Who’s the Master?

Matthew 25:14-30

October 30, 2022 • Mount Pleasant UMC

Almost thirty years ago, I received my master’s degree. It is a “Master’s of Divinity,” and so for a long, long time, I have tried to convince my kids that I am nearly divine. They never have bought it. But I have a Master’s degree because I invested four years of my life and thousands of dollars into a course of study. I read books, I wrote papers, I took exams, I listened to lectures until the day came in early May, 1993, when Asbury Seminary conferred on me the coveted Master’s degree. I was full of knowledge, I was full of confidence, and like all of my classmates, I was ready to change the world. We were the ones the church had been waiting on, we were sure of it. And so we all headed off into the world, most of us to our first full-time appointment as a pastor in the church, and it did not take long to realize that no matter what degree we might have, we were masters of very little. I had been a pastor for just about a month when I had to take somewhere around 25 high schoolers to camp for a week. Twenty-five high schoolers who didn’t know me. Three of them thought it would be a good idea to test the new youth pastor, and by the middle of the week I was called in to meet with the leadership of the camp due to the behavior of some of my high schoolers. “Send them home,” I was told in no uncertain terms, and so I got the privilege of being the new youth pastor who called three sets of parents, telling them they had to come pick up their youth from camp. I was very popular that week, and I was the master of nothing.

What does it mean to be a master? This morning, as we continue our series on the purpose of money in our lives, we’re going to consider that question because there is so much about money that wants to act as a master in our lives. We’re asking the question, “If money talked, what would it say to us?” Last week, we explored the parable of the man with too many possessions, and how money would remind us that it can provide meaning in life, but it’s not the meaning of life. Money has more to say to us, though, especially to those who think it’s “mine.” If money could talk, it would tell us,  “The moment you think you own me, I actually own you.” And we hear that in another parable Jesus told, this one about the end of time.

This parable is told in the midst of what is commonly known as the “End Times Discourse” and it takes place near the end of Jesus’ earthly life. Matthew 24-25 contains some of the most memorable and well-known stories and images, things Jesus taught his disciples in Jerusalem during the final week before his crucifixion. This parable in particular is told between the one about the ten virgins who were waiting on the groom to arrive so they could have the wedding (25:1-13), and the one about the sheep and the goats where the difference is found in what they did or did not do for “the least of these” (25:31-46). All three of these parables have a bigger message about being ready for Jesus’ return, but in this middle story Jesus also squeezes in some direction for our financial lives.

So the story goes like this: there is a certain man, a very wealthy man, who is going on a journey, and he’s apparently going to be gone for a long time. So he takes what amounts to a small portion of his fortune, what he calls “a few things” (25:21), and he entrusts it to three of his servants, “each according to his ability” (25:15). Older translations used the word “talents” to describe what the servants are given, which is really nothing more than the Greek word written in English. Newer translations, like what we read this morning, translate the word as “bags of gold” because what he’s really giving them is cash (Davis, Come Alive: Matthew, pg. 199). Money. A lot of money. The eight bags of gold he hands out equates roughly to two million dollars today (Card, Matthew: The Gospel of Identity, pg. 218). I don’t know about your financial situation, but that would not be an amount I would call “a few things!” So, anyway, he hands out the cash, but he doesn’t tell them what to do with it. Jesus simply says the man “entrusts” them with it (25:14). When the rich man comes back, the three report in—and isn’t it interesting that he focuses on these three servants when he probably had a whole lot more than just three? Anyway, the first one reports back that he has doubled what he was given. That’s met with approval and an invitation to “come and share your master’s happiness” (25:21). (That probably means he gets to share in a banquet with the master - Keener, Matthew [IVPNTC], pg. 359). Then the second one comes to report, and he also has doubled what he was given. He, too, receives approval and an invitation to share the master’s happiness (25:23). Then servant number three reports in. Because he has thought of the master as “hard” and even somewhat of a cheat, he said, “I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground” (25:25). He gives back to the master the same bag of gold he was originally given, just a little dirtier. And while that practice sounds strange to us, it was common in first century Israel, especially in areas where Roman soldiers commonly came through. Archaeological excavations have uncovered lots of coins, apparently hidden in the ground so that the Romans wouldn’t find them (Card 218). In Jesus’ story, it seems, the servant hid the gold so that nothing would happen to it before the master came back. This is not met with approval, nor is there any invitation to share the master’s happiness. Instead, this is what happens to the servant: “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnawing of teeth” (25:30).

