Hughie Erskine – a man of moderate means, a man in love, Laura Merton were very keen to marry. but her father, a retired colonel said: 'Come to me, my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own, and we will see about it,' he used to say;
One morning, as he was on his way to Holland Park, where the Mertons lived, he dropped in to see a great friend of his, Alan Trevor. Trevor was a painter..
When Hughie came in he found Trevor putting the finishing touches to a wonderful life-size picture of a beggar-man. The beggar himself was standing on a raised platform in a corner of the studio. He was a wizened old man, with a face like wrinkled parchment, and a most piteous expression. Over his shoulders was flung a coarse brown cloak, all tears and tatters; his thick boots were patched and cobbled, and with one hand he leant on a rough stick, while with the other he held out his battered hat for alms..
The painter had to go away for a while. The old beggar-man took advantage of Trevor's absence to rest for a moment on a wooden bench that was behind him. He looked so forlorn and wretched that Hughie could not help pitying him, and felt in his pockets to see what money he had. All he could find was a sovereign and some coppers. 'Poor old fellow,' he thought to himself, 'he wants it more than I do, but it means no hansoms for a fortnight'; and he walked across the studio and slipped the sovereign into the beggar's hand.
The old man started, and a faint smile flitted across his withered lips. 'Thank you, sir,' he said, 'thank you.'
Then Trevor arrived, and Hughie took his leave, blushing a little at what he had done. He spent the day with Laura, got a charming scolding for his extravagance, and had to walk home..
'Finished and framed, my boy!' answered Trevor; 'and, by the bye, you have made a conquest.
That old model you saw is quite devoted to you. I had to tell him all about you who you are, where you live, what your income is, what prospects you have '
'My dear Alan,' cried Hughie, 'I shall probably find him waiting for me when I go home. But of course you are only joking. Poor old wretch! I wish I could do something for him. I think it is dreadful that any one should be so miserable. I have got heaps of old clothes at home do you think he would care for any of them? Why, his rags were falling to bits.'..
The next morning, as he was at breakfast, the servant brought him up a card on which was written, 'Monsieur Gustave Naudin, de la part de M. le Baron Hausberg.' 'I suppose he has come for an apology,' said Hughie to himself; and he told the servant to show the visitor up.
An old gentleman with gold spectacles & grey hair came into the room, & said, in a slight French accent, 'Have I the honour of addressing Monsieur Erskine?' Hughie bowed.
'I have come from Baron Hausberg,' he continued. 'The Baron '
'I beg, sir, that you will offer him my sincerest apologies,' stammered Hughie.
'The Baron,' said the old gentleman with a smile, 'has commissioned me to bring you this letter'; and he extended a sealed envelope.
On the outside was written, 'A wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar,' and inside was a cheque for £10,000.
For the great surprise was that the beggar was no beggar, but one of the richest men in Europe, who had decided to have himself painted as a beggar. He was blown away by the generosity of Hughie and blew Hughie away with his own generosity [adapted from ‘The Model Millionaire’ (Oscar Wilde)]
Hughie didn’t have very much, but this didn’t stop him doing something worthwhile with it.
Hughie may well have been familiar with what the Bible has to say about money, and the Bible does say a lot about money. Jesus talked about money a lot more than you might first think.
When I was 18 years old I was on a gap year mission team. One of the things I decided to do was to look at what the Bible says about money and the opportunities we have. I had come across people who said that if we give to God we will become rich, and I had also come across people who insisted that we must give away everything – including one friend who lived on nothing but porridge made with water and salt. Now there is something in both of these ways of thinking, but it seemed to me that they couldn’t both be right!
A man was about to be baptized by full immersion, and he reached into his pocket to stop his wallet from getting wet. The pastor said
“We have to baptise your wallet as well!”
Now that may not literally be the case, but it is certainly true that one of the signs of being a Christ follower is a different view of money which seeks to follow God’s wisdom.
Jesus’ parable of the talents certainly makes us think about life doesn’t it!
We each have money, we each have possessions and we each have time. Time, money and possessions. What are we doing with them? Are we making the most of what we’ve got?
Oswald Sanders said, “The basic question is not how much of our money we should give to God, but how much of God’s money we should keep for ourselves.” Sanders says this regarding money, but the same can be said for all of the gifts that God gives to us. He asks for our first fruits, our best.
