Lord Jesus, we pray that as we come to your word now
that you would speak to us by the power of your spirit,
that you would grow us in Christ,
that you would make us alive in you,
and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Great opportunity for me to promote the resource stand.
There's one of these left called Radical Together,
and we had a couple of copies on it, on the stand,
and it was the subtitle of the book that caught my attention out at Curon
because it says,
Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God.
Which is what we've clearly signalled
is what we want to do within our church family in the coming 12 months.
Activate people for ministry more so than even what we've got at the moment.
So unleashing the people of God for the purpose of God.
And I got into this book and read some of it through the week,
and it was just a joy to me.
And I decided to throw away the beginning of my message this morning
and read to you from something I read.
I was sitting in a small room on the most un-evangelised island on earth.
And as I looked out the window,
I saw the sun rising over shanties that spread across the landscape for miles.
The mist began to disappear over the millions of men and women
who inhabited this massive city in the middle of the island.
Beyond the city limits,
multitudes of other people were spread throughout rural villages,
many of which require days of travel to reach.
And as I watched the city begin to awaken,
I heard the early morning call to prayer.
Religious incantations resounded from loudspeakers
stationed throughout the city,
so that everyone could hear them.
And everywhere people began their day by solemnly going to prayer rooms
and sacred sites to bow and worship.
Most of the 45 million people on the island are Muslim,
and most of them have never heard the gospel.
Nearly 50 different people groups on the island
have no church to speak of in their midst,
and many of the people have never known a person
who has confessed faith in Christ.
What is interesting, though,
and unfortunately ironic,
is that the most unevangelised island on earth
is also home to millions of Christians.
One of the largest tribes on the island
is filled with professing believers.
Years ago, a Baptist couple came to this island
to share the gospel with the tribal leaders.
Those leaders did not like what they heard,
and so they killed and cannibalised the two missionaries.
Yet a Lutheran from Germany came to the same tribe,
and this time when he proclaimed the gospel,
the tribal leaders listened and believed,
and within months the majority of the tribe
had professed faith in Christ.
The problem, however,
is that in the years since this mass conversion to Christianity,
this tribe has turned inward,
and due to a variety of factors,
including cultural isolation and religious persecution,
these Christians have virtually kept Christ to themselves.
Take the issue of pork.
Muslim tribes across this island do not eat pork
because they believe it is unclean.
This Christian tribe, on the other hand,
loves to eat pork,
and naturally any Christian wanting to reach Muslims
with the gospel would be wise
to abstain from pork around Muslims.
Yet most Christians here
are not willing to even take this small step.
One believer succinctly said
to a friend of mine on the island,
I would rather a Muslim go to hell
than for me to have to stop eating pork.
Reaching Muslims here
would not only be uncomfortable for Christians,
it would also be costly.
Many Muslim tribes on the island are devout,
and one state practices Sharia law.
Anyone caught trying to lead people to Christ in that state
will be imprisoned or likely even killed.
Any Muslim caught converting to faith in Christ
in that state will immediately be executed.
Indeed, the price is high for any believer here
who desires to engage the unreached with the gospel.
And so Christians sit back.
They're living next to multitudes of unreached peoples,
yet they are unwilling to share Christ with them.
Indeed, they focus on church activities among themselves.
They have constructed large church buildings
all over the city.
They have numerous denominational conventions,
nearly 30 theological seminaries,
and even missions boards
organised among themselves throughout the island.
My friend who lives here says,
David, they have all the trappings of the church,
and the only thing they are missing
is the heart of Christ.
And as soon as my friend said this,
I was stunned into silence.
I thought, is it really possible
to have all the trappings of the church
and miss the heart of Christ?
Is it possible for church people
to be so focused on personal comforts
and so fearful of potential cost,
they virtually forget the purpose of God
among all the peoples of the world?
And as I asked the question,
I realised the answer,
is of course it's possible.
Much of what we have seen in the West
proves that we have massive resources,
mega buildings,
multitudes of programs,
and a myriad of conferences and activities.
Meanwhile, thousands of people,
groups around us in the world,
still have not heard the gospel.
And from most appearances in the church,
however,
we seem to be okay with that.
We seem content to let these people,
groups continue churchless,
Christless,
gospel-less.
To seriously engage them with the gospel
would be
uncomfortable and costly.
And on it goes.
Now I'm continuing our series of messages
from Matthew chapter 24 and 25
on the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And we've been learning that Jesus taught
that the end of the world
and his first coming
are two separate events.
