Stay Well, Go Well

Scripture: Matthew 25.14-30; 1 Thessalonians 5.1-11

I know what I will do with my first million. Why do I need to know that you ask? Well, when Seth and I watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? we naturally contemplate what we would do with all that money. I would buy a home with some woods, and a nice porch on front and back and feed the birds and read, and I would give some to missionary friends and I would probably give to my children – oh, and I would pay for a swimming pool at Wesley Forest. That’s what I would do. If I won Powerball, I don’t know what I would do with 34 million or whatever it is. Seth said he would buy lots of gameboy games.

It’s fun to fantasize once in a while, but of course, the real question is what do we do with what we actually have got? Paul reminds the Thessalonians that “the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.” And the time we have been given should not be wasted in drunkenness, selfishness, and other deeds that people do under the cover of darkness. The time is given to use what we have for the good.

It’s like a wealthy entrepreneur went away for awhile and entrusted his assets to several key employees, each according to their abilities. “Talents” is the word used in our story. It’s a good word. At one of my first churches we did a little exercise in faith and stewardship by passing out ten dollars to each church member to see what they would do with it. They had a month to see what they could do with this “talent”. They could pool their resources in groups and they came up with some interesting things – bake sales, pie sales, a softball tournament, an ATV rally – an returned quite a sum of interest on their investments. And that was only on $10 per person.

We should understand that a biblical talent is worth a lot more. A talent is a very large sum of money, equal to many years wages for a day servant. That’s what makes the story compelling. The wealthy man didn’t give his employees each ten dollars. He gave them each a lot of money, some more than others, but all an incredible resource at their disposal. He was a master of high standards. His employees knew that he expected a lot. How would they respond to this challenge?

I will tell how one of them responded. They did nothing. They were afraid. They were afraid that they would do something wrong and lose the money. They were afraid maybe that it would run out before the master came back. They thought the time was something they should just get through. They didn’t see it as a time of opportunity, a time to venture boldly and live.

The unfaithful steward was the one who did nothing because they look at the time as one of scarcity. Parker Palmer tells of a time when he was stuck in an airplane on a runway for several hours. Weather had delayed the flight. The pilot got on the intercom and said, “I’ve got some bad news and some really bad news. The bad news is Denver is snowed in and we’re stuck here. The really bad news is that we have no food and it’s lunch time.” Everybody on the plane groaned. Some passengers started to complain and others became angry. But then, Palmer recalls, one of the flight attendants did something amazing. She stood up and said, “We’re sorry folks. We didn’t plan it this way. But here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to pass a few breadbaskets around and I’m asking everybody to put something in the basket. Some of you brought a little snack along just in case something like this happened, some peanut butter crackers, a candy bar. Some of you have Lifesavers, gum, or Rolaids. And if you don’t have anything edible, you have a picture of your daughter, a boyfriend, a business card. Everybody put something in and then we’ll reverse the process. We’ll pass the basket around again and everybody can take out what he/she needs.”

“Well,” Palmer said, “what happened next was amazing. The griping stopped. People started to root around in pockets and handbags, some got up and opened their suitcases stored in the luggage racks and got out candy, a salami, a bottle of wine. People were laughing and talking. She had transformed a group of people who were focused on need and deprivation into a community of sharing and celebration. She had transformed scarcity into a kind of abundance.” After the flight Palmer stopped the stewardess and said to her, “Do you know there’s a story in the Bible about what you did back there? It’s about Jesus feeding a lot of people with very little food.”

“Yes,” she said, “I know that story. That’s why I did what I did.”

Can you see the difference in how we respond to the challenge of the time and resources we’ve been given? Can you see the difference between scarcity thinking and abundance thinking?

I attended the funeral of Dan Lightner this past week. Of the many generous and moving tributes paid to this man, there were two that impressed me most, that will stick with me. One came from his sister who recalled how even as a teenager, Dan worked hard and took care of the whole family. She said that he never spent money on himself but he was always ready to get them something they needed. When he was seventeen years old, he bought his mother and sisters a house. Let me say that again. As a teenager, Dan Lightner worked and saved hard enough to buy his family a house. The second tribute came from State police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller who said, “It should come as no surprise to any of us that God’s plan includes a man of the caliber of Daniel Lightner.”

It’s clear to me that Dan Lightner died to selfishness long before he died in Iraq. He gave his life and his life touched hundreds.

There is a greeting in Africa that is typically given by hosts and guests. When a guest leaves the home, he says to his host, “Stay well.” And the host then replies to the departing guest, “Go well.” Stay well. Go well.

How will we mark our stay in this world? What will we do with the time and resources God has given to us? Will we live with an attitude of scarcity, hoping just to get by? Or will we live with an attitude of abundance, trusting that God will provide all that need? Will we give to others as much as we give to ourselves?

How will we go from this life? Will our leaving be marked by others with tears of gratitude and praise found in faith? Will we leave this world a better place for us having been in it?

“The 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 your master’s happiness!”