“Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”

a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish for Weslaco FPC

Judges 4:1=7, Psalm 123:1-4 ,1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:14-30

November 13, 2011

Introduction

Recently, as we were discussing the book, What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be A Christian, I was reminded of a scene in a silly movie, Talladega Nights.  Sitting around a table, Will Ferrell, playing Ricky Bobby says grace, insisting on praying to the Baby Jesus.  Several times, the prayer is interrupted and he is reminded that Jesus did grow up, but he renews the prayer insisting on praying to the Baby Jesus, the eight and a half pound baby Jesus in a golden diaper.  Baby Jesus is the one he likes, not the man who taught about the Father in heaven, how to live, and what was expected of us.

This sweet, safe Baby Jesus is not the one we meet today in the third parable of judgement.   This is the last week of Jesus’ life.  In a few days, he will be celebrating Passover with his disciples, then dying on the cross.  He is telling his followers another parable about the church waiting for his return until he comes again.  In this parable is a master with three servants who have proven themselves enough to be trusted with an enormous amount of money.

A single talent was a weight of silver or gold equivalent to fifteen years wages for a day laborer.  The first is given five talents, the second is given two, and the last is given one talent.  Even the one talent is an enormous sum of money.  The first two double the money, while the third man returns the money to the master without increase but without losing it either.  The first two men receive the words we all long to here when we go to meet Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your master.”

I have just a couple of comments about the parable.  In Jesus’ day, burying money was an accepted way of keeping it safe.  They had bankers and money lenders but not the same system that we have today.  Secondly, if you will notice, it is the third man who says he is afraid of the master and maligns him, saying that the master reaps where he did not sow – meaning that he steals.  The master does not agree or disagree with the characterization, but tells the man that he is a fool because if he was that afraid, he should have at least put his money with the bankers and gotten a little interest.  Another interesting thing is that the use of the word ‘talent’ for more than a measure of money came from this parable.

Message to the Church

This story has stayed with me all week.  Those stewards and the work they did and the returns they got refer to the church as we live out our lives of faith until Jesus comes again.  We have been given the good news of Jesus Christ to share with the world.  We have been given the scriptures to guide us and help us to know how to live, with love of God and neighbor, with forgiveness to those who have wronged us, with the assurance of God’s incredible love and with the power of the Holy Spirit.

We have been put in this place and in this time to live as God has called us to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.  We have a wonderful location, beautiful buildings, many of us have jobs and enough food and clothing and money to share.  How are we using what we have to bring good news to those who are poor, hungry, in prison?

Stewardship

This is stewardship season.  We are making our pledges to the mission of this church.  Today, we will have a wonderful lunch of BBQ sandwiches and cool iced tea and wonderful sweet desserts to celebrate our plan for ministry in the coming year.  This is a commitment that we make for this church to survive, to continue to go forward, not because we deserve to survive, but because we want to be about our Father’s business of loving other people.

We have two basic movements in mission, the training of disciples and the showing of love to others.  We have deacons to show love and care to our members.  We have classes to increase our Biblical knowledge.  And we have various mission projects to reach out beyond our walls being the church in Weslaco, Texas.  These buildings exist only to serve God and our mission to this world.

We study scripture to know who we are and who God is.  Then, we reach out to make a difference in this world, caring for others.

Missions

We have good inward movements to care and train children and to teach adults about the Bible and about faith.

We have outward movements, two events at Christmas, the Baby Shower for Jesus and gift baskets for Su Casa, helping needy young families.  We help the needy with our Power of Hope fund.

We also help by providing facilities for people in the community, Weight Watchers and Al-Anon, people striving for a more wholesome life.  We have the Valley’s communications hub here so that we host meetings here that link to other places in the Presbytery, saving other disciples time and money of transit.

These are all good things.  What more can we do?  How can we put our talents together and make a difference to the people of this town?  How many people did we invite this year to worship and Sunday School?  How many new members did we welcome?  How many people have been introduced to the love of God by one of us?

As we each consider how we can support the mission of Jesus Christ, think about your time, your talents, and your treasure – how can you invest in the work of the church?  How can we share the love of God with those around us?

Even if we lost all our buildings, we would not lose the most precious thing, our relationship with Christ and the call to be disciples.  We could find a way to meet in a park, do Bible study and reach out to the community, volunteering in schools, hospitals, the Aurora House Hospice, and help those who are homeless and hungry.

This parable says, don’t play it safe with what God has given you.  Use it.  And don’t fear God because the one who feared lost it all.  Be bold in giving, bold in doing good, both as individuals and as a church community.

Conclusion

Together, today we will eat and celebrate this community of faith.  We will talk about the mission plan of this church for the coming year.  We will celebrate who we are and the gifts God has given us.

Camille Jones will share the plan of spending in order to be the church in this place.  At this time, we do not have enough pledges to be confident covering the budget, but remember a budget is just a plan, and it can change as we go forward.  We are blessed with a wonderful message, many talents from many people, and a community that continues to learn who God is and who they are.

Together, we can go forward to spread the good news that God is a living God of awesome power and loves each person on this earth.  We have words of love and worth to share.  We have ways of forgiveness to teach and model.  We have the strength and boldness that comes from faith.  There is much to do.

We will gather again to dedicate the Texas Historical Marker this afternoon at 2:30 and have punch and cookies afterward.  We will have many guests.  There will be chances to talk to old friends and to look back through scrapbooks, perhaps seeing yourself with those same friends many years ago.

This church has a faithful history and we will live into a faithful future.  When we pass from this life into the the next, it will not be the little baby Jesus who meets us at heavens gates, but the grown Jesus, the Messiah who loved us enough to die for us.  We are stewards of God’s gifts.  We have the work of the church to do until Jesus comes again – at the end of time, or at the end of our time.  Let us invest well, so that we may each hear as Jesus meets us, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, November 13, 2011, the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

• First Reading Judges 4:1-7
• Psalm Psalm 123:1-4
• Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
• Gospel Matthew 25:14-30

First Reading Judges 4:1-7

¹The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died. ²So the LORD sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. ³Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

⁴At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. ⁵She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. ⁶She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. ⁷I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’”

Psalm Psalm 123:1-4

¹   To you I lift up my eyes,

O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

²   As the eyes of servants

look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a maid

to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the LORD our God,

until he has mercy upon us.

³   Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,

for we have had more than enough of contempt.

⁴   Our soul has had more than its fill

of the scorn of those who are at ease,

of the contempt of the proud.

Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

¹Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. ²For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! ⁴But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; ⁵for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. ⁶So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; ⁷for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. ⁸But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

Gospel Matthew 25:14-30

¹⁴“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; ¹⁵to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. ¹⁷In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. ¹⁸But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ ²¹His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ²²And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ ²³His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; ²⁵so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ ²⁶But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? ²⁷Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. ²⁹For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ³⁰As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”