The Comparison Trap You Can't Scroll Past

Good evening and welcome to Crowd Livestream. We're having all sorts of fun and

games this evening with sound repeating and all sorts. We, so Dan, the wonderful

Dan Orange is with me co-hosting, but he's just sorting out the tech. So, Ade,

is with us remotely. Um, he's going to be speaking. Ade, how are you, and can

you hear me?

I can hear you fine, and I am doing okay, thank you. I can also hear myself

repeating everything I say, which is going to be really—

But hopefully by then the wonderful Dan and Zoe will have sorted out the sound.

Um, if you are new to Crowd Church, you are most welcome. Um, it's normally a

bit smoother than this, to be honest, but we are an online church Um, and

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welcome all those already in the live lounge. Uh, lovely to, to see you. Um,

Dan, how's the audio?

I'm having fun when Matt goes Off to a wedding. So congratulations to Callum and

Sarah, who—

Yes, indeed.

Members of Crowd.

Yeah, fantastic.

Yeah, so celebration today. Um, but Matt the tech guru, we got audio.

He's booby-trapped the whole thing for us. He's probably watching remotely and

laughing. Um, Ade, do you want to say hi again and see if you're still

repeating?

Well, um, Zoe is doing some very clever Okay.

Yeah, I can't—

I did say hello, but I seem to be mute. Ooh, but there's no repeat.

Excellent. Okay. It's working. Dan, welcome to Crowd Church. How are you doing?

I'm good. If not a little sort of hectic, which— Just a little frazzled.

Great. And how's your week been?

Yes, good week, good week. Um, I've been, um, this weekend my wife's been away,

so we've had fun, me and the kids.

A lot of pizza and late nights then?

Yeah, KFC, KFC, no, and then curry yesterday which I cooked. Um, and I've been

preparing, I'm talking next week, so I've been preparing that talk.

Very good.

Yeah, looking forward to that.

Good little plug in there for next week. So, um, yeah, You're very welcome. Uh,

do put your comments, any questions in the chat, um, as we go through this

evening and, uh, and we'll do our best to pick them up as we go to Conversation

Street after what Ade has brought us. Um, and do get in touch with us in Crowd

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during the week and you're interested, uh, to get involved, please do get in

touch. Um, all the details on crowd.church. Um, I think a plug of an Alpha

course. The Alpha started coming up.

Um, yeah, the Alpha started, so it's been 2 weeks now, but, um, 2 weeks. Yeah,

still, still totally fine to join. In fact, we've had loads of people join

halfway through, and often they've joined halfway through and then done it, the

whole thing, the next time.

So, yeah. So an Alpha course, which is, uh, you might have heard of Alpha, is a

course exploring what Christianity is. It's a very Um, it's a very easy,

accessible format where you can come and you can ask whatever questions you

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please do get in touch. And, and if not the current one, um, then one that's

coming up. Uh, we also have, uh, community, um, midweek. Um, I'm just—

sorry, I'm just going to butt in. Um, I've just pressed a button here which

might solve our audio issues. So, so if you leave everything done, and Ade, can

you speak?

I'm still here.

That'll be a negative to be fixing it. Okay, let's continue.

Sorry, we've entirely lost Ade now, just at the point where I was going to

introduce him. Um, Ade, are you with us?

Um, I think so.

Very good to see you, sir. All right, well, without further ado, um, as I said,

please, please do get involved, get, um, get involved with the chat, um, check

us out on crowd.church. But this evening we have the wonderful Ade Birkby

bringing our, uh, our talk. Um, he is not in Liverpool where we are sat in the

studio, uh, he is remote in North Wales, which is why we've got the earpieces in

and all the technical stuff is a little bit more tricky. But Ade, really good to

have you, and over to you, and we'll be back later for Conversation Street.

