LAW HOMILY: Wasting Opportunities

The Eighth Commandment and the Duty to Use God's Gifts

Every week we look into the law of God because we want to understand what he has to say to his people. And this week we're going to be in the 8th commandment, which is Exodus 20, verse 15. And it says this, you shall not steal.

God's Ownership and Our Stewardship

That's the 8th commandment. But it's actually sharper than that because it doesn't merely examine what we've taken. It also examines what we've been given that we've not done anything with. For instance, the 8th commandment forbids stealing because everything belongs to God.

Psalmist tells us that the earth is the Lord's and all of the fullness therein, Psalm 24, verse 1, which means that your money is his, which means that your strength is his, your intelligence, your opportunities, your possessions, the hours in your day are his, your calendar is his.

We are not in the ultimate sense the owner of anything. We're slaves. We're stewards. We're living in a master's world, entrusted with the master's property, eating the master's bread, breathing our master's air, and expected to be busy about the master's affairs.

The Parable of the Talents and Wasted Opportunity

And that is certainly true. We can steal from our neighbor by taking what belongs to him, sure. But we also rob from God when we bury what he has given to us and entrusted to us. Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 25.

A man traveled away into a far country and he entrusted his goods to his servants. The things that he owns, he gave them over to his servants. To one, he gave five talents. To another, he gave two. And to another, he gave one.

Each servant received something valuable, something precious that belonged to the master, and they were to give an account for how they used it. The first two servants immediately put those resources to work.

And the one with five turned it into 10. The one with two turned it into four. And when the master returned to them, he said, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things.

Now I'll make you ruler over many things. But this third servant is the one that actually the point of the parable was about. He wickedly buried his talents in the ground. Now I want you to notice something here.

He didn't waste the money at a local tavern. He didn't gamble it away. He didn't spend it on prostitutes and wild living like the prodigal son had done. And yet when the master returned, the servant could point exactly to the exact amount of money.

He says, you gave me one talent. Here it is. I didn't lose any of it. In his mind, he hadn't stolen a thing. He took what the master gave him and gave it all back. He didn't steal anything. And yet the master calls him wicked and lazy because the money that was entrusted to him was entrusted to him, not as an amount, but it was entrusted to him as a purpose.

You've been given this with a purpose. You've been given this with a job. You've been given this with a bookmark added to it that you must use it. The master's purpose was for it to grow, not for it to make stagnant.

And in a way, the wicked and lazy servant treated his master's property as though it existed merely to be preserved instead of grown. He returned the talent unused, the property, however, or the opportunity, however, totally wasted.

He didn't rob his master by taking the money. He robbed his master by taking away the opportunity, by forfeiting what he would do with it for his Lord. And we apply that to ourselves. What talents has the Lord given us?

Faithful Stewardship in Work, Family, and Daily Life

Maybe it's not, maybe it's not money. Maybe it's not actually a talent of gold, but what talents has he given you? What intelligence has he given you? What vigor and strength has he given you? What air in your lungs has he given you?

What assignments has he given you? What children has he given you? What has he entrusted to you and have you used it for his glory? Have you built it? Have you developed it? Have you grown it? If he's entrusted you with a marriage, have you grown it or is it stagnant?

If he's entrusted you with children, have you developed them or are they stagnant? If he's entrusted you with a job, does your boss rise up and bless God because of you or does he say, just another employee?

Whatever God has given you, what have you done with it? And if you haven't done anything with it, you've stolen from the Lord, the opportunity that he's given you. He did not ask you to return it to him unused.

He said, build. In all of our life, may we build, and in the areas where we fall short, may we repent. For a moment, let us repent. Ask the Lord to reveal to you where it is that you have squandered the opportunity, where you've wasted the talent, and pray that the Lord would forgive us for being wicked and lazy, that's what he calls it, and that he would cause us to be diligent and faithful.

Prayer for Diligence and Faithful Stewardship

Amen? Let's pray. Lord, there's so many things that you've put into our hands, our time, our schedules, our work, our family, our children, our husband, wife, even the air in our lungs, the health in our bodies.

You've given it to us to steward. You've not given it to us to maintain it in stagnancy. Lord, help us in all our days to develop, to build, to work, to use, to grow the things that you've given us so that when we see you, you will say, well done, good and faithful servant.

I've given you a little, now I'll put you over a lot. Lord, help us from the tendency of being lazy. Help us from the tendency of stealing away for ourselves comfort and a loss of opportunity. Lord, help us in every aspect of our life to know that nothing belongs to us and that everything you've given to us is a gift to build.

Lord, let us be builders of your kingdom, whether it be whether we eat or whether we drink, whether we parent or whether we relate with our friends and family, our marriage. Lord, help us in all things to give glory to God and to repent when we fall short.

Lord, forgive us of our sins in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening to this homily on the law of God from our covenant renewal worship this past Lord's day. We publish these messages each week because we believe that God loves his law and far from throwing it away, we believe that the death and resurrection of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will actually help us learn to love and obey God's law.

Christ's Finished Work and the Spirit's Power for Obedience

And that's our prayer for you that as you chew on these expositions each week that you would both learn to love and come into alignment with the law of God. And we pray that you would do that by the spirit's power through the finished work of Christ and to the glory of God.

And with that, God bless you.