The Theology of Work | Chris Herb

Well, good morning. It has been a gift to be with you all this weekend. My name is Chris Herb. My wife Jamie and I came all the way out here from Corvallis, Oregon this weekend. Anyone ever been to Oregon?

Yeah, it's way out there. Thank you. Okay. A couple people and our son Brendan moved here a little over a year ago and has been involved in your church. And I came out for Easter service.

Mike and I got connected and my wife and I, Jamie, have a marriage ministry where we come alongside and mentor couples. And Mike and I got together and he said, why don't you come out and do a little fun marriage weekend and maybe preach at church? And I said, hey, that'd be awesome. And so here we are getting to share our morning together today. But again, Jamie and I, we've been married for 28 years.

We've got four kids. Brendan's our oldest. We've got Peyton, Lauren and Jordan. And it's been a joy to watch them all grow up. Jordan's the last one in the house, so we'll be empty esters a little over a year from now, which we're somewhat excited also freaking out about that a little bit, but it'll be awesome.

But as we enter into this time today of just hearing and experiencing God's word, I believe the Lord has something for each us. For me, even as I'm up here sharing and I know, you know, as someone who goes to church each week tries to make it there, oftentimes it's a battle even just to get here. The enemy does not want you in this seat. Hearing from the Holy Spirit, hearing God's word today. And I believe the Lord has something for you personally today.

And so I'm just going to open us up in a time of prayer before we step into his word just to allow our hearts to be in a posture of receiving. So let me pray. Father God, thank you for each person that is in this room. Lord, thank you for their lives, what they'll head back into this week for their relationships. Lord, we know we come in all carrying something all may be worried about, something that would distract us from maybe receiving and hearing your truth and your word and knowing you more today.

So Father God, right now in this moment, as we step in to receiving, we take a deep breath and we just ask you, Lord, what might you have for us today? Lord, we love you and we thank you this time up to you and pray all these things in the name of Jesus. And everyone said amen. Well, the series that your church has been doing is practical theology, and today is on the theology of work. And so we're going to look at the theology of work kind of through the lens of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30.

And really, a parable is just, you know, placing one thing next to the other, you know, for comparison. You know, Jesus would take these deep spiritual concepts and ideas like, you know, forgiveness or the nature of God, and then he would pair it with like, a story or a familiar, like, concrete scenario, like a wedding or fishing, to make these, you know, teachings come alive and more understandable for the audience. And I'm a pretty simple mind, so I like parables. And so today we're going to look at the parable of the Talents. Couple little things about this parable.

Jesus tells this parable just days before his crucifixion, his resurrection and his ascension. So it's kind of his last words to his followers. And there's these three parables kind of all in a row that he shares, encouraging people, like how they ought to live their lives as they wait for. For Jesus return. There's the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants, where Jesus is saying, hey, be ready and care for my people and my house.

There's the parable of the 10 virgins right after that. And Jesus is saying, hey, be watchful, be patient. And then lastly, what we're gonna kind of land on today, it's the parable of the Talents. And, you know, this parable isn't as much about money as it's about what God gives you. What God gives me to steward.

As we wait for his return, how are we taking care of his kingdom assets as we wait for his return? And it's kind of Jesus's final instructions to the church. And so with that, we're gonna. We're gonna read the Parable of the Talent. And so if you're able, kind of the.

The tradition in our church back in Corvallis, as we stand for the reading of the Scriptures. So if you're able, go ahead and stand. I'm gonna read the Parable of the Talents, and then we'll kind of look at it together. Matthew 25, 14:30. Here's what it says.

It says that again, these are Jesus words. It'll 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, gained 5 more.

So also the one with 2 bags of gold gained 2 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 have gained five more. His master replied, 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 in your master's happiness.

The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I have gained two more. His master replied, 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 in your master's happiness. Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and I went out and I hid your gold in the ground.

