A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Make the most of your talent

1 Samuel 16:1-13, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, November 5, 2006

A lady goes to her priest one day and tells him, "Father, I have a problem. I have two female parrots, but they only know how to say one thing." "What do they say?" the priest inquires. They say, "Hi, we're fun loving girls! Do you want to have some fun?" "That's obscene!" the priest exclaims. Then he thinks for a moment. "You know," he says, "I may have a solution to your problem. I have two male talking parrots, which I have taught to pray and read the Bible. Bring your two parrots over to my house, and we'll put them in the cage with Francis and Peter. My parrots can teach your parrots to praise and worship, and your parrots are sure to stop saying that phrase." "Thank you," the woman responds, "this may very well be the solution."

The next day, she brings her female parrots to the priest's house. She sees that his two male parrots are inside their cage holding rosary beads and praying. Impressed, she walks over and places her parrots in with them. After a few minutes, the female parrots cries out in unison: "Hi, we're fun loving girls! Do you want to have some fun?" There’s stunned silence. Shocked, one male parrot looks over at the other male parrot and exclaims, "Put the beads away, Francis, our prayers have been answered!"

Hey, if you’ve got talent, use it. We’ve all got talent(s). The question is: Are we using them? This is the first message in a four-message stewardship series during the month of November. Now there is a basic concept to stewardship that will run through each of the four weeks as we go ahead and consider talent, time, thanksgiving, and treasure. The basic concept that runs like a thread and connects all of these is that of privilege. Everything is a privilege. All that we have and all that we get to be is a privilege. Ultimately, the only way to make the most of what you have is to consider what a privilege it is to have any of what you have. I was talking to a parent a couple of weeks ago, when she was having a tough time right then with her daughter. She had found out some stuff that upset her, and rightly so. But she wasn’t sure what to do about it. What was the proper punishment? How to know how far to take matters? I said for her to take away things, especially the things the daughter had used to get herself into trouble, the computer, cell phone, and of course the TV for good measure, and don’t forget the good old standby—grounding. When she started to balk, I told her that everything but eating, doing homework, and going to bed is a privilege. Hardcore, right?! The same goes for us.

What we want to see this morning is that this is all a privilege. We are given what we got; even after we work hard for it, it is still our privilege, our good fortune, to receive. Let me explain this with a different story. Truit Gannon, pastor of a church in Georgia, tells of an incident in his boyhood. A man named Hugh, who worked for his father, owned a beautiful Harley Davidson motorcycle. It was a wine-colored machine with the hydro-glide fork on the front wheel. As I understand it, that hydro-glide fork was an engineering miracle in motorcycling in its day. Anyway, Truit says it was his greatest thrill as a teenager to ride that motorcycle. One day he asked, "Hugh, can I ride your motorcycle again today?" Hugh’s words have stuck with him ever since. "You can ride it anytime you want to," Hugh said, "anywhere you want to, and as often as you want to. Just remember to ride it like it was mine and not yours." Reflecting on that statement, Pastor Gannon says, "God has given us full and free use of this world. All He asks is that we use it like it was His and not ours. That’s stewardship."

We can only make the most of what we have if we look at things in the correct way. What a privilege it is to be alive, to have our health, our wealth, our families and friends, our talents.

Our Scripture reading this morning must be read within its historical context or else it seems a little contradictory. Even though it says that God doesn’t see as mortals see—we see superficial aspects like height and appearance as important but the Lord knows the heart—still, scripture can’t resist observing that David was ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and handsome. Fact is, customarily, among the Hebrews, it was the oldest son who was at the center of family life and responsibility. It was the oldest son who would be called upon to do the greater things. But in our story, God does the unexpected, the unconventional, the un-Hebrew thing. The person in the family of Jesse who might most naturally live off-stage, unnoticed, is given the first place! It’s not that David wasn’t also impressive physically, like the first born Eliab; it’s that he was a nobody according to the standards of the day. And that’s the part that was surprising. But he had talent. And that’s what mattered. As Scripture says, “The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.” He had a spiritual talent that would prove to make him a tremendous leader for God and his people.

A well-known surgeon was attending a dinner party and watched the host adroitly carve and slice the large turkey for his guests. When he finished slicing, the host asked, “How did I do, Doc? I think I’d make a pretty good surgeon, don’t you?” “Perhaps,” said the physician. “But anyone can take them apart. Now let’s see you put it back together again.” Not everyone can be a surgeon. Many do not have the aptitude to teach a class or repair an automobile, nor can most of us cook a gourmet meal, play the piano expertly, or solve a complex mathematical problem. But we can each contribute to God and for the good. Spanish cellist Pablo Casals said, “Don’t be vain because you happen to have talent. You are not responsible for that; it was not of your doing. What you do with your talent is what matters.” So, as Scripture tells us: “Don’t neglect the gift that is in you.” Take your talents and put them to good use. Do what is yours to do.

Leonard Sanderson, a Baptist pastor, tells about a layman that he came to know. They were visiting together during a revival meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As they passed a new office building, Sanderson said, "That's a magnificent building." The young man replied, "Yes, that belongs to my father." "Sure enough?" Sanderson said. "You have every reason to be proud of that." He referred to some other nice property during the afternoon and each time the young businessman said, "That belongs to my father, too." It was beginning to get to him, so he said, "You're not pulling my leg, are you?" The young man replied, "No, I'm not kidding you, preacher. God is my father, and He owns everything." We don’t own. We take care of. We are trustees. If we were owners of our time, talents, and treasure, then Paul couldn’t have said in Romans 14:12, "So each of us shall give an account of himself to God." We are in charge to the point of obedience to God’s call to make things right, to care for those who are in need, to lift up the ones who have fallen, to take only what is just and fair, and in this way to share the bounty of God’s creation. To do otherwise is to mock God and risk all.

In the window of a restaurant in a small West Texas town there was a sign that read: "Wanted: man to wash dishes and two waitresses." Now, the longer the men of that town thought about that sign, the more they thought, "That just might be an interesting job! The advancement opportunities might be limited, and the pay is probably not much, but it was something they could do." Go and do likewise, not the women washing part however. Find where your talents and God’s needs meet. Look out for others. Build something up. Take care of someone who needs it. Be a role model. Do it for God and for good. And remember: to make the most of what you have, realize what a privilege it is to have all that you’ve got.

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