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11: A Small Obedience · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast.
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It's also an online course.
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Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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Our current series is Meaningful Work, Calling, Formation,
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Service, and Love.
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I want you to think about a time
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when you did something really excellently.
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Maybe it was a musical performance after you
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had practiced for a long time.
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Maybe passing a test or an exam.
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Maybe finishing a project at work that you
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were especially proud of.
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Or maybe seeing a breakthrough for somebody who
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you had loved and supported all through some
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significant challenge.
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Some moment where you're like, yes!
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We did it!
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I did it!
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Now, if you can, I want you to
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rewind the tape and go back to the
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first time you ever started learning to do
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that.
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If it was a musical instrument, when was
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the first time you picked up that instrument?
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Or maybe the first time you picked up
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any instrument at all and began to explore
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how it worked and how it sounded.
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If it was passing a test, what was
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it like when you first went to school?
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Maybe in preschool or kindergarten or first grade.
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If it was helping a friend, what was
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it like when that friendship started?
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How did that person come into your life
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and how did you begin to support them?
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And even before that, how did you become
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the kind of person who could do that
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for friends?
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How did you learn to love people like
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that?
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See, whenever we achieve something significant or we
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get to be a part of a team
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achieving something significant, it's this result of something
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that's years and decades in the making.
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We've been on this journey our whole lives
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long to become the kind of people who
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can do the things that we do.
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And that can be really easy to forget
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because we think about the challenge in terms
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of what's in front of us right now.
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We think about the project we've got accomplished
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this week or even today at work and
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we're wrestling with it and we're thinking about
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the resources we have and the resources we
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don't have.
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And it can be hard to remember.
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My whole life has led me to the
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place such that I can do this thing
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now.
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And when we think about the idea of
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calling and what God calls us to do,
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sometimes we have too narrow of a focus.
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We can think about, oh, what's the project
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that's in front of me right now?
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And that's important because God does give us
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work to do right now, today, and we
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want to be present to that.
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But if we zoom out, we've got to
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remember that what God is concerned with is
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our whole life, not just every aspect of
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our life, but the whole story of our
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life from beginning to end.
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And God has been at work on us
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to prepare us in our hearts and our
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character for the challenges that he's putting before
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us today.
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So as we think about calling, how can
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it help us to see that the small
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obedience of today, the small way that we
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answer the call of God today is connected
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to this big story of what God is
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doing in our lives.
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I want to go to a familiar passage,
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Matthew 25, and I think this can help
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us kind of zoom out and see what
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God's purposes and intentions really are.
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So this is in a series of parables
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that Jesus is telling toward the end of
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his ministry.
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And he's talking about how people respond to
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the initiative and the presence of God, because
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different people responded to Jesus's ministry in different
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ways.
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Some people responded by putting their faith in
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him and following him, even if they were
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kind of scared to do so.
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Other people like the Pharisees and the chief
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priests, the other religious leaders, they resisted Jesus.
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They didn't want to respond to what God
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was doing.
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It was hard for them to see what
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was really happening in Jesus's ministry.
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So Jesus kind of tells this parable about
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the different ways that people respond to God.
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This is Matthew 25, starting in verse 14.
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For it will be like a man going
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on a journey who called his servants and
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entrusted to them his property.
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To one he gave five talents, to another
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two, to another one, to each according to
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his ability.
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Then he went away.
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He who had received the five talents went
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at once and traded with them, and he
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made five talents more.
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So also he who had the two talents
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made two talents more.
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But he who had received the one talent
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went and dug in the ground and hid
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his master's money.
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Now, after a long time, the master of
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those servants came and settled accounts with them.
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And he who had received the five talents
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came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master,
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you delivered to me five talents here.
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I have made five talents more.
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His master said to him, Well done, good
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and faithful servant, you have been faithful over
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a little.
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I will set you over much.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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And he also who had the two talents
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came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me
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two talents here.
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I have made two talents more.
