STEWARDSHIP: THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
MATTHEW 25: 14-30
OCTOBER 3, 2004
INTRODUCTION: Fishman: Life’s details can be elusive
Jane Fishman Savannah Morning News
In one 10-hour period last month, on a Saturday, I attended a funeral for a 90-year-old woman, a baby shower for a sweet-tempered 5-month-old boy born in Vietnam and an inter-generational birthday party for a wild woman turning 50.
In any one of those events there were enough flash points for conversations that could last a day and then some. But because most of us are so backed up and starved for time -- and it’s not just me, I know this for a fact -- we often come home at the end of the night with vague memories of half-conversations, of questions never answered.
On the run and over the music, we ask, how’s the separation working out? Where’s your daughter going to college? Any leads on the job hunt? Was she ill for long? What’s the deal on the house you wanted to buy?
The week before, it was a double bris for twins in the middle of a weekday afternoon; we have time only to wave at someone way down in the front of the synagogue. Two days later came a weekend trip to New York to see a friend gravely ill with cancer. Then there was a call from my mother about a curb she didn’t see and a fall that was minor. The only thing she broke was a pair of glasses that needed replacing anyway.
And that was just in my little, itty-bitty corner of the world. All around me were other swirls and eddies of existence: a wedding in Forsyth Park I stopped and watched for a few minutes, a parade a few blocks over, a child trying on a Halloween costume that needed mending, a neighbor trying to refinance his house, a phone call from a friend about her daughter who is in love for the first time, an e-mail from someone who just celebrated her 23rd wedding anniversary, a quick conversation and future plans to have lunch with a couple just back from a month in Sicily.
Nothing less than the full order of life, the full catastrophe, Nicholas Kazankakis’ Zorba the Greek might have said. A lot to hear, even more to absorb.
It’s a good thing there are other people who attend the same events.
Then we can review and compare. Then we can remember. I was thinking about this during a phone conversation with my cousin John, who lives in San Francisco. We love one another, but because of time and distance and our own individual and arbitrary life choices, we get together only during planned events. The last one was his nephew’s wedding in May.
We all met for lunch the day after the wedding. John reminded me (I had forgotten) where we gathered -- at Alban’s, a venerable Detroit-area restaurant on Woodward Avenue -- "home of the big-wheel sandwich" with cheese on brown pumpernickel bread and thousand island dressing.
"I sat next to your mom," he said. "We had a real nice conversation."
(Two days later, when I tell this to my mom, she says, "Now which one is John?" I take a deep breath and say, "You know. Johnny. Your brother Saul’s son. Kenny’s brother. My first cousin. Dorothy was his mother. Remember Dorothy?"
And she says, "I get all mixed up. I think I remember."
But unless he’s in front of her, I know she doesn’t. She’s thinking of another John who lives a few miles from her. This one is her great-grandson. This one just turned 14.
Then San Francisco John tells me his favorite part of the wedding, when friends of the bride and groom lifted them in a chair to the music of an energetic klezmer dance band.
I had forgotten that.
Then I tell him my favorite part. When his nephew, Kenny’s son, Saul and Dorothy’s grandson, was reciting his homemade vows about his bride, going on and on about the usual stuff -- her big heart and kind ways and fabulous lasagna -- when all of a sudden, he brightened and exclaimed, "Plus, she’s really hot!"
John didn’t remember.
"Are you making that up?" he said.
I don’t think so. But maybe. It’s all a blur.
TRANSITION THOUGHT: Do you ever wonder if the details are all that important anyway? Do all the little pieces really added up? Does it really matter what I remember and what I get done? And then we hear this text that Tony read to us and all the sudden the little things seem to add up and we realize that the devil is in the details. Each little thing matters, each little part of the equation is important. Somehow we are expected to pay attention and we thought we were too poor for that. Sometimes we just want to forget the details and pretend they don’t exist, but here we are, face to face with Jesus and He explains why the details really do matter and make all the difference in the world!
THESIS SENTENCE: WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO JESUS FOR ALL THE DETAILS OF OUR LIVES!
I. DETAILS ARE THE TALENTS GIVEN VV. 14-15
A. TALENTS GIVEN ARE THE RESULT OF SEPARATION
B. TALENTS GIVEN ARE A MATTER OF SERVANTHOOD
C. TALENTS GIVEN ARE A MATTER OF TRUST
D. TALENTS GIVEN ARE DIFFERING IN AMOUNTS
E. TALENTS GIVEN ARE A MATTER OF ABILITY
1. ABILITY IS PREDETERMINED
2. ABILITY IS ABOUT HIM AND NOT ABOUT US
ILLUSTRATION: Pastor Wade Hughes writes, ARE WE SO FOCUSED ON THE CROWD AND THE OFFERINGS THAT WE CAN’T SEE? ARE WE MATERIALISTIC MINDED?
I love Indian arrow heads. I lived in Virginia and I collected arrow heads for me and a few friends. I had a super collection.
I displayed my arrow heads in my office at church.
Someone broke into the church and stole my arrow heads, gone, my pride was forever gone.
My inheritance to my sons was gone.
Down through the years I had given away many of the arrow heads I had collected as gifts.
Some of my friends heard that my arrowheads were gone, and they returned to me what I had given, now all I have is what I gave away.... is that strange? Contributed by: Wade Hughes, Sr
Todd Coget writes: Imagine how a parent would feel if on Christmas day when the gifts for their children were handed out, the children just took them, said “Thank you,” and laid them aside with no attempt to open the gifts not even to find out what they were!
Imagine how the Lord must feel when he has given gifts to us that He intends for us to use, and yet we never take the trouble to find out what they are, never put them to work, and then excuse ourselves from serving the church by saying that we can’t do anything! Contributed by: A. Todd Coget
TRUTH: EVERYTHING WE HAVE IS A GIFT FROM GOD
QUESTION: WHERE OR FROM WHOM WOULD YOU SAY YOU RECEIVED ALL YOU HAVE?