Thank you very much. It's wonderful to be here tonight. We are continuing in the

Jesus the Revolutionary series, and we're going to have a look at the Parable of

the Talents and how it relates to comparison culture. Now, these days, thanks to

social media, it's very hard to get away from comparison culture, looking on the

platform of your choice at images of vacations, careers, holidays, stuff, you

name it. And as human beings, we have a natural tendency to use social

comparison to evaluate opinions and abilities in the absence of objective

measures. And what we can find is this can lead to some really unrealistic

norms, thanks to a lot of curated content on social media that can really

distort what we are perceiving to be of our reality. The impact of this is,

unfortunately, it tends to create low self-esteem, you know, the constant

exposure to perceived perfection. It really drives body dissatisfaction,

people's body imaging worsening from these online comparisons. And of course,

FOMO, fear of missing out. It convinces us we've got a lack of something,

creating this endless cycle of dissatisfaction. Now, there's lots of data out

there. If you look at the 2023 UK national study, looked at 16 to 24-year-olds,

Now, 93% of them felt pressure to compare themselves to others online. 93% of

them experienced negative consequences as a result. 14% experienced suicidal

thoughts as a result, and 74% wanted to change their body by surgery due to what

they'd seen on social media. Now, the impact doesn't end just there. Other

studies have shown that it does seem to peak in the 16 to 29 age group, very

much linked to identity formation and peer acceptance. Now, in midlife, this

seems to decline as 30 to 50-year-olds tend to have higher self-esteem and focus

more on internal tracking versus peer metrics. And then interestingly, studies

show a later life resurgence around 60 plus, but the comparisons are normally

around health mobility and cognitive longevity. Now we're thinking the Bible was

written an awful long time ago. What on earth can that teach us about comparison

culture? Well, funnily enough, the parable of the talents does touch on this

matter, and we're going to quickly read it now. It's very short. It's in Matthew

Matthew 25:14–30

25:14-30. Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his

servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave 5 talents of money,

to another 2 talents, and to another 1 talent, each according to his ability.

Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the 5 talents went at once

and put his money to work and gained 5 more. So also the one with 2 talents

gained 2 more. But the man who had received the 1 talent went off, dug a hole in

the ground, and hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those

servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the 5

talents brought the other 5. Master, he said, you entrusted me with 5 talents.

See, I have gained 5 more. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been

faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and

share your master's happiness. The man with 2 talents also came. Master, he

said, you entrusted me with 2 talents. See, I have gained 2 more. Well done,

Good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put

you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. Then the

man who had received the 1 talent came. Master, he said, I knew you were a hard

man, harvesting where you had not sown, gathering where you had not scattered

seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here

is what belongs to you. You wicked lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest

where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered. Well, you should

have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would

have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him And give it to the

one who has the 10 talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he

will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what he has taken from him,

and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be a

weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, if we look at this from a very simplistic

high level, like you can do with many parables, there is a simple interpretation

and a much deeper meaning. There's some very clear symbology here. The master,

God, owns all things and departs on a journey. It symbolises the ascension of

Jesus and then his eventual return. The servants symbolise humanity,

specifically disciples and followers entrusted with God's estate. Talents can be

life, time, material resources. Trading and multiplying, active engagement in,

in God's work and living by faith. Burying talent, inaction, fear, distorted

view of God's character. And the outer darkness, well, that's the final

separation from God. Now that's the high level, and that's the simple look at

it, but fortunately there's a whole lot more going on. And before we get into

that, we'll just put a few things into context. So first of all, the timeline.

Back in those days, travelling to a far-off country, you're looking at maybe 1 to

2 years or more on foot, horse, boat. So we're not talking about, you know, he's

off for a couple of days or a couple of weeks and coming back. This is a big

distance, and we are talking a matter of years. Also, For the workers to have

actually entered the marketplace, established trade networks, bought and sold

goods, and doubled their investment, we are talking about a significant amount

of time here. It talks about talents. Now, a talent is a unit of precious metal,

typically 30 to 45 kilos, usually silver, would have been worth 6,000 denarii.

Realistically, it's worth about 20 years of labour. Now, if we were to put that

into a modern context and think, well, the UK average or the median salary is

£39,000 a year, even the man who got the 1 talent was still given £780,000. The

man who got 2 talents was given £1.6 million, and the man with 5 talents, just

shy of £4 million at £3.9 million. million. We are talking about

earth-shattering amounts of wealth here being entrusted unto these servants.

