19th November 2023 – Sermon notes

Matthew 25:14-30

What would you do if you won the lottery? What would you do with a million pounds?

In the days when I had a proper job, this was quite a common discussion amongst the workforce.

In the work canteen, over their lunch, many of the staff would discuss this at length. It was their moment to dream, particularly the warehouse operatives there. For them, working long hours on minimum wage, winning the lottery was their dream. Remember, I’m going back a few years now but for those working for £5.85 an hour, the million pounds jackpot was an almost inconceivable amount of money.

Some were clever, they would invest and live off the interest. Some saw opportunity, they would start or buy a business, they would use the money to make money. Others wanted security, they would buy houses for themselves and their family, they saw the world as a more comfortable place if you had no mortgage or rent to pay. Some people wanted quality of life, they wanted to see the world, go on cruises and have the experiences they couldn’t currently afford.

There was always one person that claimed the money would not change their life. They would continue to live in their house and come to work and go on holiday where they always went. That person was always mocked mercilessly. What is the point of having that opportunity if you’re not going to take it?!

And then it happened. Someone did actually win the lottery. £1.2million if I remember correctly.

He and his family went on holiday, they bought a slightly bigger house, but then he continued to work as a warehouse supervisor because he needed the money.

Jason Elliott (you can look him up) invested £1million of his winnings into his local football club, Chesterfield FC. If you don’t follow football and have never heard of this team then I’m not surprised. If you do follow football and know nothing about Chesterfield FC, that’s because they’ve been pretty uneventful, football-wise at least. At this time, the club was in severe financial trouble as the previous owner had committed fraud and just been outed. Four people, of which Jason was one, joined together to pay the debts and allow the club to continue. But, as Jason proved, investing a million in your local club may make you vice chair, but it didn’t pay the bills.

So, I wonder, do you, at this point in the story, think he invested wisely? Or not? I’ll leave you to imagine what his work colleagues in the warehouse thought of it all.

Today’s gospel reading is another parable from Jesus. And this time it’s about doing the best with what we have been given.

In the parable three men are given talents according to their ability: one is given 5, another 2, another 1. The one with 5 traded and doubled his money, the one with 2 also did the same. But the one with just 1 talent was scared and did nothing but hid it in the ground. The master returned and was happy with those that had used their talents and rewarded them generously but was angry with the one that had buried his talent and it does not turn out well for him.

A talent = 6000 denarii. Approximately 18 years wages

Person 1 = 90 years wages

Person 2 = 36 years wages

Person 3 = 18 years wages

Like the lottery jackpot, we are talking about significant amounts of money.

And the first two men were like those work colleagues of mine who saw the opportunity and took it. They took risks, but I think we can assume calculated risks, but they recognised what they had and used it.

The third man reminds me of the people that wouldn’t let a million pound lottery jackpot change their life. Not because they were particularly happy with their life but because they couldn’t dream bigger and would not take a risk – too scared to make change even if the opportunity was given to them.

However, I feel there is one person missing from this parable, this story. I’ve been thinking about this all week. Where is the person that used their talents but it didn’t work out amazingly well for them? Where is the person that traded them and lost them? The person saw the opportunity, took the calculated risk, but lost them. Where are they in the story??

They are not included…because it’s not relevant, it means our focus is on the wrong part of the story. It’s not about what the two men have achieved, it’s the fact that they used what they had been given.

We should do something, anything, with the opportunities we have been given by God, it’s hiding away and doing nothing that is the problem. As long as we are prepared to do something then God can use that for good, it may not be as we expected it to be, but God can use our actions for good.

To return to Jason and his FC for a moment and to conclude the story. A few years later he sold the club and reclaimed his million pounds. He didn’t make any money, he didn’t lose any money, but his actions did make a difference.

Today consider, what talent have you been given by God to use? It may be money, the parable talked about money, but being a parable it has a wider message that we can consider too.

What talent, what opportunities have we been given? Do you have skills you can use for the good of the kingdom, skills that would help us to function as the church?

Corporately, this building is one of our talents. With this building we have the opportunity to make a difference to our local community, to give space for people to meet with God. Are we using it in the best way we can?

What other talents do we have? And how are we using them?

And remember the message of the parable – our responsibility is to do something, anything, rather than nothing.