Paper Clip
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Some of you may have heard this story before but there was a man named Kyle Macdonald
and you might not know the name but you may have heard his story.
because a few years ago Kyle had a desk job and he was sitting at his desk looking down and there was a red paper clip in front of him.
and a thought entered his mind of “what if I could trade this red paperclip for something better”
and so he posted his red paper clip on craigslist and he noted he wanted to trade for it.
So after a week someone reached out and said they would trade him a fish pen for his red paperclip
and then he kept doing this and eventually the items got bigger,
At one point he had a generator,
at another point he had a visit with a a celebrity
He had a all expense paid trip to another country
he had a snow globe
he had a snow globe
He had a big moving truck.
and then finally over the period of a year Kyle actually traded so many things that he ended up receiving a beautiful two story farm house in another country.
So just so you understand Kyle went from owning a paper clip to a two story farmhouse in another country
But you know one thing you can tell is Kyle knew how to manage what he had.
Because he had something that looked like it had no value at all.
Most of us if we saw a red paper clip we woulden’t be to excited, but he was able to use that paper clip to eventually get a house.
But you know what I love about that story is that everyone of us has been given different talents, skills and gifts by God.
whether you are a Christian or not you have been given a talent or have been gifted in some way.
and that gift or talent He has given you has the ability to change lives!
But often times what will happen is we find a couple reasons why we do not use what God has given us.
One is we look at what we have been given and we go this is just a paper clip and its not really worth anything.
How could God use this?
But another reason we don’t use our gifts (and this is on the opposite side of things) is that we look at a paper clip and we say this has too much value so I am just going to keep it for myself.
(Churches and Christians love this reason by the way)
But regardless of what the reason is what happens is we end up with just a paperclip when God has called that paper clip to be a house.
And really today we are going to be in a story where there are people who had a master and the master entrusted them with money or a gift and they had to decide how they were going to use the money of gift that was entrusted to them.
So turn with me to
and th
because really God has entrusted each and everyone of us with different talents, gifts, some of us it might be financially, some it might be you just have a servants heart, or somthing else but He has given us all talents or gifts and we have to decide how am I going to use what God has given me to glorify Him in my life.
So once again we are in and its a little bit of a longer passage but I am excited for us to dive into scripture this morning. So it says:
While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
“He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
“ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
“His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
“His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
“Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
“ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’ ”
So Jesus is with a group of people and they are getting close to Jerusalem
and everyone was thinking as soon as Jesus gets to Jerusalem the kingdom of heaven is going to be here, the Roman government that was oppressing them will be overthrown, and they were really excited.
But what happens is Jesus tells them a story and really I could go more in depth in this but he wants people to know that until the Kingdom of heaven is fully established we need to be using our gifts for God.
and
So in the story Jesus tells he talks about a master who goes away (this represents Jesus)
and He leaves each of His servants with a large amount of money.
and so in the story He tells
It says he leaves each servant with 10 Mina’s
and a Mina was worth about 3 months wages during this time.
and he gave them 10 of them (So 30 months salary)
and the master here says I want you to put this money to work!
Just to give you an idea if you took Berrien Countys average salary it would be like if I said here is 270,000 dollars.
I am going to leave and I want you to put this money to work.
I mean its a big responsibility
and look what happens because the master goes away and returns and there are two different ways the money has been used.
and what happens is the Master calls forward his servants
and this is a little out of order but one of the serv
And this is a little out of order but one of the servants comes forward and he says look
and the first servant comes and says I have earned 10 more Mina and the Master says awesome I want you to take charge of 10 cities
then he calls forward the next and the servant says have made 5 more Mina
so the Master says awesome! You are in charge of 5 cities
you are in charge of 5 cities
and I just need to pause there for a second because look what happened there, because these servants were given this money
And I just need to pause there. Because
and they had an option on what do to with it.
and what they decided to do was put it to work.
and what happens is they are entrusted with more.
and you know what is crazy is that is how the kingdom of God’s economy works.
Because like I said God has given us gifts and when we use it those gifts, they grow, and not only that but God recognizes our faithfulness and He grows us.
and we are blessed through our faithfulness.
and let me be clear this isn’t a get rich quick scheme, in fact it might be the opposite.
But often times what happens is when we serve God with our talents whether that be at church, or somewhere else, he will tranform others lives but He also transforms others.
Its almost hard to explain but when we let loose our talent what happens is growth.
But too often what we do is we hold on which kills.
and look what happens in the story because the next servant comes forward and he comes with a piece of cloth that has the Minas he was given
and he says sir I haven’t done a thing with what you have given me.
and look at verse 21 because he tells why.
He says I was afraid of you because you are a hard master and really I was scared that I would loose what was given to me.
and I read that and go I think that he has a good point there. (If you gave me that much money I would be terrified)
But if you really dive into this passage its easy to see that the ser
But the issue wasn’t what he was given, the issue was his idea of Who gave it to him
Because He had a skewed vision over who his master was.
because he viewed his master out of fear instead of love.
and we should have fear of God but a healthy fear not a paralyzing fear.
Its like if you have a son they probably know that you love them,
but they also know that they should listen to you and really that they can trust you when they need it.
and in this story the master say’s look put this money to work,
and the servant is paralyzed and really he is unsure can I trust the master.
But can I tell you something, this might seem simple but the truth is that to often God has given us talents and we hoard them out of fear.
because we don’t trust God enough to say God I am going to give my talents to you!
I love something our Mothers of preschoolers group was talking about this past week because they were talking about operating off of conviction instead of fear.
Because too often we make our descions out of fear (that paralizes us) instead of conviction that gives life to us.
And then also the servant viewed his master in fear instead of love.
but the servant thought I don’t know about that. I will hold off.
Because first off
And really we
And then also the servant viewed his master in fear instead of love.
But you know these are really issues in our lives also, Because the truth is that God has gifted everyone in this room to do his will,
Because we don’t know who are God is.
I want to stat tying all of this together because really this was a lot, but the message is simple.
But we either are going God I can’t trust you with that now or we say God I am to scared to give that away right now.
and he also questions
God has given everyone of us a talent, some it might just be to serve others you might have financial resources, some of us we were gifted where we can pray, whatever it might be.
But we need to decide how am I going to use the talents, gift and resources that are given to me.
Because when we say God I am going to use those things for what you want we see that God keeps growing those things.
We might just say I have this paper clip but can I tell you God want’s to use that gift and turn it into a house
But you have to trust Him!
(Possibly pass out paper clips here) (Stay with me through them being passed out)
I am going to end a little unconventionally today because I am going to ask some people to help pass out something while I am finishing
You know I was listening to an interview of the guy of the story I started with and he was talking about how he went through all these trades and he got to the end where he had a house,
and at this point, he was going reflecting back on the past year.
He traveled around the world doing these trades, he met people he would have never of met, I belive he left his desk job and he got a house.
But at the end he says he couldn’t help but think could you imagine if I just stayed at my desk job and stared at that paper clip.
I would have missed out on all of this.
I think all/most of you have your paper clip by now but can you just hold that up for a second
I wan’t this to represent the talents or gifts God has given you,
It’s boring
What are you going to do with the talents God has given you?
and this is a serious question and the last couple verses even show us this is a serious matter
because God want’s transform your talents from this paper clip to something a lot bigger,
He wants to use it to change your life and the lives around you!
but you have to let Him.
Can I just say it is boring staring at the paper clip when God is saying but it to work.
Will you pray with me?