While We Wait on the Master

Well, good morning to everybody here. So thank you for being here at this campus at our Niagara Falls or Lockport or Cheektowaga campuses, or maybe you're online this morning. Welcome. So glad that you're here. Can anybody remember a time in their life if you've ever worked? Can you remember a time in your life when you've been a terrible employee? I mean, I have been. I was 18 years old. I was working for a pool company that had a display at a waterpark. And I didn't work for the waterpark, I worked for the pool company, and the pool company was based out of state. My job was to get leads for the pool company. So in other words, that meant getting people's information so that a salesman, like a real true salesman, could call them and maybe sell them on buying the pool that I was working for their company. Now, I did virtually nothing except lay around in the Sun with my shirt off, which by the way, me having my shirt off was prohibited by the company, but I was at a waterpark and my bosses were all in a different state, and so no one was around, even though it was prohibited because who was going to see me? And instead of working for leads or engaging people in conversation, I just kind of waited for things to fall in my lap. I was an embarrassingly bad employee and I'm ashamed to admit it, and it's mostly because I realized that there was no boss around. Have you ever worked with people that are completely different workers when the boss is around and when he or she is not around? Anybody? Yeah. Have you ever been that kind of worker that you work differently when the boss is around and when the boss is not around? I'm sure many of us have been at that point before in our lives. Did you ever see the show in the 20, teens that was called "Undercover Boss"? Some of you saw that. The premise of the show was that the CEO or the founder of a company would go undercover in their own company to kind of see what was what, see who was doing what, kind of find out about the nature of their business and the people that they had employed. Some years ago there was an episode on about the CEO of Forman Mills, maybe even the owner. His name was Rick Forman, thus Forman Mills. Their business was a discount clothing superstore. That was kind of the business that they were in. And when he was undercover, he met an employee named Curtis. Now, Curtis had been homeless for a period of time and he was still struggling a little bit, but his attitude was exactly what Mr. Forman wanted from his employees and was how he wanted his company to be presented to people outside of his company. In other words, Curtis was like a great representative of what he wanted Forman Mills to be. So at the end of the show, they have these meetings where the employees come in that they've been interacting with, and then it's like, "Ta-da, I'm actually not this person who was undercover. I'm actually the big boss, like I am the CEO or I am the founder of this business." And when he did that and Curtis came in, the president just started talking about how he was such a great representative. He doubled his salary and bought him a house. Very inspirational story. Like I remember, and I was like, "That was incredible." But there were also other stories on that episode and on other episodes that didn't go very well. People that when the boss wasn't around, even though the boss was literally with them and they didn't know it and they were speaking poorly of the business, they were speaking poorly of the owner, even though they'd never met the owner, or they'd be lazy or uncaring or they would treat other people, their customers not really well, and then at the reveal, the undercover boss would fire them. I mean, the premise of the show is brilliant because it's relevant, right? What do people do when the boss is not around or what do people do before the boss shows back up? I think it's a great question for us as well when we consider what it means to live a generous life. You see, our boss, the Lord Jesus, has said he is going to return someday. So what do we do as we wait? How do we work as we wait on the boss's return? Well, Jesus addressed this in Matthew 24 and 25. We'll be in Matthew 25 in just a moment if you wanna begin to find your way there. It's the first book in the New Testament. If you're new to this, you kind of split the Bible in half in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and Matthew is the first of the gospels in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And when you get to Matthew 25, which we'll be there in a minute, I wanna help us to understand what's going on leading into the story that we're gonna look at today. Jesus was on the Mount of Olives giving what theologians call the Olivet Discourse. That just means Jesus was giving a sermon on the Mount of Olives there in Jerusalem. And it began by his disciples coming to him and asking him privately, "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus then began to tell them about a host of signs that are relayed in Matthew chapter 24, particularly verses 1 through 32 in Matthew 24. And then Jesus tells stories right after that. Like, he tells 'em about these signs and then he starts launching into a series of four stories that lead up to the story that we're going to look at here. And I'm appreciative for Dr. Don