STEWARDSHIP IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

that's great news uh to hear about the

way that God is moving in this church

through you guys and so we are so

grateful to be gathered here for a

number of different reasons and that is

exciting uh I don't know if we're gonna

have to scoot in a little bit Joe is

everybody find in seats are we okay okay

good so um introverts unite here for a

moment if you need to right uh don't be

so committed to your seat that you're

like I don't care if this person hears

the gospel I sit here every week all

right and so uh but uh in the event that

we get stuck there hopefully this

message will do something something to

you and so let me just say we're

grateful to be here for a number of

different reasons but one of those

reasons is that we are continuing in a

collection of conversations that we've

been in over the course of the past

several weeks that we have been calling

the Renaissance and as I've mentioned

before the Renaissance is a collection

or a discussion it's fixated and focused

on the idea of Revival and

revitalization not just happening within

one specific individual or multiple

specific individuals but what's

happening corporately through the Ive

whole through what we would call our

church and so I've mentioned that we

stole this title from a famed period of

time in human history where we saw that

there was this uh Revival and

revitalization that was happening in

things like art literature science uh

culture was being shaped even through

the way that God was moving in the

church predominantly in Europe between

the 14th and the 16th centuries and

while all of those things kind of play

in to what you'll see through our

artwork and through the way way that we

talk through this collection called the

Renaissance the truth of the matter is

that the actual definition is something

that landed in my heart and coincided

with lots of different scriptures that

we're going to move through that helped

us get to this point where we even

started to begin this collection and so

the definition of renissance is rather

simple Revival or renewed interest in

something and we believe that we're

seeing a Revival and A Renewed interest

happening through Jesus church all

throughout the world but we see that

God's doing something beautiful and

unique and incredible here in this place

as well yes all right 46% of us say yes

and so that's great news that we're

seeing God do these incredible things in

and through this place and the truth of

the matter is uh that over the course of

the past several weeks I've I've made a

couple of really fun and exciting

announcements and we see that we just

had another one uh here today but that

uh we are going to be changing the name

of the church on September the 7th from

LifeBridge Church to key church and I

talked about how there's a lot of

exciting things that are go uh going to

go along with that and we mentioned how

we're going to bring in a group that's

going to help us figure out how to deal

with the parking lot that I don't think

is a big deal but I guess we need to

figure it out uh and I'm kidding uh that

we have lots of different things that we

need to figure out right uh that are

going to be really fun and exciting but

I also mentioned that I don't want to do

this thing where it's like you just kind

of announce that you're pregnant then

you don't talk about the baby until the

baby's born and so what we wanted to do

kind of coinciding with some of this

change that we see taking place over the

course of this year here is that we want

to be a people that are taking seven

weeks to go through seven subsequent

values that coincide with who we believe

the Lord is leading us to become and so

we've already talked about a couple the

first week we talked about how Jesus

Christ is our purpose yes that's an

easier one to get behind apparently so

Jesus Christ is our purpose and while

it's something that uh maybe sounds real

simple and like of course that's the

truth we know that we can very often

find ourselves pursuing flimsy fantasies

in this life rather than finding

ourselves in our purpose fixed in the

Ultimate Reality who is Jesus Christ

that he is immovable he's unchanging

he's the same yesterday today and

forever that we see that he is the North

Star in our life that is never going to

lead us astray and then we also talked

about how we want to make sure uh that

we understand that belonging is our

heart that people are seeking Community

right now and the truth of the matter is

that while we'll say the word Community

there's a longing in the human heart we

all long to belong and we don't want to

belong to just anything that kind of

matters for a moment but then ultimately

isn't that big of a deal we want to be a

part of a community and a cause that has

been catalyzed for the ultimate purpose

and we see that it's been catalyzed the

church has been catalyzed by the blood

of Jesus Christ that we would be a

people that pursued the ultimate cause

which is to see people come to know and

love him and so now we're moving into

our third value today which is uh very

simple and was not supposed to go along

with the announcement that we had this

morning though that's great and the

