Home Campaign: Risk

Good morning. My name is Tommy. I'm a pastor here at Church of the Advent. We are in the

middle of a season now called the Home Campaign, which we're very excited about. This is our

endeavor to secure a permanent home here in Washington, D.C., so that we can make good on

the commitment that we made when we started this church, which is to love the city long-term,

meaning for multiple generations, to be the presence and the ministry, the hands and feet

of Christ here until he comes again. And so that's what the Home Campaign is all about. This is

something that we have prayed a lot about, something that we feel called to, something that a number of

us, including me and my wife, have already made a commitment to support. It's something that we're

very excited about, but make no mistake, it's a risk. It's hands down the biggest financial risk

I think we've ever taken as a church community. And we need to be honest about that. We need to

be honest about the risk that we're taking together, even if it's one that we've prayed a lot about.

And so that's what I want to talk about this morning. I want to talk about risk in the Christian

life. We're looking at Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 through 30. It's a very well-known parable,

Matthew 25:14–30

and it falls within a section of teaching where Jesus is talking about the characteristics of

faithful disciples. When we think about discipleship, I think it's easy to think about things like,

well, faithful disciples have a good, solid prayer life. They regularly study Scripture. They

regularly worship in a local church with a church community. These are things that most people

would think of, but I'm not sure how many of us would think that another characteristic of faithful

discipleship is that faithful disciples take risks, that faithful disciples are willing to take risks.

So that's what we're going to look at this morning as we look at this parable. We're going to look at

first the calling to be risk-takers, and then we'll see the reasons that we are not risk-takers.

Why this is so hard for us, and then finally, the way to become risk-takers. So let me pray,

and then we will dive in together. Lord, I thank you and just praise you for the joy of being

together here in person. And I praise you, and for those who are joining us online or watching this,

Lord, I thank you that in all these ways we can gather together around your Word.

And we pray that it wouldn't be our agenda or even the wisdom or insights of human beings that we put

our hope in this morning, but that we would be hopeful because you're the kind of God who is

living and active and present with us, and that you can do your work in us through your Word.

And that's really what we need, Lord. So we pray that you would do that. We pray that you would bless

our time of turning our hearts and eyes and ears to your Word. And we pray this in your Son's holy name.

Amen. So first of all, let me just unpack this parable. It's somewhat familiar to many of us,

but I just want to make sure that we understand what's happening here. Jesus is telling a story

about a rich master who goes away on a long journey. He's going to be gone for a while,

and before he leaves, he entrusts eight talents of his wealth to three of his servants. Now,

a talent is a unit of monetary value. It's a unit of weight originally, and it's hard to know exactly

how much a talent would be worth, but it's probably worth upwards of 20 years worth of earnings for a

laborer. It's about 20 years worth of earnings for a laborer, so it's a lot of money. So this rich

master entrusts five talents to the first servant, two talents to the next servant, and then one talent

to the third servant, and then he goes away. And while the master is gone, we are told that the

first two servants invest the money that they've been given, and they make a return on that investment.

And then we're told that the third servant buries his talent to keep it safe. Now, when the master

returns, the first servant comes and says, look what I've done. I've doubled the investment. Second

servant comes and says, look what I've done. I've doubled the investment. And in both cases,

the master responds in exactly the same way. He says, well done, good and faithful servant.

You've been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

Identical responses. Doesn't matter the amount of money returned. Identical responses in both cases.

But when he finds out what the third servant has done, he calls him a, quote, wicked and slothful

servant. And then he casts him into the outer darkness. And then he takes the talent away from

that servant, and he gives it to the first servant. And he says, to everyone who has, will more be given.

And he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Now, what's happening? Well, first we begin to see the calling to be risk takers. This parable,

first of all, I want you to notice a couple of things here. First of all, this parable is about

much more than money. It's actually where we get our modern understanding of talent. That actually

comes from this parable. The idea being that God really entrusts all kinds of resources to us

as his people. We often hear this referred to as our time, talent, and treasure. The time and energy

that we have, our natural abilities, as well as our gifts of the Spirit, and then all of our resources,

including our wealth, that all of that is entrusted to us by God. So it's parables about much more

than just money. The second thing to notice is this. The master commends the first two servants

who took a risk by investing the money that they were given. And we just need to understand,

they could have very easily lost the money. Right? It's very possible that the master comes back and

they say, you know, I went to trade this to try to invest it, and I ended up losing it. I made a bad deal.