Carson's insight here. He said that all of these stories actually give us insight about how we wait for his coming. You may remember there's a story about two workers in a field. One is taken and the other is left. Do you remember that story? I won't go into detail now about what it means for the one who's taken. Does that mean they're taken to judgment or is that taken to safety? That's a sermon for a different day. But one is taken and the other is left. And that's followed by a story about a thief breaking into a house. Now, what's the point of those two stories? The point is this, be ready for the coming of Jesus and don't be surprised. That's what those stories are indicating to us. But then there's a story after that in Matthew 24 about an unjust servant who did terrible things to other servants while the master was away. And what was the point of that story? The point of that story was know that the master will come back at some point and we will have to give an account, right? And then there's a story of 10 virgins. They're talking about the wedding festivities and 10 virgins who are waiting on the bridegroom to walk with the bridegroom to the place that they're going to be and it happens in an overnight setting, but only five of those virgins brought oil so that they could have light for that timeframe and the other five did not. They ran out of oil and didn't have any. What was the point of that story? The point of that story was expect the bridegroom but prepare for delays. And that's what brings us to the story that we're at now where Jesus tells us this story following these other stories about the idea of his return in this Olivet Discourse, and the story we're about to read answers this question, what do we do when we wait for the coming of Jesus? And here's how the story answers it. I'm gonna tell you how the story answers it before we read the story. Here's how the story answers it. We use the master's resources for the master's gain in order to share in the master's happiness. This is actually what this story is gonna teach us. I'll say it again. We use the master's resources for the master's gain in order to share in the master's happiness. Now, because this is a story that Jesus tells, what I want us to do is actually take the story as a whole. Before we kind of unpack the story or take it piece by piece, let's read the whole story because Jesus told it as a story, and here's how it begins in verse number one of chapter number 25. "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one, he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag 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 five bags of gold brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I've gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You've 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 the two bags of gold also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I have gained two more.' And his master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You've 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 one bag of gold came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you've not sown and gathering where you've not scattered seed. So I was afraid and I went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would've received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags, for whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" What a story. And it's a story that's following up a bunch of other stories. Now, this is a pretty straightforward story that Jesus tells and what is he teaching us? He's teaching us that we need to use the master's resources for the master's gain in order to share the master's happiness. That's what this story is about. And what I wanna do is take this summation that I've just given you and take it piece by piece so that we can understand the story a little bit better. Let's begin with the master's resources. All right, look with me again in the very beginning verses 14 and 15 to remind us again how the story starts. It says, "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one, he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey." So the master's leaving his city or leaving his country maybe even and going on a long journey in this story, and he entrusts his wealth to his servants. Now, as a first note, this word for servants in the Greek language is doulos, which is where we get the word slaves. And depending on the translation you're reading, if you're reading a new American Standard Version or if you're reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible, you're gonna see it translated as slaves in that context. That's what these people are in the story. This is not the same kind of idea of slaves that we get when we think about the history of the United States and chattel slavery. This is different than that, because in this context, in the ancient world, slaves often held unique positions in society. Sometimes they were teachers, sometimes they were money managers. So they had a whole, kind of a whole list of things that they did. Sometimes they were also very lowly situated in society as well. Don't mistake that either. So the master calls three of them, these servants of his, and he gives them some of his resources, but he does not distribute them equally. He gives to them, what does it say, according