CMLC 2023-12-17 Sermon

Well good morning again, I'm Pastor James Cleland, I'm a pastor 10 minutes down the road on I-10

at St. Mark Houston. I got a text message last night that Jason needed someone to fill in for him.

So I'm going to apologize, this is a leftover sermon. And it's a leftover sermon from Thanksgiving Sunday.

And it's a leftover sermon about Thanksgiving leftovers, so it kind of works.

We just wrapped up a sermon series at St. Mark called The Tipping Point.

It was a series all about how God fills us with His gifts.

Gifts of grace, forgiveness, mercy, love, skills and talents and time and money.

And how He uses those gifts in and through us, how they overflow from us into other people.

It's about those gifts that we're given reaching a tipping point.

So I apologize that today is a leftover sermon, but I think it works well because we're entering into a season

where we are celebrating the gifts that God has given us and how they flow into other people.

So my favorite way to talk about God's gifts is through food metaphors.

I love food and there's one particular meal that I love above all other meals and that's Thanksgiving dinner.

I love it. Everything about it. I love Thanksgiving because it's kind of the unofficial start to the Christmas season.

I love it mostly because of the meal though. I love turkey, absolutely. Fried, baked, whatever.

I love gravy. Hand me a glass of it. I'll drink it. Don't tell my cardiologist.

I love the green bean casserole even and the other sides that people tend to ignore. I love them.

I love the fact that in America we have a meal where we celebrate abundance and the tipping point that God has given us.

And we share it with our friends and neighbors. I love food-based fellowship on Thanksgiving.

And if you're like me, a few weeks ago on Thanksgiving you might have reached your own tipping point.

Eating and eating and eating so you could eat no more.

And then the next day, we were faced with kind of a fun problem.

What do you do with all the leftover food?

So I'm going to walk through my typical Thanksgiving leftover journey.

And it starts around midnight of Thanksgiving Day where I go to the fridge and I make the greatest Thanksgiving sandwich you can.

Grilled sourdough bread, turkey, a little bit of gravy, stuffing, cranberry mayonnaise, Swiss cheese, pickle.

Yeah. Almost as good as the original meal. Maybe even a little bit better.

The next day I do my second favorite thing to do with Thanksgiving leftovers.

It starts to get not quite as good. Go down a little bit, but not much.

And that's turkey, teacup, masala. I take all the dark meat and stew it in Indian spices with a ton of butter and heavy cream.

Don't tell McCarty Elvis.

The next day, you start to get a little bit creative and you're in Texas so you should probably make something Tex-Mex, right?

So I make turkey tacos with turkey and Thanksgiving and stuffing and gravy and cranberry salsa.

I mean, it kind of works, but you know, it's stretching the limit of what a taco should be.

The next day, all favorite, throw it into an casserole, turkey, tetra-zine, which is basically chicken spaghetti with a turkey.

And it starts to taste a little sail-throw and extra cheese. It's going to be okay.

But at this point, about a week later, I'm starting to run out of ideas.

And I do what some people do when they run out of ideas and go to the internet.

Not a good idea, especially at this TikTok where I went this year.

And the big thing for TikTok Thanksgiving leftovers was Thanksgiving pizza this year.

No, it did not work. It was not good.

And then you find yourself maybe a week and a half later, and it's midnight again, and you're standing over the sink,

eating a cold piece of turkey that you dip in cold gravy and you realize it's just time to call it.

It's time to throw out the leftovers.

Leftovers can be great, but we don't have to get to the point where they are being wasted.

Some of my favorite memories are from Thanksgiving and one in particular taught me that the Thanksgiving meal is best the day of,

and it is best shared with others.

See, I was dating my wife and I was invited to Thanksgiving at her house.

The first time I went, I was a little bit overwhelmed, and there were a bunch of friends and family there.

There was one lady named Susan, and I went up to her and introduced myself and asked her how she knew the bratchers.

And she said, oh, I was at the grocery store this morning with a frozen turkey dinner in hand that's here in my eye,

and your mother-in-law invited me to dinner.