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His master said to him, Well done, good
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and faithful servant, you have been faithful over
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a little.
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I will set you over much.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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He also who had received the one talent
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came forward saying, Master, I knew you to
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be a hard man, reaping where you did
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not sow and gathering where you scattered no
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seed.
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So I was afraid and I went and
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hid your talent in the ground.
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Here you have what is yours.
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But his master answered him, You wicked and
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slothful servant.
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You knew that I reap where I have
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not sown and gather where I scattered no
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seed.
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Then you ought to have invested my money
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with the bankers.
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And at my coming, I should have received
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what was my own with interest.
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So take the talent from him and give
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it to him who has the ten talents.
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For to everyone who has more will be
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given and he will have an abundance.
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But from the one who has not, even
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what he has will be taken away and
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cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.
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And that place there will be weeping and
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gnashing of teeth.
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Oh, okay.
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This is a challenging teaching.
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It ends with that vision of judgment being
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cast into the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing
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of teeth.
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But what is this parable really about?
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What is Jesus getting at here?
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Well, I think it's, it's really important to
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look at the starting point, the response and
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the ending point in order to understand this
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parable.
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So what's the, what's the starting point?
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Well, this word talent is used, which is
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essentially a unit of money.
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It's a relatively large unit of money.
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So another translation calls it a bag of
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gold.
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You know, it wasn't probably literally a bag,
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but this isn't just a dollar or $10.
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This is a significant sum that he's entrusting
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to each of these servants, but he gives
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different amounts to different servants.
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So one gets one, one gets five, one
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gets 10.
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So they start at different points.
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And it's really significant for us to remember
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that the servants start at different points.
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Okay.
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Then what about the response?
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Well, two of the servants, even though they
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started at different points, they had an identical
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response.
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They took the investment that they were entrusted
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with and they put it to work.
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Uh, they did their darndest with it and
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they got an excellent return.
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Pastor Tom Nelson, in his commentary on this
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passage says that these are basically like the,
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uh, the retirement bankers of antiquity, uh, within
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this, uh, parable because they're taking money and
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trying to make it grow.
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And what return did they get?
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This is getting into the result that they
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get a 100% return, right?
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Wow.
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I wish that my Roth IRA could get
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a 100% return.
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That would be pretty amazing.
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That's better than the annual percentage yield that
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my, uh, my guy over at thriving financial
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is giving me.
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So they did a really excellent job.
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They did their darndest and each of them
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got an excellent return for the money, even
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though they started out in very different places.
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Okay.
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But let's go back to that middle step,
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that response.
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The third, the one who only got one
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talent is a very different response.
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He buries his talent in the ground.
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And it seems as though he he's doing
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that out of fear.
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We'll come back to that.
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And then what's the result?
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Well, the result is nothing happened with that
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talent because he buried it in the ground.
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Okay.
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Now, how does the master respond?
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He doesn't respond to the, the big or
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small size of the return.
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He doesn't say, Oh, wow.
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The guy who got a 10 talents more,
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he did the best out of everybody.
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He doesn't say that.
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He looks at the quality of the response,
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bearing in mind that people had different starting
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places, right?
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So even though one person earned five talents
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and another earned 10 talents or got that
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return of 10 talents, they started in different
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places.
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And so what's the master's response.
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They had the same response.
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And the master says the same thing to
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each of them.
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He says, well done, good and faithful servant.
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You have been faithful over a little.
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I will set you over much.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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It's the exact same words that he says
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to each of those servants, but then to
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the third servant, right?
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Is he mad because he has less return
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than the others?
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No, he's disappointed because he has no return
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at all.
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He says, you could have taken what I
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gave you and at least put it in
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the bank to get some interest.
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You didn't even do that.
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So what he's concerned about is not the
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result in terms of its size relative to
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other results, but about the response.
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What was the response?
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It was this response of fear and inaction
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rather than the response of, of getting to
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work like the other two had.
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Okay.
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So how does this connect to our lives?
