It Isn't Just Who You Know, It's How You Know Him
Joining Jesus on His Journey Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Obedience, Reasons for
There are many reasons why we may obey someone, including God. What are yours?
Fear? Obeying because you have to?
Reward? Obeying because you get something out of it?
Love? Obeying because you love Christ and your fellowman?
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
The Book of Concord Article VI: Concerning the New Obedience
1] It is also taught that such faith should yield good fruit and good works and that a person must do such good works as God has commanded for God’s sake but not place trust in them as if thereby to earn grace before God.
We are known as the people who love grace. So much so that, to some, Lutherans think that one can be as disobedient as he or she likes, because Baptism and Holy Communion gives us a free pass. While it is true that these are the means through which God conveys the grace of forgiveness to us, it is faith that appropriates that grace and makes it our own.
The Kingdom of Heaven is, to be honest, a difficult concept for Americans to grasp. First off, we don’t really get what it is like to live under a monarchy (from the Greek μοναρχία, Ion. μουναρχίη, ἡ, the rule of one, monarchy, sovereignty - H.G. Liddell, A Lexicon: Abridged from Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996), 518.). The idea that one person is the Law pretty much leaves our experience once we leave the authority of the home, and in many households today, the impact of culture has even diluted the authority that the father once exercised, both directly and through the mother, his wife. Children are often presented in entertainment media as the source of wisdom and intelligence, and parents are presented as out of touch, foolish, and even childish.
In the workplace, the authority exercised by an owner is challenged by unions, government bureaucrats, and social activists. In politics, the closest thing that we have to a monarchy is the Judiciary, in that, at the Federal level, once appointed, they serve for life, and there is no one who can overrule the Supreme Court in its rulings.
It is vital to know the character of the ruler in a monarchy; one’s very life could hang in the balance. In the parables of Jesus, displeasing the authority figure always resulted in being cast out into the outer darkness, while pleasing the authority figure led to promotion.
The parable in today’s lesson continues Jesus’ illustration of the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven at Christ’s return. The elements that it shares with the parable of the virgins include an undetermined absence, the fulfillment or neglect of a responsibility, and reward and punishment as a result. Interestingly, there is no mention of mercy or forgiveness in these parables. Instead, the underlying theme centers on the concept of “watchfulness as the Day of Christ’s return approaches” that Jesus teaches in Matt 24.
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Whatever “talents” represent in this parable, they are a possession of the owner, not a gift to the servants. He “entrusts” them rather than gives them, with the implication being that he expects to receive them back. A similar parable in Luke 19:12-27 includes the direct instruction, “Engage in business until I come” (v. 13). Both of these parables are connected with the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God at the return of Christ. both parables compare two servants who invest what their master entrusts to them with one who attempts only to preserve it from loss.
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 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.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 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.’
Each of the servants was given a portion of the master’s goods “according to his ability.” They were each expected to do something in accordance with his ability. The Master is showing His knowledge of their abilities and His confidence that they will know what is expected and will act accordingly. How does the Master know this? He knows them and has prepared them for this assignment.
The first two servants fulfill their Master’s expectations and are invited to share in His joy. Likewise, the Lord invites us to share the joy of His work of salvation. He rejoices over every soul that abides in Him. The Lord knows that we are not all the same, He knows our various levels of maturity, He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He rejoices, not in what we do, but in the fact that we have joined Him in His Mission.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Say it with me: “He knows how much you can bear.”
What is the opposite of faith? Some say doubt, others say unbelief. While there is merit in those answers, I suggest that there is another, more draining obstacle and opposition: FEAR.
The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations Faith and Fear
Fear imprisons, faith liberates;
fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
fear disheartens, faith encourages;
fear sickens, faith heals;
fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the
heart of life,
while faith rejoices in its God.
H.E. Fosdick
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.’
First of all, this servant knew the Master in a way that indicated that there was no intimacy between them. He viewed him, not as one whom God had blessed to prosper, but as one who obtained his goods without working for them. His words imply that his master obtained his goods either by plundering others or by other nefarious means. According to major lexicons, the Greek word σκληρός, ά, όν generally translates as “hard, harsh, rough, or unpleasant.” This assessment of his Master led the servant, not to invest the Talent, but to hide it. He so feared that the Master would deal harshly with him for failure, he chose to do nothing. Rather than risk his stewardship in a glorious venture of his Master’s confidence, he buried the master’s goods, thus showing that he failed to understand what his Master had done. And so, as Job said, “That which I feared has come upon me!” The Master received his confession, and gave him what he said.
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.’
At our Lord’s return, there won’t be time to get things right. There won’t be time to “love your neighbor as yourself.” There won’t be time to show that your faith is not dead. There will only be the presence of the Lord, not in mercy, but in judgment. Today is the time of the day, the day of salvation, the day of the Lord’s Release. Today, I echo the words of the Apostle Paul,
1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to take Jesus at His word when He said:
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus made Himself of no reputation, instead of coming in the fullness of His glory, He humbled Himself, and took the form of a servant. He suffered the cruel death of crucifixion so that we could come boldly before the Throne of Grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
Over and over, our Lord tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that all would come to repentance. He uses the image of the shepherd with his sheep to show us that His desire is for our good. He tells us that the crucifixion was a self-donation of love, not the cosmic child abuse described by radical feminist theologians.
God wants you, not to take the no- risk road of hiding the light of Christ in you, the hope of glory. Instead, the spirit of liberty in Christ encourages you to trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land, and feed upon His faithfulness. The plans that He has for you are plans of peace and not of evil. For the spirit of heaviness, the Lord offers in exchange the garment of praise. He fills you with the Holy Spirit, and empowers you to speak as His representative, an ambassador of the King. He knows that, thanks to His Spirit which dwells in you, you are more than a conqueror.
These are the things that Christ declares in His Word concerning us. This is the Good News: The Lord is with His people, and He is working in the world through the Body of Christ, the church, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
So let the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.