See, here's what belongs to you. His master replied, you wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Well, then you should have put my money on deposit with the banker so that when I returned, I would have received it back with income 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. The word of the Lord. You can go ahead and be seated. You always got to love it when the sermon starts and the scripture ends with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's kind of a fun one, but we'll talk about that more this morning. So what we're gonna do today is we're gonna kind of look at this idea of the theology of work, of working with and partnering with alongside God through the lens of these kind of the three primary characters in the parable of the talents. We're gonna look at. What can we learn about ourselves? What can we learn about God as we look at the Master?

What can we learn about ourselves and God as We look at the two servants, and then what can we learn as. As we look at the third servant? So we're going to kind of go through each one today, and let the Lord bless us with his truth in his word. So the first one is the master. That's kind of the main character in this parable.

What do we learn about the master as we kind of look at this parable? The first thing we learn is he's generous. He is a generous master. He entrusts us. He entrusts the servants with a talent, whether it was one or two or five.

A talent in that day represented 20 years of labor. Think about that. One of those talents was 20 years of income that you would earn from labor. So let's say $50,000 a year, just to make the math simple, a million dollars, one talent. That is what he entrusted the servants with.

So God is a generous God. He entrusts you. He entrusts me with a lot, with our time, our talent and treasure. He's given each of us something. And it's interesting, you know, as we look at this generous God and with these servants and with you and me, and as we think about God's work in this world, as he's building his kingdom, as he wants to share his love and his goodness with others, we are his plan.

Like, he's gone all in with you. He's gone all in with me. Colossians 1:27 says, God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery. Kind of the gospel, the hope of the world, this mystery, which is what? Christ in you, Christ in me, the hope of glory.

What's the hope in. In this world? It's the talent that God has given you. That God has given me to share and to partner alongside him in blessing this world. God's plan to share his love with the world is you.

So He's a generous God who gives us much. Secondly, he invites us, just like the Master did. He invites us to trust him and to partner with him, to work with him as we invest his resources. And, you know, you notice in this parable, one person got one talent, one got two, one got five, right? And you might be thinking to yourself, huh, what's up with that?

Like, maybe God's not fair. And I think even in our own humanness, we begin to compare. And yet the question is not about how much or what he gives us. It's about what are we going to do with what he gives to us. And I think of different people in my life who have Been impactful and all were given kind of different talents, different abilities, different things to invest in God's kingdom and in the world's economy.

Yeah, they might have looked a little bit different.

Some not so much. Maybe some, maybe more. And yet the impact of what these folks did who have impacted me in is eternal. I think of a woman named Alice. When I was just out of college, I worked at this home for kids who had been abused, who came from horrific situations.

We had to read their intake forms before they got to the home. And I mean, horrible, horrible stories. No hope. No hope for these kids in terms of the direction their lives were going. And there was this woman who worked in the kitchen.

She did janitorial services there. And I remember just seeing that there was something different about her. And one day, as I was walking by the kitchen, she kind of grabs my hand and pulls me in, and she goes, you're a follower of Jesus, aren't you? I'm like, yeah. And she goes, okay.

She goes, I pray for these kids every day. These kids are gonna change the world. These kids are gonna meet Jesus. Would you pray with me? And so.

Oh, okay, sure. And so we grab hands, and Alice is praying for all these kids by name. Passionately believing in the Lord is going to move in their life. And honestly, if I were to be honest with you, as a, you know, just fresh young college graduate who is kind of going into this social work, you know, kind of scene, I'm like, I don't know. Alice.

I don't think so. I'm not sure that there's hope. But every day she'd pull me in. Every day we would pray. Years later, I'm speaking at an event for young adults.

And after my little message, some, you know, young adults were coming up and they were asking me a few questions. And there was this one person that came up and shook his hand. He says, hi, I'm Kenny. And I said, hey, I'm Chris. And we just caught eyes for a second.

And I'm like, I know you. And he goes, did you used to work at the SAFE Center? And I just started crying because he was one of the hardest kids at the SAFE Center. And he goes on to tell me about how he met the Lord and about what God's doing in his life and what God's calling him to Alice. The prayers of Alice, this little woman who no one knew.