Now, the time when Jesus is actually telling this parable, it's toward the end

of his ministry, and it's a bit tense with the disciples because before, in

Matthew 24, he had predicted the temple would be destroyed, and his disciples

are really anxious and confused. And Jesus knows what's coming. He knows he is

about to be Arrested and executed. The economic reality this is actually set in,

it was normal for wealthy landlords to live in cities or abroad and leaving

their servants manage estates. What wasn't normal was to give them such a huge

amount of wealth. I mean, this was exaggerated intentionally to show the immense

spiritual authority that Jesus was giving to his followers. By context, most

people were farmers and labourers, and they were earning 1 denarii per day. The

handing out 5 talents would have been a massive shock value to the audience.

Now, the concept of burying wealth would have been quite normal to the audience

because ordinary people didn't have access to banks, and wealth was typically

physical— it would be gold, silver, or expensive textiles. It was standard

practice to bury these things for For safekeeping. Now interestingly, framing

the servant who buried the wealth as wicked says that self-protective, safe

religious practices are unacceptable in God's kingdom. And this really was

signaling the changing times and the revolution that Jesus was bringing. So

meanwhile, your Pharisees believed that their job was to defensively preserve

God's law and heritage, keeping it isolated and pure. Jesus is coming along

condemning that 3rd servant and saying that preserving God's truth inside of

Israel's border is over. A new era is coming that requires active expansion,

sharing the gospel with the wider world. And finally, the parable itself is

written in Matthew 25. And Matthew 25, again, is toward the end of Jesus'

ministry. And there are 2 other parables in there, and together these form

essentially a trilogy of readiness— what we should be doing in the time waiting

for him to come back. And each of these parables highlights a unique aspect of

readiness, and it shows us that true readiness is about heart, stewardship, and

action. We start off with the 10 virgins, which is about heart, showing our

authentic internal relationship with God. I'm waiting prepared, and the value of

being prepared whilst we are waiting. The parable of the talents that we're

going to get more into shows about faithful investment of resources and gifts.

It's about stewardship. It shows that waiting is not a passive event. Our

relationship— it also looks at our relationship to possessions and abilities.

And finally, at the end of Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats is about action.

It's how we treat the least among us, relationship with the people we So getting

back to the parable of the talents and even comparison culture, we often look at

the 3rd servant and we think, that guy's just lazy, he doesn't want to work.

Yes, he was lazy, but his first— his fault, the thing that triggered it all, it

began with a comparison. He looked at a single talent in comparison to the man

with 2 talents and 5 talents And thought, in comparison to that, why bother?

This is insignificant. It's not needed. Now, this comparison bred resentment for

what he was seeing those around him being given. Although, as Matthew says, it

was given based on their ability. Now, he later masks this resentment as fear

when the master calls him to accountability. What's important here is the size

of our assignment is completely irrelevant. The integrity of the stewardship of

that assignment is everything. Comparing our portions to others just simply

paralyzes productivity. And who are we to know? Well, actually, yeah, mine's

smaller than the next person's, but maybe they've been doing this for longer.

Maybe they've been investing their talents for longer. And that's why they have

something else. Ultimately, it's not for us to even think that, but we don't

know the story. We don't know why other people have different assignments and

talents to us. We just know that God's given us all something to do, and we just

need to get on with what we've been told to do and not to compare it to what

everyone else is doing. Now, while the, um, The 2 faithful servants entered the

marketplace. God's currency isn't money, it's trust. True stewardship requires

vulnerability and active risk. So the 2 that went into the marketplace and

doubled their investment— there's going to be a bit of risk in that. You don't

double your investment without taking risk. You don't buy and sell and trade

without taking risk. And when the master came back, he rewarded them for this

active and courageous effort. You know, he said, well done, good and faithful

servant. It wasn't, and by the way, never ever ever risk my money like that

again. It was like, no, you did a good job. Take it as it is. Now, God prefers

messy, risk-taking faith over this safe, Sterile, passive faith. Burying our

potential in a hole to avoid failure is not acceptable in God's eyes. And

finally, at the end of this, what do you do after a job well done? Well, God

rewards work with more work. This is often referred to biblically as the law of

use and increase. But reward for faithful work is more responsibility. And the

master rewards 2 of his servants with more work, and they also share in his

personal joy. So serving God isn't a vacation. It's a promotion into a greater

unhindered partnership with God and sharing in his joy. So whatever task God has

given us, no matter how great or how small, Especially how small, if we do that

task to the best of our ability in his name, we're going to get a bigger task

afterwards, or a more responsible task. And over time, these tasks will grow and

grow and grow, as does our relationship with God. So when we think about this in

our own lives, do we have a tendency to comparison? Are we happy With where

we're at, or are we comparing ourselves to others? And that can be life, can be

our body, our career, our family, our church. Ecclesiastes 5:19. Moreover, when

Ecclesiastes 5:19

God gives someone wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy them, to

