Investing in the US stock market, over the course of a lifetime, has historically been a financially fruitful way to grow your money. While annual returns vary, sometimes wildly, you can expect, on average, over the course of your life, about a 7% yearly return after adjusting for inflation.

Financial advisors generally offer a few rules of thumb to maximize your returns:

• During good times celebrate, of course. But also be alert too. When stocks are running high remember, the near-term is likely to be less good than the recent past.
• During bad times celebrate as well. Why? Because your future returns, invariably, will look better than they do right now.
• Arguably the most important one – stay in the stock market. You only get those great lifetime returns if you stay in the game. Study after study shows that cashing out of the market lowers returns, long term, sometimes drastically so.

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Many of us lived through stock market highs and lows earlier this century with the Great Recession. In early 2008 the Dow Jones was over 13,000. After a series of high-profile bankruptcies and high levels of home foreclosures, by the end of that year, the Dow had dipped below 8,000. Stocks had lost almost half their value in less than nine months.

I remember hearing of friends pulling their money out of the stock market during that historic low. My wife and I opted to stay put and stayed invested, hoping for brighter days ahead. So glad we did. Because come back the market did, as always.

And that’s about all we’ll talk of the stock market in this message. My hope is to keep at last a few of you at least somewhat awake ?

Faithfulness
Today we continue our sermon series on fruits of the spirit, landing this week on the fruit of faithfulness.

Jesus, who spoke of money and possessions more than any other topic, uses a financial allegory to help us understand what faithfulness looks like, in the flesh.

The parable, from Matthew 25:14-30, is about a wealthy man going away for a while, that entrusts three workers with his property. The NRSV translation uses the term talents to describe the amount; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one.

Talents, as an English word, makes for a fitting pun, even if it isn’t in the original Greek. We’ll get back to those kinds of talents a bit later.

For now, let’s focus on what a talent, biblically, is. It’s the equivalent of about six thousand days wages. Or between 15-20 years of work. In current US Dollars, with an annual salary of only $30,000, that’s $600,000. Just for one talent.

Story
So in this parable –

One person was entrusted with $600,000.
Another 1.2 million.
And another 3 million.

None of which is exactly chump change.

The person with 3 million put his money to work, making 3 million more.
The person with 1.2 million put his money to work, making 1.2 million more.
The person with 600k dug a hole in the ground, hiding the wealthy man’s money.

When the wealthy man returned –

The investor who’d started with 3 million now had a cool 6 mil. He gave it all to the manager.

The investor who’d started with 1.2 million now had an enviable 2.4 mil. He gave it all to the manager.

The hole-digger retrieved the 600k he’d been given from where it’d be buried, perhaps cleaned the dirt off it some, and gave the original amount back.

To the investors that doubled their investments the wealthy manager had praise:
“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with little; I will put you in charge of much. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

To the hole-digger the wealthy man had little good to say. And that’s an understatement.

This, Not This
To better understand this parable it’s worth discussing some common misperceptions of it.

First, the story isn’t about money. At least not directly. Each parable person is given wild sums of wealth to use. Remember the smallest amount, in today’s dollars, is a cool 600k. The narrative turns on how people respond to such a great gift.

Second, while this text contains the language of slaves and masters, it doesn’t condone slavery. This is a topic some circles of Christianity have struggled with, mightily, for millennia. Instead, Jesus uses language to describe a social hierarchy, one common at the time this was written the original audience can relate to.

Third, the wealthy man, the master in this parable, isn’t God. It couldn’t be. The hole-digger in today’s text describes the master as harsh; the master doesn’t disagree. In fact, the master responds that “for all those have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing it will be taken away.”

This harsh language, ultimately, is impossible to reconcile with our understandings of the first being last, and vice-versa, and the beatitudes that bless those without. Instead, the master in this parable is as Jesus describes, a wealthy landowner. A landowner acting in ways wealthy human landowners often do. Acting in ways the original audience can relate to.

Extract
This parsing leaves us with a story about:

• The extravagant gifts we’re given, and what we do with them.
• A doing based not in enslaved obligation, but in faithful response.
• The definitive landowner, and creator, of all that is. A creator who provides and cares for us, in ways so complete, it’s difficult to comprehend from our limited, human lens.

How extravagant are God’s gifts to us? Remember how the master spoke to the two entrusted with over a million bucks each, “You have been faithful with little.”

Over a million is a little? God’s gifts are so much more than we can possibly imagine.

Respond
With heavenly gifts given, in quantities almost infinite, how then shall we respond?

We can choose to invest the gifts God’s given to us, being extravagant in our use of them. We can choose to selflessly share these gifts, infusing Christ’s good news the whole world round.

That’s the story of the two investors in today’s tale. Their actions represent what it is to be faithful. Faithfulness is a response. It is a response based in awe and gratitude, of all that has been given.

Or, we can get out the shovel and bury our talents, be they financial, or in service to the other. When we bury our talents we leave God’s investment in us unused. That’s the equivalent of putting your life savings under the mattress. Aka don’t expect much in return.

Ultimately it comes down to our trust, or lack of, in the God from whom all blessings flow.

Do we trust God enough to take the gifts we’ve been given out of the holes we dig for ourselves?

Do we trust God enough to take our spiritual life savings out from under our mattress?

Our US currency says prominently, in all capital letters, IN GOD WE TRUST.

Do we?

Getting more personal, do you trust God enough to use your gifts, faithfully, to more fully live into God’s call for your life?

The two investors used what they were entrusted with to better an earthly kingdom. How much more valued are our gifts, handed down from above, when used in faithful response to the divine?

Close
Investing in God’s kingdom, over the course of a lifetime, has historically been a divinely fruitful way to spend your days, while here, on earth. With the Holy Spirit at your side, you can expect, with all certainty, never to be alone.

Scripture generally gives three rules of thumb as you faithfully live into God’s call on your life:

• During good times celebrate, of course, but also be alert too. Mountaintop moments, in this realm, can come and go.
• During bad times celebrate as well. Because the future, invariably, will look better than it does right now. This is the promise, given unto us.
• Most importantly – Don’t bury the gifts God’s given you. Don’t hide them under the mattress. For when we live, in faithful response, to all we have been given, our Creator chimes in.

Well done, good and faithful one!
Come, share in your Creator’s joy.
Amen.