to their ability or their capacity. In other words, the master knows their capacity. He knows their giftings, he knows their energy, he knows their mindset, he knows their ability, he knows their season of life, and he gives to them based on that in this story. I wonder, by the way, because all of this whole long sermon starting in Matthew 24, all the way to Matthew 25, it starts with Jesus just having a conversation with his disciples. They ask him a question about his coming and signs of his coming and that kind of stuff. I wonder if when his disciples are hearing this story, if maybe one of the disciples who's, you know, maybe not as famous like Bartholomew, right? Some of you're going, "That was one of the disciples?" Yes, look him up. You don't know anything about him, right? Bartholomew. I wonder if Bartholomew's hearing this story and going, "Oh, here we go. Peter's Mr. Five Bags. I'm Mr. One Bag." Right? I don't know exactly what they were hearing, but assuredly they were listening intently, and it's important that we hear what Jesus said. Jesus said what the master did is he entrusted his wealth to them. Did you catch that? He entrusted his wealth to them. These were the master's resources, and they weren't small in the way that we view them. See, the NIV translates this bags of gold, but your translation maybe says talent. Now, this isn't a talent like juggling or dancing or singing as a talent. This word is a transliteration of a Greek word. When I say transliteration, here's what I mean by that. I don't know, but I want it to impress you. No, here's what I mean by that. A transliteration is, is when there's a Greek word that we don't have an English equivalent for, and so we make the Greek word sound English. Like we do this word, the word baptize, because in the Greek language it's baptizo. That's the word. And so we didn't really have a word for that, so we just said baptize in English, right? This is the same thing. Talanton is the Greek word that's designating a unit of weight and a measurement of weight. And we just chose the word talent to kind of sound the English way of the Greek word talanton. Now, why is this significant? Because a talent of gold is a measurement of weight and it would be weighed at about 200 pounds. Now, if you're thinking about this going, "Wait a minute. So one talent would be 200 pounds of gold, these bags of gold?" That's it. So that means that one of them, the one who got one bag, in today's American currency would have gotten about one and a half million dollars. The one who got two bags, do the math, $3 million, and the other one that he gave five bags to, seven and a half million dollars. By my accounting, that's a lot. Obviously, the master has a lot of resources, and he entrusted some of, a portion of, a little bit of his wealth to them. But he did that so that there would be gain, the master's resources and the master's gain. Look again with me in verses 16 through 19. It says, "The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. And after a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them." Now, obviously there's another reminder here that these are indeed the master's resources because when he returns home, he's going to settle accounts with his servants. Now, what they've done, two of them at least, the text says, "At once they went and they put the master's money to work." That's remarkable. The five bags guy made five more bags for a total of 10 bags of gold, yeah. The two bags guy made two more bags for a total of four. They both, both of these men, both of these servants doubled the master's assets entrusted to them. So in today's terms, the first servant now had $15 million instead of seven and a half, and the second one had $6 million instead of three. We'll look at one bag guy in a moment, but let's not miss how these first two servants took what they were entrusted with and they made gains for the master. The scripture doesn't tell us how they did that, just that they did that, right? Some of you're going, "Wait a minute, are you gonna give me some great money making scheme?" No. I don't know what they did. They did what they did and they made this money. It was the master's resources that were put in play for the master's gain. Why? For the master's happiness or joy. For the master's happiness or joy. Look again with me in verse 20 through 23. "The man who'd received five bags of gold brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I've gained five more.' And here's what his master replied. 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You've 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 with two bags of gold also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I've gained two more. And his master replied in exactly the same way. 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.'" The response of the master is remarkable. With both the first and second servants, the master's response is exactly the same. They receive the same joyful invitation to share the master's joy or the master's happiness. And it's because of something very specific. The master doesn't say, "Well done, good and productive servant." He doesn't say, "Well done, good and profitable servant." He doesn't say, "Well done, good and prolific servant." He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant.

- Faithful.

