1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this morning, as
we continue our stewardship emphasis, “The Wonders of His Love,” is taken from 2 Cor. 5:15 and is entitled, “Talents—What
God Really Wants,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
“I really live for ________.”
How would you complete that sentence? “I really live to party,” some
young adults might say. really “I really live for the weekends,” folks
around here say, especially those who enjoy getting into the great outdoors. “I
live for my grandchildren,” others would tell us. As we continue exploring our stewardship theme,
“Wonders of His Love,” it’s important to think about what we really want
out of life. More than that, we need to think about what God really wants from
us. To know that is to sense within us a certain aliveness in Christ.
3.
On the other hand, sometimes we hold
back on giving ourselves to God. Those of us who have cared for little children
know that they can be self-centered and selfish. Little children naturally
think that the world revolves around them. If anyone questions whether everyone
is sinful, all we have to do is look at a two-year-old grabbing another child’s
toy with the explanation, “I want that.” We don’t get any better as we
grow older, just a bit more subtle and skilled at grabbing what we want. Sometimes
that sinful self-centeredness is summed up with the question What do I get out
of it?
4.
There is a word picture sometimes
used to describe how we are in our naturally sinful selfishness; namely, we
are curved in on ourselves. That is what Paul means in our text: “[Christ]
died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves” (v
15 TEV). When we live for ourselves, it’s like we are curved in on ourselves.
We are bent, crooked, and twisted. We focus so much on ourselves that we ignore
the needs of others. We can’t reach out to help others unless someone untwists
us and straightens us out in our sinfulness.
5.
Enter into the picture Jesus Christ.
Our text says that Christ died for all. Jesus gave himself for us. That is why
the cross is so important to Christians. If we desire to talk about the
straight lines of the cross, we must first see the crookedness of our lives and
our sin. Because of our crookedness, because of our breaking God’s laws, we
deserve to die forever.
6.
In
the Parable of the Talents from our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus
commended those who used their talents for Him.
He says of them, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23). To the person who failed to use his talents,
the Lord said, “You wicked, lazy
servant.” The talents God gives are
of many different kinds: leadership, creativity, mechanical ability,
housekeeping, encouragement, caring, etc.
Maybe you can’t sing solos, but you can sing to the glory of God in
worship. Maybe you can’t teach, but you
can write encouraging letters or notes or send a card or make a telephone call
to someone who needs to be lifted up.
7.
We
have a choice. Do we want to be
self-centered or God-centered? Do we use
all we are to serve our own selfish interests or to serve God and His purposes? St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “It is required that those who have been
given a trust must prove faithful.” Jesus
said in Luke 12:48, “From everyone who
has been given much, much more will be demanded; and from one who has been
entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
8.
When
we look at our own God-given gifts we often approach the use of them in the
same way Moses did. He had lots of
excuses for not using the gifts that had been given to him. “Who am I?
I am a nobody. You want me to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt? I
can’t lead. I could never do that. I can’t talk in front of a group. I don’t have any experience. The people won’t believe me. I’m too young. I’m too old.
Ask somebody else who’s more capable and more qualified.” Do any of these excuses sound familiar? In spite of all of his excuses, God had plans
for Moses. He turned Moses “NO”
into a “YES”. God used him
mightily to accomplish His purpose.
9.
God
blesses us and gives us talents for a reason: to equip us to serve Him and
His people. God has given us eyes
and ears, hands and feet so that our bodies function effectively. In the same way God has given us talents and
skills and abilities as members of the body of Christ, for the good of our
church and our community. Peter makes it
very clear that every single individual should use his gifts to serve God and
others in our Epistle lesson from 1 Peter 4.
10.
In
Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25, each person received at least one talent from God. It belonged to God, and it was to be managed
and taken care of for Him. Each person
was responsible for what was given to him and was expected to give an account
of what he did with his gift. Each was
required to produce results with the gift that was given to him. The one who refused to use the talents he had
had them taken away and was thrown into the darkness where there would be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
11.
Jesus died on the cross in our
place. Thus, the apostle is able to write, “Christ died for their sakes.”
You and I are those persons for whom Christ died. Because we cannot straighten
ourselves out by ourselves, we needed a Savior. Recovering alcoholics who go
through Alcoholics Anonymous know that the first steps include admitting our helplessness
and seeking the help of what AA calls a Higher Power. Because the Christians
who founded AA wanted to reach out to non-Christians, they didn’t identify the
Higher Power as God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we know who he
is. We know God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in our place.
12.
Jesus then rose from death, showing
that we have new life. Paul makes sure the resurrection is included in our text:
“Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for
themselves but only for him who died and was raised to life for their sake”
(TEV). It was necessary for Christ to be raised to life to show that his words
“It is finished,” spoken on the cross, were true. The death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ empower us to know without a shadow of a doubt
that we never have to worry about suffering for our sins because Jesus did it
for us, once and for all, to give us new life.
13.
Because we have that new life, Paul
says, “When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new being; the old is gone,
the new has come” (v 17 TEV). That is what God wants of us. “That those
who live should no longer live for themselves, but only for [Christ]” (v 15
TEV). What God really wants is us. After the Holy Spirit brings us to faith,
that same Spirit also calls us to humble obedience to the will of God. That’s
why Jesus comes with his cross to straighten out our being sinfully curved in
on ourselves. As the hymn says, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my
life, my soul, my all!” (LW 114:4).
14.
So what does all of this have to do
with the gifts, talents, and abilities that God gives to each Christian to
serve and build up the people of God, the church? Simply this: when our lives
belong to God, our lives and talents will follow. To live for Christ means that
every part of our lives will be devoted to his service. That’s why the great
German physician and organist Dr. Albert Schweitzer left behind fame and
a good life in Europe to serve as a doctor in very difficult conditions in
central Africa. That’s why Mother Teresa went to work in the shims of
Calcutta. These were persons whose lives were governed by God, and so they
sought the best ways in which their talents and their abilities could be used.
15.
They also illustrate that using our
talents is God’s way of bringing out the best in us. When we serve God and his
people with the talents, abilities, and gifts that the Holy Spirit provides, we
find ourselves doing things we never would have thought possible because we are
living to the fullest the plans God has for us as his new people. When our
gifts and talents are stretched in service for the Lord, his Spirit empowers us
to achieve great things for God and his church.
16.
“I really live for ________.” How
would you complete that sentence as a Christian blessed by the Holy Spirit with
talents, abilities, and gifts to be used to build up God’s people, the church?
God desires that we live for him, that we celebrate his gift of forgiveness and
new life by using our talents for his purposes. That’s what God really wants! Amen. The
peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus until life everlasting.
Amen.
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