Matthew 25:14-30    How to Use Your Talents and Gifts     March 22, 2009

        Martha Berry was a woman with a vision. Born in 1866, she began a school in 1900 for poor children in Georgia. At first, she had no books, no money, and no building except a small church which let her hold classes.  But she had a dream to help poor rural children.  She started only with a Sunday School, but that grew.  And in time, she went to Henry Ford to ask for a donation for her dream. Mr. Ford was uncertain about her abilities and so he gave her only a small donation of less than $10.  But Martha Berry took that donation and bought seeds and planted a garden next to her small school.  That year, she sold the crops and was able to expand her garden.   After three or four harvests she had enough money to purchase an old building for the children. She returned to Mr. Ford and said, “Look what your small donation has done.” The man was so impressed that he donated a million dollars to the Berry School.  Martha Berry went on to receive support from Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, and Ellen Louise Wilson , the wife of President Woodrow Wilson.   Today, that little school has grown to be Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia and is rated among the top Christian colleges in the South.  All because a woman had a dream, took a small donation, and turned it into something great.  

       We are continuing our Lenten series on Stewardship.  How are we to manage the many gifts given to us by God?   We have already talked about our time and our bodies.  Today, I want to talk about our gifts and talents.  I hope to lead you in surrendering your talents and abilities to God for His use and His glory. 

       In today’s scripture, Jesus tells a parable about a man who goes away on a long journey and gives some money to his servants to use while he is away.  Now this parable has a comic element to it because a talent in the day of Jesus was 20 years worth of an avergae man’s wages.  The term was used loosely to mean a large amount of money, just as today when people say, “Oh, if I had a million dollars.”  So Jesus is saying that the master leaves his servants with millions of dollars to work with.  The first servant is given 5 million dollars, the second servant 2 million, and the third servant 1 million.  The crowd listening would have smiled just like many of you are doing right now.

      Now verse 14 says the man entrusted them with his wealth.   Can you imagine that?  Well, God is the owner of all things but God has entrusted us, has entrusted you, with that property.   All you have and all your talents and gifts come from God.  Furthermore, Jesus is saying that God has richly entrusted us.  God is not stingy with what He gives.  God richly blesses us with so many talents, abilities, opportunities. 

      So the owner goes away on a journey and the servants are left with these talents.   Did you know that the very word talent in our English language comes from this parable in the Bible?  A word that once meant a great amount of money has come to mean a gift that we have from God.  Did you know that your gifts come from God.   Some people talk about natural talents, but there are no natural talents.  All good gifts come from our Father.  Our abilities are given to us from God to be used for God, for other people, to build God’s Kingdom and to do God’s work to make this world what God wants it to be.  

       Now the first servant immediately put the talents to work.  Do you see that?  The Bible says the servant went at once, immediately, right now, and started to work.  And in time, he gained 5 million more dollars.  The second servant did likewise and also made a gain.  But the third servant hid the talents away.  He dug a hole in the yard and buried it to keep it safe.  Why did he do such a thing?  You know, people have so many reasons to hide away their talents.  “I’m too old.”…… “I’m too young.”…… “I’m not educated.”…… “I’m too busy.” …… “I’m not good enough.”…… “I could never do that.”  So often, we get focused on what we do not have that we forget what we do have.    
      When God asked Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go, Moses complained about what he did not have.  “Who am I that I should go…?…“Suppose they do not believe me….”“I have never been a good speaker…”  Moses was so worried about what talents and abilities he did not have.   After listening to Moses’ excuses, God asked Moses a key question: “What is that in your hand?”   It was Moses’ shepherd’s staff.   You see, God did not care what Moses did not have.  God only wanted to know what Moses did have.  What is that in your hand?   And with that staff, Moses defeated the King of Egypt, freed a nation of slaves, parted the sea, and led them to the Promised Land.  Too many of us bury our talents, never use them, because we are too caught up thinking about what we do not have.  Think with me a moment.  How many times this past week have you worried about what you do not have or what you cannot do?  I bet it was many times.   But God is asking you, what do you have and what can you do?   That is much more important.  

      How can you know what is in your hand?  How can you know your talents and gifts?  This past autumn, many of you took a spiritual survey to help you think about your gifts.  I am meeting this spring with those who are interested to talk about those very gifts.  If you have not yet taken a spiritual gifts survey, then I would urge you to talk to me.  I can give you a paper version or tell you where to go on-line.  It will take only about thirty minutes of your time but it will set you to thinking a little about just what you do have in your hand.  What gifts do you have?  What can you do for the Kingdom of God?

      So why will many of us not take that survey?  Why will many of us not look to see what we hold in our hands?   Well, some people have told me that the church has done surveys in the past and nothing comes of it.  Those surveys just get buried in the back yard.  They ask me, “Why doesn’t the church do something about this?”  That is a great question.  But remember that you are the church.  We are the church.  When you ask, “Why does the church not do something?” you are really asking, “Why do I not do something?”  When you look back at the history of this church or any church where you have been a member, you have to ask yourself, “Why did I and why did we so often bury our talents in the back yard of the church?”  We have all done that.  I have done it and you have done, but Christ calls us to dig up those talents and use them for his Kingdom. 

        Now, others of us will not look at our talents because we want to keep our talents.   We do not want to share our gifts.  We are the servant given a million dollars and we have run off with the cash.  We have forgotten that our gifts are not our own.  We are blessed with all we have and we are to share what we have.  So this is not a matter of knowing in my head what I have.  This is a matter of the heart.  It is a matter of letting go and letting God’s good gifts flow through me so that the world can be blessed.

     Finally, some of us do not look at our gifts because like this servant, we are afraid.  We bury our talents because we are afraid that God will want something from us.  Well, God does want something for you and for your life.  God wants you to be the best you can be.  For years an army recruitment advertisement challenged young men and women to “Be all that you can be.”  Our Christian challenge is: “Be all that God meant you to be!”  Listen.  Many older people interviewed say that when they look back at life, they do not regret the things they tried and failed.  They most often regret the things they never tried.  They played it safe.  They held what they had close.  They buried it in the yard.   And when it comes time for the master to call for an accounting, they wished they had done something more with their life.  

        Now this parable and many other scriptures tell us there will an accounting for our lives.  But these servants were not judged on an absolute scale.  They were judged in accordance to what they had been allotted.  The important factor is not what we have or what we gain.  What is important is what we have done with what we have been given.  And we all have been richly blessed by God.  What shall we do with our talents?
     But some of you are not convinced.  You still feel that there is nothing you can give or do.   The front page of a Texas newspaper a few years ago carried the picture of a young mother.  Now this woman had no hands.  She was born herself with this handicap and no had a baby of her own.  The State Department of Public Welfare was concerned that she was incapable of taking care of her five-month-old daughter. During the court hearing the mother surprised everyone by proving she was competent to take care of her baby.  There…before their eyes…she undressed and then dressed the baby again by using only her arms and mouth.  The judge was so impressed that he not only awarded custody of the baby to her, but said, “I have to commend you very much for your courage, spirit, and ingenuity….You have proven that physical endowments are only a part of the spectrum of resources that human beings possess.”   You know, that young woman had some inabilities but her spirit was strong enough to overcome all obstacles.