third value is this that stewardship is

our

responsibility stewardship is our

responsibility not as much excitement

for stewardship as our responsibility

that's fine we'll get there at some

point uh but what I want you to know uh

is that if you've come to this church

for any length of time then what you'll

know is that uh we don't refer to people

that would normally be referred to as

Volunteers in other churches as

volunteers I think volunteers are

amazing I think the Tennessee volunteers

are the greatest team of all time and

why would you cheer for any else but I

also want you to know uh that while

there's nothing bad or evil about saying

volunteer it's just that we don't think

about people coming into this church and

serving as just volunteering their time

there's a deeper more biblical truth and

reality about what it is that we've come

to do while volunteering our time is

certainly an aspect of it we're really

here to Steward a life that we're not

here to just kind of be like I guess

I'll show up for a minute but rather we

have been called to be a people of good

stewardship and so that's where we're

going here today in Matthew chapter 25

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

that's where we're going to be reading

from verse 14 all the way through verse

30 all right so we're going to read the

whole book of Matthew together here this

morning Matthew 25 ver14 through3 are

yall awake this morning is everybody

okay are we doing okay okay uh you know

I've got enough energy for all of us if

you can't figure it out this morning and

uh it'll be good so Matthew

Matthew 25:14

25:14 says this for it is just like a

man about to go on a journey he called

his own servants and entrusted his

possessions to them to one he gave five

talents to another two talents and to

another one Talent depending on each

one's ability then he went on a journey

immediately the man who had received

five talents went put them to work and

earned five more in the same way the man

with two earned two more but the man who

had received one Talent went off dug a

hole in the ground and hid his master's

money after a long time the master of

those servants came and settled accounts

with them the man who had received five

talents approached presented five more

talents and said Master you gave me five

talents see I've earned five more

talents his master said to him well done

good and faithful servant you were

Faithful over a few things I will put

you in charge of many things share your

Master's Joy the man with two talents

also approached he said Master you gave

me two talents see I've earned two more

talents his master said to him well done

good and faithful servant you were

Faithful over a few things I will put

you in charge of many things share your

Master's Joy the man who had received

one Talent also approached and said

master I know you you're a harsh man

reaping where you haven't sewn and

Gathering where you haven't scattered

seed so I was afraid and went off and

hid your talent in the ground see you

have what is yours his master replied to

him you evil lazy servant if you knew

that I reap where I haven't swn and

gather where I haven't scattered then

you should have deposited my money with

the bankers and I would have received my

money back with interest when I returned

so take the talent from him and give it

to the one who has 10 talents for to

everyone who has more will be given and

he will have more than than enough from

the one who does not have even what he

has will be taken away from him and

throw this good Forno servant into the

outer Darkness where there will be

weeping and nashing of teeth good

morning life Bridge let's

pray well Lord I'm so grateful uh to be

gathered together um with this crew of

people that are here today your church

and Lord I know that we've got uh a lot

of people um that could feel like we are

here and um we're just kind of a drift

and trying to figure out what to make of

our life that that we haven't even got

the purpose piece figured it out yet and

so Lord would you speak to that

individual but then Lord there are some

of us that are walking with you and feel

called to more uh and yet we don't

really know how to categorize that we

don't really know how to make sense of

it we don't really know what it is that

you're saying to us in your word as a

result of having our life anchored to

you as a result of belonging to this

great community and what you're doing

Lord would you speak to all of us in a

way that would mobilize us in a greater

way father I ask that this would Mark us

in a powerful way this morning Lord we

love you we praise you and we thank you

we ask these things in Jesus name

amen well in

1822 Fran Schubert was known as one of

the most skilled classical composers of

the Romantic Era and what we saw is that

he had been working on a piece at that

time that would l later on become known

as Symphony Number Eight in B minor and

at this particular point he had figured

out a two-part movement and a partial

third that was so incredible and filled

with so much Brilliance that classical

musicologists were referring to this

piece already with what had been done as

bold emotional and Rich that fron

Schubert had demonstrated a different