Anytime you invest in anything, it's a risk. There are no guarantees when it comes to investments.

But the master doesn't call them reckless. He doesn't say, how dare you risk losing my money?

He commends them, and he commends both of them in the same way. And then thirdly, and I think most

importantly for our focus, look what the master says to the third servant. He calls him wicked.

Wicked. Now that's strong language. As strong then as it would have been today. You know, most of the

time, if you're anything like me, we think of wickedness as doing a bad thing. You did a wicked thing.

But this man didn't do anything wrong. Right? He didn't try to steal the money. He didn't go blow it

all in Vegas. He kept it safe. He returned every penny safe and sound. The master comes back and says,

hey, I kept this safe. I protected it. And now that you're back, here's every penny that you gave me.

There it all is. All accounted for. And Jesus, via this parable, pronounces that this man is wicked.

So clearly, we learn something about wickedness here. Wickedness doesn't just apply to things that we

do. It can also apply equally to things that we don't do. If you're familiar with Anglican worship

and the Anglican prayer book, you know that very often when we come to our confession of sin,

we not only confess things that we have done, but we also confess things that we have left undone.

Jesus condemns this man as wicked because he has left something undone. He refused to take a risk.

He refused to invest his talent. In other words, he condemns this man as wicked for playing it safe.

Now, that should wake us up. It certainly woke me up when I realized this. And what we really begin

to see here is the point of the parable, the reason Jesus is telling us this story in the first place.

The point is not simply that we should be reckless, right? Jesus isn't saying, you know, faithful

disciples go base jumping. He's not saying faithful disciples take risks for the sake of risk-taking.

They live on the edge. They love adrenaline. That's not what he's saying. The point of the parable is

that God has given us all kinds of resources. He's given us all kinds of resources. And the point

is that God gives us the thing that he gives us for a reason. For a reason. Think of it all as God's capital

investment. God has taken his capital and he has given it to you and I. And he's entrusted us with this

capital for a reason. And the point of this parable is that faithful disciples are willing to take risks

in order to invest God's capital into God's kingdom. Faithful disciples take risks

in order to invest God's capital, all that we've been given, into God's kingdom. And when you're

investing your time and your talent and your treasure in God's kingdom, what that means is you're not just

trying to maximize your financial return. You're not just using your time and your talents and your

treasure to get the most financial return you can back. And in many cases, it means that you might

actually be willing to take a hit. Because you have another bottom line that you're thinking about.

You're trying to have kingdom impact, which means maybe you're investing in making disciples.

Maybe you're investing in doing the work of justice and mercy in a place like Washington, D.C.

Maybe you're investing in the common good. You're investing in things that are going to lead to

greater flourishing for all people in that community. Maybe you're investing in things that

bring glory to God. But in all of these ways, you're measuring the return on investment

not just based on whether or not you get the maximum financial return. You're thinking about a

completely different set of metrics. What we need to understand, though, is that just like any

investment, those investments are all risks. Every investment is a risk. There is no guarantee.

But according to this parable, the worst thing that we can do is not to invest and lose out.

The worst thing that we can do is nothing. The worst thing that we can do is to play it safe.

So what we want to ask now is what's the difference between people who are willing to take risks and

invest and people who are not? What's the difference between the first two servants and the third

servant? Reasons we're not risk takers. Notice first the excuse that the third servant gives.

Master comes, says, what'd you do? He says, well, I buried your money and here's why. He says,

Master, I knew you to be a hard man. I knew you to be a hard man. You ever known somebody who kind of

wrongs you or hurts you and then tells you it's your fault? Well, I only did this because of what

you did to me, right? I knew you to be a hard man. It's actually your fault. I was afraid of you and I

went and I hid your talent in the ground. Now, let's just sort of give this servant a little bit of

grace here and assume maybe he's being totally honest. And let's just think about what that

might mean for us. There is a legitimate concern here for some of us. And that is, in other words,

maybe one of the reasons some of us refuse to take risks and invest what we have for the sake of the

kingdom is ultimately that is rooted in our view of God, right? Maybe that's rooted in our view of God.

If you've ever read Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing, in The Crossing, there is a father who has lost his

son in a terrible earthquake. And it's a tragic, awful thing. And it says that despite the father

losing his son in this earthquake, he never actually stopped believing in God. And it says, you know,

it's actually a lot harder to do that than you might think. But here's what it says.