accept their lot and be happy in their toil, this is a gift from God. Being

happy with what we have and not wanting what others have, that contentment, that

peace, that is a gift from God. When it comes to trust, are we actively doing

what we've been entrusted to do, or are we burying our wealth in the ground? Are

we avoiding taking that risk? This looks a bit too risky, or I'm going to be a

bit too vulnerable, so I'm just gonna I'm just gonna sit in it for a while, and

you know, maybe I'll pray on it some more and think about it some more. There

comes a time when you know we are called to action. Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do

Psalms 143:10

your will, for you are my God. May your good spirit lead me on level ground. And

when it comes to reward, are we are we stepping up to the next level, or are we

looking for a holiday? Romans 12 verse 2: Do not conform to the pattern of this

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We are waiting for the

return of the Master. We are waiting. for Jesus to come again the second time.

Whilst we are waiting, the waiting itself is not a passive event. There is much

work to be done, and it is not optional. Whatever job we have been given to do,

whatever the Master has entrusted with us, no matter how great or how small,

it's the how we do it. It's the heart in which we do it.

That counts.

Now, to quote the truly crazy 1980s movie Cannonball Run 2 soundtrack, it's not

what you got, it's how you use it. The gifting, the task, the responsibility,

the size of it doesn't matter. It might look smaller and less important than

others, but it deserves the same level of effort. The effort is rewarded, and

that is where the well done, good and faithful servant comes out of. Challenge

you all, I challenge myself, let's strive to be the faithful servant. Let's take

our eyes off what's around us and put our eyes on the target in front of us, and

let's do our best.

Amen.

To hear those words one day, well done, good and faithful servant. Thank you

very much. That's all I've got for you tonight.

Thanks very much, Ade. Oh, it's a challenging parable, that one, for sure. Dan?

Yeah.

What thoughts strike you?

I think for me, thanks, Ade. I think the bit that stood out was the comparison,

isn't it? Um, I, I listened to a podcast this week. Um, it's a great, great

podcast called Inspired about different Christians and how just from all over

the world, things that happened and to them and their lives, just normal people.

And this guy that had seen loads of stuff happen, um, he, he said, just follow

God's plan for your life. But just, he also said, which really struck me because

I've heard this lots of times when I was young and growing up, oh, God's got a

plan for you. I don't know what it is. It's people that will do all these

amazing things, and like, you're looking at, you're looking around at what

they're doing. Um, and he said, just ask God what's next and do what's next. And

that's what he did. And that's why I've always done in my life. He's, you know,

whether it's job, whether it's marriage, give it to God, pray about it, and yes

or no. You know, there's— I don't know what my— my— I don't, I don't have this

goal that's something, you know, big at the end. It's just following him in that

plan and not comparing myself to, to others. And it was great to see he hear

someone that all these things had happened through him. And, um, it was just

listen to God, do that. And, um, yes, that comparison really struck me with,

with that, with what you said, Ade, and what I heard this week.

Yeah, as with so many of Jesus's parables and, and scripture in general,

actually, it's so much about the attitude of our hearts, isn't it? And I thought

you brought out that really well, Ade. And, um, I think I've I've, yeah, I've

heard people talk on this parable. I've read this parable probably since I was a

young man. Um, and that it's— the comparison is very easy to, to step into. Um,

but actually it's all about— I mean, what struck me this evening looking at it

again was immediately the man with 5 bags of gold, immediately he went to work.

He was kind of, he was eager. He possibly overwhelmed by the amount of money

that had just been given, but that didn't kind of spook him. He was just like,

okay, let's see what we can do with this. Much like you were saying, it's like

each step. Um, and, and the guy that buried it in the ground was very much, I

don't know what to do with that.

Yeah.

