Sermon Central
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Forces In Society - What Money Is And Is Not Series
Contributed by James Galbraith on Sep 4, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Moeny is a powerful force in our society - we as God’s children should see money as a gift from God to do his work in our world. Last in four part series.
Forces in Society #4 – What money is and is not
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni
September 2, 2007
Text
Mt 25:14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Mt 25:19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
Mt 25:21 “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 master’s happiness!’
Mt 25:22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
Mt 25:23 “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 master’s happiness!’
Mt 25:24 “Then the man who had received the one talent 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 talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
Mt 25:26 “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.
Mt 25:28 “ ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Review
SO far, we have looked at how three different forces in society influence us,
fear, image and power,
and how all three can find a bigger and better role when situated in God’s hands.
1. Fear is a powerful force, and many of us fear many things, some trivial and some profoundly terrifying. We have reason to fear – the world is a fearsome place.
Yet when we start with the true and pure fear of God,
that essential knowledge that God is more than we will ever be able to grasp,
we can with his help put other fears behind us, or at least into perspective.
Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. l
2. Image, how we perceive ourselves and how we think others perceive us,
can make us do many things, some good and others shockingly bad.
When we start with the premise that we are created in the image of God,
and can reclaim that image when we give our lives to God through faith in Jesus Christ,
we can allow the world’s attacks on our image to wash off like water off a duck’s back.
Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Ge 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
3. And when we are faced with the exertion of power, for better and for worse,
we can and must always remember that we serve the God of all power and glory, and if we open ourselves to him, we can even be agents of his power in this world.
2Pe 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