You see, she had just moved into the area and didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner,

and my mother-in-law invited her and it was a beautiful, beautiful moment, because it taught me a gospel truth.

I remember my mother-in-law saying that something along the lines of the meal is best when it's fresh.

And we always have too many leftovers.

It's a shame not to share it when it's at its best, and that's a beautiful, beautiful gospel truth.

You see, we sometimes treat God's gifts, especially the gospel message itself, like Thanksgiving leftovers.

We want and enjoy the gifts God has given us, forgiven the grace, mercy, and love, and we fill up on them to the brink.

But then when it comes to having extra, extra good news, extra forgiveness, extra grace, skill, time, money,

we hold on to the extra for way longer than we should.

And honestly, we end up wasting God's gifts at times.

Our inclination, our tendency is to hold on to God's gifts tightly and only share them when we know we have enough storage away in the fridge

or in the freezer in case we want them later.

But our God, he is not a God who gives leftovers.

He doesn't hide his gifts in the freezer. He is freewheeling with them.

God doesn't dish out leftovers. He is constantly giving us the best, and God's gifts have no end.

There is always more fresh grace and mercy and forgiveness.

Remember the parable of the prodigal son and the prodigal father?

The son goes off and spins his inheritance. He's freewheeling with it, prodigal with it.

And then he comes back home with his tail between his legs and his father welcomes him with open arms

and throws a prodigal feast. He's freewheeling with his gifts.

A huge, overflowing feast for his son. That's what our God does for us.

We know our God does not hold on to leftovers because Christ gave us everything.

His life, his death, and his resurrection for us.

Each one of us has overflowing gospel gifts, and the biggest good news gospel gift that we have is Christ.

It is not a leftover we feast on when we partake in the Lord's suffer. It's the main dish.

Serve fresh, over and over again.

And we don't have to give others leftovers either.

God is giving us fresh, grace, mercy, and forgiveness every single day.

Our reading today is all about the amazing gifts that God has given us and how his gifts overflow past the tipping point.

And I like to think if Jesus told this parable today, especially this time of year, it might sound something like this.

The parable of the turkeys.

You know what it looks like when God is in control, when he is reigning as king?

It looks a lot like a regional manager of a paper company who is about to go on vacation to Jamaica for the holidays.

Before he leaves, he called his employees to the conference room for a meeting.

To the assistant to the regional manager, he gave a 15-pound Kelly Bronze Heritage Turkey the Rolls Royce of Turkeys, priced at $14 a pound.

To his second best salesman, he gave a 13-pound Whole Foods Market Organic Young Turkey, priced at $4 a pound.

And to the 10, he gave a 12-pound Walmart Great Value Turkey, priced at $1 a pound.

Each employee was given a turkey based on his talents and skills.

Then the boss left for Jamaica.

The one who received the Rolls Royce of Turkeys wrapped the turkey in bacon, stuffed it with a Berkshire pork sausage dressing, and slow roasted it to perfection.

He then invited his new neighbors, who had just moved to America over for their first Christmas feast and served the heritage turkey with all the traditional sides.

There were no leftovers.

The second best salesman who received the Organic Whole Foods Market Turkey injected his turkey with butter and spices, and deep fried it.

He brought his turkey to his girlfriend's family to get together in an attempt to impress her and her family.

It worked, and there were no leftovers.

But the 10th, who received the Great Value Turkey, emptied out the freezer in the break room and left his turkey at work over the Christmas holiday.

He turned down the multiple invites he had for dinner and ordered a pizza, which he ate alone at home.

There were leftovers, which he eventually threw away.

After a couple weeks, the manager returned and called a meeting where he asked his employees what they did with their turkeys.

The assistant to the manager said, sir, I wrapped your turkey in bacon, stuffed it with sausage, and served it with my family and my neighbors.

It was a huge hit.

Also, my neighbor just happens to run a print shop and is now a new client.

The manager replied, great job.

You are an amazing and faithful assistant.

You prove that you can be trusted with even a small gift.

Now I will put you in charge of much more.

I'm having a party tonight with very important clients.

You are invited.

