Make Straight the Way of the Lord

I remember back in Pennsylvania when I was growing up, it was at that time at least permissible in all the schools in Pennsylvania. Those of you who grew up in Pennsylvania will remember this if you're old enough. They would read the Bible.

Somebody would read the Bible and they'd have the Lord's Prayer and salute the flag and stuff like that. But one of the passages that you heard the most was this parable of the talents. And most of us, even though references are made to money in this, most of us thought of talents as being able to play the piano or sing or dance or whatever.

But actually, the talent here is a measure of money. When this RSV Bible was published, it was probably worth a thousand bucks. Probably now a talent would be worth more like five thousand.

But to keep that in mind, and even though we know this by heart, most of us, or pretty near, to think through, again, as I read from Matthew 25, verse 14 and following. For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.

Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them and made five talents more. So too he who had the two talents made two talents more.

But he who received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents.

Here, I have made five talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little.

I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had received the two talents came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents.

Here, I have made two talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little.

I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not winnow.

So I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.

But his master answered him, You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, gather where I have not winnowed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers.

And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. Their men will weep and gnash their teeth.

Often, when we hear this parable of Jesus, we become intimidated by the five talent servant. We think of him as the, you know, the hot shot salesman. I mean, he's the top producer.

And so he gets the prize. He gets that extra talent. And we don't feel like a top producer.

To make matters worse, we look around the Christian world. And we see people who intimidate us in the same way. Men and women who have drive and ability and imagination.

You know, and they build missionary organizations. And they publish and distribute tons of literature. They write books.

They hold mass meetings. And they own all kinds of real estate and trucks and planes and even ocean-going ships for the Lord. And what are we doing? We go to work every day.

Maybe we stay home and take care of the kids and raise them. We say our prayers. We give to people in need sometimes.

Go visit the sick. Gather together like this. Worship God.

And break bread together. But it all seems so inconsequential. Many of us are still dreaming of the day when we can break out of this monotonous routine and get a real ministry going.

Is that the truth? Well, if you look at this five-caliber man, you know, he was not a hotshot. He wasn't some kind of super salesman, miracle-working celebrity who has revivals going on three continents at the same time. He was a faithful servant.

That's all he was. He was faithful. In the place where he was, with the gifts that he had, he was faithful.

So that when the master came back to call him to account, he was able to offer him something which was of value to the master. And that's all there was to it. Looking at this passage again.

Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here are five talents more.

His master said, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your master. Now, it's true, he doubled his money. He had something to show for his effort.

He produced something. And we want to produce something. We want to be able to show the master something of value when he comes and settles accounts with us, as he will.

But it's extremely important that we get clear in our minds what it is that the master is looking for. What's he looking for when we're going to come and lay our talents at his feet? For instance, there are many in the Christian world today who are working very hard to be able to produce signs and wonders for the Lord. Signs and wonders that will attract the attention of the world out there and make them see it.

Now, let's say they're successful at this. Signs and wonders abound in their lives and multitudes come from miles around to see it. And we look at them and we say, there's a five-talent man.

There's a five-talent lady for sure. Then the Lord comes to settle accounts and he shakes his head and he says, No, that's not what I was looking for. Reading from Matthew 7, verse 21, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you evil doers. May signs and wonders attend every one of our ministries.

May they come with our proclaiming of the word. May the word that we speak be followed with signs that confirm it. That's marvelous, but we need to understand that the signs and wonders are not the fruit.

The fruit which the master is looking for is something more. And there are many in the Christian world who are laboring to produce something, build something tangible and visible for the Lord. Something you can see, buildings, land, large sums of money that could be used to spread the gospel.

And then we can look and we can say, Lord, there it is. See what I've built for you. But when he comes back, he shakes his head and he says, No, that's not what I was looking for.

Reading from Luke chapter 16, verse 14, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this and they scoffed at Jesus. But he said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

What is more exalted among men than money and things? Money and things are exalted among men. And understand, every one of our ministries will in some way be attached to money and things. This building is a thing and the lights are going to be paid for by money.

Salaries are paid by money, but money and things are no measure of our fruitfulness. Look, Lord, this building costs five million. Praise the Lord.

You know, the building may cost five million and nothing of honor to God is going on inside. It's possible, quite possible. It does happen.

So what is it that the Lord is looking for? What was it that this five talent sermon produced that the Lord was looking for from him and from us? Reading from John chapter 15, starting at verse one and skipping a little bit here, but you can check it later. Jesus is speaking and he says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. Now you are already made clean by the word that I have spoken to. I've pruned you already.

Skipping down. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. You did not choose me. I chose you and ordained you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.

Fruit, much fruit. What's he talking about? What kind of fruit? The same fruit that Jesus produced when he was exercising his ministry in flesh and blood. Same fruit that the apostles manifested as they traveled around with the gospel of Jesus burning in their hearts.

The fruit, put very simply, is God's life flowing out of us to others and bringing them from death to life. Fruit, the fruit that he's looking for is for his life which he puts in us to go out through us and raise others from the dead as we have been raised from the dead. If we are abiding in the vine, Jesus, truly at one with him, then we have the spirit of the living God moving and living in us.

And if we will, we can convey that to the lives around us. And so we take the life of God into the workshop, into the office, into the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, the highway, the bus, the school, the hospital, and so forth. Everywhere we go.

The five-talent man was simply a person who took the life of God and kept giving it forth. That's all. That's all he did.

He had it and he gave it out. And every place he gave it, it multiplied, it doubled, it increased. And so his family was blessed.

His fellow workers were blessed. He brought the light of God into the marketplace. This man got up every morning and gave thanks to God for the life that he poured in and then went out and poured it out to others, shared it.