II. DETAILS ARE THE TALENTS USED VV. 16-17
A. TALENTS USED ARE THE GO GETTERS (FIVE TALENTS): SURVIVOR/ THE APPRENTICE/ THE BENEFACTOR/ ET. AL.
B. TALENTS USED ARE EVERYDAY WORKERS (TWO TALENTS): YOU AND ME??
C. TALENTS USED ARE DIVIDENDS PAID: THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE MIDDLE CLASS SURVIVES!
ILLUSTRATION: PASTOR DAVID DYKES WRITES: Fifteen years ago, I was serving as pastor in Alabama and our church was in a capital stewardship campaign to raise money to build a new building. There was one particular lady in our church who was a widow. Her husband had left her a lot of money, and she had a lot more than she really needed. She loved the Lord and she loved her church, but she tended to be rather conservative. We had a banquet one night and she wrote down an amount on her card that was a very “safe” amount. It was not a risk at all. That evening I spoke on where Jesus said, “Don’t store up your treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break in and steal. But lay up your treasures in heaven.” I spoke about how a moth eats up wool when we store it, not when we wear it. I went into great detail about moths. I also spoke on how rust destroys tools when they are stored not when they are being used. My point was that when we store up God’s resources they don’t accomplish anything: we have to use them or they become like moth-eaten garments or rust encrusted tools.
Nell went home from that banquet feeling a little guilty about the amount she committed because of the large amount she was storing up. She walked up to her front door and opened her purse to get out her key and she was shocked by what happened next: somehow a huge moth had gotten into her purse and when she opened it, the moth fluttered and flew out. She said God used that moth to teach her that she didn’t need to be storing up her money; she needed to be using it for God. She returned to the fellowship hall (she lived just across the street) and asked for her card back. She doubled her amount, then marked it out and tripled the amount.
Folks, I had a hard time getting that moth in her purse…No, seriously, I don’t know how it got there, but Nell says she believes GOD put it there.
What about you? Are you storing it up? Saving it for a rainy day? It’s time to be faithful and fruitful for God. The message of this parable is saying to us, to those with five talents, or two talents, risk them! Live dangerously! Venture! Put your opportunities to work for God’s sake. Contributed by: David Dykes
TRUTH: GOD EXPECTS US TO USE ALL WE ARE AND HAVE FOR HIS GLORY!
QUESTION: HOW ARE YOU USING WHAT YOU HAVE AND WHO YOU ARE FOR HIS GLORY? DOES SOMETHING COME QUICKLY TO MIND?
III. DETAILS ARE A TALENT WASTED V. 18
A. TALENT WASTED IS A CONTRAST: BUT
B. TALENT WASTED IS DIGGING A WHOLE: HE STILL HAD TO WORK?? IT WASN’T SMART WORK??
C. TALENT WASTED IS HIDING: FEAR
ILLUSTRATION: THE CURRENT STORY OF RICKY WILLIAMS OF THE MIAMY DOLPHINS: DIGGING A FINANCIAL HOLE/ DIGGING A CHARACTER HOLE/ HIDDING IN FEAR/ BANKRUPTCY
TRUTH: OUR TALENTS ARE WASTED WHEN WE HIDE THEM!
QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING THAT THE MASTER HAS GIVEN YOU?
IV. DETAILS ARE THE NET RESULTS VV. 19-30
A. NET RESULTS ARE A TIME OF ACCOUNTABILITY V. 19
B. NET RESULTS ARE WHAT IS DONE X3
1. 5 = 10 V. 20
2. 2 = 4 V. 22
3. 1 = 1 = BAD MATH?? V. 24-25 = MORE WORDS, MORE WORK, AND MORE EXPLAINING TO DO = LUCY
C. NET RESULTS IS WHAT IS SAID X3
1. VERSE 21: A FEW = A WHOLE LOT MORE! DETAILS MATTER! 2. VERSE 23: A FEW = A WHOLE LOT MORE! DETAILS MATTER AND FAITHFULNESS GETS THE SAME REWARD!!
3. VERSE 26-29 = WASTED EFFORT BRINGS A HARSH AND BRUTAL RESULT!
D. NET RESULTS ARE GOD’S BUSINESS V. 30
ILLUSTRATION: Some times we think of accountability in these terms: A mother was taking a nap while her eight-year-old son was playing in the living room. While the boy was playing, a van crashed through the picture window. The boy was surprised, but unhurt. The mother, of course, raced into the living room and screamed out the name of her son. Now the boy was afraid. “But mom-honest I didn’t do it!” he replied.
Contributed by: Jim Kane
TRUTH: WE ARE ACCOUNTIBLE TO GOD FOR ALL WE DO WITH ALL WE ARE AND HAVE!
QUESTION: IN WHAT AREA OF OUR LIVES DO WE NEED TO ASK FOR HELP AND FORGIVENESS?
CONCLUSION: COMMUNION SEGWAY… For many of us here today, the Lord is speaking to us about the little things, the details of life. We often don’t like to think about accountability, because we don’t want to face up to the reality of how we live our lives. Why is it so important, that we be accountable to God? This morning as we receive the sacrament of communion, we are reminded in tangible ways of what Jesus the Christ has done on our behalf. Our accountability is based solely on what he has done. Even the call to the Lord’s Supper reminds us that we are accountable to God: to all who are walking in fellowship with God and your fellow man, and to those who earnestly promise to do so from this day forward, come and receive the gifts of the Wine and Bread… Communion is a call to accountability. It is not a call of rejection, but an invitation to live for Jesus!