That was something that was new
for the mindset of the people
amongst who he lived.
There will be a period of time
before he returns.
Jesus will return.
He will return suddenly and unexpectedly.
People will be going about normal life.
The world as we know it will end
with the return of Jesus Christ
as Lord and King.
And for some,
his return will be a wonderful surprise
and for others,
a very unpleasant one.
No one will escape the event.
Everyone who has ever lived
will be raised to life
to face the judgment of God.
And understanding these things
has really important consequences.
We have power to call false teaching rubbish
when people make predictions
about Christ's return.
Jesus says,
no one knows the hour or the day,
only his dad.
There's been a great story in the media
even this week.
The American pastor called Howard Camping
died at 92.
And he was famous
or he was infamous
because he predicted the coming of Christ
several times in his life.
He finished well.
He apologised for a very grave mistake.
But what was incredibly sad to me,
the news this week
showed some of the stories
at the time when he did these things
and he had people in his church family,
his followers,
who literally gave their life savings
to advertising the date
on which Christ was going to return
and telling people to get ready for it.
And they showed the other protesters
gathered out his side,
his church,
on the day,
one of the days
when it was supposed to have occurred
and there were people there
with placards and banners
and saying things like,
trust science,
don't trust religion.
So when we move beyond
what God's word allows,
we can cause the name of Christ
to be dragged through the mud.
In Matthew 25,
Jesus uses two pictures
to describe what he has already taught
in Matthew 24.
And the pictures show us
how to live
between the two comings of Jesus.
Last week,
the first picture
was the parable of the ten virgins,
five who were wise,
they were well prepared
for the delayed return
of the bridegroom,
and five who were foolish,
who thought they knew
the bridegroom,
but didn't.
And this morning,
the second picture
in Matthew 25,
the parable of the talents,
the Bible reading
that Josh has just read to us.
And again,
this is a story
about how to live
in the light
of Jesus' delayed return.
And you pick that up
from verse 14
because Jesus said,
again,
it will be like a man
going on a journey.
He's about to go
on a journey.
And in verse 19,
after a long time,
the master
of those servants
returns.
So it's going to be
a long period of time
between his departure
and between his return.
This is about life
between the two comings
of Jesus.
It's a great story.
The master's going
on a journey.
He calls his servants in.
He entrusts them
with the running
of his business.
He gives them a task,
something to do.
One of them
gets five talents
to look after.
One gets two.
The other gets one.
He gives each of them
responsibility.
And verse 15 says,
each according
to his own ability.
He gives them
what he believes
they're capable
of handling.
There's nothing more,
nothing less,
not too much
and not too little.
But this is big business.
I worked it out
the other day.
Our talent was
a measure of money.
It's not a God-given
gift or ability.
It's a measure of money.
And a talent was equal
to 6,000 days wages,
6,000 denarii.
And the average
Australian wage
at present
is something like
$70,000.
You divide that
by 52.
And again,
for five,
by five,
for a five-day
working work,
it comes out
at something like
$270 a day.
So if you're getting
less than that,
you're not getting
the average wage.
And if you're getting
more,
you're getting far
more than you
should be getting.
Not true.
But you work it out.
A talent
in today's values
is nearly
$1.5 million.
So five talents
is $7.5 million.
And two
is $3 million.
So these guys
are actually entrusted
with running
their master's business.
They're given
really big sums
of money
to be responsible
for.
And they're running
the business
until the master
returns.
You see,
the first two,
they get to work,
they double the money
over a long time.
These are not
short-term
money market gains.
This is solid,
hard work
building a business.
And the third,
verse 18,
went off
dug a hole
in the ground
and hid
his master's
money.
Now that wasn't
such a strange
thing to do.
A rabbi
at the time
said that the
best way to
protect money
was to bury it.
In a world
without banks
and without
chub safes
and all sorts
of security,
a normal way
to protect
your money
was to bury it
and not tell
people where
you'd planted it.
So much
for your family
if you died
suddenly.
HSC
Ancient History
teaches that
soldiers going
off to war
would bury
their personal
fortunes in the
ground to keep
it safe
until they
return.
These three guys
are entrusted
with the master's
business.
They're given
responsibility
and the master
has expectations
of them
according to
their ability.
They are to be
on about the
master's business
while he's absent.
They are to work
industriously
for him.