She was a nobody, worked in the kitchen, cleaned stuff. Alice's prayers. She invested her talent. Well, the second person I think of is my young life Leader, go ahead and show that next picture up there. This is Eric.

When I met Eric, he was a run of the mill kind of student teacher. He coached the B team for, you know, boys middle school basketball. But Eric's calling his talent, what God had asked him to invest in this world was pouring his life into young men, praying for them, discipling them, sharing Jesus with them. And this top left picture is me in high school. I'm on Eric's right and Matt is on Eric's left.

Matt was discipled by Eric. Eric challenged Matt when Matt was in middle school. Hey, would you pray for some of your friends who you never think are going to meet Jesus? And so Matt had a list, he had a bookmark, and he put the bookmark in his Bible and on the top of the bookmark he had this title that said, no way. Like there's no way these guys are ever going to meet Jesus.

And I was on that list. And Matt prayed for me for three years and, and Matt led me to the Lord. Going into my sophomore year of high school in 1984, Eric started to pour his life into men like Matt, into men like me. And every year Eric has had a Bible study of boys who he's pouring his life into, who he's hanging out with, who he's showing up and coaching in basketball and taking out golfing. And this bottom picture on the right was three weeks ago.

Eric is 62 years old now, still pouring his life into young men because that's his talent. A student teacher, you know, jv, B team, basketball coach. He invested his talent well to pour into young men. So maybe you relate a little more to Alice. Maybe you think, oh, I'm behind the scenes, you know, think, you know, relate a little more to Eric or you know, the third person was this young man and his wife sat on Jamie's and my couch right out of college and we were doing their premarital counseling and their wedding was coming up and you know, you gotta pay the bills when you get married.

And I said, well, you know, what are your plans, you know, when you get married and what are you gonna do? And she was working for a non profit and he looked me right in the eye and he goes, baseball. And I'm like, okay, great. But like, you know, after baseball, you know, like I know you played college baseball and you're excited about baseball, what are you gonna do after baseball? He goes, no, it's baseball.

And I'm like, okay. And he felt like what God had, you know, tasked him to Do. His work in this world was to be used by God through the sport of baseball. He played for Oregon State, kind of the college where we live. And when he kind of said that to me, a few days later, they had the MLB draft and he got drafted 175th, which is like, that's pretty good, right?

Even then, he had a 9% chance of ever stepping onto a baseball field once, like at the MLB level. Three weeks ago, he celebrated 10 years as an MLB pitcher. Last year, he was an All Star, a 0.1% chance in the world's economy. But he would say it has very little to do with baseball performance. It has everything to do with the people and the lives that God calls me to impact through the teams that I'm on, through the organizations I'm with.

Matt invested his talent well. What about you? What about me? God has given you a talent. Will you go all in with him?

Because as a generous God, he has gone all in with you. Martin Luther, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Said, if one is called to be a street sweeper, they should sweep streets. Even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did their job well. Whether you relate to Alice or whether you're a mat, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

The talent God gives you, go all in and invest it well. Next. What we learn about the Master is he gives us different talents, but it's the same reward. Do you notice that? Different talents, same exact reward.

He says, you've been faithful with a few things. I'll put you in charge of many things. And the reward. Come share in my happiness. Come share in the Master's happiness.

God's desire isn't to rank you or to give you a certain amount of this, that or the other based on what you do in your life. No, the reward is him. It's a relationship with him. It's intimacy with him. It's closeness to him.

He wants you to partner with him and invest your talent. Why? Because he wants to be close to you. He wants you to experience his joy, his happiness. The reward is him.

This parable starts and ends in relationship to God. Is that reward enough for you? Is it enough for me? Is Jesus enough? And I gotta tell you, oh, my goodness, absolutely.

Different talents, same reward. And the reward is the God of the universe walking with you and you experiencing him in his fullness. The last thing we learn about the Master is this. He lets us choose if we want to work with him or not. He gives you the choice.

He gives you the talent. He says, partner with me, work with me, share in my happiness, but it's up to you. Alice had a choice. Eric had a choice. Matt had a choice.