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The word talent can sometimes be misleading because
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it makes us think about like our natural
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abilities.
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Like, you know, maybe we're good at playing
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a musical instrument or speaking Spanish or what
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have you.
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And God can use those things too.
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But really this refers to anything that God
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entrusts into our care.
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Anything that God entrusts us.
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So it could be literal resources and money.
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It can also be our abilities.
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It can be the specific call that he
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has on each of our lives where he's
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asking us to do something specific.
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And we have to respond to that invitation
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and see if we can get to work
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in that area of our lives.
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What do we see from this parable?
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It's that God is not looking at how
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impressive, how big or small the results of
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our activities are.
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He's looking at the quality of our response
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to his call, to his invitation.
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He invites us into something and he's looking,
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how are we going to respond?
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And also what's the result of that response?
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He says, uh, you have been faithful over
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a little.
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I will set you over much.
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So God is also concerned not with, with,
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you know, absolute return amount, but with growth,
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with progress.
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And so this is a parable about ultimate
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judgment in some ways, but it's also about
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the cycle of faithfulness in our lives.
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And this is true just in, even in
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quote unquote, secular work contexts.
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Let's say you're running a grocery store and
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you have somebody who gets hired, uh, to
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sweep the floors at the grocery store.
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But you notice that they sweep those floors
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really well.
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They show up to work on time.
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They put in a strong effort.
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They ask for feedback and direction to improve
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what they're doing.
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They sometimes go the extra mile, even doing
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things that weren't expected of them, but that
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they know we're going to add value in
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some way.
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You look at that person and it is
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a good boss of a grocery store.
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I'm going to say, you know what?
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I'm going to keep that person sweeping floors
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forever.
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We're going to have the best floors ever.
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No, no, because now if, if everybody everywhere
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was doing excellently and above and beyond at
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their job, then maybe, maybe you'd leave that
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person sweeping floors because sweeping floors still matters
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and it counts.
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But the reality that any boss knows is
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that, uh, it's hard to come by people
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like that.
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It's hard to come by people who are
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going to work hard and give it their
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all.
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And so you want to put those people
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over more responsibility, uh, so that things can
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go even better.
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So that person's going to get a promotion.
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Maybe they'll go to the cash register because
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clearly they're trustworthy.
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They've shown that character.
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So he's like, okay, here's how you do
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the money here.
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So you give people change.
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Here's how you, you scan things at the
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checkout.
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Right.
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Okay.
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And then again, you kind of see how,
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how do they handle that?
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If they handled that really well and they
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have other capacities and propensities for doing other
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things, maybe they'll get another promotion and so
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on.
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This is kind of just the natural order
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of how progress in work responsibility works, even
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in a totally secular context.
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What Jesus is saying is that this is
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also true spiritually is that God gives us
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an invitation into something.
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And it's, it's an invitation that's right-sized
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for us, right?
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And different ones of us have different sized
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invitations at different points in our life.
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So it's not about is our invitation bigger
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or smaller than someone else's.
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It's just, what is God inviting me into
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in this season?
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What, what is God's invitation for me?
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And can I say yes to it?
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Can I respond to it?
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Can, can I give it my all as
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much as God gives me grace to do?
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That's what God's looking for.
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And when you do that, you actually grow,
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you mature, you become capable of taking on
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more responsibility and getting a quote unquote bigger
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invitation next time around.
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What are the words that the master uses?
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Well done, good and faithful servant.
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Those are character words.
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Those are describing the heart of the servant.
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So when you have that heart response of
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doing your best, giving it your all, you're
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growing in your capacity to do more with
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your best and do more with your all
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over time.
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And then that's God's intention for you is
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to entrust more to you.
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Now, what that more looks like may vary
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from person to person.
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It may not always be a measurable more.
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It might be a more significant spiritual challenge.
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Sometimes less is more, right?
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I think of Kevin Miller, the pastor who
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I've spoken about a couple of times in
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this series.