level of skill in this little piece that

he had composed up to this point and it

left people salivating for more wanted

to see this entire piece finished but

unfortunately he never did he never

finished this piece Fran Schubert can

you believe it never finished Symphony

Number Eight in B minor in fact what we

see is that he would abandon this piece

and he would go on to work on other

pieces in his life and he left no

explanation he never said why it is that

he did not complete what classical

musicologists would describe as being

something that would most assuredly have

been his Masterpiece his magnum opus

should he have actually completed it to

the point where this symphony is left

people wanting on such a level to where

now it has become known as The

Unfinished Symphony The Unfinished

Symphony and people started to speculate

why did he not finish this Symphony what

is it that left you at a place where you

didn't want to finish this great and

incredible work and so what ended up

happening is that people started to

speculate and some people wondered like

is he just was comparing himself I mean

he lived in Vienna at the same time as

Beethoven and I mean it's just kind of

like I mean I'm never going to be

Beethoven and so we knew that he

idolized Beethoven from other things

that he had written but he never ended

up finding himself kind of achieving

that level of success and so maybe he

was just comparing himself maybe he was

LeBron and realized he'll never be

Jordan that's totally possible we don't

really know what happened there there

could have been something that happened

in him that just made him be like I

can't be him and so I'm not going to do

this there's also a possibility that he

just started doubting in his own

abilities uh that that some people

wonder if that's actually the case but

he never came back to it it's a

plausible argument there are some people

that wondered if he just got distracted

in life he would end up Contracting what

I'll just call diseases uh that would

end up being distracting for him that

would make it difficult for him to live

his life in general let alone continue

to work on these different pieces but

then there were some that thought maybe

he's just concerned with the sheer

Brilliance of it all that he looked at

what had been done to this point and

he's like I have no idea where that came

from and there's no way that I can

continue working on this and accomplish

it in the way that would actually do

justice to what's already been done to

this point and so people would come to

realize that this unfinished Symphony as

great as it was with what he'd been

given was incomplete and he buried it

and people wanted to know how is it that

you could be gifted this incredible

two-part movement and a partial third

and you ended up burying this Symphony

this piece this composition that so many

people were interested in hearing more

from Fran Schubert would die in 1828 and

all of his work up to that point would

be revered and celebrated and it

wouldn't be until later after his death

more than 30 years it would be in the

1860s when this piece was discovered and

was literally buried and people would

realize wait a minute we have been

without this the whole time this is his

most gifted composition that he buried

that he concealed something that could

have blessed the Nations and yet you and

I are here left with the deprivation of

it all and the truth of the matter is

regardless of the reason behind why he

didn't finish this whatever it is that

had him cowered from it made him a bad

Steward of it and so the truth of the

matter is I'm using this illustration

for a particular reason usually whenever

there's some kind of message on

stewardship the way that we think about

it is almost purely uh because of

finances we think that stewardship and

finances are the only things that go

together but I'm here to tell you today

that this is not a mess message on how

you're handling finances stewardship

isn't less than the way that you handle

your finances and yet the truth of the

matter it's certainly a lot more than

that as well and so maybe you're in here

and you're someone that is of incredible

wealth maybe you're just getting started

in life you could be someone that has

buried an unbelievable musical

composition somewhere in your attic that

you haven't shared with the world or you

could be more like me and God cries when

you sing I don't really know what it

looks like for you and you don't have a

musical bone in your body but regardless

of where you land the truth of the

matter is every single person that is in

this place has been entrusted with gifts

and talents and abilities that we are

called to not hide or bury or squander

but to Steward for the glory of God and

so what we see in this Parable you look

at the parable of the talents and in the

parable of the talents what is going to

be made unbelievably clear to us is that

to live a safe life has never satisfied

our King to live a safe life has never

satisfied our our King and there's

something in the human condition that

doesn't want to navigate tumultuous Seas

we want to sail on comfortable Seas of

ease and hoist up a sale that says hey

I'd rather live safe as opposed to sorry