He lets us choose. But there is a settling of accounts. The Master does return, and we do stand before him. So we can refuse his invitation and choose to live separately from God's intended. Best for us.

But if you see with the third servant, who we'll talk about in a little bit, that's a pretty miserable existence. It's the weeping and gnashing of teeth, living outside of God's intended, best for us, living outside his happiness. It's a pretty miserable and lonely existence. And, you know, it's interesting, when I think of God coming back, me standing before him and the settling of accounts, what does that look like? And I don't know exactly what it's all going to look like someday, but I have had this recurring thought when I think of the third servant and the weeping and gnashing of teeth and feeling outside and that whole kind of imagery, I think of standing before, you know, God someday.

And, you know, and this may or may not be theologically accurate, you can ask Mike afterwards, but this is what has happened. And kind of, as I've thought about things, I'll stand before him and he'll say, hey, you know, good job, good life, way to go. And then there's gonna be a moment where he says, hey, had you really trusted me, here's what you would have experienced. And I'm like, oh, man. You know, like, had I invested my talent, had I listened to that nudging of the Holy Spirit, had I been obedient, oh, I would have shared in so much more happiness.

But I. But I missed it. So he does. Let us choose. And the choice is up to you.

The choice is up to me. And yet we will stand before him someday and settle accounts. So these things about the Master, what do we learn from him? He's generous. He's gone all in with you.

He's gone all in with me. And he wants us and invites us to go all in with him so that we can share in his happiness. So that's the master, the first two servants. Okay, what do we learn about ourselves? What do you learn about our God?

As we look at the first two servants, number one, there's this sense that they know the master like they know him. They know his character. They know who he is, they know his vision. His generosity. Verse 20.

You know, they say, hey, you entrusted me. See, here's the fruit. You know, there's this sense of excitement and knowing of the Master. I want to know God in his fullness and who he truly is. These first two servants know him, so that's number one and number two, kind of quickly after that, because they knew him.

Knowing the true Master, it led to this belief. It led to great faith. Knowing him, knowing the true God. And I know some of us could testify in this room, it changes everything. It changes how we live our lives.

It says, verse 16. They went what at once? They got the talent and they went at once. And they put those resources to what? To work, that theology of work.

And there was this good return. There was no hesitation. So their belief led to faith. That led to action. It led to partnership.

It led to courage, you know, in God's economy. You know, it does not look like the pattern of this world because. Because we're following him. And yet, man, it leads to deeper intimacy with him. And then it's like this compound interest as we trust him, as we partner with him.

He gives us more. We experience his happiness, his joy, his intimacy more. And then it just keeps building upon itself. Faith builds upon faith. I think of a good family friend of ours.

In fact, it's Brendan's roommate who lives in town with him here. His dad, Jim and Amy, they're longtime family friends of ours. And Jim is Mr. Adventure. And we would go on vacations with them as a family, and, I mean, he'd take us places.

And half the time I think one of my kids gonna break a leg or fall off a cliff. And, you know, Jim's like, come on, it'll be fine. And, you know, we're going out running around, and he tells me this story of when he was with Curtis. And Curtis was just nine years old, and they were caving in in New Zealand in the ocean. So it paints a little picture for you.

What do you do when you cave in the oceans in New Zealand? Well, you've got about a foot and a half of air, and you're in rising and lowing tides in a cave, and you're kind of exploring with lights. And he said there was this moment as they had about a foot of air to breathe, where they had to take a deep breath and go under and swim under a tube in the ocean that's dark and then come on the other side where you could breathe. And he said. I looked at my son, I said, okay, Curtis, are you ready?

Here's what's gonna happen. You know, you're gonna hold your breath. I'm gonna shove you under this dark tube in the ocean, and you're gonna swim a few meters and come out the other side, and you'll be able to breathe. He says, I couldn't believe it. He just looked at me and says, okay, dad.