- And then by the way, he reinforces that idea of faithfulness in his next statement by saying, "You've been faithful with a few things." A few things? Have you done the math? Does that sound odd to you? 15 million with one guy, 6 million with the other guy, and the master says, "That's a few things. That's a little bit." How much does the master have if he refers to this amount of resource as few, as a little? Whew. Never in my life have I ever looked at that kind of resources and gone, "Huh." Because I've never seen that amount of resource in my entire life combined. It's instructive that each of these servants, these two servants, they're treated exactly the same with the same warm invitation. The amount of money is irrelevant, because it's not a competition, nor is it a comparison. Only their faithfulness with what they've been entrusted is what matters. The master is so happy with this faithfulness, so joyful that he invites these servants into his own happiness and joy. And then there's the other guy, Mr. One Bag. I'm not sure if he was standing there when these other servants heard from the master, but maybe he wasn't. Maybe it seems that maybe he wasn't. Look what it says again in verse 24 through 30. "Then the man who'd received one bag of gold came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you've not sown and gathering where you've not scattered seed. So I was afraid and I went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the banker so that when I returned I would've received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags, for whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" It seems to me that Mr. One Bag did not know the same master that Mr. Two Bags and Mr. Five Bags knew. I mean, listen to the first words out of the mouth of Mr. One Bag. "Master, I knew that you were a hard man." Really? That's not what we're getting from the other two servants. And then Mr. One Bag implies that the master doesn't even get his hands dirty. "You harvest and you gather where you haven't sown or scattered seed." And then Mr. One Bag admits he's afraid of the master, so he just gives him back what he buried. But the master calls his bluff. He knows that he wasn't really afraid. He tells him exactly what he was, wicked and lazy. That's what he said. "No, no, no, don't give me this you're scared of me stuff. You're just a wicked and lazy servant." By the way, here's why the master's calling his bluff. He said, "If you were really afraid, you know what you would've done? You would've at least put the money in the bank and you would've gotten the interest on that and you wouldn't have had to do anything. You wouldn't had to lift a finger. You just put it in the bank and at least it would've done something. It takes virtually no work at all." But he didn't even do that. Here's the bottom line. Mr. One Bag didn't really know the master the way that Mr. Two Bags and Mr. Five Bags did. If he did, he would know what the other two servants knew. You know what they knew? They knew that the master was the master. That's what they knew. You see, they willingly obeyed him because they knew they, not just their stuff, they were his. You're like, "What?" Yeah, they were his servants. And by the way, Jesus is giving us a framework here because in the New Testament, we're reminded that that's what we are actually called in service to King Jesus. Do you remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter six? "You are not your own. You were bought at a price." You see, what we've gotta remember is the master is the master and we are his servants. And two of the servants, they knew this and one of 'em forgot whose he was. But you know what else those two servants knew? They knew that the master was kind. I mean, did you hear his response? "Well done. Well done." He sounds like a proud father in that moment, doesn't he? "Way to go. This is great." He's showing his heart to encourage and show kindness and love to his servants. But somehow Mr. One Bag is viewing him as, "Oh no, I knew you were hard and I'm scared of you." And the other two, they're seeing the real nature of the master who's commending them and encouraging them. You know what the other two servants knew that the one bag guy didn't know? That the master gives in order to give more. The master gives in order to give more. Do you know what happened here? The master entrusted his wealth to them and then they used his resources for his gain. And you know what the master did? Gave it to him. Gave it to him. Remember at the end he said, "Whoever has will be given more." Woo. 

 The master gives in order to give more. Do you know what happened here? The master entrusted his wealth to them and then they used his resources for his gain. And you know what the master did? Gave it to him. Gave it to him. Remember at the end he said, "Whoever has will be given more." Woo. Wait, what? Yeah, they're the master's resources. They're not ours. He entrusted to them, but he wanted to give them even more. So they went and put the master's money to work and made more of it, and not only did they get that, but the one who didn't put it to work, that was taken from them and given to the one with 10 bags. And then, and then the master says, "And I'm going to put you in charge of many things, not just few things." The master gives in order to give even more. You can't outgive a master with that kind of resource.

- Amen.

- Hallelujah.