And maybe he was also daunted by having a whole talent to, uh, to do anything

with. Um, but that kind of enthusiasm of heart, that That desire to give it a

go, to take risk, as you said, Ade, I think is— and I think that does delight

God's heart. I think what I've always struggled with in this parable is that, I

mean, in one of the other gospels, that the master is described as this kind of

cruel taskmaster, which I don't feel like is a very good picture of God. And

that's another thing I think we can fall into. And probably what I did fall into

as a young man is thinking, Oh, I've got to do all this stuff for God. I don't

know how to do it, and he's going to get back and angry if I've not kind of

doubled my profit sort of thing. Um, I think this is one of the examples where

you need to read, read more widely in what Jesus says. Um, and it's always

intriguing. You don't know quite what the context is. As you said, this is in,

in the middle of 3 other parables, 2 other parables either side about being

ready. uh, ready for Jesus's return. And it was a very particular context I

think he was probably speaking to. And we never get the benefit of who the

particular audience was. It tended to be a crowd. And, uh, it'd be interesting

to know why, why this story for that crowd at that time was important. Um, but

yeah, that, that attitude of heart that says, wow, yeah, this is a bit

overwhelming, but I'm gonna see what I can do. Like the guy with the 5 bags of

gold is like, yep, straight away. Let's see what we can do. And as you said,

it's not about the amount. It's not about the 5 more bags. It's about that

attitude to give it a go, which I really like.

Yeah, I think, and really, they both really pull their sleeves up. They got

dirty. They took risks. They went straight into the marketplace. There was no,

ooh, let's think about this, or, ooh, that's a bit messy. It's just, here's a

task, let's just go and give it our all.

And I think that, that shows the relationship they have with the master, doesn't

it? There was a kind of a trust there and a, yeah, I'm up for this. Um, but

yeah, the servant that was in fear and said, oh, you're, you're a hard man,

clearly didn't have that same relationship with the master as those that kind of

got on with it. There was a Yeah, there was an enthusiasm to, to work with the

master's wealth rather than, uh, yeah, just ignore it and bury it.

Yeah. Um, yeah, I love that the reward was the same. The reward in terms of what

the master said. Yeah, well done, my good faithfulness. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Again, it was on the amount.

Uh, yeah, it's not the amount. That's almost, almost irrelevant, isn't it? It's,

it's the father. Yeah. Well done, my good and faithful servant. That's what I'm—

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wanting to, wanting to hear. That's what— yeah, we just want to do what he, he's

asked us to do. Um, I was reminded of, um, the verse that we're one body,

different, different parts. So your talent might look smaller to someone else's

talent. Um, you know, like a a finger might look smaller than the body, but you

can't do anything. No good having a body that you can't pick stuff up.

Yeah.

You know, it's— it is just being diligent with what God has asked us to do.

And I was thinking too of the story of the widow in the temple giving her single

copper coin, um, and Jesus saying, who gave the most? And there were, you know,

all these rich people throwing their money into the coffers, into the collection

plate. Um, and Jesus says, look at this woman, she's given out of, out of what

she didn't have, you know, she's given greater riches even though it's a tiny

amount, um, because of what it cost her. Dan, what have we got? Have we got any

questions, any comments? Um, while we're doing that, I was wondering whether you

had any particular examples, just to put you on the spot, of where, yeah, this—

you felt a, a commission, a task from God that you've Uh, you've jumped into

with enthusiasm or maybe been a bit hesitant and buried it in the ground? Do you

have any, uh, any life experience of, of this application?

Yeah. Joining CrowdLeadership. So, uh, when, when Sonia and I came here, we, we

were weary, we were beaten, um, we were disillusioned. We had spent a long time

working with various churches as we moved around, and we come to the point

where, you know, we wanted just to attend a church and that was it. We felt we'd

given enough. We felt with all the health challenges, no, you know what, that's

it, we're done. And then, yeah, lo and behold, what are we now, 18 months, 2

years later, and we're pretty much well integrated into it, running a Wednesday

group in the midweek, starting a prayer meeting, coming on here and speaking

almost monthly now, and just being involved in crowd leadership. It's something

that we never— we said we'd never do again. But when we were presented the

opportunity and we prayed about it, we knew that this is what the Master was

asking. And so it's like, okay, here we are.

And in case you haven't heard it, well done, good and faithful servant.

Thank you.

Yeah, if the master asks, that, that's the, that's the answer, isn't it, really?

Yeah, if he asks, it's the readiness to, yeah, to give it a go.

