22. Sunday after Pentecost, 11/13/2011

Sermon on Matthew 25:14-31, by Walter W. Harms

(Jesus said:) 14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 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. 21 "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!' 22 "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. 23 "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!' 24 "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. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26 "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? 27 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. 28 "‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth

How to Use Your Assets

Anybody here today who belongs to the proverbial 1% of our country who control 99% of the wealth? I thought so! We are in the proverbial 99% who control a very small amount of wealth. Anybody here suffer from 1% envy? That's OK. Most all of us at some time or other wish and probably believe that if we had more money or win the lottery, life would be simpler, easier, more enjoyable and perhaps even give us the ability to escape from so many of the circumstances which make living so much a burden.

That is not true, of course, but because of our nature corrupted by envy and lust we often give in to that belief. But the message for you today is not about why we shouldn't envy the rich. That message can easily be handled by a statement made by Jesus himself: "It is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

But the reality of knowing that we are in that 99% of the population doesn't in any way tell what our assents really are. Even more important it doesn't tell us how we are to use the assets that we have been "given."

You notice that I use the word "given." We, every one of us have been gifted by God with assets. Some of us are loaded; some of us are only slightly less loaded, and even the least of us are richly loaded. So before we even think about how we are to use our assets, we need to know what they are.

I am not necessarily talking about the talents we have, although they certainly are gifts from God. We had about as much chance of acquiring great talent as we have of being struck by lightening or winning the lottery. Slim to none! They are given to us; some by birth, like intelligence; other by cultivation, as playing a musical instrument to the point of being able to make a living through that.

I am talking about how we see ourselves. Are we richly blessed by God or has God sort of overlooked us in his great distribution of every kind of wealth? What do we think about God and his attitude toward us?

I preached a sermon once of God pruning us. After the worship service a woman came up and told me that God was really pruning her. Her best friend with whom she lived had cancer and was dying. This woman was hoping that after her ancient aunt in her late 80ies was dead, she and her friend could travel and enjoy life. She was bitter about God's way of doing stuff in her life.

Do you and I think God is a hard God, harvesting where he has not sown and gathering where he has not scattered seed. And so we are afraid of him? Has he not been generous to us? Do we know what our assets really are?

Not so many years ago, I thought that God was punishing me for my sins, my failures, my inability to control my passions. Then by the grace of God's Good Spirit I began to understand that all the difficulties I was experiencing in life were leading me to understand that I was not only not being dumped on by God, but that he was in reality causing me to trust him more. Every experience we encounter, every time we meet adversity, our gracious God is adding to our assets, increasing our wealth, causing us to grow from 5 to 10, from 2 to 4 and from 1 to 2 of all he has given us.

Every time we encounter God, whether in the Gospel or the Blessed Sacrament, he is adding to our assents. He is coming to us, into us and clearing away the mess we make and giving us vision to see how we may use our assents for his good.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that he will be coming back to see how well we have used all he has given us. Even that is based upon the premise that we are in a relationship with him, that we are his servants in this world. You see God has taken us who were simply doing nothing, wasting our breath and time, and in some cases (or is it all cases?) has freed us from a cruel master who used us, abused us and cared nothing but that we would end in misery, death and hell.

He has taken us into his world, his kingdom, his house, his family. He did it through a process we call the process of salvation. God paid the ultimate cost for us to be in his world. He had his one and only Son, Jesus enter our world, live perfectly because we are much less than perfect, paid the cleaner's price to get us looking good and actually being good, now calls us righteous before God. The cost was Jesus' death, his stay in the dark and cold grave. God accepted the price of his Son for each of you before me today and for all of the people out there.

God is not miserly; he is not stingy. We has given us so much of everything. Wealth of all kinds, abilities of all kinds, strengths of all kinds, having a wide variety of people in our acquaintance, and so much more.

We as God's people. We believe God is good; that he cares for us every day in every way. We humbly recognize that we have been gifted by God through Jesus. We know we have a good God and joyfully, willingly, exuberantly use what we have received from him.

And you know what? As we use his gifts in serving all the people who surround us, our assets from God increase, not diminish. As we give, we receive. As we serve, we are served.

There is another aspect of this story told by Jesus that is necessary for us to contemplate. The person who received five bags of gold had ten when his master returned and the 2 had 4. How do you suppose that happened?

Well, for sure, they didn't bury it or even put it in the bank. They had to venture; they had to risk. They had ambition and plans for what the master had given them. Some of you are not members of this congregation of Christians, but to those who are I ask you: has this community of Christians risked anything? Have we as God's servants had any plans that might require risk? Do we have any plans at all? Are we simply playing it safe, not rocking any boats, not using the good assets God has given us in terms of people and place?

That question needs to be answered. There needs to be adventure, holy desires to increase what God has given us. Are we centered on ourselves? Are we thinking how good this church is for us? What is it for others?

Twice in my career I was blessed to be able to assist in beginning new congregations. Both times, opposition appeared. Both times the fear was the same. "We will lose members and the money they contribute."

Now where is risk for the sake of Jesus? Where was the concern of those who said this? What will God do when he comes again in glory?

Somewhere in the Holy Scriptures there is this phrase: when He returns will faith be found? Where are you in all this? What is your mind set? What are your assets? Are you proverbially sitting on them or using them because you are absolutely certain God will bless you as you use them, increase them and give you joy now and then?

The question is: to use your assets for God or not?

retired pastor Walter W. Harms
Austin, TX U. S. A.
E-Mail: waltpast@aol.com

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