- What a story this is. See, Mr. Two Bags and Mr. Five Bags, they were getting it. Mr. One Bag had no idea. You know what else they knew? The master's joy wasn't just his. He wanted to share it. The master actually wanted to share his joy. Far from being the stingy, mean, scary master in Mr. One Bag's mind, the true master was incredibly joyful and wanted that joy shared with his own servants. What a story this is. Hopefully you've already correlated this in your mind since this story that Jesus told is actually teaching us about his return and his coming kingdom and what we are supposed to be doing as we wait. That we will use Jesus resources for Jesus' gain so that we can share in Jesus' happiness. That's where this is going. You see, friends, Jesus is our good master. He took the long journey from the glorious realms of heaven to the lowly side of earth, from the dusty roads of Israel to the rugged cross in Jerusalem, and then from the rugged cross in Jerusalem to the grave where he would only be a temporary resident before ultimately journeying back to the Father through his resurrection and his ascension back into the heavenly realm. And why did he make this long journey? Because he is kind to us, offering us who were slaves to sin, to trade in our slavery for the freedom of being his servant. He gave us the best of himself, offering his very life for our sin to satisfy the justice of God. And when we put our faith in him, he just continues to give. We have every benefit of knowing God through Jesus. We are no longer slaves to sin and the flesh, but we can be both slaves of Christ while also being sons and daughters and friends of God. We are a royal priesthood, and we're seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, and we've been given the inheritance of Christ that neither time nor imagination nor intellect can possibly comprehend. And this good, good master invites us into his joy. Even as Jesus said in John 15:11, he said, "I've told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." And then when he returns for us and we have willingly stewarded our lives and resources because we know that Jesus is the true and good master, we will not only hear his heartfelt and loving affirmation well done, but will also be given more to steward in the kingdom from the God we can never outgive. What a good, good master Jesus is. I hope your heart is stirred to receive the beauty of who Jesus is through this story and to learn to live like he wants you to live as you wait for his return. You see, there is an accounting day that is coming. Jesus is going to come and he will settle accounts. And this will not just be about money and possessions, but about the whole of our lives. This story, friends, that Jesus told is not just about gold. It's about every resource we have that we've been given by God, our time, our abilities, our gifts, our possessions, and he's looking for faithfulness with what he's given us, faithfulness that is in proportion to the capacity that we have. Listen, friends, Jesus knows your capacity. He knows your limitations. He knows your season of life. He knows there's a government shutdown. He knows your abundance. He knows your lack. He knows it all. And you know what he wants? Faithfulness. That's what he wants, faithfulness. The amount that you steward, whether that's skills or money or abilities or gifts or time, that's not what's important, the amount. What is important is your faithfulness with whatever and however much you've been given. That's why we don't look at ourselves comparatively. Mr. Five Bag and Mr. Two Bags didn't worry about looking at themselves in comparison. They received the exact same affirmation from the master. He told them exactly the same thing, different amounts. The amounts were irrelevant. He told them the exact same thing. You see, that's why we have to get out of the mindset. Friends, listen to me. We have to get outside of the mindset when we're trying to live the generous life. We get outside the mindset of comparison. Comparison's not what the generous life is about. In fact, let me say it to you this way. There may be some of you among us who give 10% of your material possessions to the church and are living in disobedience by doing so. Because in your mind, I'm giving 10% of my resources, I'm giving a tithe to the Lord, so to speak, right, and I'm doing that. But you've got such a super abundance, God actually wants more or he's asking you to do more. Maybe he is, maybe he is, and I'm not God. You decide. You find out what the Lord wants. But because you're viewing it comparatively, I'm doing, I'm giving more than most, Jesus is not grading us on comparison. He's grading us on faithfulness to what we've been entrusted with based on the capacity that he's given. For some, there is a super abundance and you would have to ask the Lord, what does God want from this super abundance? For others, it may be difficult to do right now because you've got comparatively little right now. The amount is not the issue that we're accountable for. Faithfulness to what we've been entrusted with is what we are accountable for to the master. You see, when you really know who he is, you'll be a faithful steward of your whole life. You'll serve the Lord, not just be an idol bystander who shows up and checks into church on a Sunday morning for an hour and 15 minutes or so, and then doesn't do anything else with your faith until the next Sunday where you check in for an hour and 15 minutes or so. You won't just be an idol bystander because you know who he is, and you won't just bury your service underground that he's entrusted to you. You're like, "Well, I don't have a whole lot." In this story, the one who only had one bag had an exorbitant amount. No matter who you are, no matter what it looks like, you've been given a lot by God. And I'm not just talking here about possessions or gold or treasure. You've been given a lot by God. He doesn't expect that you're gonna bury that underground. It's to be used for the sake of his kingdom. It's to be multiplied in the sake of his kingdom. You'll be a faithful prayerer. You'll be a faithful sharer of the good news of Jesus. You'll be a faithful witness to God's goodness in Christ. You'll be a faithful member of the