"Lesson #3: Avoid the Spirt of Fear"

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

On the surface, a life in Christ is seen as a joy-filled and glorious existence. But as we grow in faith, and our faith deepens, and our knowledge of the call that Jesus places on our lives becomes clearer, questions inevitably arise. In God’s view, what does it mean to be “good”, and what happens if we are “wicked”? What is involved in being faithful, and what is “falling short” all about? How does joy fill us, and how does fear force it out? How much is enough?

The questions could go on for quite some time, and it is only after years of personal reflection and study that we can even begin to get some of them answered. But even then, the questions will continue to greatly outnumber the answers! But as we read Jesus’ parables and study his teaching, some of the haze will begin to lift, and his light will begin to shine through.
Over the past several weeks, we considered the question of what it means to be great in the Lord, and then we learned the lesson that preparation for his return is not something to take lightly. Today, we begin to scratch the surface of what the difference between “goodness” and “wickedness” is all about, and what it means for our lives.

As we journey through our text today, our tendency will be to try to define the above terms with human understanding, instead of the Lord’s But remember that it is God’s definition and insight that we seek.

Read Matthew 25:14-18

Jesus’ words speak of money that is assigned to three servants, with the apparent, but unspoken, expectation that they will use the resources to grow the master’s estate while he is out of town. But Jesus isn’t concerned with money, and he isn’t concerned with legal obedience, per se, and actually he isn’t concerned with the magnitude of the return on his investment. What he is concerned about is a “good and faithful” response from each of his servants when they use the gifts that he has entrusted to them.

So the first question today is – why does he divvy up the “money”, if indeed this is about money (!) in such a strange way? Why isn’t the allocation more equitable? Why isn’t each servant given the same responsibility?
Let’s begin by establishing who the characters in the parable represent – and it actually is quite transparent. The master is the Lord God Almighty, and the servants are obviously you and me - those who are in the Church. And the “money”? What does that represent? Those are the God-given gifts that each of us have received. So here is the bottom line – God has bestowed on each of his people certain abilities, and while he is absent from the earth, the people are to use each of them in a way that will bring glory to our divine Master.

Well, that seems to be pretty straight forward, but moving back to the servants, there doesn’t seem to be any instructions for them to follow, so how are they to know what is expected from them? Our secular employment has some fairly strict guidelines regarding what is expected from us – production quotas, assignment completion dates and times, sales goals, and other very specific and measurable expectations that are based on volume and quality of performance.
But our 3 servants get none of that. They receive resources that we are told are based on their abilities, but nothing more. No assignment, no goal, no process, no direction whatsoever! So what are they to do?

One more item, before we consider the question, just to establish perspective – one reference that I read indicated that a talent was worth about 15 years of income. If we earn $40-50,000 a year, that would mean that one talent today would be worth somewhere around $600-750,000! Maybe even more!

So what does this mean for us? In Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, and Ephesians 4:11-16, we read about some of the spiritual gifts that will come to us from God. This list is fairly extensive, but is, by no means, exhaustive. 1 Corinthians 12 would have us understand that no one receives all of the gifts, and that any particular gift isn’t given to everyone. But regardless of the gifts that come and how they are distributed, 1 Peter 4:10-11 tells us what we are to do with them.
We are to use them to serve others in a way that brings glory to God.

Read Matthew 25:19-25

The servant with 5 talents gained 5 more for his master. The servant who had 2 talents gained 2 more for his master. The final result was different for each of them, but the master’s response was identical – (v.21) “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!” The results were different, but the master saw them in identical light – they had done exactly what he had expected of them, and he was very pleased.
But what about the third servant who had buried his talent? What had he earned for his master? The only thing he brought was a spirit of fear! There was no glory, no celebration, no reward, and the master was not pleased! But the servant had preserved the gift – he hadn’t lost it, it hadn’t diminished, it was in the same condition as when the master gave it to him. Wasn’t that enough? And the answer is “Apparently not!” It seems the master wanted him to use the gift, regardless of what may come from his actions!

So what does this mean for us? It means that the Lord doesn’t judge our Christian faith - our Christian life - based on how much we do. It doesn’t matter how many souls we gain for the Kingdom, it doesn’t matter how many meals we serve to the poor, it doesn’t matter how many committees we serve on, it doesn’t even matter if we go to worship multiple times each week – what matters is whether we are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others - as John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” And we do this so that praise and glory and honor might come to our Lord.

Different people will do this in different ways, but we all must be doing these things in a way that others will be welcomed into the kingdom and that God will be glorified. But when we hesitate to share the name of Jesus, when we fail to reach out to the needs of others, when we keep our salvation safely tucked away within our own dark recesses, we bring nothing to the Lord except our own oppressive “spirit of fear”. And that is not glory.

Read Matthew 25:26-30

The third servant was afraid to use the trust that his master had given him. It was his fear of the master that guided his actions - not his respect, and definitely not his love. It grained nothing for the master, and it brought less than nothing to the man. He had the trust and respect of his lord, but he couldn’t return his trust and respect to him, simply because fear prevented it.

What does Jesus want from us? Certainly not our fear of failure, not our hesitation to take a step in Christ’s name, not our reluctance to try, not our limitations. The Lord only wants our trust and respect and love, and he wants us to use the very gifts that he has given us to touch the lives of others.

Is walking and serving with Jesus a scary proposition? Sometimes, but every time we reach out in his name, every time we do some little thing that the Lord is calling us to do, great things will come from it. From 1 Peter 4:11 – “... do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised though Jesus Christ.” The gifts that we use are God’s, and the success that comes from our actions are God’s, and the glory that results from our small, risky steps rise up to the heavens, and when they do, the joy and blessing of God come right back down to us.

But remember what came back down to the one who lived a life of fear? He lost everything that he had been given, and the master told him that he was no longer worthy to be his servant.
Our God is not a god of fear, not a god of limitation, not a god who leaves us on our own, but he is the Lord of expectation – the expectation that we will use the gifts he gives us to his glory, and not to our own. When we are faithful in a few small things, he will return blessings upon blessings upon blessings to us. His glory will one day become our glory, and the victory that is in Jesus Christ will, one day, be ours, too.

And isn’t that enough?