It’s a case of
Making the most of what we’ve got,
because we are
Making the most of what has been lent to us! (vv. 14 – 20)
v.14 ‘his property’
Two little boys were each given a box of chocolates by their grandfather. The first boy grabbed his box and ran with it into his bedroom and ate it all as fast as he could, smearing chocolate all over his face. The other little boy unwrapped his package there in front of his grandfather. He opened the box and looked at all the candies. He then raised the box to his grandfather saying, “Thank you for giving me this candy. Here. You have the first piece.”
He calls for our first and best.
How much should I give?
In m2o we encourage tithing, a pattern we find in the Bible – church members giving 10% to the local church. The Bible also talks about giving over and above the tithe, including freewill offerings and thank offerings.
I was very challenged by the book ‘Rich Christians in An Age of Hunger” – not least because almost all of us in the UK are well-off compared to those who are poor in other parts of the world. The book also talks about different approaches to giving, such as that of John Wesley who decided early in his life that he needed £28 to live on. He was earning £29, so he gave away £1. Later in life he was earning £2000, but he chose to continue living on £28. And for all of us there is the challenge to living on what we need to live. Another pattern that some have adopted is that of a ‘progressive tithe’, increasing giving by 1% / year.
Jesus certainly enjoyed life, in fact his first miracle was at a party where he changed water into wine.
‘Economics’ is a word we hear a lot. At root the word means literally ‘good housekeeping’, being wise about money and in the Bible we understand that to be wise about money is to live by God’s wisdom.
Someone I know very little money as a student, in fact she had resorted to selling stamps back to the Post Office. But she continued to give to God the first part of the money she received and she says that God always honoured this and that she had enough to live on.
Being wise in God’s economics begins with putting him first, and is seen in how we use the money time and possessions we have. And God’s response to those who did?
“You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” (vv. 19,23)
The challenge Jesus puts before us today:
Making the most of what we’ve got – like Hugh Erskine
Not just finding that we have given to a millionaire – but to God himself, who has actually lent us everything that we have in the first place!
Not just receiving 10000 pounds so that we can get married – but the gift of eternal life, and being a part of changing the world for good.
Jesus highlights 2 main ways in which people use what they have.
Bury it (v 18)
At first I found myself thinking that this is so ridiculous that I couldn’t imagine anyone doing it, but the more that I lived with this passage over the last few weeks, the more I realised that there are ways in which I do this myself. Sometimes it is just more convenient to keep things to myself, sometimes it saves the risk of messing up.
But what happens to that buried talent – well, it doesn’t really achieve anything. At best it is preserved as it is, maybe a bit muddy – but it is useless.
Have you, have I, been burying talents? Whether time, money or possessions – have these things been used well or not?
The second way which people use what they have is to
Invest It (v 16,17)
Now he is not talking about playing the stock market, or having good savings accounts. That would be the subject of a whole other talk – and God does encourage us to use money well.
No, he is talking about us using the things that we have to yield the best returns possible.
Now, what are those returns?
Invest in Changed lives
In the words that follow this parable, Jesus talks about serving other people, and he tells about the Surprise that in doing good to other people, we find that in so doing we are doing good to God.
Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of God – God’s kingdom coming into our world and bring change for the good. Changed lives that are signs of God’s Kingdom. When Jesus talks about the signs of the Kingdom he singles out:
-Good news being preached to the poor (& Jesus tells us elsewhere that this good news is for everyone)
-Healing
-Freedom for the oppressed and for captives.
We see lives changed when we
Invest in God’s Kingdom
We invest in all of the different aspects of the kingdom of God which Jesus talks about – making a difference to people’s lives as they come to know that Jesus is with them in their everyday lives and as they know that they will be with God forever in eternal life. We see healing, freedom and good news changing peoples’ lives for the good.
Mother Theresa was once challenged that her good works were only drops in the vast ocean of need, to which she wisely responded that the ocean is made up of single drops?
The local church is the hope of the world, Jesus has made it very clear that his kingdom is built through the church. We invest in God’s kingdom with our lives, our time, our gifts and our money.
Lives are changed for the good in each of our churches and congregation – St Matthews, St Oswalds, Overslade; in our Small Groups; in Alpha; Youth ministry; Children’s work; Community; Going Away together; Reaching Out; …and all the different aspects of our life together
If we really want to make the most of what we’ve got, if we want to make the most of what God has entrusted to us then we will invest in God’s kingdom. May God bless each one of us as we seek to live in the light of his wisdom.
Listen to the Talk