Um, and knowing that he— I mean, I know it sounds pretty obvious, but knowing

that he loves us, he might give us something huge to do, and it's He, he not

only loves us, he knows us and loves us, which sometimes when I look at it, I

go, well, you know me and you still love me. Wow. Or you might say, you know me.

Yeah.

And you know me and you're still asking me to do this thing that you know I

absolutely suck at.

Yeah.

And, um, I'm gonna fall on my face. But he— yeah, I think God in his love, just

as a loving parent, loves to stretch us. maybe challenge us.

Yeah.

And actually, you know, within this, there's absolutely space to be a little bit

hesitant. Don't start condemning yourself that, oh, I'm not this straight into

the marketplace with my 5 bags of gold. Um, you know, the Bible again is full of

people who, who doubted, and yet God's— they always met with God's grace. Um,

you know, he God does look for that attitude of heart that's willing to serve.

But, um, but you know, if you're a little hesitant, a little, little

risk-averse, uh, please don't count yourself out of that adventure with God

because, um, he would like you to come around and trust him. Um, but, but

meantime, you know, some people are, uh, are better able to dive in than others,

and that's okay.

It is. It's literally just what he's asked you to do. And it doesn't—

it—

I, I can understand how that can sound daunting, but it's like, you, you'll get

that conviction in your heart. I need to, I need to sort this in my life. And

that's what he's asking you to do. You know, it's not necessarily, I need you to

start doing talks or set up an organisation. We're not— that's not what, you

know.

Yeah.

all those people that did that, they didn't start there. God said, you know,

well, spend some more time with me. And for me, that's where it all starts, and

that's where he prompts me to go, okay, yeah, I'll spend more time with you. And

that's— that might sound small, but that's, that's the best way to start. That's

the most enjoyable way to—

Yeah.

To start anyway. If you want to do something for someone, it's great to get to

know that person, isn't it? Yeah.

And yeah, picked up in the comments about your description of messy faith, Ade,

which is great. And it's a parable, it's a story that Jesus uses, but in this

kind of situation, it's very unlikely that you have the clear outcome and a

certainty that that outcome will come. In taking a risk in things, we are very

rarely assured of what will what will turn out. Um, and, and that kind of

messiness of having a go and seeing what happens and, and, you know, coming back

to God and saying, I don't think I did that very well, or, you know, God taking

us in a different direction. It can be messy. Um, it can be messy. Sometimes we

respond in the, in the, in the best faith that we have or the best revelation

that we have of what we think God's saying, and maybe we get it wrong. And, you

know, again, God's heart can well cope with that.

Yeah.

He loves it when we when we give it a go, I'd say.

Yeah, I was just— I'm trying to refresh myself with the, the parable work. Yeah,

Jesus says anyway, but even if that person that'd been given all that, you know,

the most talents, had gone out, invested, and lost it all.

Yeah, he—

I think God would have said, yeah, well done. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did

something.

Yeah.

With it.

And that, yeah, thinking about the attitude of heart, the servant that hid the

gold, because maybe they were a bit worried about losing it, maybe just got

completely the wrong end of the stick. And he thought, oh, this is about this

harsh master that really wants to get rich and make more money. And so he was a

little bit focused on the outcome, maybe, rather than that kind of response of

obedience. The other's just kind of like, hey, let's give this a go. This is

fun. And he was like, oh, Yeah, maybe he was like, what if I do lose it? Um, he

kind of got the wrong end of the stick. Um, and again, I think that points to—

to me, that points to the fact he didn't really know his master and didn't

really understand what he was being asked to do. Because I absolutely think

you're right that even if you risk it and it doesn't work out and, you know,

that the good and faithful servant Yeah, response I think is the same. Yeah,

because he loves it when we have a go.

Yeah, and also know from past experience that if, if it doesn't work out, he, he

steps in. Yeah, he steps in. He doesn't do— he doesn't give you something that's

not gonna— yeah, um, not gonna be possible, you know. He steps in and teaches us

through it, and we learn. Yeah, you know, we learn through it. Yeah.

