Friday, January 24, 2020

January 19th, 2020 Pastor Waldschmidt


What Really Matters is Knowing The Master
Matthew 25:14-30  “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, 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.

I’ve done my best to hide it but I’m very much fashioned challenged.  I have to ask my wife or my daughters if this shirt looks ok with these pants.  Does this tie match?  With a big barrel of mismatched socks at home, I sometimes just grab a pair of those and sneak out of the house.  I have to ask my wife because otherwise even more, I just would not look right.  Our God is a God of order.  He created things to look right and be right.  In Jesus’ parable about servants there is something that just doesn’t look right.  Something in the response of one of the servants that just doesn’t look right.  It doesn’t fit the master.  The other two servants know the master and knowing the master makes all the difference. 
Jesus tells the story of a man who went away on a journey.  He put his servants in charge of his finances.   He gave one of his servants 5 bags of gold and another servant two bags of gold of gold and another 1 bag of gold.  Two of servants got busy right away and put the master’s money to work.  They invested it.  One of the servants was a lazy servant.  He buried the bag of gold he had been given in the back yard. 
Then the master came back home and asked his servants how things had been going.  The man who had been entrusted with 5 bags of gold  brought the 5 more he had gained and the same with the man who had been given 2 bags of gold to take care of.  He brought 2 more.  They heard the master’s praise , ‘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!’
All three of the servants were entrusted with a lot of money, just like God has entrusted us with many things.   The Lord is always serious about how we manage what he entrusts to us. Seven times in the New Testament Jesus repeated that hell is a place of eternal darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who rebel and turn away from God. The wicked servant’s rebellion was not dealing drugs with the master’s money or funding people who do nasty stuff.   It was doing nothing—not using God’s gifts for God’s glory.  His rebellion was… “Leave me alone so I can do what I want!” 
My little sinful mind likes to think that I’m the 5 bag of gold guy or maybe the 2 bag guy- using the gifts God has given pretty well.  But then I hear the lazy servant talk and I hear his voice in my throat.  Maybe it’s that he is just kind of coming of with excuses for his laziness.  I knew you were a hard man master.  I didn’t want to mess it up and besides you gave that other guys more money for investing- no wonder they did well.”  If we have a nice place to live, a nice car to drive, and maybe even a nice TV to watch, that’s not wrong or sinful at all. Those are gifts from God, thank God for them, and take good care of what God has given you. But also take inventory of every good thing he’s given you and figure out the answer to this question: How much of what God has given you have you buried in the ground of self-advancement or self-enjoyment rather than directing every gift you’ve been given toward the glory of God and the good of others? The first commandment that requires perfect love for God buries us in guilt that goes way over our heads.  The excuses might be different but the fact remains.  We haven’t, I haven’t always used God gifts well and to his glory. 
Here’s the thing about those two faithful servants. They weren’t perfect. They were sinners, too. But their story started long before their master went on a journey and entrusted them with bags of gold. There was something that was already firmly in place, something that had been created inside them, so that when they were given that money and the master traveled abroad, the first and only thing they could think to do was to devote themselves to activities and projects that would be pleasing to him when he returned. What do you think that something was?  They knew their master cared about them.  That love drove them to devote themselves so completely to working for him while he was gone. Of all the things they could ever have had for themselves, hearing “well done” from him was better than anything. The master’s great love was also what the wicked servant was missing.   Isn’t that something that imperfect sinful servants like us know too?
The master showed his great loved for us when Jesus took our place in the spot where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Before you were born and before he created all things, God the Father had already made that choice of love. On Good Friday he acted on that choice. The thick, unbreakable cords of perfect and eternal love that bound the Father to the Son—God the Father sliced through those cords, severed them, and dropped his beloved Son into the torturous, darkness of God forsakenness. Even in that hell of hells, with the guilt of everyone counted against him, Jesus did not gnash his teeth in anger against God. In silent suffering he was condemned and  died for you. Your Father in heaven kept you and me … and cursed his Son.  You know the master’s love. 
God has given us so many gifts and talents including the treasure of his son worth far more than gold or silver.  As we try to use his gifts faithfully what really matters is knowing the Master. Love is what’s in his heart for you. Let it be love that is in your heart for him.  Let it be that love that love that moves us more and more to put God’s gifts to us to God’s glory.  History people might know that on September 22, 1776, Captain Nathan Hale had been discovered and arrested as a spy, and he was due to be hanged on a British gallows. The Captain rather famously stated, “I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Knowing God’s love for us isn’t that a good thing for us to have in our hearts? —It’s too bad that I have only this one life that I can live for God!  

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