I like the Comfort out here I like how

easy this is but the reality is that

comfortable Seas of ease have never

ended up shaping a skilled and an

effective sailor it's never Sanctified a

disciple of Jesus Christ and so we want

to make sure that we are a people who

understand we live for a king and a

Kingdom where we've got to know that to

live a better safe than sorry life is to

actually get you to a point where you

realize that I'm actually sorry I lived

safe that we live for a king and for a

kingdom where we need to understand that

we are called to take the risk of

trusting in God and rather than

squandering this life we've been given

to Steward it well to the glory of his

name and we see that that's made it

clear and apparent to us in this passage

you look at Matthew 25:1 and it says for

Matthew 25:1

it is just like a man about to go on a

journey uh now in that verse there's uh

this kind of issue already off the bat

we've got this rather ambiguous mention

of the word it what is it what are we

talking about here and it's trying to

get us to look back uh at the beginning

of the passage I would en encourage you

uh to look at Matthew chapter 25 in its

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

totality and so it's trying to get us to

look back to the very beginning and in

verse one of Matthew 25 what we'll see

is that it's not just linking a passage

to a passage it's linking a parable to a

parable and we don't have all the time

to get into all of the different

intricacies of what's Happening Here but

here's what's important to know what's

being clarified for us is that the it

that is being discussed is the Kingdom

of Heaven the Kingdom of Heaven is it it

says for it the Kingdom of Heaven is

just like a man about to go on a journey

notice this he called his own servants

and entrusted his possessions to them

didn't move anybody he called his own

servants do you notice how Jesus is

clarifying his audience here he is not

talking to everybody he is not talking

to people that don't know him and follow

him he called his own servants he is

calling on those who declare to be his

disciples that he is calling on those

who would say that Jesus Christ his

kingship and his lordship Reigns over my

life this is not a group of people that

are like I I kind of believe in some of

this Jesus stuff I don't kind of like no

no he's saying I belong to him I I don't

just kind of believe in it like I'm I'm

his I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ

it's not like I'm kind of interested in

Christianity I'm kind of interested I

think there's like higher power I don't

really know that it's kind of

interesting to me no it's it's that I'm

invested in building the kingdom of God

on Earth as it is in Heaven in Orlando

as it is in heaven these are a people

that say I belong to him and I can be

entrusted with the things that he gives

me and I'm going to do something with it

that that's how we're being being

evaluated as a people that say I belong

to him and that I'm a faithful follower

of Jesus Christ it's those who claim to

be his

disciples and here's what's fascinating

I think being a Christian is a

fascinating thing in this day and time

that we live in right now because

Christianity is one of the very few

things that you can claim to be a part

of and actually do nothing that it

says it's fascinating to me the thing I

appreciate about other world religions

is they believe their book

like it doesn't make sense if one of you

came up to me and Saidi a Navy SEAL and

I saidh how was Buds and you said didn't

do it didn't want to I'd say well that's

a problem it's a requirement you got to

do that so don't come rescuing me I I

don't want to see you on no helicop I

don't want to see you anywhere near me

in my time of need you are you can't

just say I identify as a Navy SEAL I

didn't no no you can't you can't do that

it's like me going under the knife for

brain surgery and me just being like so

you ever get nervous when you do

something like this they're like I don't

know I've never done this I watched a

couple YouTube videos I'll let you know

after this be like no no no no like that

that's not how that

works and yet for the people that claim

to be a Christian a believer in Jesus

Christ it's like yeah I don't go to

church I don't pray I don't read my

Bible I don't have fellowship with other

believers I don't evangelize I don't

remember the last time I shared my faith

with anybody but I'm

his it's the only thing where you can

get away with saying that and people be

like yeah that works for me let's just

move on with that no no you're being

evaluated here based upon what you claim

you are his servant a steward of

his and so we see that it says for it is

just like a man about to go on a journey

he called his own servants and entrusted

his possessions to them to one he gave

five talents to another two talents into

another one Talent depending on each

one's ability then he went on a journey

it says and just for the sake of

defining terms here again it is the

Kingdom of Heaven the man going on a

journey is

Jesus and what we see here is that his

own servants are those of us that claim

to be his disciples it says that he

entrusted his servants with his

