Risk Takers

In this digital age, you don’t have to have much musical ability or talent to make it “big” and be a star. It used to be that a singer had to have talent to be able to sound good and sing. Think Elvis here. I know I’m a bit young for Elvis, but if you listen to him, he could really sing. These days, that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, there are many times that a singer isn’t even singing, really, at an event (you think the Super Bowl halftime event is live?).

There was a star who made headlines because of her lip-syncing mix-up on the Saturday Night Live TV show. She was “singing” but the song was a different selection than she was lip-syncing . . . oops. Talent, and these days, digital sound can get you about anywhere it seems.

[read Matthew 25:14-30]

You have undoubtedly heard this parable many times. Some of you may have experienced this parable in church settings—perhaps a challenge to use your talents for God. It’s easy to wrap up and pack away those things we’ve heard over and over—thinking we’ve heard it all before. The challenge is to allow God to show us in a new light His truth. What is it that God wants us to hear today through this parable?

Despite the various amounts of talents given to the servants, how many talents isn’t the issue in this parable. We can get easily distracted, depressed, or disillusioned about the “amount” of talents we have or don’t have. Suzy is more talented than me, she should be the one to teach the children. Bill is extremely gifted with words, he should lead the Bible study. All of this focuses on the talent, not the giver. Jesus notes that each servant was given “to his [or her] ability” (v. 15, NRSV). God will not overload us or under-stock us when it comes to abilities and graces. That is good news--God gives each of us abilities and graces according to who we are. The bad news is that neglecting our talents leads to judgment. It’s not enough to say, “I’ve kept those talents you gave me sitting on my shelf, away from danger.” You have to engage the talents God gives you.

We’re not just talking about “talent” here--the sparkling abilities to do special things. That is included, but we’re talking about the boarder range of gifts, talents, skills, abilities and grace that God has given you. Just as God is calling us to use and share our talents in various areas--music, teaching, leading, finances, and so on--God is calling us to share the grace He has freely given us. I have heard the excuse, “Pastor, I don’t have any special talents.” But you do have grace; we all are recipients of God’s grace. And that is something we are called to use and share, not hide away. You see all these gifts that God gives us are like the manna the Israelites had to gather and eat. Do you remember? They could only gather enough manna for the day (except for the Sabbath, but even then they could only gather enough for that day and the Sabbath). They were not to hoard, stash, or stockpile the manna. Really, they couldn’t hoard, stash, or stockpile manna because it had a very short shelf life (no preservatives here!): one day. Extra manna became spoiled and unusable. If you tried to hoard it, you only lost it.

Unfortunately, the third servant tried to hoard, stash, and/or stockpile the one talent his master gave him. Do you remember what he did with it? Dug a hole and buried it. I’ve heard of people, not so long ago, putting money in their mattress or a coffee can buried in the yard (definitely not in the bank). This servant must have been a bit jittery to have gone out, dug a hole, and buried the talent. Have you noticed the fear of the third servant? He doesn’t invest or use his talent because he’s lazy or stupid. His jitters aren’t from all the extra coffee he drank that morning. He fears the risk he will have to take in order to use that talent. Have you faced a time when God was calling you to something and your immediate response was fear? What if that person rejects me? What if the church fails to grow? What about my family? How can all of this work out with these circumstances? In moments like these we forget that God is God. We forget that His grace goes before us (we do believe in prevenient grace--the grace that is working in our lives before we even know God) and He gives to us talents according to our abilities. He also gives us grace to use those talents, skills, and abilities. God doesn’t ask us to go where He’s not already gone. God doesn’t ask us to do what He hasn’t already done.

What is God calling you to do this week? How is He calling you to share His grace with others? What does your life look like openly sharing skills, talents, resources and grace? What does your life look like hoarding, stashing, and stockpiling? God can make the difference in your life: you can be transformed from fearful to joyful.

Take that first step. Let God’s grace reign free in your life.