Trust. Just Trust! | Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (ELCA) Manchester MO

Pastor:

Suzie Everingham

Sermon audio:

Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Talents

This parable is sometimes cited when talking about using the gifts that God gave each of us instead of hiding them. However, for me, I felt the underlying issue of the parable was trust. Do you TRUST enough to RISK – (ignoring whatever fears that you have embedded in you) – to do the work God is calling you to do? Personally, I know trusting is hard. And, in that light . . . this parable held my heart to the fire.

It, also, begged the question “How much are we invested in being children of God?” Or, better yet, a deep realization of WHO is actually doing the investing.

There, also, seemed to be some division of the investment given “according to one’s ability.”

Perhaps . . . you can picture yourself in line to get a talent. Are you worthy of one talent . . . two talents . . . five talents? It is said that one talent was worth more than fifteen years wages for a laborer. So, if we look at it like that – one person was given something worth 15 years, one 30 years and one 75 years . . . more than a lifetime worth of work. But, you see the “lifetime value” belonged to the Master to give, as the master chose. It, seemingly, reflected a mutual trust relationship. The amount received was not controlled by the servant at all. Perhaps, therein is the issue – the age old battle of control and trust.

Our level of TRUST . . . .impacts us both in our faith life and in our personal lives. Think of people, who perhaps have proved their level of untrustworthiness to you. It is hard to trust initially and once broken it’s twice as hard to trust the second time.

I once heard a story about a person who was at a party and a friend spilled a drink on them . . . they apologized and that was that. But, later on in the evening . . . the same thing, accidentally, happened. But, the person who spilled the drink wasn’t a friend and one could even say was an enemy. Well . . . that was . . . VERY DIFFERENT . . . not only did the person berate the offender . . . but they WORE that spilled drink for days . . . not on their clothes . . . . but burning in their angry heart. They trusted that their friend had truly accidentally spilled on them, but didn’t TRUST that the second person spilled on them accidentally.

The problem with that level of distrust - turned into anger - is that the burning anger in ones heart . . . hurts you . . . more than the offender.

The bottom line is that it limits you, also . . . because it is keeping you from living your life to its fullest as a child of God.

Sometimes, we are wronged (intentionally even) in life. It happens. And, I, like you, pray about it. It is interesting that sometimes when I pray – I realize how easily I “forget” the “unjust” treatment that was done to Christ . . . . for us.

It is too easy to turn the table and say, as in the parable today, basically . . . “it’s not my fault . . . it’s your fault . . . you’re the “harsh man.” We wipe our hands of admitting any level of our own buried guilt to ourselves, to others . . . . even to God.

What if . . . we thought of that buried talent as our admission of guilt of facing our sinfulness . . . our admission of lack of trust . . . of wanting to be in control. As you know, trusting requires giving up some level of control.

Personally, I know trusting is a constant challenge . . . Honestly, when I reflected on this, I saw how I work and . . . .FAIL . . . at trusting God with life’s challenges. I see this happening when “my time and God’s time” don’t coordinate very well. When things take a bit longer than I think is necessary. In those times . . . well . . . I have the audacity to think I can “help God out” by working on it BY MYSELF. In effect I “play God”. This reminds me of the verse from today, “You knew did you that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter?” . . . . Really . . . you think you know more than God knows?” So . . . thinking about this brings me full circle - I come to the point of realizing that no matter what I DO – GOD is still in control – not ME.

Perhaps . . . you, too, have similar battles.

And, you know, I think the way this parable ends reflects my greatest fear . . . doing something that totally separates me from God . . . that God would ever get to a point of dusting off his hands and saying: “that’s it . . . throw her out . . . she is worthless . . “

And you know what . . . I know to my depth that statement is true . . . for you see . . . without God . . . through Christ . . . . I know I would be worthless.

Do you hear the truth in that statement for you? Do you feel, in your heart, the GIFT of God’s amazing Grace.

God sees us through the lens of Christ. Christ is the one who has already paid the debt for us. So . . . I think that when God sees our growing pains . . . God reaches for us . . . hands us another talent and says . . try again . . . I’ll be here to be with you as you walk, stumble and fall – I’ll pick you up and we can try again and again. Because, I love you . . .in your brokenness . . . in your anger . . . in your blindness, in your self-righteousness . . . and, yes, even as you struggle to “TRUST” to be “in control.”

So . . . we learn . . . we grow . . . we support each other . . . but we do so not alone – but together – as a village . . .as children of a loving God who gives us some time to think about it, pray about it . . . and then . . . gives us another opportunity to try again. And who speaks to us and says: “Trust . . . Just Trust.”

I want to leave you with one more image of what trusting looks like . . . a story from the book “Our Greatest Gift” by Henri Nouwen about trust. In that book he tells the story of trapeze artists. The leader of the troupe told him that “as a flyer, he must have complete trust in his catcher.”

He stated, “The public might think that I am the great star of the trapeze, but the real star is the catcher. The catcher has to be there for me with split–second precision and grab me out of the air as I come to him in the long jump.” Nouwen wondered how that worked . . “well,” he continued, “the secret is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to the catcher – I merely stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me.” “The worst thing that a flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. If I grabbed the catcher’s wrists, I might break them, or he might break mine and that would be the end for both of us. A flyer must fly and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must TRUST . . . with outstretched arms . . . that the catcher will be there for him.”

Jesus . . . trusted the catcher . . . as noted by him saying, “Father into your hands I commend my Spirit.” God IS trustworthy!! Through Christ we trust God with . . . . everything . . . all that God has given us.

It is God that works in and through us – being with us as we take risks each day living as a Christian. God is the one who planted the seed of trust . .. . of faith . . . .at Baptism. . . . so that we would learn and grow to trust.

Do you want to know your value to God . . . just glance up to the cross. God’s love for you came at a great cost . . .which God thought you were worth. So, reach your arms out and TRUST that God will catch you!!!!

Because, God is an amazing catcher!!

Trust . . . . Just Trust . . . .

Thanks Be to God.