possessions or talents and I think

talents is one of those things that

probably need a little bit of

clarification uh because that's not a

unit of measure that we use today but in

Antiquity and in this particular region

of the world uh uh Talent would have

been

a unit of measure or exchange that would

change based upon if it was in the form

of gold silver or copper and what it

actually equated to was about 6,000

dinari which again so far nothing is

clear but 6,000 dinari for your common

average worker at this particular point

was about 17 years

wages so that's a

lot theologians all agree that's a

lot 17 years years working wages for a

talent you're given two you're given

five that is a lot of value and that's

what it's trying to get across to us

right now that what you've been given

regardless of what it is that you feel

like you've been given you've been given

immense value in your life and I say

your life because I think very often we

can misconstrue the application of this

passage and just try to make it about

One Singular thing and there's nothing

terrible about uh just kind of isolating

things in our life that we need to be

good stewards of but the truth of the

matter is uh that it can misconstrue the

application of the passage if we try to

make it just about the way that we

Steward our finances or the way that we

Steward our spiritual giftings or the

way that we Steward uh the time that

we've been given in this life the truth

of the matter is it's not just talking

about one thing it's talking about

everything your whole life all of who

you are and all of what you have being

leveraged for the glory of God are y'all

with me here this morning it says that

you've been entrusted with talents and

then it says something fascinating

depending on each one's ability and I

think that's where people can get

tripped up uh in the passage a little

bit here because I don't know if you

know this um we live in a world right

now where comparison runs rampant yes do

you have Facebook you know what I'm

saying uh like it it doesn't belong to a

single category of humans watching

adults interact on Facebook is the

saddest thing in human

history I just don't know what I'm going

to do

y'all I'm I'm locked in for this trip to

Tahiti this summer and I've never been

can someone save me in the comments and

let me know what I should do in Tahiti

I'm just nervous I'm scared I don't I

don't know I don't really know help me

God like you know and it's like just

just say that you want us to know you're

going to be in Tahiti it's all good it's

all good I don't know I love my Tesla

but

just struggling I'm struggling because

someone said that I should get this

Lamborghini and I don't like it as much

I just I don't know I don't

know just say it we get it it's okay to

like it but don't post about it For the

Love of All Things holy like the truth

of the matter is at no point in human

history did we have this information

about each other ever it was just like

is my family good is anybody Dead all

right we're good let's go next day like

you just didn't care what's going on in

my town what's going on with my people

are we good is everything fine but now

we have all this information and I think

we can try to stack each other up a

little bit am I doing better than them

am I worse than them am I ahead am I

behind and you can get caught up in all

of these things and the truth of the

matter is what I love about these guys

that receive these talents here is that

what we're going to see is that they

don't end up getting mad at each other

for what they've been

given they're just given what they've

been given and it's important that we

understand that for the sake of the

stewardship conversation why because you

are going to be evaluated in your

stewardship based on the way that you

hand handle what it is that you've been

given not how you handle what you've

been given versus how someone else

handles what they've been given that we

see that we can play this comparison

game it's almost even Kingdom comparison

a little bit I've heard hunches people

be like how many how big is that church

how big it's just it happens I know

hypothetically speaking but what we see

is that you can start to create this

game and it's not one that heaven's

playing and and so we see that they're

given these different things based on

their abilities these different talents

and it says immediate the man who had

received five talents went put them to

work earned five more and in the same

way the one with two earned two more but

the man who received one went off dug a

hole in the ground and hid his master's

money they've been

entrusted with possessions and talents

and two of them understand the

assignment they're going to be held

accountable and responsible let me be

clear we're not talking about a a Works

based gospel

here Works based is you get saved

because of what you

do that's not what we're talking about

here we're saying that what we do is a

reflection of who we know that's

completely different and we'll see that

as we move through the passage two of

them understand that they're being held

accountable and responsible one of them

is living with some ignorance two of

them is are going to end up working