body of Christ. You'll be a faithful husband and father. You'll be a faithful wife and mother. You'll be a faithful friend. You'll be a faithful employee. You'll be a faithful boss. You'll know that the master is the master and he's good and loving and true and glorious and worth everything in our lives. But the warning here, the warning here in this story is for those who don't see this master Jesus as good and loving and true and glorious. If we think he isn't, if we think he's a hard man, if we wish we could do our own thing, if we think we can be our own masters, if we think that our own temporary happiness is better than his eternal joy, then we will have no part with him, we'll have no part with his eternal happiness. He wants that for you though. He wants that for you. So receive it and yield yourself to him. So I guess the question for all of us is this. What do you think of Jesus really? Like, what do you really think of him? I love A. W. Tozer in his book, "Knowledge of the Holy," in the very first line, in the very first chapter of that book says this, "Whatever comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you." He's right, you know. He's right about this, because how we view God, how we view Christ shapes the way that we live and lead our lives. Are we gonna be like Mr. One Bag who says, "We're afraid"? We're not. We're just wicked and lazy. We know him to be different than what we're saying, but we hide, we hide his resources underground instead of multiplying them for the sake of the kingdom. He's given them to you so that you will multiply them for his purposes in the world, and watch this, and then when you do, he multiplies and gives you more. And I'm not just talking about money. Everybody clear on that? That's not what I'm singularly talking about here. Do your actions speak to what you say you believe about Jesus? Does the orientation of your life actually with integrity line up with what you say you believe about Jesus? Are you using Jesus' resources for Jesus's gain in order that you can share in Jesus' happiness? Because that's what he told us he wanted as we wait for his return. You see, Jesus is not an absentee boss. He's not an undercover boss. He is the present and real and living king of the universe. He sees everything. He knows everything about you. He can't be taken by surprise. We can't try to justify anything to him. So why don't you and I allow this truth to take deep root in our souls? So that we align our lives and everything in them with a vision of his presence now and his return that's coming. Put the resources he's entrusted you to work, your financial assets, your time, your ability, your intellect, your energy, because though the master is going to come and he is going to call for an accounting, what he wants is for you to share his joy. That's what he wants. He wants you to learn what it means to have his heart and to live like him, the God who is so generous that he gave his Son. This is what God wants. Let's bow our heads together. We'll be dismissed in just a moment. But if you're here and you may have never put your faith or trust in Jesus, I wanna share this with you. The really gracious, wise, holy, compassionate, loving, merciful God has solved our sin issue through his own Son. All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God could never save ourselves, but God in his kindness, sent his one and only Son who didn't come with his hands tied behind his back going, "Okay, I guess I'll have to do it." No, he came willingly, he came joyfully. With joy, he endured the cross scorning at shame so that he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And he came in order to offer his life so that you could be forgiven and free and loved and reconciled to the Father, so that you could experience the overwhelming, outlandish grace that he wants to pour upon your life, and then he wants to make you a vessel of that to other people. If you've never come to a place where you've turned from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, then I hope that you will today. We've got some people that'll be down front, some men and women that are making their way down here in just a moment even now. They'll be standing down front, and when I say amen, and everybody's dismissed going out the back, if you need to put your faith and your trust in Jesus, why don't you just come while everybody's leaving? Why don't you make your way this direction and come and take one of these men or women by the hand and just say, "I wanna surrender my life to Jesus"? And let them take a moment and pray with you and let you surrender your life to Christ. And we'll send you home with something that'll help you in your journey of faith. If you need a Bible, we'll give you a Bible. We'd love to help in that regard. So please do that. Maybe you're here and you've been walking with Jesus for some period of time, but what can I remind you of something? He has an expectation that the extraordinary generosity that he's given to you, and he has, no matter how much you view that in comparison to somebody else, it's extraordinary generosity that he's poured upon you, whether that's resources or intellect or energy or abilities or whatever it might be, gifts. Whatever it is, he's given you an extraordinary amount, and his expectation is that you use his resources for his gain because he wants you to learn what it means to live like him and to share in his happiness. So I'd ask you to do whatever God ask of you. I don't know what that may be for you, but do what he ask of you for his glory. Father, thank you for the preciousness of this Word, Lord Jesus, this story that you told, which is so rich for us to be reminded that you are coming, that we do need to be ready, but that your presence by your Spirit is among us already. So we're not to be people who work as if the boss isn't around, because you are always near us, always with us. You see everything, you know everything, and your expectation when you settle accounts upon your coming, your expectation is that we use your resources for your gain so that we can learn what it means to share in your joy. God, would you help us to be that kind of people for your glory? I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.