120826 Enough Already

People who have been in church for a little while are familiar with a parable Jesus told about a wealthy man who went away on a trip.  In his absence, he entrusted three of his servants with different amounts of his money (probably based on their tenure or ability?).  Two of the servants – both of whom were entrusted with the most money – were faithful to invest the money wisely, got a great return, and were celebrated by their employer when he got back form his trip.  The last servant – who received the least – simply buried the money for safekeeping, and gave it back to his employer when he returned, along with some really lame excuses for why he didn’t do anything with the portfolio.  Instead of being celebrated, he was chastised and kicked to the curb.

I have taught on this text many times over the years.  Guess where all the attention gets focused?  Never on the two guys who got it right.  Everybody wants to know about the guy who didn’t do squat with what he had been entrusted.  This is fair, of course, since it was a cautionary tale to begin with.  But does the response tell us something about human nature?  And what does the parable tell us about Jesus?

I think at our base level we are motivated out of fear: what must I do to simply survive?  Our thoughts turn primitive, limited, and generally centered on self-preservation.  The third guy entrusted with the smallest amount of the Master's treasure follows suit.  Operating out of fear, he buries the loot.  He is not his own, mind you - he is what we might think of as an indentured servant.  You know, like Barry Zito.  The Master has paid a great deal for him, hoping he will be a good investment.  I digress...

The irony is, of course, that the servant was wrong about his Master's character from the beginning.  Nothing about him indicated that he was ever really his Master's to begin with, other than the paperwork.  Ironic because he ended up experiencing the very condemnation of apathy from the Master which he had projected all the while.  He thought him to be cruel and cold, and indeed that is what he ended up experiencing.  In truth, upon closer inspection, we discover that the third servant - by his own choices - had thrown himself out of the company of the Master long before he returned from the trip.  Was he ever really "in" in the first place?  Did he ever really experience the Master, the one who celebrates his children?  No.  The servant had been living in outer darkness while resting in the courtyard of the Master.  He failed to live in the presence of life.

We do the same.  We very easily relegate God to a passing thought or a Sunday thing or a repository of forgiveness when we need it.  We are all capable of low-balling God when it comes to keeping peace with the Almighty.  Show up at church enough.  Give enough money.  Serve enough time.  Pray enough.  Be nice enough.  Enough living, however, does not really lead to enough.  Enough is the lowest bar.  The undercurrent which leads to enough living is fear of God based on a lack of relationship with God.  When we fear God, we wonder about enough a lot.

The above is not the dream.  We are not invited to merely enough; the life Jesus offers is marked by abundance.  Not lots of money, good health, because those things do not really make life life, right?  The abundance is a quality, a joy, a meaningfulness, a life of impact - a life that we look back on and celebrate the fact that we got way more return for the Master than one life could if a person simply played it safe and buried their talent in the ground.

The dream is pictured in the first two servants, who knew they were safe in the Master's household, and that they were in the Master's care.  Their perspective was one of confidence, knowing that being given the treasure communicated significant trust by the Master.  They were respected.  And so they risked.  Using everything they had at their disposal, they invested what had been entrusted to them.  They were not reckless or selfish or stupid.  They were thoughtful and responsible, knowing this is what they were called to do.  Their motive wasn't for their own gain, either - it was for the Master's household, of which they were a part.  When the Master returned, and rewarded them with more of himself, they celebrated, but probably realized they had been with him all the while.

Which type of servant are you?  Are you like the first two, who live confidently in the household of the Master?  Or are you doing just enough to keep the Master happy?  One of these is experiencing relationship with God.  The other is avoiding it.

In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul instructs the church on how they should think about financial giving, but it extends to all parts of our lives.  He was calling for an offering for the poor, and to make sure it was ready, he sent some guys ahead of him to help people think it through.  Paul did not encourage people to ask the question, what is enough to make God happy?  He asked them to think it through carefully, and give with joy, absent of guilt.

That's refreshing.  And correct.

Could it be that the reason many people don't like to go to church is because they feel like there is pressure to give their money?  Could it be that the reason they feel this pressure is because it is real?  Tithing ten percent is lifted up as the goal - less than that is stealing from God.  The widow who only had half a cent is lifted up as an example - who doesn't feel like a loser next to her?  Even the above parable is lifted up as a you-better-or-else story from Jesus.  But I think all of this is off-key.

I offer you this challenge: if you are living by the enough principle, stop.  Stop giving.  Stop serving.  Stop coming to church.  Stop praying.  Stop asking for forgiveness.  Stop every part of your faith practice that is motivated by the enough mentality.  I want you to stop because you are making a fool of yourself, and I care too much about you to see you continue another moment with your zipper down and tissue on your shoe.

While you are stopped, ask yourself about your motive for anything you do regarding your faith.  Is it fear?  The you probably feel and act like the third servant.  You already feel distant from God, right?

If you are stuck in enough, and you'd like to live more like the first and second servant, devote some time to reading the Gospels in the Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Get to know Jesus again.  Imagine yourself walking with him, seeing him interact, hearing him teach.  See if he is the kind of person worth following.  God is always inviting us to follow.  As you are able to follow, follow.  Then consider Paul's instruction about what giving our lives looks like.  He notes that there is a payoff - blessing.  But we don't receive the blessing by pursuing the blessing.  We receive it when we are the blessing.  When we bank on God's love for us.  When we balance our lives the way Jesus lived.

May you stop doing enough.  May you instead find yourself in relationship with God who never thinks along the lines of enough, but rather wants you to soar.  May you hear the Master say "Well done! Enter my fellowship!", and realize that you've been there the whole time.