towards actually doing something with

what they've been given two are

Faithfully stewarding one is fearfully

squandering two are dealing and doubling

they're going to take the risk and work

they're going to do something with what

they've been given but one of them is

going to try to play it safe and what we

see is that he's going to end up being

sorrowful as a result of doing that that

he's not going to risk anything he's not

going to work he's going to be a

millennial about it and put it in the

ground and be like take care of me and

what we see is that doesn't go well

y'all raised them I don't know what to

tell you so you

know though I walk through the valley of

bills mommy's purse shall be and so what

we see

that's not the notes um he's going to do

this in the name of

self-preservation in the name of

self-preservation and it says in verse

19- 21 after a long time the master of

those servants came and settled accounts

with them and the man who had received

five talents approached and presented

five more talents and said Master you

gave me five talents see I've earned

five more talents his master said to him

well done good and faithful servant you

were fa Faithful over a few things I

will put you in charge of many things

share your Master's Joy I do want to

make a note it's interesting that um

oftentimes you've maybe even heard me

say and you've certainly heard pastors

say that Jesus will talk about money as

much as he talks about pretty much

anything else oftentimes when he talks

about money he's not talking about money

but he'll use money as an illustration

to talk about something else in this

particular case he's using money as an

illustration to talk about the totality

of our life all of who we are all of

what we have given to be leveraged for

the glory of God God and yet I do think

it's interesting that often times uh I

don't I don't know if you ever find

yourself in casual conversations with

other Christians and it's just like I

just want to I just want a well done

good and faithful servant that's all I

want I don't know why this guy's from

Texas but that's all I want it's a Well

Done good and faithful servant living my

life for that well done good and

faithful servant and what I think is

interesting is that it is attached to an

illustration about finances it is

interesting and it says here there's a

time frame mentioned Jesus will mention

a time frame and that's kind of curious

it says after a long time

and so there's been speculation about

what is that long time what are we

talking about here and the long time has

widely been agreed upon as being the

time between Jesus ascending and his

second coming and there's a warning in

here do do you gather

that he goes away for a long

time and there's going to be a

Temptation in that long

time to be

like he ain't coming back

soon I'm just gonna G

to I'm just going to kind of Coast live

my life how I

want I prayed a prayer one time when it

was offered I think I'm good I'm just

GNA kind of live my life how I want to

though from this point moving forward

like I don't I don't know that he's

coming back in my lifetime and so I'm

just going to kind of do whatever I want

but what we see here is it says that the

master is coming to settle his accounts

with his people that say that they're

his and notice the first one's prepared

like really prepared he's been living

his life knowing that he's going to be

held accountable and responsible he

wants to leverage his life use the

things that he's been given to please

the master and we see that there's this

chain of events that end up happening

after that it says that he receives this

Commendation well done good and faithful

servant and then he receives a command

I'm going to put you in charge of more

things and then he gets to share in the

contentedness of his master's Joy share

in my joy and then we see that the same

thing is going to happen with the the

individual that had two talents you

notice that the man with two talents

verse 22 says also approached and he

said Master you gave me two talents see

I've earned two more talents and his

master said to him well done good and

faithful servant you were Faithful over

a few things I'll put you in charge of

many things share in your Master's Joy

second individual's also prepared going

back to the comparison thing notice here

that he doesn't treat the guy that had

two talents any different than the guy

that had five he he does doesn't say

like well you're not my man that had

five but good job two he doesn't do that

he says hey you've increased it the same

percentage good for you man and so I

want you to know that the same chain of

events are going to be true of you you

made the most of what it is that you had

been given by the master and so you see

that he's praised well done good and

faithful servant you see that he ends up

being promised to be in charge of more

things and then you see that the master

is pleased share in your Master's Joy

but we see here as it moves forward that

the man with one talent's going to have

a different situation going on it says

the man who had received one talent in

verse 24 also approached said master I

know you you're a harsh man reaping

where you haven't swn Gathering where