And then he just went under. You know, he says, all the adults were freaking out and not trusting him. He goes, I couldn't believe Curtis was the first one to go. I go, jim, you're his dad. When he looks to the face of the father and the father says, I got you.

It's gonna be okay, Jesus. Trust me. He's gonna go, do we believe in the God of the universe who says, I've got you. I've given this talent. Partner with me.

Go for it. You've got it. So knowing the true God leads to great faith. And then lastly, you know, these first two servants, like, what I love about them is they don't miss out sharing in the master's happiness. They trust him.

They trust his character. They know who he is, and they don't miss out on sharing in this great happiness. You know, I remember very vividly a time I was with Matt, the gentleman who's the pitcher in the mlb, and he invited us, actually to Florida, out from Oregon to Florida, to watch him pitch in some spring training games down in Lakeland. He was with the Detroit Tigers at the time. And you go down and, you know, we're coming from Oregon.

It's cold. It's not humid. You know, we're tired. We fly in. I show up at this game with my son Jordan.

It is hot. The sun is beating on us, and I am like, I'm sweating. I don't do good with humidity. And, you know, we're tired, and Jordan's grumpy, and we're kind of going at it, you know, his father's son. And Matt pitches a couple innings, and, you know, then he's done.

And I'm like, okay, how fast can I get back to air conditioning? Because this honestly is awful. And so I just want to change my clothes. I'm sweating everywhere, in places I'm not used sweating. And so I'm walking out.

I'm like, jordan, we're gonna go. Get back to the. Get back to the hotel. And I hear this voice, and it's Matt. He's like, chris, Chris, come over here.

Come over here. I'm like, okay. You know, and so I go over. He's like, Hey, I want to get you and Jordan a hat. And I'm like, okay, okay, fine.

And I'm kind of being nice on the outside, but, you know, on the inside, you're grumpy. I'm sorry. So focused on me. I'm so focused on what I want to do. And Matt's inviting me to, you know, get a hat and kind of give me this gift.

And so we go back into this equipment room, and there's, you know, a gentleman back there. And Matt's like, hey, Kirk, can you get Chris and Jordan a hat? What's your size? And we tell him our sizes. And Kirk disappears, and he, like, doesn't come out.

And I'm like, okay, this is the equipment guy. Like, you know, and this is what I'm saying in my mind as I'm being selfish and focusing on me and just wanting to go home. And I'm like, where is this guy? He comes out, and he's got the wrong sizes. I'm like, this is the wrong size.

And he goes, okay, I'm so sorry. He goes back, and finally he comes back out, and Matt has kind of left for a little bit. And then Kirk starts asking me questions and wants to start a conversation. I'm like, I don't want to talk to you. I just want to go back to my hotel.

And, you know, he can kind of tell I'm a little off. And I'm like, hey, but thanks for the hat. And he tries to ask a couple more questions, and I'm like, hey, we gotta get going. And so I leave, and then I meet up with Matt just outside. He goes, hey, you got your hat.

He was, like, so excited. I'm like, yeah, thank you. He's like, hey, what'd you think of Kirk? And I'm like, I mean, he didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. And, you know, he's supposed to be an equipment guy, right?

He's like, oh, no, no, he's not an equipment guy. He's like one of our assistant coaches. I'm like, oh, that makes sense. And he goes, but do you know who that was? I go, no, Kirk, I guess he goes, no, do you know who that was?

And go ahead and show the next slide. He goes, that's Kirk Gibson. And I'm like, kirk Gibson? Like, Kirk Gibson, who. Who.

Who hit one of the most iconic home runs in the history of the MLB. Like, one of my childhood heroes. I watched game one in the Dodgers World Series in 1988, where Kirk Gibson steps up to the plate. Two outs, two strikes. He's limping up to the plate because he's injured.

And he hits a game winning, you know, two run home run to win the game. And Vince Sculley as Kirk Gibson's running around the bases, pumping his fists. Go watch it on YouTube after. I can't believe what I just saw. That's the equipment guy.

He goes, yeah. And I missed it. I missed it. Why? I was so focused on me.

