Sermon Title: Why Math Matters
Sermon Text: Judges 4:1-7 and Matthew 25:14-30
Sermon Date: November 16, 2008
Message
If there is anyone among us today
who thinks that the bible is a book that isn’t x-rated, start at the beginning.
It is full of interesting stuff -- "political intrigue and assassination, lies and
deception, rape, incest and murder, courage and fear, great faith and idolatry,
power and greed, sex and suicide, love and death, military victories and civil
war" (Olson. NIB: 723). It is all
right here in black and white. And we
complain about today’s movies! I have a
book from seminary called “Dirt, Greed and Sex” if anyone is interested.
Today’s Old Testament story is
uplifting and disturbing all at the same time.
One could read it through the eyes of today’s world but I’m not sure how
helpful that would be. So I invite you
to listen to this passage and then we will begin to discover what we need from
it today. I’ll read you what is in
today’s lectionary reading and then fill you in on what isn’t read today:
4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of
Lappidoth, was leading
It seems somewhat inconceivable,
with what we know about the role of women in Old Testament days, but it is true. Deborah ruled over
We know little about her, only what
we read. She was a judge and instructed
Joshua, Moses’ successor, is now
dead. The Book of Judges begins as a way
of continuing the story Moses began. The
Israelites have left
We come back to Palm of Deborah and
the conversation in the scripture: Barak
tells Deborah that the only way he will go into battle is if she goes. We
aren’t totally clear about his motivation.
He could be saying that he needs her support, but when Deborah responds,
“if I go with you, a woman will get the victory” one can glean that she
believes him to be saying, “if I make her go, she will have to take the blame
for the failed battle.”
Sisera is a pretty evil man, but
with Deborah at his side, Barak leads a winning battle against Jabin’s
army. Now Sisera may be evil, but he is
also a coward and he ran away from the defeat. He ran to the tent of Heber the
Kenite and his wife Jael allowed him to come in. While he was asleep she drove a tent peg into
his forehead. A woman did indeed receive
victory for the battle; in fact, two women had the victory. The story continues and at long last, the
Canaanites were destroyed.
See why I asked Linda to do the
children’s message from the Matthew passage?
This isn’t easy stuff to lay on kids.
Sure we could have stopped with the verses only for today’s lectionary
reading, but that is such a small part of the story it seems dishonest. Was Deborah a leader? Yes.
Did she urge Barak to fight the Canaanites? Yes.
But that really isn’t the story.
The story is that by obeying God through Deborah the Israelites were finally
able to destroy the Canaanites. By using
the gifts God had given them – Deborah the gift of wisdom and prophecy, Barak,
the gift of strength and might and Jael, the gift of courage – they overcame
their enemy.
In the Matthew passage we have three
men who are given the opportunity to use their gifts to make a profit for their
master. In this story, let’s say the
master is God and each man has been given gifts that will enhance the
But, you ask, what about that part
where it says that the servant with one bag was scared of his master and hid
the money because he feared losing it and being punished?
Don’t you know people who are so
afraid of God that they are misers with the gifts they have?
William Loader of
"The tragedy is that many
people are afraid of losing or endangering God and so seek to protect God from
adventures, to resist attempts at radical inclusion that might, they fear,
compromise God's purity and holiness. Protecting God is a variant of not
trusting God."
Ouch, who are we to protect God by not using the gifts we
have been given? Doesn’t God know the
potential and possibilities available better than we do? Where is our trust? Where is our willingness to be the people God
wants us to be?
Think of these two stories like this: we are all given gifts to use for God’s
world. That is a given. God created us to be in relationship with
him, but that wasn’t the only reason. We
are created to also be in relationship with each other. We are to respect each other, love each
other, nurture each other…..because we are told to love our neighbors as
ourselves. We are told to love the least
of these. We are told to because while
God loves us, God loves them too.
Let’s look again the men in the
Matthew passage through the lens of this:
. The
least successful of the group takes the money entrusted to him and buried
it. He didn’t lose any but neither did
he make any.
The second man took the money and
made a profit that most of us would be happy with today, while our most
successful man took a big risk and yet, made a big profit.
The least successful was capable.
The next was capable and willing to
take a small risk.
The Warren
Buffet of the group was capable, willing and passionate about doing what he was
asked to do.
So you see, math matters. Not in counting money, but as we add up the
numbers of us capable, willing and/or passionate we grow in numbers. Numbers that “get” the concept of the
Want a better example? We are praying for the right person to be
willing to serve as the Deacon of Shepherding to succeed Sandy Spear who has
held this position for the past three years.
Just about any of us here today are
capable. We can attend meetings, write
notes to guests, and follow the job description.
But not as many of us are capable
and willing. Willing being the operative
word right now. Willing to take on the
position and follow the job description.
But occasionally people who are
capable and willing take on jobs for which they are not necessarily passionate.
If you are passionate about ensuring
we have a good children’s program that is great. But you may not be the one who is also passionate
about nurturing members and guests. You
might be capable and willing, but you aren’t passionate. And this position needs a person who is
capable, willing and passionate about nurturing. About wanting to ensure that people feel
cared about and encouraged.
Is that you? Is God calling you to use your gifts as
Deborah did to offer leadership in this critical ministry at
The absolutely beautiful thing about
these two passages today is that it reminds us that there is a place for each
of us to serve in God’s kingdom. And in
fact, the world won’t be the same without you.
It wouldn’t have been the same with Deborah or Barak or Jael. It needs Warren Buffets. And it needs you.
In a letter to President-elect
Barack Obama, author of “The Color Purple” Alice Walker wrote and told him how
profound his election was to the world and that he needed to remember that he
was a husband and father too, because he was likely to get caught up in the
problems of our world. She told him that
his family was counting on him and only he could be who they needed him to
be. She wanted him to remember that he
isn’t in this thing alone. In fact, her
last words in the letter are: “We are
the ones we have been waiting for.” Not
him, but us.
It’s true. Math matters and we count….to God and the
people of God.