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He used to lead a large team at
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a large Christian nonprofit.
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Then he led a smaller team at a
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large church.
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Then he led an even smaller team at
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a smaller church.
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So his invitation kept getting smaller, quote unquote,
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in terms of its measurable size.
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But in terms of the spiritual depth that
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he was leaning into, as he became more
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and more like Jesus in each of those
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roles and the fruit that came out of
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that.
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And since I've known him since I was
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a little kid, I've been able to see
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that fruit.
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Um, that was an interesting more to Kevin
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and to his wife, Karen, each of those
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times.
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God entrusted more and he entrusted more, even
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though it was measurably small.
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So this, this maturing, this growing, it may
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not be impressive in a secular or human
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eyes, but it's the more that God is
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inviting us into that we want to be
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ready for.
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Okay.
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So again, if we zoom out and we
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think about our lives as a whole, whatever
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God is inviting us into today, it may
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be a small obedience.
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It may just be doing our job today.
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It may just be loving our kids today.
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It may not be anything that's particularly impressive
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or even worth making a social media post
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about.
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And yet when we step into that invitation
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to a small obedience, we're putting one more
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step in this lifelong pathway where God is
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growing us into the kind of people who
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can do more and more meaningful and fruitful
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work in his kingdom.
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Okay.
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What's the, what's the alternative?
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The alternative is fear.
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The alternative is this attitude of the servant
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who, who his vision of the master is
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that the master is somehow devious and unfair,
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and that's actually really significant that if we
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believe that God is not going to do
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right by us, we will never be able
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to take risks of obedience.
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Our obedience flows from our faith and our
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trust in God's ultimate character of love for
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us and for the whole world.
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And so if you're on the cusp of
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something that you feel like is an invitation
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from God, a call to obedience, be a
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big or small, and you have a feeling
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of fear, the thing to do is to
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set your face toward Jesus, to look at
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his face.
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Because when you see that Jesus is good,
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that Jesus is faithful, that he is the
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good and faithful servant, that he will do
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right by the call of the father on
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his life, and he will do right and
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more by you, that's going to give you
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the courage you need, the freedom you need
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to say yes to that invitation.
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And over time, God makes us into the
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kind of people who can inherit eternity.
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Cause, cause this parable, as I mentioned, it
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is about ultimate judgment in some ways, that's
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why it has that, that weeping and gnashing
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of teeth at the end.
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Is there, there's a sense in which this
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is a description just of how we do
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our work with God in the here and
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now, but it's also a description of, of
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the ultimate posture of our heart.
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Is our heart open to God or closed
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to God for eternity?
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And if our heart is closed to God,
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God, isn't going to go in there and
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pry it open against our will.
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And that's why there is ultimately a place
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of judgment for those who have refused to
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participate, refuse to answer the invitation of God,
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a sobering reminder.
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But for anyone who's willing, for anyone who's
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willing to open their heart, their own free
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will, and let God get that open and
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more open and more open, what we end
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up inheriting is eternal life.
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What we end up inheriting is the new
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heavens and new earth that God is creating.
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And that's why I love what Dallas Willard
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says.
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You guys knew I had to get to
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another Dallas Willard quote at some point, right?
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Um, that's why it's a beautiful quote.
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He says, the main thing God gets out
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of your life is not the achievements you
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accomplish.
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It's the person you become.
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The main thing God gets out of your
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life is not the achievements you accomplish.
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It's the person you become.
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God is preparing us to be the kind
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of people who can inherit eternity.
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That's why your small obedience today matters.
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Come Lord Jesus.
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Come give us courage to say yes to
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your invitation.
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Thank you that you make us more and
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more the people who can say yes to
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more and more of you and your life
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and your love.
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Help us remember that that invitation comes in
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little daily pieces.
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Do your work in us as we do
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our work with you.
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Amen.
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Read our blog and get info about upcoming
19:27
courses on faith in the workplace.
19:29
Go to our website, missioncentral.church.