I was so focused on my own world, what I needed, what I was doing at the time, that I missed the true person who was standing right there before me. Matt was so excited because he knew Kirk, he knew his character, he knew kind of this icon in baseball that he was, and he was so excited for me to meet him and I missed it. Every day, you and I, we are in the presence of the almighty God, someone so much greater than Kirk Gibson. And when we're so self focused, we miss how we might partner with him, how we might enjoy in his happiness. The two servants do not miss.

They don't miss it. I would invite you to remind yourself for me to remind myself that God is standing right in our presence each and every day. Don't miss him. So what did we learn about the first two servants? They knew the master.

They refused to miss out on knowing and trusting the true God. And knowing him led to belief, great faith and adventure. So lastly, the third servant. And honestly, to be honest with you, this is the one I relate to the most, and maybe you do too. So here's what it says.

The third servant's response, you know, going back to the parable, he goes, master, he said, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid. So I went out and I hid your gold in the ground. I was afraid. You hear those lines of fear over and over and again in the Bible.

Why was he afraid? It's interesting. There's three servants. Two were not afraid, one was afraid. Like, what do you think led to the third servant's fear?

Why didn't he believe in the master's generous heart? What data did he have on the master? Was it accurate? Was it inaccurate? Like, what was he listening to that led him to this belief that he was a hard man?

And. And so then you look at the master's response. The master replies, you wicked and lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gathered where I have not scattered seed. You should have Put my money on deposit with the banker.

In essence, when the third servant comes to him and says, I went out and I did my own thing. I was afraid. The Master essentially kind of calls him out. And notice in here that the master does not admit that he's a hard man. That's not in the Scripture.

He's like, you've been misinformed. It's not the truth. Remember, the Master gave him a million dollars to invest. So he is not. He's a generous God.

So essentially, the Master is kind of responding with a rhetorical question. It's not an admittance of guilt. He's bringing to light the intentions of the third servant, that you were scared and you ran and you did your own. It was the world of you. Similar to me.

It was the world of me that day at the baseball park. It was the world of the servant. The Master is essentially saying, hey, you don't know me. You don't know what it means to trust in me. You don't know the joy that I offered to you in partnering with me.

You let fear guide you, and it misguided you. And because of that, you missed out that term. I was. I mean, we hear it over and over again in the Bible. In fact, the Bible starts with a story of humans being afraid.

This is one of my favorite little moments in Scripture. Genesis 3, 9, 11. Adam and Eve have just eaten the apple. They realize they're naked. They hide in the garden, and God is looking for them in the garden.

And here's what it says. It says, the Lord God called out to the man. He says, where are you? He answered the man, I heard you in the garden. And I was afraid.

I was naked, so I hid. And God said, and this is the line that I love. God says, who told you that? Who told you that? Who told the third servant that he was a hard man and you should just go run and hide?

Who told you fear is a liar? And I believe that at any moment throughout our day, you know, competing with the truth, competing with the voice of Jesus, there are four other voices in your mind, in your heart, that are trying to hold court and out, talk out, kind of, you know, volume, the voice of Jesus. And I struggle with these. You see the third servant struggle with these. The first is.

Is the voice of the world. And it's a comparative voice. Hey, look, those other guys got two and five talents. You just got one. What does that say about you?

What about them? It's that voice of the world where we compare ourselves to others that's a voice that's going around in the story of my mind. Often the second voice is the voice of the enemy. It's a deceiving, it's an accusing voice. It's that voice for the third servant that said, you know, the master, he doesn't really care about you.

Did he really say, go invested? I mean, I don't know. But that voice of the enemy, it accuses, it deceives. Did God really say the third is the voice of the flesh? This is one that oftentimes takes over for me.

And that's a condemning voice. You know, you'll just screw this thing up if you try to invest this, if you try to trust him. You're just going to lose all the money, Chris. You're just, you're just going to fail. You're just going to be less than average.

And then lastly, and this is the hardest one to kind of maybe discern at times, the last voice is the voice of religion. And it's a performative voice. Hey, don't make a mistake. Or maybe the master won't really love you. You got to be perfect.