Yeah, seems the concept of messy faith is resonating quite a bit online. I think

it's worth looking at it from another angle. So we're reading about the parable,

and we're seeing the 2 that went out there, well done, good and faithful

servant, and we look at that, and I'm sure we can think of examples of people

who we hear their testimony, and it's like, it's amazing, and what God's done,

and how he's done it through them, and we look at them, we think, you know,

yeah, that's the of faith, stepping out in faith like that. Yeah, those people

at the time when they were going through that, they didn't, you know, they,

they, it felt messy. They felt like they were going by the seat of their pants

half the time. And, uh, hearing the story, it looks like it's, it all fell

together. It was all just so clear. But when you're in the moment, yeah, when

you're in the moment, it's messy. It may not look messy to other people. But

when, you know, when we're in that hot seat and we're making those decisions and

we're stepping out in faith, yeah, sure, it's messy, at least from our

perspective, but not necessarily from those who are being inspired by it

afterwards or waiting through it.

It's a bit like when people have done something and they sort of get put on a

pedestal of like, oh, that was a really heroic thing to do. And they're just

like, oh, what are you talking about? It was just like an instinct to like

anyone else would have done it surely. And that Yeah, that, that, that natural

kind of, um, instinct, uh, to, to get involved, to hear God, to, to do what he

asks. Um, they may not recognise the, the story that's written, the book that's

written about all those heroic deeds. They go, this doesn't feel like it was. It

was just— I was just getting on with it. That's what you do, isn't it? Um, that

sort of level of humility, I think. I mean, for me, certainly, those are the

people that I feel much more attracted to in their kind of stories of faith than

the very scripted, oh, and then I did this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because that's real, isn't it? And that is, again, that relationship with the

master.

Yeah.

It's like he's asked me to do it, so why wouldn't I? And the more we do, Like

Ade said, the more we do, it's not, it's not, uh, do more to get more, to get a

better situation, you know, get a place, better place in heaven. That's not it.

It's just do more because he's asked us to, to do something for him, and he's

seen that we can do it, and he just asks us again. And yeah.

And the, the end of this parable is, um, it might feel a little bit harsh, but

Um, you know, the, the servant is sort of cast out where there's darkness and

gnashing of teeth. But, but really all that is signifying is not being in the

master's presence. And in a sense, the servant has chosen that. He's chosen that

outcome and said, I, I don't actually— I don't know you. I don't really trust

you. I don't really do want to be in this relationship where you're asking me to

do stuff. And it's like, well, okay, well, the alternative is—

Yeah.

Outside the house in the darkness. So it can sound a bit harsh, like the master

is punishing the servant. I think actually it's more, that's a kind of natural

consequence of the servant's attitude to what the master's brought. And I think

the master would far prefer to be able to say, okay, yeah, it didn't work out,

but well done, you had a go. And here you are around the master's table, and

here's some other things to do.

Yeah.

Um, but in a sense, the consequence of not having that relationship is then

that, that sort of being outside of the master's influence and, and, and table,

which is, uh, yeah, it's not a good place to be.

No, no. And as far as we know, he had the same understanding of the master.

Yeah, it didn't say, you know, he'd only known him, you know. Yeah, yeah.

Why was that his response and not the others? Yeah. Um, before we wrap up, any

other, any other questions on the chat that have come through? Sorry, I don't

have that on my phone in front of me.

Yeah, um, so Alicia's put some great comments on here, and then she says, yeah,

testimonies have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I think it's easy to see how

God was moving after we're out of the fire, um, than when we're in it.

Yeah, no, that's so true, Alicia. That's absolutely right.

Yeah.

And it's also, um, this is something I, I keep thinking, and I need to do this

more in my life, is writing stuff down to, to go, oh, God did that. And oh yeah,

we asked about that, um, with our kids. We— it's, uh, yeah, I'll explain it. Um,

So last year we were on holiday, um, and we'd we'd planned this holiday away

abroad in Spain, and we said to the kids, this might be, you know, last time for

a bit because we've saved up for it. And we were away for 3 days, and then my

wife got a call and her mum was really ill, um, emergency surgery, open heart

surgery.

Mm-hmm.

So we, we flew home and, um, and there's, there's lots behind That, um, how to

say it, my daughter's got autism, so, so going away and somewhere we can all be

together, it's sometimes one of the times we can only, you know, really talk

together and just, just different reasons. So it wasn't just, it's great to be

away, it, it's a lot for our family.

Yeah, yeah.

