Trash or Treasure?

November 13, 2011

by John Partridge

Scripture: Judges 4:1-7

Matthew 25:14-30

In the news this week was Brian McGuinn who accidentally threw his wifes $10,000 custom made wedding ring in the trash and by the time they realized what had happened, their garbage had already been picked up. Brian called the trash company, travelled to the county dump, put on a protective suit and started sifting through the area of the dump where workers thought his neighborhoods trash had been spread. The workers at the dump didnt give Brian much hope. They told him that they see people come to look for things with some regularity but most everyone goes home empty-handed. Brian was persistent and picked through what he described as everything unsanitary you could think of at least a couple times. But, after a half an hour of searching Brian reached down to pick up something shiny that looked like a screw, and found his wifes ring. Brian made a mistake. He accidentally threw away something that was of great value and he was persistent enough and determined enough (and lucky enough) to find it. But while Brian would have never thrown away his wifes ring on purpose, many of us have thrown away gifts of incredible value or buried them in an old coffee can in the backyard. Oh, we may not bury diamond rings or gold or even precious photographs or other keepsakes but human beings are often good at forgetting the gifts that they have been given and leaving them on a shelf to gather dust. My grandfather learned to play the harmonica in the trenches during World War One but I only heard him play it a handful of times. My grandmother played the piano but I didnt know that until after she died. I wish that I could go back and ask them to play for me but we all have gifts that weve allowed to sit on the shelf. In Judges 4:1-7, we find that the people of Israel had once again forgotten the gifts that God had given them. Just so we are clear, not everyone had forgotten God, there were still some who remembered Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help. Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead
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Sisera, the commander of Jabins army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands. In Israel, before the time of the kings, came the time of the Judges. If you take the time to read this small book in the Old Testament, you will find that it is both sad and full of hope. In the book of Judges, the people continually come to God under a new prophet or godly leader and, after the death of that leader, the nation would fall away again. I find that this book is sad because Gods people are so ready to lose sight of their God and his great gifts. I also find this book to be full of hope because no matter how many times Gods people would turn away from him, when they got into trouble and cried out for help, God was ready to forgive them and send a new leader to rescue them. Here we find hope for our own tendency to wander away from God as we remember that God still stands ready to forgive us and hold us close whenever we remember to turn back to him. In this passage, Israel has once again turned its back on God after the death of Ehud, their leader. In this patriarchal nation, a people who are generally led by men, there remains one faithful woman to whom God has given the gift of prophecy. Deborah was not the leader of her people or even of her village but used her gift to help others. Because Deborah used the gift that God had given her, the people came to her to arbitrate their disputes. Honestly, we dont know why God gave the gift of prophecy to a woman when it seems normal for God, during this time, to give this gift to men (or at least others have told us that this was normal). Perhaps God has always been more of an equal opportunity gift giver than we know, and perhaps this was not particularly unusual. Perhaps God was deliberately trying to make a point of some kind. Perhaps God chose Deborah because there were so few men who had remained faithful, we just dont know. What we do know, is that much of Israel had forgotten God, but that Deborah had remained faithful. Many of Gods people had buried and forgotten the gifts of love and faithfulness that God had given to them, but Deborah was able to lead her people because she used the gifts of prophecy and wisdom that God had given to her. Jesus tells a similar story in Matthew 25:14-30, saying
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Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. [Note that in this translation we hear bags of gold while in another translation, many of us remember this as being talents. For most of us, neither talents nor bags of gold have particular meaning. A talent was a weight, about 75 pounds, and so a talent of gold would have been a sizable gold bar worth nearly twenty years wages, or, in todays currency, somewhere between $400,000 and $1.5 million dollars. This is some serious cash.] Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his masters money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.
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His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness! The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more. His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness! Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master replied, You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The condemnation of the master was not for the servant who earned only two talents instead of five, but condemnation was saved for the servant who did nothing at all with what he had been given. A million dollars put to use even at the pitiful rates that the banks are paying on passbook saving accounts (about two tenths of a percent) would still amount to $2000 in interest per year and if hed managed to find a CD at two percent he would have made $20,000 per year. Instead the servant was so afraid of losing what he had, that he just buried his bar of gold in the ground and continued to live off of the generosity of his master. As we remember Veterans Day we are, perhaps, more aware than usual of the gifts that weve been given. We live in a nation where we are free to speak about whatever subject that we wish without fear of arrest or harassment. We are one of the only nations in the world where particular types of speech are not labeled as hate and made to be illegal. We live in a nation where, for two hundred and thirty years, men and women have been willing to put on the uniform of our nation, endure hardship and risk their very lives in order to keep their families and their communities safe at home. At the same time, we are a people who have been given great gifts from our creator God. As I have come to know the people of this congregation I have continually been impressed with how God has poured out his blessings and how God has been at work in you. Although they are not all the same, each one of you has been given amazing gifts. Some of you have been given great intellectual powers, and an understanding of economics, finance and other subjects, some can speak with confidence and eloquence, some of you can play musical instruments or sing with the beauty and strength of four or five normal people, some have been given gifts of teaching, administration, art, photography, courage, strength, wisdom, mercy, hospitality, giving, faith and others. My grandparents had gifts of music that they set aside because they were getting older, or because they were impractical, or for some other reason but in doing so they denied the blessing that their gift could have been to me, to my family, to their church and who knows who else. Are 3
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the gifts of God trash or treasure? What is it that God has given to us that we have set aside and left to gather dust? Do you knit or crochet? Write poetry? Are you good at writing notes of compassion to people who are suffering? Our God is a god of economy. He is not wasteful. He has given us each gift for a reason. God has given each of us gifts that he intends for us to use to bless others and to bless his church. He is not pleased when we bury what we have been given. I hope that this doesnt sound like I am scolding you or lecturing you; my intention is quite the opposite because in these passages I find and incredible message of hope. In the last eighteen months I have met you, I have come to know many of you, I have been in some of your homes, and I have seen that you are an exceptional people who have been blessed by God. Today we have taken some time from our busy schedules to remember the gifts that our veterans have given to us but I hope that we will also remember something else. In these difficult times, in circumstances that challenge our families, our community and our church, let us all remember that God has not forgotten us. He has already given us the tools and the gifts that we will need to find our way forward, to overcome the obstacles in our path and to rise above them. God has already given us a host of gifts and these are the very gifts that we will need in the days ahead. As we say thanks to our veterans, let us also give thanks to God and be at work digging up the gifts that we buried in the back yard or left on a shelf to gather dust. You are indeed an exceptional people who have been blessed by God. May we all remember what gifts we have been given and may we use every single gift for the glory of God.

You have been reading a message presented at Barnesville First United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor of Barnesville First. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Barnesville First UMC at 123 W. Church St., Barnesville, OH 43713. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@barnesvillefirst.com. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John Partridge. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.