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Pastor Johns Sermons |
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That is over four times our current budget! If we all tithed, our church budget would at least quadruple! Think of what we could do for Christ with those kinds of resources!
Or what would this church look like if every member attended regularly. Both the early and late service would be full. The Saturday service as well. Or what if every member of this church prayed faithfully everyday for the ministry of this congregation. If we did these three things: Pray, Tithe and Attend, this church would be reborn! It would be revitalized! Everyone in Salem would know we were alive with the Spirit of God!
But I know that it's unlikely that we all will do these three things. Maybe we don't do these basic things because we don't understand Jesus' words and Jesus' teaching. What is success? What does Jesus mean by success? What is Jesus' idea of a successful person?
Well, we know that in the Gospel, success is much more than prosperity. Look at the two kinds of servants in the parable. We have the faithful servants, and then we have the worthless servant.
What makes one kind of servant faithful or successful, and the other kind faithless or unsuccessful? Let's start with the worthless servant. What does he do that makes him worthless?
Basically what makes him worthless is that he underachieves. Or put in Biblical language, he does not use the gifts he was given. Instead of using his talent, the worthless servant buries his talent. As I read this parable of Jesus, and as I think about the worthless servant, it makes me wonder:
Why do we spend so much of our energy with the 'worthless servants' of our day? I'm talking about the persons who take more from society than they give back, who block progress rather than help it along, who want to be served rather than to serve. Let me give you a few examples.
In the school system, almost every teacher can and probably will tell you, if you ask, about the child who takes more time than any other student, and who achieves little. The educational system is stressed out by trying to work with the least productive and most disruptive students, while giving less attention to the really creative and motivated students. Why is this?
In almost every business, or professional corporation, you can identify an employee who is much more effective in blocking new ideas than in carrying them out. Almost every business can point to a weak division, or department that consistently under-performs, that acts as a drag on the larger enterprise, and yet soaks up more than its share of time, money and effort of that business. Why is that?
In the church, we often spend an inordinate amount of time trying to please the complainers, instead of investing our energy in the programs, the classes, the events, the activities that are going well. We tend to spend our time oiling the squeaking wheel.
Why is it, that in so many settings and in so many different human activities, we adapt ourselves to the least functional, most negative, and most unhealthy ones, rather than challenging them to growth and maturity? Why do we, as individuals, as businesses, as churches, and as societies invest an inordinate amount of effort, time, and money in those very same 'worthless' servants, to use the words of Jesus parable?
Well, I don't really know for sure. But I have a hunch. My hunch is that we practice a kind of misguided philanthropy. We follow a mushy Christianity. We have a watered down conception of the Kingdom of God. We seem to think that Christians should always be nice. We are weak-kneed when it comes to accountability and responsibility. In short, we don't really listen to Jesus' deeper message to us.
To help us in our muddle-like thinking, and our lack of courage, and our superficial understanding of the Kingdom of God, let us return again to the text from Matthew, to Jesus' parable. |