The salesman who received the Organical Foods Turkey reported to his boss how he deep-fried the turkey and brought it to his girlfriend's house and how it was a huge hit.

He also reported that he too signed a new client at his Thanksgiving or Christmas gift together.

The manager replied, you too have proven that I can trust you with a little.

I can trust you with even more.

You are also invited to my party this evening.

Then the temp who received the great value of turkey spoke up and said, sir, I know that you are a nightmare boss.

It was never happening no matter what I do.

Plus, you closed sales that I started and called my clients without my permission.

I didn't want to make you upset, so I cleared out the break fridge and put your turkey in there.

You can have it back.

His manager responded, you horrible and lazy temp, if you really think that I call your clients and close your sales, then you should have at least given the turkey to another salesman who would have cooked it and shared it with a potential client.

Then, when I returned, there would have at least been a chance that someone enjoyed the turkey and maybe someone would have landed the client.

Take the turkey away from them.

Give it to the assistant manager to all who I have given gifts to even more will be given to the point where there will be even extra.

But to those who despise my gifts, I will take away all my gifts.

Please escort this temp out of the office and onto the street.

Let them see what it's like to live without my gifts.

It will be harsh.

Whenever I read a parable, either the original or retelling, I ask this question first.

Who is Christ in the parable?

Now, I'll give you a hint.

In the parables in the Bible, Christ is usually the one in charge, the king, the manager, or he's the one doing the real work, sewing and reading.

So, in this version of the parable, Christ is the boss, who's about to leave for a time but return.

So, you remember, this parable is part of a bigger discourse where the disciples really are acting like kind of dumb sheep.

Jesus keeps saying time and time again, I'm going to be leaving but you're going to be okay.

I'm going to be leaving but you're going to be okay.

And the sheep, the disciples are freaking out.

You're saying you're going to leave, are we going to be okay?

And it keeps reminding them you're going to be okay.

I've got you as things fall apart around you.

Remember that I care for you in small and big ways.

That's his message throughout this end of the world discourse that he gives.

So then we have to ask ourselves, what's the turkey in the parable?

In the original parable it's sometimes called talents, which is a fancy word for big bags of gold.

What are the bags of gold? What's the turkey?

First and foremost, I want you to realize it's not necessarily talents you have.

It's the message of the gospel.

That's the biggest gift you have been given.

It's the message that you are completely right with God, the creator of the universe.

Not because of anything you have done, any of the work you've done or tried to do or left undone.

You are right with God because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ given to you as if it's your own.

All of his righteousness, all of his work given to you and you get credit for it.

You are right with God. That is the turkey.

That's the gift you have been given.

Secondly, the bag of gold, the talents, the turkey is also those other gifts that God gives you.

As you rest in the true gift of the gospel, you can start to think about the other gifts God has given you.

The gifts that flow out of the gospel, what I like to call gospel gifts.

Your time, your skills, your love, your mercy, your forgiveness, your grace you show others.

And yes, your money and more tangible gifts that God has given you.

So then we have to ask ourselves, who are we in a parable?

And it's usually not an answer you like to hear.

It's usually whoever is struggling in a parable.

But in this parable we've got kind of two options, don't we?

We've got the good servants, the good employees, and we've got the temp.

And you're probably both times on ship.

Let's look at the temp first because the temp actually has some interesting things to say.

The temp just might be completely right about what he says to the boss.

You're never happy with the work I do. It's never good enough.

That is 100% true.

God demands of us perfection, perfect work to be right with him.

So isn't it amazing he gives us that gift in Christ?

So the temp is right. He calls it. God, you demand perfection.

And I can't do it. I'm never going to make you happy.

But then he says something even more beautiful.

You take what's not yours, and that's exactly what God does.

He takes your sin.

He closes the sales for you. He makes things right for you.

He does the work for you. As you're working out in the world, trying to do what's right, he closes the sale.

In the end, he really does give credit for everything.

And I think that's what the temp doesn't like.

Why he refuses the gift because it's not something he did or he's not going to get credit for it.

So don't be a temp.

Take the gift to the gospel, and instead of burying it in the back of a freezer, do something with it.