There may be three servants in the story, but there really are only two reactions or interactions with money. And with that, there are two attitudes toward the money that determine those reactions and interactions. The two attitudes are these: either “it’s mine” or “it’s not mine.” It’s really that simple. It’s mine, or it’s not mine. Now, granted, all three servants in this story knew deep down that the money they were given wasn’t ultimately theirs, but the third servant acted like it was his. He grabbed onto it, lived in fear of losing it, and did everything he could to protect it. That’s what we do when we think “it’s mine.” The other two servants lived as stewards, managers for the one who truly owned it. And they knew him well enough to know he didn’t expect them to just sit around but to use the money to make more money. Let me be clear, though: I’m not trying to give financial advice here, and this parable is not doing that either. Rather, the parable is getting at our attitudes toward the things we have and especially toward the money we have been entrusted with. It may be in your bank account currently, but it’s not yours. The Bible is clear on this: we are stewards of our money, we are managers of our possessions. Everything we have is a gift from God, and it’s not ours.

Our family has been reminded of this again recently. Most of you know my father-in-law, Cathy’s dad, passed away a couple of weeks ago. We were minutes away from walking out the door on a planned vacation when we got word that he had taken a turn for the worse, and a few days later he died. So we began planning a funeral, and we traveled up to Cathy’s hometown for the service. Family gathered, friends came by, and we gave the best tribute we could to Owen, and then the next day, as most everyone else had left, we went to a couple of properties he owned. Of course, the next step in all of this is to determine what to do with what he owned. Or what he managed, because as death always reminds us, nothing we own is ours forever. We are only stewards, and when we are gone, someone else will get or take or buy what we thought we owned. As we looked around his property and walked through his home with all the stuff he left behind, I was reminded that someday, someone will be doing the same thing with my stuff because it’s not mine. It’s all a gift from God, and I’m only a manager, a steward. Great story, Dennis, what an uplifting thought! Actually, I know I needed that reminder and I need it frequently. I need to hear money say to me, “The moment you think you own me, I actually own you” (Stanley, If Money Talked, pg. 24). Moments like that remind me to hold what I have very loosely. It’s not mine.

I told you last week that economics is not my strong point, which is of course what you want to hear from the guy who is preaching a sermon series about economic matters. But because my mind isn’t necessarily wired for understanding all that goes into economics, I’ve struggled for my thirty years in ministry to really understand the finance reports that are part of church life. In my first church, I was an associate pastor so I didn’t really have to. I just nodded and pretended I knew what was going on when those reports were made. But in my second appointment, where I was the solo pastor, I had to work at it. I needed to know what our finances looked like. So I remember after struggling at it for some time, I just said to the finance chair, “All I really want to know is this: how much came in and how much went out. Just tell me the bottom line.” The same thing is true in our personal lives. It’s not quite that simple, but that’s a good place to start. How much comes in and how much goes out? Most of us allow our income to drive our spending. As we earn more, we start spending more. That becomes a problem when we cross the line toward spending more than we earn. When our spending exceeds our income, we become trapped. We are no longer in control. Money owns us rather than the other way around. And it’s easy to get to that point, which is why as of the first half of this year, the total consumer debt in our country has reached $16.15 trillion. The average American household has $96,371 in consumer debt and $6,569 in outstanding credit card debt. That’s not the highest it’s ever been, but it’s close. What’s your situation? Do you own things or do they own you?

Debt is a huge problem, but the Bible’s solution is the same as it always has been. The solution is a change of mindset, a change of attitude. It’s a move from understanding ourselves as owners toward knowing ourselves as stewards. So what does a steward do? How does a steward live? First of all, as I’ve said, a steward knows that he or she is not the owner. The steward is in the employ of the owner, the master, and when it comes to life and to our finances, the master is not you and it’s not me. This comes out in the parable; the third servant’s mistake is that he was hiding “his master’s money” (25:18; Davis 200). It wasn’t his in the first place to do with as he pleased. It belonged to the master and needed to be used in accordance with his wishes. For us, everything we have is a gift from God; it all belongs to him ultimately, so whatever we have is simply on loan. God is the master; I am not. We struggle with this idea because in our culture we are so invested in “owning” things and making sure we hang onto what it “ours.” We’re struggling with this in our denomination, as people are frustrated with a “trust clause” that says the church’s assets actually belong to the larger church. What we think we own is actually held in “trust” for the larger denomination. We want what we want; we want to own what we have. But, as with many things, the Bible’s mindset is completely different from what we’ve come to understand or believe. Everything we have is given as a trust from God. It’s on loan. So if we aren’t owners, what are we? We are managers. We are called from the very beginning of Genesis to manage God’s creation. Genesis tells us, “The Lord God took the man [Adam] and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (2:15). As the old hymn says, “This is my Father’s world,” not mine. I’m only the manager.