you haven't scattered seed so I was

afraid and went off and hid your talent

in the ground see you have what is

yours we see that he's going to be

addressed

differently but we also see that he's

explaining things

differently he says I know you you're a

harsh

man what he's doing there is is twofold

he's he's making an accusation against

the master and a false assumption about

his

character that we see that what he's

really saying to him is he says you're a

harsh man and in doing so he's saying

you're just someone that's going to

exploit my labor and you know that

because he says so he says Gathering

where you haven't scattered and reaping

where you haven't sewn like you're

you're G to take credit for things that

I

did and he ends up falling into this

place where he's like I'm I'm not going

to be rewarded for any success that I

have and I'm G to be punished regardless

for any failures that I have and so what

I'm gonna do is nothing I'm just GNA

bury it because who

cares and what ends up happening with

him is that he falls into one of the

great

traps that humans often fall into and

it's that we start to look to Inward and

not

outward and what we see is that this is

an individual you claim to be a disciple

you you claim to be someone who loves

him and is loved by him you claim to be

someone that is walking Faithfully with

the master and what you've done with

what you've been given is

nothing you know the opposite of Love

isn't hate it's

indifference and the opposite of Faith

isn't fear it's playing it safe

regardless of what it is that motivates

you to do

it and what we see is

that he had not been grabbed by the love

of his master and he was not walking

Faithfully with him and we see that he

had got him wrong all the way through

that he says here that you're a harsh

man and I don't feel like I'm going to

end up being rewarded for success I feel

like I'm going to be punished in Failure

but you see that all of these things are

lies because of the way that he dealt

with the other two servants the way that

he dealt with them is that they would be

commended and they would be praised well

done good and faithful servant that they

would be promised and they would receive

a command to go and be in charge of more

things we see that there's a Content

contentedness that you see in this joy

that they get to share in and there's

also the sense of being

pleased the Master's pleased with you

sharing my

joy he's thinking of the master wrong

he's thinking of God

wrong and and I think very often we can

do the same thing the way that he thinks

about God impacts the way that he lives

his life aw toer the incredible pastor

and theologian one of the greatest

quotes from him is

this what you think about whenever you

think about God is the most important

thing about

you you think about when you think about

God is the most important thing about

you and there are some of us in here

that struggle to be like is God more of

a dictator or a dad

how do I think about him what does that

look

like this final Steward's

thinking was filled with so much

bitterness that it impacted the way that

he lived that a false notion as to who

God is ended up creating a festering

affection toward him that fearful

thinking created fearful

living and some of us could be in a

similar position I think one of the

issues is that whenever we think about

God sometimes we can be overly

interested in what it is that we think

about God and be less interested in what

God thinks about

us you know Romans 5 that says God

proves his own love for us in this that

while you and I were still sinners

Christ died for

us it's not like you and God weren't on

the same

page I'm just missing him it's like no

no you were an enemy of him but God

proves his own love for us in this that

you and I have the opportunity to call

upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

repent of our sins and be saved like

even when you it's not like you just

couldn't do anything for him it's that

you were an enemy of him and he proved

his own love for us in this that Christ

died for us and when you understand that

love that's been extended to you it

becomes love that flows from

you love

moves Faith moves this final Steward he

doesn't do anything with what he's been

given he clearly doesn't know the love

that's been extended to him he clearly

isn't someone that's following him

Faithfully as a result of that love

that's been extended but love moves love

does dumb

stuff think about when you first started

dating your

wife you were basically Shakespeare you

don't say any of that stuff

anymore should start saying it

again my wife is like are you hearing

yourself right now I'm I'm telling you

gentlemen that obviously are failing

like that's what you need to do love

moves especially when you first realize

what's been done for you when you first

realize I think I love this person

you're just like what is the corniest

thing that I can do to demonstrate my

love for

you it

moves he doesn't move at all he buries

it in the ground but love also has

expectations it has

expectations you can't have love that

doesn't have anger attached to it it

doesn't have wrath attached to it it's

not possible it would be

bizarre if your spouse came to you and