So a day of
reckoning comes.
The day of
settling accounts
comes a long
time later.
a delayed
return.
And the
first has
turned
seven million
dollars
into
fourteen
million
dollars.
And the
second has
turned
three million
dollars
into six
million
dollars.
And the
master says
exactly the
same to
both of
them.
Excellent.
Good and
faithful servants.
You have been
faithful in a
few things.
I will put you
in charge of
many things.
Come and
share your
master's
happiness.
He's delighted.
He recognizes
their hard work.
They rejoice in
their success
together.
It's not their
money but they
have been successful
for their master
and he is pleased
for them and he
is pleased with
them.
They are well
prepared for their
master's return
because they have
been faithfully
discharging their
responsibilities.
They share joy
all around when he
comes back because
they have been on
about the master's
business.
Very different
story from the
third man or with
the third man.
Verse 24.
Oh master I knew
you were a hard
man.
Harvesting where
you have not sown
and gathering where
you have not
scattered seed and
so I was afraid
and I went out
and I hid your
talent in the
ground and say
here it is.
Here is what
belongs to you.
I've kept it all
safe.
I haven't lost
a cent.
But as he says
these words he
almost accuses his
master of being a
venture capitalist
making his money on
other people's
efforts.
You just trade on
everybody else.
Saw it in the
bush.
Saw it in
Wee-Woo.
Farmers had
planted their
crops and they
would pay big
money to grow
them.
And they would
live with the
risk of the
season.
And then they
sold their crops
into markets where
the price was
controlled by
commodity and
money traders in
cities around the
world like New
York.
Men and women in
business suits who
wouldn't have a
clue what dirt was
let alone putting
their hands into
it.
That's not your
job is it?
In Sydney.
They're probably
those people in
churches higher up
the north shore.
Is that correct?
Or lower down.
There you go.
But this third
servant seems to
have little respect
for his master.
He goes, he gets
the money, tosses it
back to him.
I've looked after it
for you.
I was afraid of you
and so I made sure I
kept every last cent
safe.
mongrel boss that
you are.
He didn't say that.
The master's filthy.
You wicked, lazy
servant.
So you knew I
harvest where I
haven't sown and
gather where I
haven't scattered
seed.
Well then you
should have put
your money on
deposit with the
bankers so that
when I returned I
would have received
it back with
interest.
Jews couldn't
charge fellow
Jews.
interest.
But money could be
borrowed in the
Roman Empire to a
maximum of 12%.
Could have at least
put it in the bank
and this last man is a
piece of work.
He has a shot at his
master to pass off
blame.
He's drawing a wage
from the business but
he doesn't care two
bits about his
master's business.
He's dumped a vast
sum of money in a
hole in the ground
for the entire time
that his master was
away and presumably
got on with life and
his own business.
He did his own
thing.
His master said he
was wicked and he
was lazy.
How long would you
last in your job if
you went to work and
you used all the
company's stationery and
computer peripherals?
If you spent all day
on the phone on
personal business,
wouldn't your employer
have every right to
throw you out of the
place?
See the third servant
in this parable might
have been working his
butt off while his
master was absent but
growing his own share
portfolio, doing a
stack of beneficial
trades on eBay, running
around and doing work
for mates all over the
place, he may have been
busier even than the
other two.
But Jesus called him
wicked and lazy because
he was squandering his
master's resources and
business.
He wasn't responding
at all to the one who
had the right to tell
him what his work was,
he did his own thing.
Is that not a picture of
the church that I read
about at the beginning?
Full of religious
activity and a
beautiful infrastructure
and not touching their
Muslim neighbours?
I reckon if you'd asked
this guy what his job
was, he probably would
have said, I work for
the master.
And if you looked at
what he was doing all
the time, the master
away was away.
It was nothing.
It was a big fat
zilch.
And Jesus called the
man wicked and lazy,
his doom assured,
cast away into darkness,
never to be heard from
again.
Now I hope it's not
too hard to see where
this is heading.
Jesus, our King, has
come once and he will
come again.
We live awaiting his
return.
He's been a long time.
He could come back
today.
He could come back a
long time into the
future.
But he will return.
But in the meantime, we
are stewards of the
master's business.
We are not here for
ourselves.
We are here for what
God wants us to do.
In Matthew 24, Jesus
tells us that the
faithful and wise
servant is the one
whom the master has
put in charge of his
household.
And when the master
returns, he finds his
servant faithfully at
work doing his job.
