Don't Sit on What God Put in You

But lent forces us to confront something honestly. Jesus did not give himself halfway. He did not give a portion of his life while protecting the rest. He did not offer God the convenient parts and keep the costly parts. Jesus gave his time, gave his strength, gave his obedience, gave his reputation, gave his body, gave his life. Nothing about the cross was partial. Nothing about the cross was casual. Nothing about the cross was half hearted. The cross was total surrender. [00:26:18] (30 seconds)  #TotalSurrender

He is angry because the servant, watch this, never uses it. Which means god is often more concerned about unused potential than imperfect effort. God would rather see you try and struggle than sit comfortably doing nothing. God would rather see you step forward nervously than sit back safely. God would rather see you use your gift imperfectly than bury it professionally because the tragedy of the third servant was not rebellion. It was wasted opportunity. [00:37:03] (34 seconds)  #UseYourPotential

But if we're honest, most of us have turned Lent into a temporary inconvenience instead of a spiritual examination. Because Lent was never just about what you should stop doing. Lent is about what you should start surrendering. It is a season where God asks a deeper question of every believer. What are you doing with what I gave you? Listen, every person sitting in this sanctuary or listening online or by phone has been entrusted with something. [00:23:30] (38 seconds)  #LentIsExamination

Because every time you give, something spiritual happens. Giving breaks the illusion that you are the source. Giving loosens the grip that money tries to have over your identity. Giving reminds your soul that everything you have came from God in the first place. And if you're honest, this is where discipleship becomes real because many believers want a faith that calls very little little. We want a salvation without sacrifice. We want blessings without stewardship. We want favor without responsibility, but [00:47:29] (38 seconds)  #GivingTransforms

Will the experience satisfy me? Will I feel something, but mature faith eventually shifts the question. Yeah. Mature faith stopped asking what can I get, and it start asking what can I bring? What gift does god place to me that the church needs? What ability has god entrusted in me that the kingdom can use? What generosity has god planted in my life that could strengthen the work of god in this place because the church was never designed to be sustained by a handful of committed people while everybody else watches. [00:29:43] (37 seconds)  #BringNotGet

In other words, I kept it safe. I protected it. I ain't lose it, but I also did nothing with it. And the master responds with sobering words because buried potential is still unfaithfulness. Unused gifts are still wasted great. Buried potential is still unfaithfulness. Unused gifts are still wasted grace, and the parable reminds us of something that we don't often say out loud. One day, every life will be evaluated. Not by him how impressive we look. Not by how comfortable we stand, but by what we did with what God placed in our hands. [00:55:59] (44 seconds)  #EvaluatedByUse

We've learned how to enjoy the benefits of faith while avoiding the responsibilities of faith. And slowly, quietly, without even realizing it, we've turned discipleship into spiritual consumption. But the gospel never intended for believers to become spectators. The gospel calls us to be participants because the work of God in the earth has been has move has never moved forward because people simply showed up. It moves forward when people step up. [00:28:32] (29 seconds)  #StepUpNotSitBack

And if we claim to follow a savior who gave everything, then our faith cannot remain half invested. We cannot keep offering God leftovers while expecting overflowing blessings. We cannot keep bringing God fragments of our time, fragments of our gift, fragments of our generosity, fragments of our obedience, and still call that discipleship. Following Jesus means that sooner or later, you have to confront the uncomfortable question, have I really given God my life, [00:26:48] (33 seconds)  #NoHalfFaith

have I really given God my life, or have I only given God the parts that are convenient for me? Because y'all, it is possible to attend church faithfully and still keep your gifts buried. It is possible to sing the songs and still keep your generosity locked away. It is possible to claim faith and still refuse to offer god the very things god placed inside of you. And so Lent is the season where god lovingly but firmly ask, are you following Jesus, or are you simply admiring Jesus from a distance? [00:27:18] (39 seconds)  #FollowOrAdmire

And that's the moment where Jesus exposes something different because the problem with the servant was not that he failed. The problem was and god help me. This is gonna talk to somebody, was that he never tried. He never invested it, never deployed it, never used it. He simply buried it. He buried what was entrusted to him, and the master responds with strong language. He says, you're wicked and you're lazy. [00:36:01] (30 seconds)  #TryDontBury

