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Page 1: You’re Dead, So Now What? - Week 3 - Clover Sitesstorage.cloversites.com/churchoftheholyeucharist/documents/Week 3... · You’re Dead, So Now What? ... Last week, we talked about

You’re Dead, So Now What? - Week 3

Before we get into today’s message, I want to let you know that next week

I will present the parish finance report. It is the only time of the year when we talk

about finance and giving to our parish church. I ask that this week you begin

to pray over your financial commitment in the coming year.

Well that was an imperfect segue into our current message: death. This is the

second week of our series all about death. We started last week by stating the

obvious: death is part of life. The death rate in our country, despite all the advances

in modern medicine still hovers at exactly, precisely 100 percent. No one gets out

of here alive and you are not going to be the exception to that rule.

Even though we know death is real, it still startles us and even shocks us. Deep

down inside of each of us we long for something more. And the reason we long for

something more is because eternity has been written on our hearts.

Last week, we talked about the three places we can go immediately following our

death: heaven, hell and purgatory. Hell is a condition of eternal separation from

God. Purgatory is a temporary place of preparation for the perfection of heaven.

Both of which are taught in Scripture and held as truths by the Church from its

very first. All of which leads us to the third possible destination, when it comes to

death: heaven. As we did last week, today we want to focus some more on

heaven.

One question that sits at the heart of the whole discussion: if heaven’s for real, how

do you get there?

If I try and live a good life and do the best I can, that ought to be enough.

I did my best, so I ought to be going to heaven, and same for most

everybody else. On the other hand, there’s plenty of stuff I am not proud

of, and sometimes I worry, that its’s going to be held against me, that it’s

coming back to haunt me.

So we asked the question:How do you get to heaven? How do you qualify?

Heaven is a place of perfection. And we’re far from perfect. How do I get to

heaven?

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We said last week that You can’t. You cannot get to heaven on your own.

And neither can I. On our own we have no hope of heaven. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that we are not on our own. We said that through faith and

baptism we are connected to Jesus Christ. By Jesus’ life, death and resurrection

he has opened heaven to us.

We said last week that there is absolutely nothing you can do to earn it or deserve

it, so it is given to you instead.

Last week some people came forward to share with me their questions about

what was being presented. Some were confused about it all, given that they

hadn’t heard words like purgatory, hell, and heaven in a homily in a long

time. Some of what was presented may have sparked what you’ve been

taught, or thought you’ve been taught.

To help - in case you have any questions when it comes to death or the

material being presented, I am available immediately following this Mass

today, and will answer and of your questions about what we believe about

what is to come.

So let’s pick up where we left off. If heaven is a free gift from God, then that

means that what I do here, makes no difference. Right? If I can’t earn heaven,

then why talk about prayer and giving and going to church and serving in ministry?

They’re not earning me my salvation, right? Right, they’re not. Salvation comes in

Jesus Christ. So, we might logically ask, why bother with the whole Christian

living part? Let’s think that through. Because at its heart we are asking this

question: does what I do here and now affect me in the time to come?

And the answer is: yes. Emphatically yes. To fill in the details behind that answer

we are, as always, going to rely on Scripture. So we are in the 25th

chapter of

Mathew’s Gospel. And we hear Jesus telling a series of spooky stories that all have

to do with the end times, the final things. We know that Jesus loved to tell a story

a story that illustrates a different reality.

So, Jesus tells this parable/this story.

A man going on a journey

called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.

To the one he gave five talents; to another, two, to a third, one

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to each according to his ability.

Then he went away.

Matthew 25.14-15

There is a guy who is a wealthy man, so wealthy he had servants. He is about to

leave on a journey, but before he goes, he calls in three of them and entrusts each

with some of his wealth. He makes an investment in them: a talent was a measure

of currency and it was a lot of money. A single talent would have been equivalent

to about 15 years worth of wages of a average working man. So even the guy who

only got one got a lot.

Jesus says each was given money according to their ability. He goes on,

After a long time

the master of those servants came back

and settled accounts with them.

Matthew 25.19

After a long time. That’s a key phrase there: after a long time. The master goes

away not just for a long weekend but for a long time, maybe so long that the

servants might have forgotten who the money really belonged to or came to

question even if the master was ever coming back. But then he did come back and

when he came back he settles accounts with them, he wants to know what they did

with what they were given.

As we heard in the story the master is pleased, obviously, with the first two

since they were faithful is using their abilities to make best use of their

opportunities. Which brings further investment and rewards.

Then the third guy with one talent is brought in. And if this were a movie

soundtrack, there would be a change in the music and it would sound kind of

ominous.

Jesus tells us,

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, “Master I

knew you were a demanding person,

harvesting where you did not plant

and gathering where you did not scatter;

so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.

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Here it is back.

Matthew 25.24-25

That’s a lie, as we’ll see in a moment. And his boss immediately recognizes it:

His master said to him in reply, “You wicked, lazy servant!

So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant

and gather where I did not scatter?

Should you not have put my money in the bank

so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?”

Matthew 25.26-27

Wicked and lazy, a bad combination. Essentially the guy was just betting on the

possibility that his boss would never came back, he could just keep the money

and nobody would even know he had it. It was a foolish greedy little strategy,

in which he lost two things:

the opportunity given him

as well as the further ability to pursue opportunity in the future.

“Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For everyone

who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;

but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Matthew 25.28-29

There are, I think, several lessons here, when it comes to what to expect after

death. God has entrusted each of us with some of his resources. He’s given some

of us natural abilities and skill, some others intelligence and insights, there are

spiritual gifts, financial resources, opportunities, comforts, advantages, and of

course, to all of us he has given some measure of time. In other words, he’s given

us talents, currency we can use.

It is true: These things are decidedly not distributed equally. But, in the end it is

not so much a matter of how many talents you’ve been given as it is what you do

with them. One day there is an accounting, it is usually called a judgment. And

you and I will be asked to give an account of what we have been given.

I can tell you right now what’s on the final exam.

The questions are as follows:

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What did you do with what I gave you?

How did you serve my kingdom with it?

We want to know that our lives matter and have impact and make a difference

and whenever someone tells us “good job” or “well done” and we know they really

mean it and it isn’t just mindless words, we feel good. That’s not vanity or shallow

pride, that is one of the deepest longings of our hearts, a longing that goes far

beyond earthly encouragement or worldly accolade.

Ultimately we’re made to hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful

servant” from our Father.

Remember what we have been sharing with you that salvation is a gift from God

through Christ, there is absolutely nothing you can do to earn it or get it, it is

given. But, that doesn’t mean what you do here is unimportant. It’s critically

important.

Everything in my life: my effort, my work, virtuous living, following the

commandments, prayer, giving and generous living, service and ministry,

are ways in which I am living in and growing in Christ.

That is how my character is formed, and my character is what I get to take to

heaven with me. The only thing I get to take. So, it makes sense, I want to make

the best possible investment in it I can.

In my life in Christ my character is being built which is building up treasure in

heaven, the only investment, the only currency, the only talent I can access and use

in the future. When you invest the talent you have it will be returned to you and

increased. The talent that is you expands…becomes greater in size, or think about

it this way: The best that is you is only the beginning of the you

that will be you in heaven which is making the only investment that lasts,

the only investment I can actually use in the future. We’re investing talent,

and building up treasure.

And when we do, the talent that you have invested is returned to you and

increased. The talent that is you is expanded. The best that is you is only the

beginning of the you that is you in heaven. Death is a door to more. Heaven is

home. It’s where God wants his kids to be.