instead of use it. Because I am afraid of losing it.

It is not by accident that the command most often repeated in the Bible in some form is the command to not be afraid. Fear gets in the way of us following Jesus the way he calls us to. And it turns out that fear gets in the way of us being generous the way in which God invites us.

I do not have to bury my treasure because I do not have to live in fear

But you and I do not have to bury our treasure. Because you and I are people who do not have to live in fear. We do not have to hide our blessings and our resources. Because we do not have to be afraid. Our God reminds us over and over again in scripture that his love and his faithfulness never let go of us. God’s love never runs dry and leaves us stranded. No one is beyond the reach of his grace and mercy and forgiveness and healing. No one is a throw-away. God has created and loves every single one of us. He has blessed and gifted every single person. There is nothing for us to fear in being people who follow Jesus with our whole being; with our whole lives; with all that we have.

You are a treasure; a beloved child of God. Do not let yourself be buried. Let yourself be all that God has created and blessed you to be. Let go of your fear. And let God use what you have to offer.