Because watch this. You cannot claim to trust god with your eternity, but refuse to trust god with your resources. God. Lord, that was good. How you gonna trust god with your afterlife and your everydayism, but you won't trust god with your resources? And the truth is the work of God in Earth is carried through the faithfulness of God's people. Not just the pastors, not just the leaders, not just the the the visible few. The mission moves forward when ordinary believers like us decide their faith will be active. [00:51:12] (48 seconds)  #TrustGodWithResources

Lent is a strange season in the life of the church because Lent slows us down. The world is always rushing, always producing, always chasing the next thing, but Lent interrupts the noise. For forty days, and we almost halfway done. The church remembers that Jesus intentionally walked toward the cross. He walked not by accident, not by surprise, but intentionally and sacrificially. And so when the church enters Lent, the tradition has always been to ask a simple question. What will you give up? [00:22:29] (46 seconds)  #LentSlowsUsDown

Nobody gets to say, no. That's for the talented people. No. That's for the leaders. That's for the deacons and trustees. That's for the folk with money, the top givers. That's for the folk with more time than I have. Hear me clearly. Peter says, each of you. Yeah. Which means all of us because the church only become the church when everybody recognizes they have something to bring to the table. [00:25:09] (27 seconds)  #EverybodyBringsSomething

I expected it to be a little quiet today because admiration costs very little, but discipleship requires everything. The twenty first century church has produced a lot of consumers. People who attend, people who observe, people who receive, people who know how to sit in the seat, sing the song, hear the sermon, and go home still unchanged. We've learned how to experience church without ever actually engaging the mission of the church. [00:27:58] (34 seconds)  #DiscipleshipRequiresAll

The witness of the church grows when believers stop treating the church like a service provider and start recognizing it as an assignment. And if we're honest, the question many believers ask when they walk into six Mount Zion Church and others every Sunday is still the same. What am I gonna get out of this today? Is the choir gonna show up? Who's singing? Will they bless me? And what is that preacher gonna talk about today? Is it gonna move me? [00:29:09] (33 seconds)  #ChurchIsAssignment

The church becomes the church when everybody recognizes. Everybody recognizes that god didn't just save me to sit here. God saved me to serve here. God saved me to build here. God gave saved me to give here. God saved me to participate in what god is doing here. And so Lent is the season where God quietly but firmly asks you again, have you been participating in the work, or have you just been watching it? [00:30:20] (29 seconds)  #SavedToServe

Now that word stewards is important. In the Greek, Peter uses the word. It literally means a household manager. Someone entrusted, hear me, to care for what belongs to someone else. Watch this. A steward doesn't own the house. A steward doesn't own the resources. A steward simply manages what has been placed in their hands. And so Peter says every believer is a steward of God's grace. Not just grace that saves you, [00:32:28] (37 seconds)  #StewardMeansManager

but grace that equips you, grace that gifted you, grace that trusted you with something, which means your gift is not random. Your ability is not accidental. Your capacity is not self created. It is grace from God entrusted to you specifically, and grace was never given for storage. Grace was given for service. That's why Jesus tells a powerful story in Matthew 25 about a man who is preparing to go on a journey. [00:33:05] (29 seconds)  #GraceEquips

Before he leaves, he gathers his servants, and the bible says he entrust his property to them. Now notice the language there, entrust. He's placing something valuable into their hands while he's gone. One servant receives five talents. One receives two talents. One receives one talent. Now hear the word talent, and we talk about when we hear the word talent today, we think about ability. But in the ancient world, the talent was money. [00:33:34] (29 seconds)  #ParableOfTalents

Not because he lost the talent, but because he refused to use it. That's the part of the parable that presses on us today because many people assume God is more disappointed when we fail. We think God is sitting in heaven waiting to punish us. We assume God is watching our lives like a supervisor looking for errors, but the parable suggests something different. The master in the story is not angry because the servant lost the talent. [00:36:32] (31 seconds)  #NotPunishmentButUse