It was never that this man ceased to believe in God. It was rather that he came to believe

terrible things about him. Right? For some of us, we've had experiences in our lives that lead us to

believe terrible things about God. It's not that we gave up our faith. It's that we came to believe

terrible things. We came to doubt God's goodness. We came to see God as harsh or capricious,

unpredictable. If that is your view of God, then it makes sense why you wouldn't invest what God has

entrusted to you in God's kingdom and take real risks with it. Why? Because God is capricious. I can't

trust God. I don't know what God might do to me tomorrow. And so the things that I have, I'm going to

hold on to them because this might be all I get. I have no way of knowing and I can't trust God.

All right? So maybe that is the reason why some of us, and I think I can say safely that there are

some of us in this room for whom that is the main reason we don't take risks. We look at God and we

say, I believe you to be a hard man. But when it comes to this servant, there's another reason

lurking under the surface that I don't want us to miss here that may apply to others of us in this

room. Look at what the master says to the servant in verses 26 and 27. He says basically this, you

know, there's nothing to indicate here whether or not this servant or this master is actually a hard

man. We don't really know what this master is like. Based on the behavior of the first two servants,

we might actually think that this master is a much more gracious man than the way he's portrayed

by the third servant. Nevertheless, here's what he says to the servant. He says essentially this,

if you were truly afraid of me, if you truly were concerned that I was such a hard man, as you say,

you would have at least taken my money to the bank where I could earn some interest. So essentially,

he's calling BS on the servant. He's saying, you're blaming it on me. You're saying that I'm a hard

man. I don't actually think that's the reason that you didn't make any investment. And then he goes

on, and if we look at his language, he not only accuses the servant of being wicked, but he says

what? Wicked and slothful. Now there's a key right there. Most people think of slothfulness as mere

laziness. And he's saying you're lazy because you didn't do anything. And you know, that is one way that

sloth manifests itself, laziness. But there's a lot more to sloth than simple laziness. Here's what

Frederick Buechner says about sloth. He says, sloth is not to be confused with laziness.

A slothful man may be a very busy man. He's a man who goes through the motions, who flies on automatic

pilot. He knows something's wrong with him, but not wrong enough to do anything about. He's letting

things run their course. He's getting through his life. He's getting through his life on autopilot.

So sloth can look like laziness, or at the other end of the continuum of sloth, if laziness is over

here, then you have unnecessary busyness over here. But it's the same continuum and the same

underlying issue, which is this. Sloth at its core is avoidance, escape, disengagement. Sloth is a refusal

to fully inhabit our lives. It's living on autopilot. It's path of least resistance.

Here's another quote about sloth.

Evenings without number, obliterated by television, evenings neither of entertainment nor of education,

but a narcotic defense against time and duty. And when he wrote those words, the iPhone didn't exist yet.

All right, we can fill up our time with unnecessary, meaningless, busy work. Maybe it looks like we're

doing kingdom work, but there's no real investment. There's no real risk. You know, we can spend several

hours a day. Does anybody else on Sunday mornings every week, I get my screen time report for the week?

And I don't know why Apple makes that happen on Sunday morning, but it's perfect for me.

Because I, every single week, have very specific things to confess when we come to the confession.

In our liturgy, I was up an average of two hours and 30 minutes. Help me, Jesus.

Jesus. And so we can fill up our lives and we can spend several hours a day scrolling through posts

from people we don't even know. Right? I can attend to those kinds of people, but we are too busy to

take 10 minutes to walk out of our door, across the street, knock on the door, and introduce ourselves

to our neighbors. So imagine if I took all of that screen time reading posts from people I don't even

know or honestly even really care about. And instead, I invested 10 minutes of that time

in getting to know the person who literally lives across the street from me. Right? But I'm too busy

to do that. Am I really too busy? No. That involves real risk. That involves being awkward. I hate social

awkwardness. That involves, you know, thinking we might get rejected. They might give you a funny look

and be like, get off my property before I call the police. Who does that anymore? Right?

It's real risk.

We spend hundreds of dollars a month

on television streaming services

and alcohol

and unnecessary Amazon purchases

or, I would say,

our narcotic defenses

against reality.

But when it comes to giving money away for the sake of the kingdom,

we say,

I'm not sure if I can afford that.

Because it's risky.

You know?

It involves an investment in something where there's no guarantee.

For some of us, I think,

it is true that we don't

risk because we don't ultimately trust

and believe in God's

goodness.

For some of us, that's the issue.

