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PLAYING ON THREE STRINGS

(Matthew 25:14-29)
May 31, 2009

Yitzhak Perlman, one of the greatest violinists of all time, had polio as a child; but overcame that hurdle in his life with grace and courage. A few years ago, he gave a concert in New York City. But something went wrong as he played the first few bars. One of the strings on his violin broke!

Everyone in the room realized what had happened, and they all wondered, “What on earth is he going to do?” Most, in the audience, probably thought he would demand a new string or another violin. But he didn’t. Instead, Perlman sat there for a moment and then amazingly, he signaled the conductor to begin again.

Yitzhak Perlman re-composed the music in his head and played the entire piece with passion and purity on just three strings?

Now, we might think that’s impossible, but Perlman refused to think that. You could see him modulating and changing the piece to play it perfectly on the three strings he had left. When he finished, there was an awesome silence. Then people rose and cheered wildly. They wanted to show how much they appreciated what he had just done. Yitzhak Perlman smiled and then, in a quiet tone said, “Sometimes it is our task to find out how much music we can still make with what we have left.”

That’s great advice.

Jesus told a story that teaches this same lesson. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five talents to one, two talents to another, and one talent to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities—and then left on his trip.

The servant who received the five talents began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two talents also went right to work and doubled the money. But the servant who received the one talent dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money for safe-keeping.

After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five talents said, ‘Sir, you gave me five talents to invest, and I have doubled the amount.’

The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

Next came the servant who had received the two talents, with the report, ‘Sir, you gave me two talents to invest, and I have doubled the amount.’

The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

Then the servant with the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.’

But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! . . . You should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten talents. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given . . . But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away”(Matt. 25:14-29).

So many people today are like that one-talent servant. They don’t like what they have, so in bitterness they throw up their hands and quit on life, crying, “Life is not fair to me?” “Life has given me a raw deal!” “Life has favored others more than me, so I just won’t play!” They bury their talent in the ground.

Now, we may say, “I’m the wrong gender or race or nationality.” We may say, “I have a handicap or a health problem.” We may say, “I had an abusive childhood.” We may say, “I can’t speak or sing.” We may say, “I don’t have the same abilities as my friends. So I can’t do anything.”

But that’s not true. Research has found that the average person has over 500 specific skills. Everybody has broken a string at some time or another. Everybody has had problems in their past. It’s our job to play on the strings we have left. How can we do that?

I. FIRST, WE CAN EMPHASIZE OUR ASSETS, NOT OUR LIABILITIES.

Like the man in the story, God will ask us one question. He will ask, “What did you do with what I gave you? What did you do with your health, your time, your energy, your resources and your opportunities.”

We have many personal skills. Peter said, “God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you” (1 Peter 4:10);

“Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies”” (1 Peter 4:11);

Then Paul said, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received . . .” (1 Tim. 4:14).

Mr. Perlman didn’t worry about the string he didn’t have. Instead, he played on the three strings he did have! You can do the same! Use what you have! Go with your strengths. Emphasize your assets, not your liabilities.

II. NEXT, WE CAN EMPHASIZE POSITIVE CONDITIONS, NOT NEGATIVE CONDITIONS.

We have many blessings in our lives. In 1929, two oil men believed there was oil in East Texas. They drilled several holes with no luck. Their money was gone, but the lender gave them an extension on their drilling option. Since the land wasn’t good for much but cattle ranching, and not especially good for that, these two men decided to try again. They hoisted their huge derrick onto a skid and hauled it over uneven ground. Halfway to the new site the well-worn skid itself broke down. At this point, less determined men would have quit. Instead, they said, “Well, if we can’t get the derrick to the place we intended to drill, let’s just drill right here where we are.”

Surprisingly they struck oil—and not just a single well. They had stumbled onto one of the richest oil fields ever found in the United States.

Sometimes the greatest opportunity lies right beneath our feet. The Psalmist said, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Psa. 33:5).

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits . . .” (Psa. 68:19).

Emphasize the positive conditions, not the negative conditions.

III. FINALLY WE CAN EMPHASIZE FAITH , NOT DOUBT.

We have a great and loving God.

Jesus said, “I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible” (Matt. 17:20).

Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13).

One day a pastor went walking in the country and saw a cow looking over the wall. As he stood looking at the cow, the farmer who was a member of his church, walked up and asked, “Is something wrong, pastor?”

He replied, “Well, I’m having troubles. Our church is small. Our congregation is poor and I’m discouraged.”

The farmer said, “Pastor, look at that cow. What’s that cow doing?”

“Why, she’s looking over the wall,” the preacher replied.

The farmer continued, “Why do you think she’s looking over the wall?”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“Well, she’s looking over the wall because she can’t see through it.

We must do the same.” We must emphasize faith, not doubt!

We are often challenged to do great things, and in fact, many people want to do great things; but God is more pleased when we do small everyday things out of love.

Too often we extol the wonderful heroes of the faith. We admire those who lose their lives in service. We think being committed is like bringing a one thousand dollar bill and saying, “Here, Lord. I’m giving all of this to the kingdom.” But, we’re much more likely to be called to a different kind of service, and a different kind of heroism. God is more likely to send us to the bank and have us exchange that one thousand dollar bill for a tub full of quarters. He wants us to go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. He wants us to listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, “Get lost.” He wants us to vote on an important issue. He wants us to give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home.

Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but smaller opportunities come every day. Furthermore, great opportunities often come disguised as small opportunities. Usually, our Christian service isn’t grand and glorious. Instead, it’s done in all those little acts of love one quarter at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory, but it’s much harder to live the Christian life day by day and hour by hour.

An old verse says:

It’s hard to die a cruel martyr’s death.

We wouldn’t want to minimize its worth.

But there is something that is harder still.

And that’s to live well every day on earth.

None of us is perfect. All of us have weaknesses and faults and limitations. But that’s no excuse. Jesus expected the man with only one talent to use it just as responsibly as those with more. He wasn’t excused because of his limitations.

God’s word to each of us is this: I created you, I saved you and I called you to live a life of service. So, the question we must answer is this: How can I play my life masterpiece on the three strings I have?

(WC1719)
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Copyrighted 2009 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THIS MESSAGE IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works.

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