The Collision Between Fairness and Responsibility...

This month at the church where I serve we have launched into the New Year with a sermon series entitled responsibility. During this series, have been spending our time together  looking at what the Bible has to say about the issue of responsibility and what responsibility looks like in our lives.

This week, as we come to the conclusion of this series, I would like for us to spend our time together talking about an aspect of life that can get us off track when it comes to the whole issue of responsibility. And that aspect of life is the issue of fairness. You see, there are times when responsibility and fairness collide with one another. There are times when we can find ourselves in a place in life where life does not seem fair.

And because we feel that life does not seem to be fair we can find ourselves responding by attempting to avoid or ignore our responsibilities in life. I mean why should we be responsible if other people can be irresponsible and I end up having to be responsible for their irresponsibility?

Have you ever been there? Have you ever found yourself in a place where life does not seem fair? Maybe it is the place where you feel like life is not fair because you are not as talented as others? Maybe it is the place where you feel like life is not fair because you are not as well off as others? Or maybe it is the place where you feel like life is not fair because you are responsible and others are irresponsible, but no one seems to notice? Have you been there?

This collision between responsibility and fairness is not a new aspect of life. As a matter of fact, in an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus address the collision between responsibility and fairness. We see Jesus address the collision between responsibility and fairness in Matthew 25, beginning in verse 14. Let’s look at it together:

"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. "To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

To understand what Jesus is communicating here, we first need to understand two things. First, we need to understand the context in which Jesus is telling this story. Second, we need to understand the type of story that He is telling. At this point is the gospel of Matthew, Jesus has just had a confrontation with the Pharisees, who were the self righteous religious leaders of the day. After that confrontation, Jesus begins to engage His closest followers, the disciples, in a conversation regarding what will happen at the end of God’s story here on earth.

And as part of that conversation, Jesus tells a series of parables. Now a parable is an earthly story that reveals a deeper spiritual truth. In this parable, there are two characters. The first character Jesus refers to as a man, who represents Jesus. The second characters are the man’s slaves, which represents us. Jesus explains that this man, just prior to leaving on a trip, calls his slaves and entrusts his possessions to them.

Jesus explains that the man gave one of his slaves five talents, another of his slaves two talents, and a third slave one talent. Now a talent was a measure of gold that was used in Jesus day. In other words, this man divided his possessions among his slaves and gave them the responsibility to take care of his possessions while he was away on his trip.

But here is a question: Why didn’t this man give each of the slaves an equal amount of talents? Why did he give one five, one two, and another just one? I mean, that’s not fair, is it?  Have you ever been there? Have you ever wondered why there are some people that are five talent people, and yet you are only a two talent person?

Now, we all know the answer to this question, don’t we? We all know the answer that we give when we hear the phrase “that’s not fair”, don’t we? The answer to the statement “that’s not fair” is “well get used to it, because life is not fair”. This morning, the timeless reality is that life is not fair. As a matter of fact, fairness is not a biblical value. Nowhere in the Bible will you see the concept of fairness.

The reality is that there are some people who are five talent people; there are some people who are two talent people; and there are some people who are one talent people. God gives talents and resources how He wants and to who He wants. And just like this parable, God gives the talents He gives to whom He chooses with the expectation that we will be responsible with the talents we have been given on this earth.

Where we can find ourselves getting off track, however, is when we begin to focus on comparing our talents with others talents instead of focusing on whether or not we are responsible with the talents we have been given. And as Matthew, continues, we see Jesus continue to tell this parable:

"Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. "In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. "But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

Now, if this was a DVD that we were watching, at this point there would be some ominous music playing in the background, wouldn’t there? And intuitively we know that the slave with the one talent just did something that was just not right, don’t we? I mean we could stop reading here and walk away knowing that the person with the one talent did the wrong thing.

While the person with the five talents was responsible with the talents he was given to produce a positive result with what he was given; while the person with the two talents was responsible with the talents he was given to produce a positive result with what he was given, the person with the one talent does not seem to be very responsible. Instead of using the talent that he had been given to produce something positive, the person with the one talent irresponsibly hid what he was given.

However, instead of stopping here, tomorrow we will continue looking on as Jesus continues to tell this parable: