Dead Money

Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb

This parable gives us what we might feel is an uncharacteristic view of God.  Especially in the Lutheran Church we preach God's grace and it is often not balanced with a clear understanding of the fact that with blessing comes responsibility.  We could talk about it as our response-ability, our ability to respond.  Many in our society think little of their responsibility to others.  They think only of their rights.  They fail to acknowledge how what they do affects others--they're only doing their own thing don't you know!  Our lesson for today, however tells us right out that God expects us to view what we have as his property to be invested wisely, or there will be consequences.

A London businessman of many years back understood this principle.  He was asked for a donation towards a charitable project, but they didn't expect him to give much because he had just sustained the considerable loss of the wreckage of several of his ships.  The man surprised them, however, by
giving ten times what they thought he would give.  They asked him how he was able to do so much in light of his business setbacks.  He said, "It is quite true, that I have sustained heavy loss by these vessels being wrecked, but that is the very reason why I give you so much; for I must make better use than ever of my stewardship lest it should be entirely taken from me. [Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Michael Greene, ed., p. 163.]

He realized that all his blessings came from God and were only his to use for the good of God's Kingdom.  God's people know that we are still operating on a suzerainty-vassal treaty.  God sets up the conditions and we must obey.  In this treaty we are reminded of all the wonderful things God has done for us--the most important being the salvation God has given us through faith in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The treaty might read something like this, "Because I have sent my Son to die for you, because I have given you your life and health, your home and family, your worldly goods, therefore you will love and serve only me."

God does not only want to be first in our lives, he wants to be the only thing--that around which our entire being revolves.  God doesn't just want a part of us.  He wants us all.  He demands that we render up our very lives to him.  He doesn't want only a tithe.  He holds us responsible for every single penny in our pocket.  God expects us to invest in the Kingdom.  We don't do it to get rewards.  Even the servant in our parable who gained 10 more talents was only commended for being a faithful servant.  The master didn't say, "Well, that was above and beyond the call of duty."  It is true that the servant was rewarded, but it was the reward of greater responsibility, not a vacation cruise to sunny Bermuda.

Each of us here at St. Stephen have been given great blessings.  We are asking ourselves today, "What does God want from me?"  I would like you to prayerfully consider what investment God wants you to make in his Kingdom.  What would be an appropriate return on God's investment in you?  We will be asked next week to fill out our faith promise cards and present them before God.  These focus on our time, our talents, and our treasures.

You realize don't you, that your very skill at making money or "earning a living" is a gift of God?  None of us is a self-made person.  That is physically impossible.  No one can put together a set of polypeptides so that they form strands of DNA, then put those strands together so that they form their own gene print.  Even if they could, they couldn't imbue it with life.   Life is God's domain.  It is his gift to us.  It is precious and deserves to be held with respect and awe.  It needs to be put to use in the Kingdom.

The symbol of our using ourselves in American society is a wage or salary for the work we do.  We therefore give to God what represents our gifts of our very selves.  We give God our money.  We should give generously and our gift should not be something we will hardly miss, but something costly.  The people of the Old Testament were to give their very best--the first fruits--that which came before they knew if there would be a substantial harvest or whether a drought or plague would come and cause the field to yield no crop.  They were called to risk.

We, too are called to risk giving God our very best, not just tip him for services rendered. (Even then God might be better off, since most people tip their wait staff or hairdresser 15-20%.)  Doesn't God give you more than one meal or one hair cut?  The children in this story understood about giving to God.  "Years ago, The Sunday School Times carried the account of a Christian school for the children of "untouchables" in India prior to World War II.  Each year the children received Christmas presents from children in England.  The girls got a doll, and the boys a toy.  On one occasion the doctor from a nearby mission hospital was asked to distribute the gifts.  In the course of his visit, he told the youngsters about a village where the boys and girls had never even heard of Jesus.  He suggested that maybe they would like to give them some of their old toys as presents.  They liked the idea and readily agreed.  A week later, the doctor returned to collect the gifts.  The sight was unforgettable.  One by one the children filed by and handed the  doctor a doll or toy.  To his great surprise, they all gave the new presents they had just received several days earlier.  When he asked why, a girl spoke up, ‘Think what God did by giving us his only Son.  Could we give him less than our best?'" [Greene, pp. 159-60.]

And lest we think that we might get out of giving because we've made other plans, consider this story.  "A rich man once asked his friend, ‘Why am I criticized for being miserly?  Everyone knows I will leave everything to charity when I die.'  ‘Well,' said the friend, ‘Let me tell you about the pig who was lamenting to the cow one day about how unpopular he was.  "People are always talking about your gentleness and your kind eyes," said the pig.  "Sure, you give milk and cream, but I give more.  I give bacon, ham, bristles.  They even pickle my feet!  Still, nobody likes me.  Why isthis?" The cow thought a minute and replied, "Well, maybe it's because I give while I'm still living."" [Greene, p. 161.]

A person's character can be derived by looking at his or her checkbook.  On what do they spend their money?  That is what they value.  <money not spent or invested is dead money.  Lenz wrote, “Bankers refer to dead money.   They mean that money left in bank accounts whose owners have never been found.  The amount of funds died in this way, surprisingly adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars.  No trace can be found of their owners, who have either died or forgotten about the account....[We can also consider that] Money that goes into self-indulgences and into dissipation that harms both body and character is dead money.  So is money hoarded, kept out of circulation by the clutching hand of the miser....When we display generosity in freely giving of our time, talent, and tithe, we give the gratitude of human hearts and know the joy of giving.  We become enriched in everything.”  [Emphasis, Vol. 26, #4, p.38.]

I’d like to leave you with a story of a blind French woman.  She was very poor and worked in a straw factory.  One day she put 27 francs in the offering plate which was a good deal of money for a laborer.  When people told her she couldn’t afford to give so much she said, “Yes, I can.  I am blind, so I don’t need light.  I asked my fellow workers how much they spend on oil for their lamps when it’s too dark to work.  They told me 27 francs, so I decided to give as much to shed light on the darkness in the world.”  [ibid., p.26]

Don’t we want to contribute to bringing the light of the Gospel to our world?   We don’t want to be found with dead money when the master returns.  Because of this  we will want to tithe.  If you don’t feel you can handle that yet, make a commitment to work towards it.  After a while you will hardly even miss the money and you won’t buy those things that end up owning you.  Risk being generous.  Remember we are accountable for how we use the blessings which God has so lavishly poured upon us.
 
 
 
 
 

Back to Sermon History