God's going to punish you if you, if you go, if you take too big of a risk.

So at any moment it's God's voice is competing with these three. And oftentimes one of these voices takes us like it took the third servant out into self protection and fear. Tim Keller once said that the third servant's greatest sin was not wasting the talent, but misjudging the master. Fear is a liar. I believe the sin of the third servant wasn't so much that he was afraid, but he let his fear dictate what he believed to be true about the Master.

And that leads him, then fear then takes him down this destructive path. He didn't bring his fear to the master first. Think about that. He didn't bring his fear to the master first. So how do we let God's truth inform us?

How do we let his voice be the voice that holds court over those four others? Matthew 6:6 says this. Jesus gives you the answer. He gives me the answer. And I love this imagery.

Matthew 6:6. Jesus says about this. He says, go into your room and shut the door. I love that picture. Shut the door and pray to your Father who is unseen.

Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. What are we shutting the door to? We're shutting the door to the voice of the world, the enemy, the flesh and religion. And we're creating a space to hear Truth, to listen to him and to bring our fear to him and let him exchange our fear for his truth. I imagine what would it have looked like had the third servant had a little meeting with the master, gone into his office.

I picture him shutting the door and just having a meeting with the master and telling him the truth about how he's feeling, confessing what is going on in his mind. Listen, you gave me this talent. Right now I'm thinking that I suck because he got two and he got five and I'm scared and frankly, I want to go out and I just want to hide it in the ground. I'm just telling you that right now. I'm having a hard time with this.

I'm having a hard time trusting you, the Master, in his generosity and in his love. I got to believe he would have said, listen, I just gave you a million dollars. Like, go for it. I believe in you. You can do this.

Go invest this money. You know, I think of heroes, I mean, absolute heroes in the Bible. And they were afraid all the time. All the time. It's almost comical, some of these, you know, icons in the Bible.

I think of Moses, you know, he was scared, and yet he created space to have an honest conversation with God about his fear. He kind of talks it through with God and exchanges his fear. And God just reminds him over and over again of his truth. This is from Exodus 4:1 through 17. This is my very short, abbreviated translation, or you know, version of it.

But, you know, God says to Moses, moses, go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses, response. He kind of like, you know, shares what he's feeling at the moment. Who am I?

I mean, not me. Come on, who am I that I should go? And then God tells him the truth. He says, no, I'll be with you. And I'll even give you a sign that my people will worship me on this mountain.

First of all, God's talking to him out of a burning bush. So I mean, right there, that should be a little faith building, right? And then Moses, but he's still second guessing. He's like, well, who should I tell him you are? And he says, tell them I am has sent you Yahweh.

You know that word, Yahweh? And even in that name, it's reminding Moses eternal total reliability, provision, protection. And then God says again, they will listen to you. What if they don't believe me? What if they don't even believe that, like you appeared to me?

God says, I'll show them three miracles. And he shows them two of the miracles, like right there. So Moses sees two more miracles so that they'll know and they will believe. And then Moses, like, sees all this and he goes, I can't speak in front of people. You know what I mean?

You know, you gotta imagine God going, what do I have to do here? You know, like. And then God says, who created speech? I'm with you. I'm sending you.

I'll teach you what to say. And then after all of this, Moses still says, no, send someone else. I mean, you can see God pulling his hair out. He goes, God says, okay, finally, how about Aaron? He can talk, he can speak.

I'll give you Aaron. He'll help you. Now go, and don't forget your staff. And after this whole exchange, that's almost comical. Then Moses goes, but Moses hung in there.

He shut the door. He didn't walk away from the burning bushes. I can't do this and run away and go hide the talent in the ground. He stayed there and exchanged his fear for God's truth. And knowing God's truth leads Moses to belief, to faith, and to courage.