So when it comes to finances, the same principles apply. What we have is not ours; therefore, we should use what we have in line with the principles and the purposes of our master. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, believed that while we certainly should try to, in his words, “gain all we can,” we must do it in such a way that demonstrates our stewardship. For instance, Wesley said our earning should not come at the expense of our health and definitely not at the expense of someone else’s life. We should’t engage in a job that is sinful or one that harms our spiritual life, our souls. He even believed part of our responsibility as stewards was to be faithful in paying our taxes, paying our part of our society’s operations. If we harm ourselves or others in doing what we do, Wesley would suggest we are not operating in line with our role as stewards when we try to “gain all we can.” His other two rules, you might remember, were “save all you can” and “give all you can” (Jackson, ed., Works, Vol. VI, Sermon 50, “The Use of Money,” pgs. 124-136). Those practices, too, are part of being faithful stewards, but it’s at the “gain all you can” stage that we are most tempted to believe we own it all. And, as you’ve heard, if money could talk, it would tell us, “The moment you think you own me, I actually own you.”

So your homework for this week is to “spy” on your money, and by that I mean you keep a closer eye than normal on where you spend what you spend. And we do that is because we’re stewards; it’s not our money. It all belongs to God, and if we were spending for a boss or an organization, we’d be expected to know and report on where the money goes. Why should it be any different with what we think of as our personal money (cf. Stanley 25)? If we don’t actually own it, if we are stewards of God’s resources, shouldn’t we be expected to know where it goes? We’ve all probably had the experience (at least I have) where you start out with a certain amount of money and all of a sudden you notice it’s gone and you have no idea where it went or what you bought with it. “Spying” on your money will help us avoid that feeling, and this “homework” has two parts to it. First of all (and this is included in your questions this week), take a moment to write down a few things you spend money on that are the most valuable to you in this season of your life. Then write down why those things are valuable to you. For instance, maybe you pay for someone to mow your lawn or clean your house. For some people, that might be an extravagance, but for you, time is in short supply and you want to spend what precious time you have with those you love. We went through a season in our lives where we spent a lot on dance outfits and lessons and travel to competitions. In that season of our life, that was important to us because it was important to Rachel. It developed her as a person in so many ways. Maybe your priority is paying down debt, so you’re setting aside a significant portion of your income to accomplish that. The point is this: only you can know what your priorities are at this point in your life, and in order to “spy” on your money, you have to answer this question: “Am I spending my money on the things that are most valuable to me…really?” (Stanley 27).

That leads, then, to the second piece of “spying” on your money. As you spend money this week, ask this question: does this align with the things I have identified as most important to me right now? Obviously, things like food, shelter, medicine and some other things lie outside of this question; those are essentials. But what about other things? Are we spending what we have on what is actually most important to us? Are our priorities in line with what a steward of God’s resources believes is important? And yes, sometimes we will have to prioritize things because they are important to someone else, someone who is important to us. Maybe your larger family is going to go on a vacation together and while travel might not be a priority for you, you pay to go along because it’s important to people you love. Or your spouse wants you to join a gym, to exercise and get healthy, and while working out might not be a priority for you, you go along with it because it’s a priority for one you love. That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about (cf. Stanley 28). Priorities determine your spending, or at least the two should be closely aligned. So as you “spy” on your money this week, here’s two questions to ask: what is most important to me? And does the way I spend my money align with that? Because it’s not mine; I am only a steward.

I will say that all of the servants in the parable lived according to their priorities and their understanding of the master. It’s just that the third servant had a bad image of his master, a misunderstanding of who he really was (cf. Card 217), and he lived accordingly. If we are going to be faithful stewards, we have to get to know the master. We need to know the one to whom it truly all belongs. Without that relationship, we will never hear the words that the first two servants hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (25:21). And we do want to hear those words. Or at least I do, and I pray you do, too. When we live as stewards of the king’s wealth, we won’t have to worry about money owning us. So “spy” on your money this week and see what you learn about yourself and about the one who gave it all to you in the first place. Let’s pray.