I’ve often read this parable about the purpose for the local church. Thanks to Jason Hardin, I ran across this video that illustrates the teaching. I thought I’d share it with you as we learn God’s Way for our congregations.
I hope it is edifying and challenging.
Sea Parable from ilovepinatas on Vimeo.
In Matthew 25:14-30, the master gave talents to his three servants. One of them received only one talent and he was filled with fear. He wasn’t sure he could accomplish anything with the one talent, so he didn’t try anything. When the master returned, the slave tried to explain that really he was doing the master a favor. He could have messed up and lost the talent, but instead he had saved it for him. The master judged the slave.
Too often we have the same problem today. We are so afraid we are going to fail in serving God, do something wrong, mess up and cause more harm than good that we don’t ever do anything. We go through so many excuses about why so many things won’t work that we never work. Guess what. That doesn’t work.
Don’t be afraid to fail. At least do something. Maybe you will fail, but if you don’t ever do anything you know God will judge you for sure.
Remember, God works when His people work. Abandon your fears and get to work.
Thanks to Jeff Asher for this one. With all the unemployment going on, I thought some might like a little levity in their job search.
1. My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned. I couldn’t concentrate.
2. Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.
3. After that, I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it–mainly because it was a sew-sew job.
4. Next, I tried working in a muffler factory, but that was too exhausting.
5. Then, I tried to be a chef – figured it would add a little spice to my life, but I just didn’t have the thyme.
6. I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it I couldn’t cut the mustard.
7. My best job was a musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy.
8. I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any patience.
9. Next, was a job in a shoe factory. I tried but I just didn’t fit in.
10. I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.
11. I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.
12. So then I got a job in a workout centre, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.
13. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a historian–until I realized there was no future in it.
14. My last job was working in Starbuck’s, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.
15. SO, I TRIED RETIREMENT AND FOUND THAT I’M PERFECT FOR THE JOB!
Since Tennessee celebrated having increased lottery ticket sales in February along with increased unemployment, I have only one thing to say.
Quit standing in line for lottery tickets. Spend that time to work on your own successful ideas. You have more of a chance making enough money to provide for your family by working your ideas than you do buying a lottery ticket.
I wonder how many lottery tickets Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, Dave Ramsey, or Dan Miller bought in February, or any time for that matter.
I’m reading Lessons from the Classroom: 20 Things Good Teachers Do, by Hal Urban. I don’t teach in schools, but this book is helping me immensely. It has some great advice. In fact, the lesson I just finished has some of the best advice you will ever here as a springboard for your professional life.
Lesson #14: Good teachers help their students discover the power of choice.
Urban teaches all his students the four greatest choices they will ever make are choices they make every day. If only all our schools would teach us these. If they did, we would all be much better off in our careers and professional lives.
Do you see how much better we would be if we made wise choices every day in these four areas?
Attitude
The issue is not what is happening to you, but how you respond to it. Each of us chooses our attitude. We all choose whether we will see obstacles as roadblocks or opportunities to grow. We all choose whether we see others as people to use or people to serve. We all choose whether today is a day to grow or a day to stagnate. We all choose our attitude for today.
How You Treat Others
Sadly, many folks have a scarcity mindset thinking there is only so much out there and the only way to make sure I get mine is to make sure you don’t get yours. They see all of life as a competition to prove we are better than others. If on the other hand we recognize life is filled with plenty of respect, honor and glory for everyone, we can feel free to give it away to others without thinking we will lose ours.
Obviously, the great rule for treating others properly is The Golden Rule. Treat others the way we want to be treated. Please, don’t think anyone has come up with anything new as they talk about the Platinum Rule being better. Clearly, we all want others to consider what we want before they determine how to treat us. Thus, following the Golden Rule means we will consider what others want and need before we treat them. Before you make any choice in your treatment of others, ask yourself if this is what you would want them to do to you in the same circumstance.
How Hard You Work
“Work” is not a four-letter word. Well, it is, but you get the picture. The fact is, there is simply no success without hard work. Folks who rely on the lottery for financial success usually have lost it all in a short time even if they win. Success comes through work. Only you decide how much you will work on your job, your education, your marriage, in your church, on your life and in improving yourself. But understand this, if you don’t work, no one else will work for you.
How Honest You Are
There is so much dishonesty highlighted in the news, we begin to think no one is honest anymore. The fact is, there are many honest people. There are many successful honest people. Nothing will destroy your success long term than taking shortcuts and lying about it. You may get ahead in the short run by cheating, lying and covering up. Sooner or later though, it all comes out. If you lie, you will lose the confidence of everyone around you. Trust me, sooner or later, folks will find out and you will have a hefty bill to pay. It will likely be more than you can afford. So, make sure you choose honesty today.
Maybe you didn’t hear these lessons in high school. Maybe you have made terrible choices in these areas up until now. Don’t worry. You can start making wise choices today. Do it now.
ELC
I can imagine it now. The apostles can sense the crowds are getting restless. They are hungry and have nothing to eat. It seems only one little boy gave any thought to preparation. He had five loaves and two fish, but there were 5000 men, not counting many of their wives and children. When Jesus told them, “You feed the crowds,” they were stunned. John 5:9 contains the important question:
“There is a boy her who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
Have you ever looked at the overwhelming crowds: maybe you are looking at people you need to help, maybe you are looking at temptations you need to overcome, maybe you are looking at goals you need to accomplish. Whatever you are looking at, you feel paralyzed. You see all this work but feel like the one talent man. Perhaps not even one talent, maybe you feel like only half of a talent. You wonder, “What is my talent for so many?”
Notice what Jesus did in John 5. He sat the people down. Blessed the meager meal and then passed it out. When the meal was done, the apostles gathered in 12 baskets of scraps and leftovers. They had more leftovers than they had original meal.
Let’s face it, if the only people present that day were the crowds, the boy and the apostles, folks would have gone hungry. That little meal couldn’t feed many, probably just the boy. But Jesus was present. When Jesus is present, He can make the littlest go a long way.
Let’s face it, if the only people present in your life are the crowds, your family and you, folks are going to be in trouble. You can’t possibly have enough talents to do much good. But if Jesus is present, He can take even your smallest gift and use it in extraordinary ways.
This is the heart of Ephesians 3:20. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” If we try to go it alone, we will accomplish nothing…nothing of real value anyway. With Jesus running the helm, He can use our meager talents to accomplish more than we could ask or think.
So, step out with your five loaves and two fish and get to work.
ELC