So how do we hear and believe the voice of Jesus when he calls us into partnering with him in his work? I mean, it's really simple. And for me, I almost call it my off ramp. Because I think if there's one thing that all of us have in common in this room right now, all of us, I would say 100%, is we're all fearful right now or scared about something in our lives. And right now you can probably think of that thing that you've been worried about or you're thinking about, or maybe it's something that God has prompted you to do and you're scared like Moses, like the third servant.

And it happens to me often and weekly and even daily. And I just have a little moment when I hit the fear. And it's the voice of the world, the enemy religion or the flesh that begins to kind of move me in the destructive direction. I shut the door, I have a moment with the Lord in prayer, and I just tell him my fear. I kind of do what Moses did.

I do what we, you know, with the third servant should have done. And I say, lord, I'm freaking out about this grant that we've applied for for our ministry. I don't think we're going to get it, and I don't know how we're going to pay the bills, and I'll just give it to Him. And I'll say, lord, what do you want me to know? And every time as I bring my fear to him, as I shut the door and I look to him, he exchanges my fear for his truth.

And sometimes it's just a sense of peace. Sometimes it's a picture or it's a word. I just listen to him. It kind of engages this other side of my brain in prayer. And as I turn my attention and trust away from fear and to the Father, it leads to clarity, belief, and joy.

So what do we learn from the third servant? It's okay to be afraid. It's part of the human experience. It wasn't his sin that he was afraid. He didn't bring his fear to the Father first.

And so we know and learn that Jesus, as we bring our fear to him, reminds us of the truth, that he loves you, he loves me, and he invites us to partner with him and share in his happiness. But the choice, like he gave it to the third servant is up to you, and it's up to me. So in working with God, as we kind of launch into this school year, as you maybe are looking ahead of to how you might invest the talent that God has given you this year, you know, what do we learn about this idea of the theology of work through the parable of the talents? Number one, with the Master, God's given you a talent. He's gone all in with you.

Go all in with him, and it will have an eternal impact on the world. From the two servants, we learned that, keep getting to know the true God, share in his happiness, don't miss out on his true character and what he's inviting you into. And then with the third servant, what we learn is that fear is a liar. Bring your fear to him, listen to him, and let him exchange your fear for his truth. And as we do that, life becomes this great adventure of partnering with Jesus and sharing in his happiness.

So I'm going to close us in prayer today, and I'm actually going to invite you just into a little moment to shut the door and to experience and to listen to and maybe exchange your fear right now for God's truth. So let me say a little prayer. Bow your heads with me. We're going to go through a little exercise that I do often with the Lord, and I'm going to invite you. And this might be new for you, so just sit in it.

The Lord's with you in this little moment. So what I want you to do right now is you close your eyes and take a Couple deep breaths. Breathe with me. Even the name Yahweh is a breath prayer maybe picture yourself right now in a place that you love to be, where you experience God's presence the most, his peace the most, his joy the most. Maybe it's right here in church.

Maybe it's a certain chair or spot in your home. Maybe it's a place at the beach or out in God's creation. But right now, just picture yourself sitting in that place.

Look around a little bit. What do you see?

What do you feel?

And as you sit in that place, I want you to picture right now Jesus walking into that place with you.

What does he look like?

How does he look upon? Just spend a moment just looking into the eyes of Jesus, Lord. Thanks that we can shut the door on all of those outside noises and just be with you.

Now maybe take whatever has created fear or worry in your life, whether it could be represented as a word, it could even be something symbolic and just hand that thing right now over to Jesus. Or tell Jesus what you're scared about and just picture him taking that and holding that for you. I'm going to give you a second just to do that in prayer right now with the Lord.

How does Jesus look upon you as he holds that for you?

And Lord, as we head into our day, we want to exchange our fear for your truth. Lord, what do you want us to know? What truth do you want us to know right now about us, about our day, about this fear, about this situation? Lord, we just pause for a few seconds and we invite you to tell us the truth about who you are and what your beautiful love is and plan is for us.

Now I just want to picture you standing up with Jesus and giving him a big hug and experiencing him hugging you because he loves you so, so much.

Thanks Lord, that you have a work for each of us and that we can share in your happiness as we partner with you. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus and everyone said.