All are Accountable in the Kingdom

Sermon 13NOV11

"All are Accountable in the Kingdom"

Matthew 25:14-30


There was a college in a certain Midwestern city and their football team was having a loosing season, so the coach was very nervous. By October the Alumni Association was in an uproar and were about to bear arms, then in November they lost to their arch-rival. At that, the coach received an email saying "The last train uptown leaves Sunday at noon, be under it". Football seems to be rather important doesn't it? We've seen some horrors come of that in the last week at Penn State. It was interesting to hear one commentator say "football was god at Penn State", so it must have been. Here was a sex abuse scandal that had been going on for a number of years. The coach seemed to have known about it, and overlooked it. The president of the university had known, and overlooked it. But, then there comes judgement day. It's horrible that we as parents have to worry about teaching our kids what is appropriate touching and what is not in this day and age, but there are predators out there. Sexual abuse and assault perpetrated upon anyone, but especially children, is a heinous crime. It seems though, in this instance, the university lost sight of their moral responsibility because their football program was so important to them. Finally though, at long last, after years of looking the other way; judgement came.

The lessons we've heard today from Zephaniah, 1st Thessalonians, and Matthew are about the last judgement. In Matthew we hear of the servant who took the one talent he was given and buried it, and because of that he is cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The last judgement isn't looked at as being a very "happy" time. 

There was a tribal chief in Africa comparing Christianity to "ivory hunting". He said when you find ivory you know at the end of it there's always going to be an elephant. So here's Christianity where we have the "ivory" of the kingdom, but to get to it we have to first get past the crushing force of the "elephant" or the last judgement.

The word talent comes to us directly from the Bible, and at first it just meant a certain measure of a precious metal. Certainly as our Lord tells this story it is used to describe something of monetary worth, something that could be hidden or buried in a field and then dug back up. Through usage though, the word talent has grown larger than that. 

There was a man who was visiting with a friend and he said; "Yesterday my wife asked for eighty dollars, the day before she asked for an hundred dollars, and today she asked for two hundred dollars". His friend asked "what in the world does your wife do with all that money?" He replied "I don't really know because I've never given her any". 

The point here though is that our Lord has given us a great deal of talents. Whether in monetary terms, or in gifts and capabilities that we should be developing for the kingdom. We are called to invest those "talents" for our own good, and for the good of others. Whether it's monetary "talents", or "talents" in the form of gifts and abilities that God has given us that come from him; we're not tithing. Our Lord told us "Those who loose their life will save it, and those who save their life will loose it". Those who loose it, invest their lives and do something with their life. Trying to hold onto something, trying to save it to be selfish with it is not part of the doing of the kingdom.

There was an interesting scene in "All Quiet on the Western Front" where the nuns are singing in the hallway at the hospital. One of the wounded soldiers wants the singing to stop, so he takes his water pitcher and throws it into the hallway through the door. An inspector comes into the ward where the soldiers are and begins looking each of them in the eye asking if they were the one who threw the pitcher of water. Finally one of the soldiers speaks up and says "I'm the one who threw it, it was me" and the inspector looks at him and walks away and does nothing. The other soldiers, knowing the soldier who confessed wasn't the one who threw it, were surprised and asked him why he confessed. He told them; "The other day I took a lick to the head and they gave me a certificate saying I wasn't responsible for anything I do, and I've had a wonderful time ever since".  Well, that's kind of the way we go through life; like we've took a lick to the head. We don't act like we realize we're held accountable for everything we do. To lead a really normal, productive life we have to have some sense of accountability outside ourselves; whether to others or to God. We have to be accountable for what we do.

There was a Viking Lord who sailed into a kingdom and discovered the rulers there were evil, they were taking advantage of the poor and weak. He defeated the rulers and gave the people their freedom. As Vikings are prone to do, he started preparing to return to sea. Some of his new subjects wanted to go with him, so he brought them aboard and allowed them to come with him. They sailed into an area with a climate the people had never been exposed to, and he took half of the people who had asked to come with him and told them he wanted them to stay on this island they had found. He left them supplies, materials, and plans and instructed them to use the materials and plans to build a wall around the island. So he departed with the other group and came to another similar island and left the other half of those who had asked to join him with supplies, materials, and plans with the same instructions; to build a wall around the island. The first group struggled with the task, they found it very tedious and laborious and finally agreed among themselves that the Viking Lord hadn't really meant for them to build the wall because they just couldn't do it. So they took the materials and each built fine homes for themselves. The other group experienced the same hardships and difficulties understanding the plans and making the materials work, but they were loyal to the command left by the Viking Lord. As they worked on the wall they found themselves becoming stronger, both as individuals and as a community. In the end, although not perfect, the wall was completed. Having never been in the southern climate they had no knowledge of hurricanes, but one evening in came the rush of the winds and the force of the waves and the hurricane blew in. The first group, who had given up on the task set before them and instead built for themselves luxurious homes, were destroyed; but those in the second group, who had been loyal to the command left to them by the Viking Lord and finished the wall, were saved. They applied themselves, they were loyal to what their lord had asked them to do. The wisdom was his and they received that wisdom and were grateful for it.

Have you ever heard the story of the stone soup? It's really more of a children's fable, but there is this group of soldiers traveling and they come into a village and ask the villagers to feed them. The villagers tell the soldiers that they have no food to give them. So, the soldiers get a big pot, fill it with water, and put a large stone in the pot. They build a fire under the pot and begin to stir the water. The villagers become curious as to what the soldiers are up to, so they start coming up to the pot and asking the soldiers what they're making. The soldiers tell them they're making "stone soup, and it's really quite delicious". The soldiers tell them though "you know it would be so much better if it had a little cabbage in it". Well, one family came forward and brought a head of cabbage. The soldiers kept telling the villagers how great this stone soup was, but that it would be even better if only they had a little onion. So, someone brought a few small onions. The soldiers continued stirring the pot and  naming off all the things that would make this stone soup so much better (garlic, carrots, potatoes, turnips, celery, meat), and one by one people from the village came forward with a little of each to put into the pot. At the end of the fable we find both the soldiers and the villagers sitting down to share not stone soup, but what has become a wonderful stew made from what little each person had to contribute to the effort.

Dr. Karl Menniger (head of the Menniger Clinic) was approached once and asked "what should someone do if they're experiencing a nervous breakdown?". He said "Close your house and lock it, go across the tracks and find someone in need and help those peolpe out". I think the best thing about the final judgement is hearing the Lord say "if you've done it to the least of these, you've done it unto me", and there we are; accountable.