It's great, great time together. So when we were, we were flying home, we said

to the kids, look, I don't know how we'll do this again, but Let's pray. Let's

pray for a holiday. We don't need a holiday, but let's, let's pray that we could

do it again next year. And, um, so we flew home. Lisa's mum had a massive

operation. She's doing really well. In fact, she drove yesterday. Yeah. So this

is a year on. Um, and so she's, yeah, she's doing really well. Um, a couple of

months ago, I was talking to one of my customers and he asked me what we're

doing. I say, oh, nothing planned at the moment. Um, this happened last year,

but we're just seeing what goes on. He said, Do you want to stay in my villa?

Um, and I was like, okay. Um, so the reason I'm saying that is that we—

it was great because you're an awesome hero of faith, Dan. Wow.

It was just— we could— we said to the kids, there, let's pray about this. That

it was a— it was an outward thing. It wasn't just something in my head. We

talked about it as a family. And he, just out of his, his grace, and just

because he's abundant, isn't he? You know, he didn't have to do that, um, but

he, but he did. But it— when we're in it, just, just write those things down,

store those things away so you can see his answer to prayer.

Yeah, yeah.

Later on. Yeah, I hope that would— I hope that made sense.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good—

it's just great. It's a good challenge. It's great to be able to tell our kids

as well, because, you know, we prayed about that, didn't we?

Yeah, yeah.

Look what he's done.

Yeah. Yeah, stories of faith like that, you know, you can— you'll talk about

them in the future. Yeah, I'll remember that time.

Yeah, yeah. And then 2 weeks before we went away, someone gave us some money for

all the flights and the spending as well.

So if you need some holiday advice, Dan's your man.

It's not— that's not like a— yeah, some things are easier to explain when

they're physical things, aren't they? But it's not like— yeah, I don't want to

be sort of naming and claiming that wasn't Yeah, it's just God loves to, yeah,

loves to bless. But yeah, those things are easier to, yeah, to, to explain.

Yeah. And I think, you know, we're talking about our response to, to a

situation, to, I mean, specifically to God asking us to do things, but, but I

think our response generally, and, and that response of not getting kind of

resentful, bitter, going, oh, we've, uh, this holiday we planned has been

ruined. It was one of just opening your hands and kind of holding it quite

lightly and going Yeah, here it is, we accept it, but let's pray for, for

another opportunity. And I think it's, I think it's a great picture actually of,

of how our attitude, uh, to our circumstance or, or what God brings, uh, can

make all the difference. So yeah, so, so wrapping it up, whether—

yeah, if there's any questions in, um, Live Lounge, they're gonna go—

Yep.

Off now.

Yep.

So, so they can chat amongst themselves and, and and, and talk there.

Yeah.

And if you've got any questions in the comments, then please, um, send them in

and we'll just have a few more, few more minutes here.

But if you're online or watching this on catch-up and you're not in the live

lounge, then it's very good to, uh, have you. Please do get in touch, as I said

at the beginning. And, uh, and maybe listen out this week if you get, uh, a

nudge of maybe I should do, uh, such and such. Um, Maybe it might be a challenge

from God. It might be a request from somebody else. But be willing to entertain

that. Don't shut it down straight away out of any kind of fear or risk aversion.

Have some messy faith. Dive in, see what happens.

Yeah.

And, you know, if you've got a story to tell, we would love to hear it. But

thank you all. Thank you very much, Dan. And thank you, Ade, for a great

Unpacking of that story. And, uh, yep.

Yeah.

Keep in touch.

Is there any age you want to finish with?

Um, I think it's worth saying, if you don't use it, you lose it. We've talked a

lot about the good and faithful servant. We didn't talk much about the one that

didn't do as he was told, and that was then taken off him and given to those who

were doing as they're told. So there's something for us to ponder about.

Um, yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, don't, don't lose that salvation, but yeah, don't,

don't miss that opportunity. Yeah, forgot what— for how much. Yeah, God wants to

do with you.

Yeah, yeah, he's got— God's got more for you than that.

Yeah.

Than burying it in the ground.

Yeah.

So give it a go.

Okay.

Thank you all very much. Enjoy your discussion in Live Lounge and we'll see you

next week. Same time, 7 o'clock next Sunday for the livestream. You are most

welcome. Bye-bye.