But I think for some of us,

we don't take risks

because we don't believe God is worth it.

Maybe He's good.

Maybe I can trust Him.

But He's just not worth it.

There's nothing of value

that is worth giving up

my narcotic defenses

against reality.

Because I think ultimately,

and maybe I'm just speaking for myself here,

I think many of us just want an easy Christianity.

I've never really been tempted

to give up Christianity.

I've just been tempted

to embrace an easy Christianity.

That's the thing that I struggle with.

In other words,

a Christianity that doesn't ask

anything real of us.

Because I think really deep down,

we don't want a faith

that calls us to risk.

We don't want a faith

that calls us to risk

being open about our Christian faith

around non-Christian

friends and coworkers.

We don't want a faith

that calls us to risk

investing in friendships

with people who may move away

in a few years.

We don't want to risk

speaking truth in love

to someone who might reject us,

where the friendship might be in peril.

We don't want to risk

loving someone

who may not ever love us back

or appreciate what we're doing.

We don't want to risk

setting work boundaries

around the Sabbath

knowing that it's probably

going to cost us advancement.

We don't want to risk

giving so much money away

that it impacts

our financial security

on a real level.

I don't think really

in many of our hearts

we want that.

What we want

is an easy Christianity.

We want a God

who says,

I just want you to be happy.

I just want you to live

as you please.

Put your feet up.

We want Christianity

as a spiritual sedative.

Our narcotic defense

against reality.

If any of this sounds

familiar to you

as it does to me,

the question then becomes

how do we become risk takers?

How do we become people

who are like

these first two servants?

What does that require?

And I would say

that the way to become

a risk taker in your life

is to realize this,

that even as Jesus

is telling this parable,

even as he is telling

this story,

even as he is challenging

his disciples

to give up personal safety,

to take risks,

to risk everything

they've been given

for the sake of the kingdom,

even as he's saying this,

he knows what's about

to happen.

And if you move down

a little bit in the passage,

at the end of this section

of teaching,

it says this

in chapter 26 verse 1.

When Jesus had finished

all of these sayings,

he said to his disciples,

you know that after two days

the Passover is coming

and the Son of Man

will be delivered up

to be crucified.

Not just a possible outcome,

an absolutely certain outcome,

an event that had been laid down

for thousands upon thousands

of years ordained to happen

was about to take place.

And what we realize is

that no matter how much

we risk,

no matter how much

we put out there,

and no matter how certain

the proposition might be,

no matter how much

we think that we are risking,

there is no loss

that we can ever suffer

that is greater

than what Jesus experienced

on the cross for our sake.

You will never lose more

than what he was willing

to give up for you.

You will never suffer

a loss like that.

And what this means,

and this is very important,

even though we may suffer

some loss in this life,

we will never suffer

ultimate loss.

We will never suffer

the kind of loss

of being cut off

from the Father,

the kind of loss

of taking all of the sin

of the world onto yourself

and suffering to atone for it.

We will never experience

that kind of loss

because it happened

to Jesus already

instead of us.

And what this means

is that for those of us

who are tempted

to doubt God's goodness,

we see God

as a hard master,

as a capricious master.

Look at the cross.

you cannot reconcile

that view of God

with the cross.

Now, it's not always easy

to get from A to B.

In other words,

it's not always easy

to understand why

in this moment of your life

you are facing such

catastrophic hardship

and suffering.

But the one thing

that you do know,

even when you don't understand

God's actions,

we can always know

God's motives

and we can always

trust God's heart

because that's what

we see on the cross.

I don't understand

why this is happening to me

but I know

that God is good

and I know

that God loves me

because that's what I see

when I look at the cross.

A God who is willing

to do that out of love

is the kind of God

that we can trust

even when our lives

don't make sense.

And then for those of us

who don't think

that God is worth it

or don't think

the kingdom is worth it,

it's not worth

having to fully

inhabit our lives.

We would prefer

the narcotic defenses

against reality.

The fact is

that God has put you here

for a reason.

God has given you

your gifts

and your talents

and your resources

for a reason.

And Jesus Christ

has come

to restore God's purposes

in and through you

and there are things

that God is desiring

to do through you

in this world.

And until you understand

that,

your life is never

going to make sense.

And I suspect

that deep down

I'm not going to have

to convince you

of that

because I think

on a deep level

we all know that.

even behind

our desire

to check out,

our desire

to numb out

and live on autopilot,

there's a little voice

in your head

that says,

but there has to be

more to life.