I am the vine. I am the true vine and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch of vine that bears no fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, no more can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, he is the branches, for apart from me you can do nothing. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit.

So bearing fruit is simply to take the life of God and pour it out so that it multiplies every place we go. The source of this life is Jesus the vine. If we abide in him and his words abide in us, then the same life that came down into the grave and raised his body from the dead and shortly after that raised his assembly of believers from the dead and caused it to become the church of the living God, the same power that came and raised us from the dead will now begin to flow out every place we go.

If we are abiding in Jesus and his word abides in us and he is truly the source of our life, we need to be concerned about only two things, the day at hand and the work at hand. If abiding in Jesus and his word abiding in us, we give his life to the day at hand and the work at hand, there will be much fruit in every one of our lives. Every place we go we are going to create life, God's life coming out of us and we are going to have a good time doing it.

It won't be, I don't know if I can do this, squeeze another grape out of me, I'm getting so tired of this. You know, the little branch in the vine is having such fun making these grapes come out there, and it's a marvel, it concentrates on abiding in the vine and out come the grapes. And it's praising God, it's doing it to the praise of God, One more grape, you know, if he did that it would be sour to eat, literally.

So forget about waiting until your kids are grown so you can really be a missionary, or waiting until you have enough money together so that you can go out there and have a real ministry. Abide in the vine and just start giving yourself to the day at hand and the work at hand. That's all we need to do.

First of all, the day at hand. The only span of time we need to worry about as far as our service to God is concerned is this day. That's all.

That's all we have. All we have to worry about, in this day I have the Spirit of God. And so in this day, I'm going to carry the Spirit of God out where I go, wherever I'm going to be.

And every life that's touched by me is going to be touched by the Spirit. My alarm went off at 5.30 this morning and it was dark, and I was lying there trying to get myself to figure out if I was dead or alive. And through the open window I heard a woman crying out, and I couldn't tell if she was calling, at first it seemed like she was calling for a pet.

And, you know, it was probably down about half a block away, probably Lafayette and Vinewood. And maybe some others who lived down there heard this. But after a while it sounded like, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, you know, and I'm lying there.

Is she calling her child or is she calling a pet? What's going on? And then suddenly it hit me. What are you doing just lying there wondering about it? Why don't you pray? Pray for her, whoever it is, whatever she's looking for. And as soon as I began to pray, it stopped.

I mean, you know, who knows what was going on. I have no idea what was going on. But I know that for me it was like, now if you've been praying sooner, you know, she wouldn't have had to holler so long.

But it's, you know, it's like the bearing of fruit is just walking in God in the day of hand. Just this day, nothing more. This is the day that the Lord hath made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. Give us this day our daily bread. Don't be anxious for tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. It'll worry about its own problems.

Just worry about today. In this day, I'm going to abide in Jesus. And I know, he promises that through me, light is going to flow.

If I abide in him and his word abides in me, I can ask the Father. He's going to give me whatever I ask. I'm going to ask him to send out his light through me.

And it will be done, not five years from now, but today. The day at hand, the work at hand. We don't have to be concerned about the work which may be waiting for us three months down the road.

Nor do we have to be concerned about the ministry that God has given somebody else. What shall this man do, Lord? How about John? What's going to happen to him? How come you gave him all the ability? How come you gave him five talents and I only got three? All we have to be concerned about is the work that lies across our path today. In the place right now, that work right here, that's what I have to do.

The people I'm going to see, the needs that are going to beckon to us, the problems that are going to come up. In the midst of this, we are going to labor. We're going to sow seed, we're going to water it, and we're going to harvest it.

Whatever he wants. If I'm a mother of small children, if I work in an assembly line, if I sell shoes, if I drive a bus, a truck, if I pull teeth, if I prescribe medicine, if I preach sermons, if I paint, if I create music, you can go on and on and on. If I'm a designer, if I'm retired, I'm still serving God.

Whatever I'm doing, if I pass checks, whatever I'm about, in that place, in that place, we are the presence of God. And there we are going to bring forgiveness, encouragement, healing, and holy warnings. Just by being there, by being there and abiding in the vine as I go about my work.

In the place where we are at any given moment, we are the body of Christ. We are broken bread. We are the wine of heaven.

We are the light of the world. We are the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. Amen.

For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability, and then he went away. It really doesn't make any difference whether we have five talents or two talents or one.

What matters is that each of us, each one of us, each follower of Jesus has been given some measure of the life of God. And that life we now have will absolutely multiply and increase if we will apply it to the day at hand and the work at hand. Many of us are still secretly waiting for the day that our real ministry begins.

That is a delusion. And many of us are impatient and frustrated by the ministry, the little piddly ministry we think we now have. Listen, our real ministry, our really big, big, big ministry is the ministry which belongs to this day.

The ministry which is connected with the work at hand. If we will abide in Jesus, allow his word to rule us, we're going to bear fruit. We're going to double and triple our money.

And even if the work that we've been given to do is going to take us to a cross, we're going to have a good time doing it. Did we get that bee? That poor bee's been flying around here. Did you get him, John? You got two bees.

He bore fruit already. And nobody got stung? Did you get stung, Rick, earlier? Well, no more bees. We've driven them out of here now.

It's okay. John took care of the two that were alive. What's that? The thing is, you know, the cross that we talk about, as long as it's far away, it never scares us.

And the bees come close and they scare us. But the cross is near. Amen.

So let's just wait on God right now and concentrate on just this. Lord God, help me to see that you have called me to my ministry starting now. And enable him to make it clear to us.

Let's wait upon God now in prayer and silence.