Well…it’s that time of year when a cultural institution kicks off, literally, and captures much of our attention. I’m talking of course about football. Whether you follow football or not, it’s hard to avoid it from now to the end of January. We might even say, whether you follow football or not, in our society, football follows you.

So, I thought it might be fun to look at the church in the context of a football team. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s been done—Bill Bright, for example, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, often used football as a metaphor for the church. So, for the next few weeks we will look at "The Pigskin Church," and perhaps gain some reminders in this season of football obsession where our real devotion should lie.

Today, a look at the Owner of our "Pigskin Church." Our Scripture passage is from Matthew’s Gospel, the 25^th chapter, verses 14-28, the familiar "Parable of the Talents." (Read)

(Slide of Invesco Field) Well, there you have it—for some people, their true house of worship. They even have a religious icon there—the white bronco at the top of the scoreboard! Really now, if aliens from another planet observed our cultural practices, what would they report about what was important to us?

Ok, this team has an owner, Pat Bowlen. Most opinions about Bowlen consider him to be a pretty good owner. He provides the resources for the team to be successful while not imposing his will, or his ego over the team. In fact, it’s difficult to find pictures of Bowlen on the team website. Contrast that with, say, a Jerry Jones in Dallas, or, in a different sport, George Steinbrenner in New York. I have friends in Texas who used to be borderline fanatics about the Dallas Cowboys, but now actively root against the Cowboys since Jerry Jones took over. The unforgivable act, in their opinion, was the firing of Tom Landry. The common denominator with owners like Jones and Steinbrenner is that their personalities—some would say their egos—distract and get in the way of the team’s success. Such owners are seen as having just enough knowledge to be dangerous—thinking they know what is best despite what others around them believe. So, the general opinion about what makes a good owner in football—and other arenas—is someone who provides the resources for success, but does not impose their uninformed will upon the team.

It’s slightly different in the Pigskin Church. Our owner—who is, of course, Almighty God—is certainly seen as One who provides the resources for success. God gifts us with abilities, or talents, and opportunities to apply those talents toward successful service in His kingdom. The difference between our Owner and, say, the Jerry Joneses of the world, is the knowledge and will of our Owner would hardly be considered as uninformed! The will and wisdom of our Owner is to be sought after, shaping the nature of our work in God’s kingdom. Even the best of human owners have flaws and imperfections that make their sovereignty, their absolute power and authority problematic. Not so with Almighty God. Our Owner is sovereign. God’s perfect wisdom and will are to be sought after for guidance in our work in His kingdom.

With that in mind, let’s look at some quick points from the Parable of the Talents that inform us about the nature of our Owner.

1. God gives to us out of His resources: "…entrusted his property to them."

All that we possess is a gift from God. Our giving is a return to God from the blessings given us.

The servants do not receive the same amount of talents. Given by the landowner, one receives five talents, another two talents, and one receives one talent. They are gifts from God. Therefore, they are not the basis for prestige or pride.

Definition of stewardship is, "the individual’s responsibility to manage his [or her] life and property with regard to the rights of others," (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary) We are given the responsibility of stewardship, not for our benefit, but for the benefit (rights) of others. In so doing, we bring glory to God.

Dale Bruner: "Part of the fun of Christian life is discovering one’s uniqueness and learning to employ it in the service of others."

-"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!"

-issue is not magnitude of service, but faithfulness

The troubling piece in the Parable of the Talents is the attitude of the servant given one talent. There is a resentment exhibited by the servant toward the master, the owner, the cause of which is unstated. Is he resentful over being given only one talent? Perhaps the cause of resentment is some other perceived slight, some disappointment over the sovereignty of the owner. Whatever the cause, the servant’s action and his words reveal the resentment. Rather than using his talent and putting it to work, he hides it, buries it. In explaining his action to the owner, he speaks to his resentment in his perception of the owner’s nature, "I knew you to be a hard man," and to his resentment over the owner’s sovereignty, "harvesting where you haven’t sown, gathering where you haven’t scattered." It appears the one talent servant resented the fact that the fruit of his labor didn’t benefit him, but benefited, instead, the owner.

We may uncomfortably recognize some of the one talent servant in ourselves. Is there some buried resentment in us toward the owner because of some event in our lives that leads us to conclude the owner is a "hard man?" Or, might we carry some resentment toward our Sovereign Owner because we want a piece of sovereignty over our talents?

The Parable of the Talents teaches us that our view of God will affect our faithfulness in serving the Master, and how faithfully we serve will reveal our attitudes toward a Sovereign Owner.

Phillip Yancey, in an article in Christianity Today entitled Chess Master, gives us a perspective on God that can help in our view of a Sovereign Owner—helping with our sense of stewardship and with any resentment that might be buried deep within us. Yancey writes of his love for the game of chess during his high school years. Spending much of his time studying the game, Yancey built up his skill to where he won most of his matches in the Chess Club. After high school, however, he played little chess. 20 years later, Yancey had the opportunity to play against a master. No matter what moves he made, Yancey found the master countering every one. Yancey writes, "Although I had complete freedom to make any move I wished, I soon reached the conclusion that none of my strategies mattered very much. His superior skill guaranteed that my purposes inevitably ended up serving his own. Perhaps God engages our universe, his own creation, in much the same way. He grants us freedom to rebel against its original design, but even as we do so we end up ironically serving his eventual goal of restoration. If I accept that blueprint—a huge step of faith, I confess—it transforms how I view both good and bad things that happen. Good things, such as health, talent, and money, I can present to God as offerings to serve his purposes. And bad things, too—disability, poverty, family dysfunction, failures—can be redeemed as the very instruments that drive me to God." Good things presented as offerings to God…bad things—those things that can lead to resentment toward a Sovereign God—bad things finding, instead, redemption as the very instruments that drive us to God.

Every year as we move toward Fall we are reminded by stories in the media of some football player’s unhappiness…disgruntlement…resentment toward the owner of his team—usually in wanting a better contract. The impact is always negative—on the player’s performance and on his team. In a similar way, resentment we might carry and build up inside of us negatively affects our service and our team. God, our Sovereign Owner, calls us to trust and to continue in Him—good things presented as an offering to God, bad things redeemed by drawing us closer and closer to God. Like a Chess Master. Like a Sovereign Owner who is worthy of the best, most faithful service we can offer.