There has to be more.

There has to be meaning

to my existence.

And the gospel

says there is.

But you're only

going to find that

in Jesus.

And you're going to

only find that

when you recognize

that all that you

have been given

is God's capital

and it's meant

to be invested

in what God

is doing in the world

right around you.

And then for all of us

who fear

what we may lose

if we start to take

real risks

for the sake

of the kingdom,

we can know

that because of

Jesus' resurrection

and because of

Jesus' promise

to come again

and restore

all of creation,

here's the point,

every investment

we make

in God's kingdom

will yield a return.

Now I said,

you know,

a few times

this morning

that every investment

involves risk.

Absolutely,

every investment

does involve risk.

And the return

may not be a return

that you ever see

in your lifetime.

But because of

the resurrection

and because of

the promise

of new creation,

every investment

we make

in God's kingdom

will yield

a return.

All of what

we're talking about

here this morning

can be summed up

in the words

of one of my

great heroes,

Lilius Trotter.

And this is a quote

that I come back

to again

and again

and again.

She says,

holiness,

not safety,

is the end

of our calling.

Now just sit

with that for a minute.

Holiness,

not safety,

is the end

of our calling.

Lilius was born

into a life

of privilege

in England.

She was an extremely

gifted painter.

painter.

And she was lucky

enough to be

mentored by

the great

John Ruskin

who was sort

of a local

celebrity.

And he was

a cultural elite

who told her

that she had

the potential

to be one

of England's

greatest

living painters.

And he had

the cachet,

the credibility,

the access

to open

all the right

doors

to give

that life

to Lilius.

But Lilius

also felt

called to

invest time

and energy

not into

painting

but in

serving the

poor women

and the

poor children

in London.

And Ruskin

recognized the

competition there

for her time

and energy

and so he

demanded that

she give up

all of that

other work

and focus

exclusively

to her art.

And that was

his challenge

to her.

I can open

all these doors

for you.

I can make

you famous

but you

have to

invest

everything

in your

art.

And so

Lilius had

to choose.

Do I

play it

safe

which meant

for her

get married

follow

Ruskin's

advice

focus

exclusively

on her

career

and

eventually

enter into

fame

and fortune

and celebrity

status?

Or

do I

take the

massive

risk

of saying

no

because

I

believe

that

God

is

calling

me

somewhere

else?

And

ultimately

that's

what

she

did.

She

chose

risk.

She

gave up

the safety

of marriage

and the

safety

of fame

and instead

she took

this massive

risk

of going

as an

unmarried

woman

to spend

the rest

of her

life

as an

obscure

missionary

in Algeria

in a time

where that

simply did

not happen.

Now I

want to be

clear she

never stopped

painting.

God gave

her a

gift and

a vocation

as a

painter and

she painted

to the end

of her

days.

But she

didn't paint

for the elite

art critics

of London.

She

painted in

the margins

of her

journals.

A few

years ago

my wife

and I

heard from

a missionary

who said

that there

is a

whole

underground

network

of

Christians

in

Algeria

who owe

their faith

to the

legacy

of Lilius

Trotter

even

though

she

never

saw

a single

convert

in her

entire

life

in

ministry

in

Algeria.

Faithful

disciples

take risks

because we

know that

every

investment

in God's

kingdom

will one

day

yield

a

return.

Let's

pray.

Lord we

thank you

for your

word.

We thank

you for

people like

Lilius

who show

us what

real

kingdom

risk

looks like

and who

show us

that we're

a part

of something

so much

bigger

so much

deeper

than we

can possibly

imagine.

Show us

that even

when our

lives don't

make sense

even when

we're tempted

to doubt

your goodness

even when

none of

this seems

worth it

even

when we

strive

and strive

and strive

and never

see a

return

that Lord

our hope

is not

in our

own

strength

or wisdom

to make

good

investments

our hope

is in

you

and your

Holy Spirit

and the

unfolding

plan

enacted

through

Jesus

Christ

that one

day

your

kingdom

would come

fully

and your

will

would be

done

here on

earth

as it is

in heaven

and that's

what we're

investing

in

that's

what we're

hoping

for

and that

Lord we pray

would one day

bring you

the great

glory

that only

you deserve

we pray

that we

would be a

community

marked by

that hope

and that

willingness

to take

risks

believing

in what

you're doing

in your

kingdom

Lord

we pray

this in

your

son's

holy

name

amen

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh

oh