said I was unfaithful to you and you

were

like you guys hungry like you want to go

somewhere that'd be weird be like what

are you kidding me like what I'm about

to throw hands what are we doing right

now that is not going to work like are

you Ser like what that would be bizarre

to be like I'm just I'm I'm just un

interested to be

indifferent would be Bizarre Love Has

expectations the king's love for you is

not sluggish it's

Fierce it reminds me of CS Lewis great

allegorical Saga um The Chronicles of

Narnia and in The Chronicles of Narnia

there's a moment where one of the

characters is learning about Azan who's

the Christlike figure and CS Lewis

didn't like calling it an allegory so he

always called it the presuppositional

Incarnation of of Jesus which is

annoying and so it's an allegory

and the Christlike figure is aan any any

Chronicles of Narnia people in

here less than I thought more Lord of

the Rings people in here Harry Potter

kidding siners

likea that was crazy

sorry not all Magic's the same uh

so

anyway anyway

um when one of the characters

is trying to hear about aan for the

first time Alan is a lion in the books

and one of the characters is informing

someone who's never met Alan Alan's a

lion the lion the great

lion this person's like whoa uh I had no

idea he was a lion is is he

safe and the answer was safe uh of

course he isn't safe he's good he's the

king there's an

expectation and there's a

fierceness and that love that's extended

to you should flow from you not out of a

place of fear of what might happen to me

but what else would I do but serve my

great king for all that he's done for

me it says in verse 26 through3 his

master replied to the servant you evil

lazy

servant if you knew that I reap where I

haven't swn and gather where I haven't

scattered then you should have deposited

my money with the bankers and I would

have received my money back with

interest when I returned so take the

talent from him and give it to the one

who has 10 talents for to everyone who

has more will be given and he will have

more than enough but from the one who

does not have even what he has will be

taken away from him and throw this good

for nothing servant into the outer

Darkness where there will be weeping and

nashing of teeth we go from Commendation

of the first two to condemnation of this

final individual good and faithful to

Wicked and lazy he says if you even if

you even thought that that was true

which now you're just making excuses if

you knew that I was harsh in the way

that you think I would be harsh then you

would have at least put the money in the

bank and I'd have got some interest on

it but you're indifferent to what it is

that I've given you and you've buried it

so you're lying to

me you claim to be faithful and you're a

fraud

one commentator said this risk is at the

heart of discipleship and playing it

safe the cautious servant achieve

nothing timidity and lack of Enterprise

made him

condemned some people think the scariest

verse in

scripture is I believe it's Matthew 7

don't quote me on that where um Jesus

says depart from me I never knew

you if you're his there's no need to

fear that

I think one of the scariest

scriptures is Matthew 16:25 and 26

Matthew 16:25

whoever wants to save their life will

lose

it but whoever loses their life because

of me will find it for what will it

benefit someone if they gain the whole

world and yet lose their

life are you losing your life for the

kingdom of God

filtering every single thing and

decision that you

make through the lens of God you've

given me all of who I am and all of what

I have how can I glorify you down to the

most minute

detail with what you've given

me Lord would we be a people that think

like

that because we realize what you think

of us that while you and I were still s

Christ died for us Lord we're

um we're a people that understand our

[Music]

position we

had

nothing in our life that had any purpose

or significance before you rescued

us and Lord I pray that if there's any

person in here right now who has not put

their faith in you that they would hear

this truth

truth and respond to the gospel go seek

me or somebody in our prayer

room but we are a people who believe

that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life

that we could not died the death that we

deserved upon a cross that he willingly

went to where he spilled his own perfect

innocent blood that covers our sins past

present and future that he was buried in

a tomb for three days and he rose to

life again again that he ascended to the

right hand of the father and that he's

interceding for us right now praying for

his people and Lord we believe that

there are people in here that have the

vast majority of us have repented of our

sins and put our faith in you and I pray

that we'd live like

it and Lord for anyone who hasn't I pray

that that would land in their soul today

to respond to the gospel and what it

means in their life to completely and

radically transform them from the inside

out knowing that you proved your own

love for us in this sending your

son that we might give all of who we are

and all of what we have to him Lord we

love you we praise you we thank you we

ask it in Jesus name amen