Matthew 24 also gives a
huge glimpse of what the
master's business is.
Verse 14, this gospel of
the kingdom will be
preached in the whole
world as a testimony to
all nations and then the
end will come.
And in verse 31, he will
send his angels with a
loud trumpet call and they
will gather his elect from
the four winds from one end
of the heavens to the
other.
Angel sounds all spooky as
in heavenly messengers and
sometimes they are.
But angel simply means
messenger.
And so it's completely
valid to read this last
verse as he will send his
messengers with a loud
trumpet call and they will
gather his elect from the
four winds from one end of
the heavens to the other.
When I went to South
Africa recently and worked
with Andrew Barnes who was
the pastor at Musenberg
Community Church and the
pastor of the church that
Darian and Vanessa are at,
he wrote to Darian, our
link missionary afterwards
and he said about me,
let's blow my own trumpet
for a sec, he said,
it's as though God sent an
angel to say exactly the
right things to me, I feel
so encouraged to carry on.
Enormous encouragement to
me and I am thrilled to
think that God used me as
his messenger in his time
to encourage Andrew and
let me tell you that Andrew
was an enormous blessing to
me as well.
But the point for me with
angels is that God uses
heavenly beings as his
messengers and he also
uses heavenly beings, he
uses human beings as his
messengers.
So what's happening between
the first and second
comings of Jesus?
His gospel is being preached
to the nations.
God's messengers are being
sent out into all the world
to gather his chosen people
in.
It's a joyous and it's a
magnificent work and Romans
chapter 10 expresses it, it
says everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be
saved.
How can they call on the
one they have not believed
in and how can they believe
on the one of whom they
have not heard?
And how can they hear
without someone preaching
to them and how can they
preach unless they are
sent?
As it is written, how
beautiful are the feet of
those who bring good news.
See people are gathered to
God through the preaching of
the gospel.
As the message of Christ is
spoken in God's world, people
are gathered from the four
corners of the earth into his
family.
Preaching of the gospel,
declaration about Christ
happens in formal settings
like church but where
Christian people come to
gather or maybe somebody
interested in finding out.
It also happens in informal
places like over morning tea
at work and in time reading
the scriptures with our
children, at dinner with
friends.
Being on about the
master's business in the
context here is particularly
about telling the world
about Jesus Christ in both
word and in deed.
I remember feeling really
embarrassed at one of my
ordination interviews a long
time ago and I was asked,
have you led anybody to
Christ?
It's almost like how many
notches have you got on your
belt?
And at the time I couldn't
think of anyone.
But if the question had been
who had I spoken to about
Christ, then the list would
have been long.
It would have been family,
it would have been friends,
it would have been workmates,
it would have been the
occasional stranger, mostly
people that I had some sort
of a relationship with.
See, we don't control the
response, but we do have
control over whether we open
our mouths and speak, we
have control over what we
say and we have control over
how we say it.
My engineering boss would give
me some stick.
He was a bit of a rogue and
he would wind me up at work
about my faith.
He knew I was a Christian
and we'd had numbers of
conversations.
And his girls were Christian.
And I didn't convert him.
But I did speak to him about
Christ numbers of times.
And 30 years later, I got his
Christmas card the other day
and it's been developing over
quite a few years, but it's a
joy to read his Christmas
cards because he now strongly
proclaims Christ as he cares
for an invalid wife who suffers
with MS.
He has been growing as a
disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
God has gathered another one
of his elect from the four
corners of the earth through
the saving message about
Jesus Christ.
So brothers and sisters,
own your faith and speak
about it.
Understand that when people
give you a hard time, some of
them will be people that God is
gathering into his kingdom even
in the future.
And how you respond to them
even now, as pain in the butt
as they might be, matters.
See, Christmas time itself
brings many opportunities to own
Christ.
Tell people that you're going to
church.
Tell people that Christmas is
much bigger than a baby story.
It's about what this amazing man
came to do.
Take the opportunities that God
gives you to speak about what you
believe.
Be on about the master's business.
It's a wonderful parable because
God recognises our different
opportunities.
Two servants grow their master's
business.
He's equally pleased with both of
them.
He makes no distinction between them
in terms of his pleasure with them.
They have both been doing his
business and he loves them for it.
And he speaks the same wonderful
word to both of them.
He says, well done, good and
faithful servants.
Come and share your master's
happiness.
Amen.