And this is where we get to talk about those good servants.

You and me, taking the gift God has given us, what does that look like?

That's where it gets confusing.

Who here has cooked a Thanksgiving or Christmas roast or turkey?

Yeah, it can be complicated and overwhelming. I remember the first time I tried to cook a turkey.

I went to Barnes & Noble, I went to the cookbook aisle and pulled down every celebrity chef's cookbook.

Martha Stewart, Gordon Ramsay, Janney Oliver, those are my big dreams.

Pulled down every cookbook I could find and looked up the perfect turkey recipe.

And when I found out, they all contradict each other.

Roasted at a high temperature first, no, don't do that, do that last.

Face it, don't face it. Wrap it in bacon, oh no, don't do that.

Spat's chocked at deep-fried it, no, we've heard the house sound.

You can't find one perfect recipe for turkey.

This is what Christian life is like. If you meander down the aisle at Barnes & Noble,

pass the cookbooks to the Christian life books.

You'll find recipe after recipe after recipe for what a disciple looks like.

And many of those books tell you this is the perfect recipe for Christian life.

Know this is the perfect recipe for Christian life.

And you know what? Just like the cookbooks, they contradict each other.

And sometimes they contradict the description.

So here's the beautiful truth.

As good servants who have been given a gift from God, the way you bake your turkey

is going to look different than other people.

There are lots of ways to cook a beautiful turkey.

Fry it, spat's chocked at a grill it, bake it, I've done them all.

And that's what Christian life is like.

As you take God's gifts and do things with them, it's going to be difficult at first.

It's going to feel strange.

It's going to get easier over time and you're going to see other people's recipes

and you're going to learn different things and you're going to find there are infinite ways

to put God's gifts at work.

The only thing you shouldn't do is leave it in the freezer or serve it cold to other people.

One final story before we wrap up.

The best Thanksgiving meal I ever had started off as the worst Thanksgiving I ever had.

I moved to Georgia right out of college and looking for a job and what I ended up with

was a security guard position at a private school.

And my job was, when the school wasn't in session, my job was to tell people to leave the campus.

It was a cool campus. Football field, playgrounds, walking tracks, all that stuff, a lake.

My job was to tell people not to have fun, to leave.

And I drew the short straw and had to be the security guard on Thanksgiving Day from 9am to 9pm.

My first Thanksgiving away from my family.

I don't think I mentioned this before.

I cry quite a bit, but most of the time I cry over food.

And I had a rough day that day shopping for my frozen Thanksgiving meal that I took to my job.

And then spent the whole day watching families who were just feasted on their pieces at home

coming and trying to walk off the calories and me telling them, no, you gotta go home.

And at 4pm, a lady showed up with her dog to go for a walk and I had to tell her, no, leave.

And I was almost that much taking a bite.

And she stared at me, gave me a look, and finally just left.

Hour and a half later, as I'm sitting down with my frozen cardboard turkey meal,

I see that lady show up again and start to get out of her bed.

And I walk out of the side, past my taking a bite, losing it.

Crying over the food, crying over not being with my family, and crying that I got to deal with this lady again.

And I walk up towards her, she gets out, and I say, ma'am.

And she says, hold on, young ma'am, the finger raised in the air.

And I don't know if you've ever been a young man before.

The last thing you want to hear is young ma'am.

But I did. I waited for a second as I composed myself.

She walked around the back of her van, opened up the hatch, and starts to hand me

hot, steamy dishes of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, all the business.

Best Thanksgiving I've ever had.

Her tipping point, her sharing the gift she had with me, I don't even know her name, changed my life like that.

She didn't literally share with me the gospel, but she shared with me the gospel.

God did not give you leftover gifts.

God joyfully shared his best with you to the tipping point.

He gives you the gift of Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection for you.

You get to rest in the truth that he will do all the work of making things right between you and him,

and will return and make all things right.

In the meantime, as he fills you to the tipping point, he will joyfully use you and others in beautiful

and unexpected ways to share his gospel, his good news, and gifts with others.

That is seriously good news that you can rest in and be thankful for. Amen.