This Is My Story 7 – I Can Be a Joy or a Jerk
In this week’s story Jesus talks about God’s invitation to join Him in what He is doing in the world. He gives us the chance to join Him and make a difference and it leaves us with a choice about what we will do. Jesus tells the story about an owner and three of his servants. He trusted the servants with gifts and they made some choices. Matthew clues us in on the story.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was going to another place for a visit. Before he left, he called for his servants and told them to take care of his things while he was gone. He gave one servant five bags of gold, another servant two bags of gold, and a third servant one bag of gold, to each one as much as he could handle. Then he left. Matthew 25:14-15 (NCV)
God Invests Gifts or Talents in Each of Us
I grew up in churches where the pastor was king. Many times it seemed as though the pastor was held up on a pedestal because of how he was gifted. It cracked me up, because I hung out with their kids and saw it in a different light. It always makes me wonder when people look at gifting and think someone is more loved or respected by God. I think we need to realize that it is the giver of the gifts and not the receiver that is special. When we realize it in that way it takes our pride out of our gifting. It is God who decides what we are given, but we decide what happens with that gift. That is sort of the reason for this story.
There is a Choice We Need to Make With Those Gifts
God gives us the gifts and we decide what happens next. Matthew continues the story: The servant who got five bags went quickly to invest the money and earned five more bags. In the same way, the servant who had two bags invested them and earned two more. But the servant who got one bag went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. Matthew 25:16-18 (NCV)
Be safe or be daring. Be scared or courageous. Be silent or a voice. The guy who got one bag of money decides to be safe. He buries the money in a hole and just doesn’t want to lose it. He plays it safe while the others take their gifts and risk losing it to make it better. We have the same choice when it comes to what God trusts us with. Will we play it safe and just give back what we got without making it greater? That is the greatest thing about God, He trusts us to be His people here on earth. So will we jump and make greatness out of our lives?
The Payoff Will be Seen One Day When the Boss Comes Home
The servant who was given five bags of gold brought five more bags to the master and said, ’Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of gold, so I used your five bags to earn five more.’ The master answered, ’You did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me.’ Matthew 25:20-21 (NCV)
“Then the servant who had been given one bag of gold came to the master and said, ’Master, I knew that you were a hard man. You harvest things you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not sow any seed. So I was afraid and went and hid your money in the ground. Here is your bag of gold.’ Matthew 25:24-25 (NCV)
Then the master said, ’Throw that useless servant outside, into the darkness where people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.’ Matthew 25:30 (NCV)
Sharing in God’s Joy as He Works Through Us. To think that our God finds joy in partnering with us in His work. After all He does need partners. He will not reach down like days of old and shake things up with big miracles that are undeniable. He just doesn’t do it that way anymore. Instead he works through us to change the world around us and to show His love to them. To think that we make Him smile when we join Him. That He is ready to share joy with us. He is excited when He sees us take the gifts He gives us and make them greater. You ever thought that you make God smile? That His heart is brightened when we join him. That we bring joy to His life? It blows me away because that is not the God I grew up with as a kid. So I’ll take the God who smiles over the God who wants to judge me.
New Opportunities to Join God in His Work. When the day is done God gives the one bag of money to the one who started with five because he did good. When we join God He gives us more opportunities to join Him. To think that we get more chances to help others and join God in His work. So I join God and look for opportunities to work with Him and He opens doors for me to help others.
Not being the one who will always wonder… Why didn’t I? What could’ve been? Who did I let down? If we don’t join God in His work then we will live with regrets. I wonder what the guy with one bag of cash thought after he heard the owner ask him about putting it in the bank at least? I bet when he was unemployed he was kicking himself for not doing a little bit of something to join God. Make sure you are not kicking rocks one day over things you could have done with God but didn’t. Be sure that you are not left out in the dark when it comes to God’s partnership and joy.
So we have this choice in our lives. Will we join God or will we one day sit back and then about should of and could of beens? So to help us remember this story I made a rhyme that we can say together, or I mean that we can read and maybe memorize. Hopefully it will push us to join God and not sit back and watch His work go on around us. The rhyme is this: When I join God in His work; I become a joy not a jerk. After all nobody wants to be a jerk but to bring joy to others around us.